With a tremendous burst of speed in the final metres and a perfect bike throw, Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) won stage 4 of the Baloise Belgium Tour, in a photo finish ahead of Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) in Aarschot.
The early breakaway was caught late in the stage, inside of three kilometres to go, as sprinters' teams did not want to expend too much energy chasing. On the flat run-in to the finish line, NSN Cycling Team took control under the red kite, leading out Biniam Girmay with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) following him. The Belgian got squeezed out and had to fight back into position with Merlier on his wheel, and then Kooij.
Uno-X Mobility started their leadout on the left side of the road while Philipsen was sprinting on the other side, looking good until Kooij blasted past. Though the decision came down to a photo finish, Merlier knew immediately, as he pointed to Kooij after the line.
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Philipsen held on for third place, just a quarter of a wheel ahead of Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor).
“The feeling is really good, of course, when you win, it's always nice, but after a missed start of the season, it's even nicer to come back at my old level,” said Kooij, who claimed his third win of the season after being sidelined by a virus since the start of the year.
The Dutch sprinter will try again for the victory on the final Sunday stage but knows he will have to battle the GC contenders as well as the other sprinters in the race.
"We will try for sure, but I think it will be a bit different than today. The GC is.still up to play for I think a couple of guys, so I think we'll see some race for the GC as well, but we'll see if we can manage to hang on for the stage win."
In the GC, Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) continues to lead after winning stage 3, but Philipsen is very close, just two seconds down. Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Intermarché) sits third, also at two seconds. The race could come down to small margins with just one Classics-style stage remaining on Sunday.
Stage 4, from Begijnendijk to Aarschot unfolded on a very hot day in Belgium with temperatures hitting 35 °C around the circuit. The 147-rider peloton tackled the rolling 43km circuit four times, each time facing the climbs Schoonhovendreef in Aarschot, Nopstal in Rillaar, Blereberg/Optielt in Tielt, the Houwaartseberg in Houwaart and Het Rot in Nieuwrode.
Six riders, Jarno Bellens (Baloise Lions), Jonah Killy (Tarteletto-Isorex), Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw), Michiel Van Vliet (Metec-SOLARWATT p/b Mantel), Maxence Place (Aarco) and Michiel Coppens (BEAT CC p/b Saxo) escaped early in the 183.5km race to build a maximum lead of around 2:30. But Van Vliet, overlapped a wheel, and crashed out of the front group with 76 kilometres to go.
The peloton, led by Soudal-QuickStep and later joined by Alpecin-Premier Tech, kept the escapees on a two-minute leash, to try and deliver a bunch sprint, while the rest of the field were happy to not contribute to the chase.
With one lap to go, Vanthourenhout fell out of the lead group after slipping a chain on the Schoonhovendreef, but the field was still not able to take back time, as the quartet still held a 2:15 lead.
The intensity increased in the peloton, with Decathlon CMA CGM and NSN each adding a rider in the rotation, with 32km to go. Ten kilometres later, the gap had fallen to 1:15, looking a lot more manageable for the field.
Although the sole American in the break, Killy put in a massive turn to try to stay away, the gap dropped below the one-minute mark, with 18km to go. The break fell apart inside of three kilometres with Killy giving a final push before being reeled in with 2.3km to go.
With one kilometre to go, NSN took over the front with riders fighting for position, looking for the best line - the shortest route was on the right, but some riders chose the left side, on the barriers, due to the slight wind at the finish.
Results
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