Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) claimed the final stage 5 victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour, his second win in the five-day race. Merlier out-paced rivals Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel-Premier Tech) in the bunch sprint in Brussels.
"The shape is still OK. It's the best sprint of the week, so I'm happy with it. What can I say, I won today, again, so, I'm really happy," Merlier said.
Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) secured the overall title at the 2024 Baloise Belgium Tour after leading the race since winning the opening time trial in Beringen. The Norwegian rider won by four seconds ahead of Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and seven seconds ahead of Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team).
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"I knew that I had a short sprint in me, so I just tried to take the first one and stay on the wheel of Vacek," Wærenskjold said of the three mid-race Golden Kilometer sprints.
"I was lucky that it played out my way. I'm really happy and the team is amazing and did a really good job all week, so I have to say thank you to them. I don't think I would have won if it wasn't for my teammates."
The finale stage 5 at the Baloise Belgium Tour was an 186.2km race in Brussels. The flat route was held across five laps of a roughly 35km circuit, and three opportunities were offered at the mid-race Golden Kilometre sprint for time bonuses, along with time bonuses offered at the finish line.
A breakaway and a chase group emerged during the early kilometres of the race, which eventually merged to form a nine-rider group that included Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB), Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Dstny), Olivier Godfroid (Baloise-Trek Lions), Stijn Appel (BEAT Cycling Club),
Thimo Willems (VolkerWessels Cycling), Kay De Bruyckere (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Mauro Verwilt (Tarteletto-Isorex).
Under rain-soaked conditions, the breakaway passed through the finish line for the first time with four laps to go, and the peloton, led by Uno X Mobility and Lidl-Trek, was only 40 seconds behind.
The breakaway held onto 30 seconds on the field over the next 40km, but as they entered the final two circuits, Soudal-QuickStep also joined the pace-setting at the front of the field, causing the gap to drop further.
De Bondt did the lion's share of the work to keep the now-reduced breakaway going. Desal, Grignard, Godfroid, and Willems looked over their shoulder to see the field just five seconds behind, and they were caught with 52km remaining.
Michiel Coppens (BEAT Cycling Club) made a late-race attack 16km out and gained 18 seconds, but the move was short-lived as the teams with powerful sprinters surged into their respective lead-outs and reeled him with 5km to go.
Gwen Leclainche (Philippe Wagner/Bazin) counter-attacked in a late-race flyer and gained a slim gap of nine seconds. But was brought back into the fold with three kilometres to go as the sprinter teams barrelled into the final bunch sprint in Brussels.
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