Sonny Colbrelli wins the Benelux Tour

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Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) took a solo victory on stage 7 on the slopes of the Muur van Geraardsbergen at the Benelux Tour. 

Bahrain Victorious put their stamp on the stage as Sonny Colbrelli finished second and sealed the overall victory of the seven-day event. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) finished third on the day.

"We knew that together we are a good unit," Mohoric said. "We played our cards a little bit differently. We didn't want just to defend Sonny's lead by setting tempo and bringing back breaks, we wanted to provoke others to attack and for me to follow, so that the other riders would need to pace Sonny back to my wheel. 

"We executed the plan perfectly, and it worked like a dream. We can't be anything else but happy today."

Colbrelli took the overall race lead on the previous day's stage 6, and the only real threat to his lead came from his own teammate and breakaway rider Mohoric throughout stage 7. In the end, Colbrelli secured the overall title while Mohoric finished second overall at 29 seconds back and Victor Campenaerts (Qhebeka NextHash) in third at 1:14 back.

How it unfolded

The final stage of the Benelux Tour offered the field a 177.9km race between Namur and Geraardsbergen. The route included two intermediate sprints and nine climbs. The climbs were routed over the Muur van Geraardsbergen (1.2km at 6.8 per cent), Bosberg (0.5km at 7.6 per cent), and Denderoordberg (0.7km at 5.3 per cent), which were positioned along the final circuit that the peloton tackled three times, with one final half-climb of the Muur van Geraardsbergen to the finish line.

Eleven riders formed a breakaway early in the race that included Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Hugo Houle (Astana-Premier Tech), Daniel Oss (Bora-hansgrohe), Jenthe Biermans (Israel Start-Up Nation), Barnabás Peák (Team BikeExchange), Casper Pedersen (Team DSM), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Team Qhubeka NextHash) and Toms Skujiņš (Trek-Segafredo). On the first entrance of the circuits the break held a gap of one minute.

Along the circuits over the punchy Muur van Geraardsbergen, and with attacks coming out of the peloton, a new group of four emerged to include Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Victor Campenaerts ( Qhubeka NextHash) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates).

With 40km to go, and one full circuit remaining, the four leaders gained just under a minute on the main field led by Lotto Soudal and Jumbo-Visma. Mohoric went into the day second place on GC at 51 seconds behind his teammate Sonny Colbrelli, and he anticipated a chase group to form behind with Colbrelli in it.

McNulty was distanced from the breakaway as Asgreen, Campenaerts and Mohoric accelerated over the the ascents, and the American rider was reeled back into the main field ahead of the last circuit.

Mohoric made a solo attack at the base of the second last climb up the Muur van Geraardsbergen, to start the final lap, and just behind a chase group included Asgreen along with Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Mohoric’s teammate and overall leader Colbrelli, making for a perfect scenario for Bahrain Victorious. Mohoric pushed his lead out to 20 seconds, and with Wellens dropped from the chase, it was only Asgreen pulling with Colbrelli sitting on his wheel. 

A larger second chase group formed at 30 seconds back with Wellens and Campenaerts, Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Fenix), Fred Wright (also Bahrain Victorious), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Aime De Gendt (Intermarche), and Tiesj Benoot (Team DSM).

Mohoric continued to push is lead out from 35 to 45 seconds with 10km to go, and as Colbrelli and Asgreen were reeled back into the next larger and reshuffling chase group, Mohoric briefly moved into a position to take the overall title for Bahrain Victorious. 

Over the Denderoordberg, however, Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) jumped out of what was left of the main field with Colbrelli glued to his wheel. Morhoric lost half of his gap as Dumoullin committed to the chase, and the overall classification once again moved back in favour of Colbrelli, with Bahrain Victorious playing their tactics to perfection.

Mohoric hit the base of the cobbled Muur van Geraardsbergen with 20 seconds in hand, and while he did not take the GC, he took a hard-fought win on the finale stage 7 in Geraardsbergen. His teammate Colbrelli powered over the line in second place, ahead of Dumoulin, and sealed his win in the overall classification at the Benelux Tour.