BinckBank Tour 2018: Stage 4

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Stage 3: Van der Hoorn wins, Mohoric takes race lead as break stays away

As we join the action on the road of Belgium, the riders face just under 100km of racing.  

As the stage profile shows, stage 4 is perhaps a day for the sprinters. However they face a twisting and technical finale before the finish line.

An early break of the day is about to be caught after the peloton upped the pace.

 The speed seems to have revealed problems for stage 1 winner Fabio Jakobsen and Sep Vanmarcke.

Their respective Quick-Step Floors and EF teams have confirmed their retirement from the race.  

On Wednesday the break of the day managed to out fox the peloton and take the honours, with Taco van der Hoorn (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) claiming the biggest victory of his career.

Van der Hoorn attacked his breakaway companions inside the final kilometre, doing just enough to keep the chasers at bay.

Maxime Vantomme (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) crossed the line for second, with Sean De Bie (Veranda's Willems Crelan) taking third, and the bunch finishing 1:11 behind the escapees.

There was some consolation for Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida), who was also in the break and started the day 58 seconds down in the overall classification, after he took the leader's jersey from Stefan Kung (BMC Racing).

This was the stage result. 

1 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 3:47:56
2 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
3 Sean De Bie (Bel) Veranda's Willems Crelan
4 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
5 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:35
6 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:11
7 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
9 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
10 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale

Mohiric pulled on the leader's green jersey at the start earlier thanks to his one-second lead on Danny De Bie of Veranda's Willems Crelan.

81km remaining from 166km

The break away has just 15 seconds as they ride through the streets of Dremp.

This is the new break of the day as the peloton refuses to enjoy an easy day in the heart of Belgium.

A crash just before the catch sparked tension in the peloton. Jasha Sütterlin of Movistar needed a new bike but fortunately nobody was seriously hurt in the crash. 

BMC is leading the chase as the peloton splits due to the speed.

From the CN blimp we can that Van Avermaet, Stybar, Naesen, Stuyven, Lampaert, race leader Mohoric and stage 3 winner Van der Hoorn, are all in the front group.

76km remaining from 166km

The acceleration has meant the break has been caught. It's gruppo compatto but surely not for long.

AG2R are also riding hard at the front. Bahrain-Merida is under pressure today as they try to defend Mohoric's lead.

72km remaining from 166km

The peloton has eased but the second peloton is still lined-out, trying to close the gap. 

The riders are on the concrete roads of central Belgium. They're careful not to ride into the central gap between the concrete slabs of the so-called betonweg.

The peloton split when it hit an exposed main road, with BMC and AG2R lifting the pace and snapping the elastic. 

68km remaining from 166km

There are actually three groups on the road, trying to comeback together.

It's late August but it suddenly feels like April and Gent-Wevelgem.  

Bahrain trying to ride a steady tempo to control any attacks.

Tim Declercq flats and needs service. It's a busy day for Quick-Step Floors today.

65km remaining from 166km

The riders hit the feed zone but the pace is high and the peloton is lined out.

AG2R attacked the peloton yesterday meaning some riders missed lunch. They were not happy.  

The riders take a sweeping left turn and suddenly have a tail wind. 

We're expecting other changes in direction and so possible echelons later. 

58km remaining from 166km

We have a new break.  

Four riders are clear, with the peloton happy to let them go for now.  

Crash! 

The race is on narrow roads and so any squeeze can spark a crash.

Yousef Mirza of UAE seems the worst off. He's holding his shoulder.

55km remaining from 166km

The break leads by a minute now. 

There's a stalemate in the peloton. Nobody wants to chase for now. Will Katusha-Alpecin step up to try and lead the chase in the hope Kittel can win the sprint? 

Perhaps Mitchelton-Scott will step up to do some work too in the hope Ewan can win today. 

The four riders in the break are Nick van der Lijke (Roompot-Dutch Lottery), Dries De Bondt (Verandas Willems-Crelan), Alex Kirsch (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) and Edward Planckaert (Sport Flanders-Baloise). 

53km remaining from 166km

Indeed Katusha and Bahrain have moved to the front to ride tempo and so keep the break under control.

Katusha have come together on the front and have help from LottoNL and Bahrain.

The chase is on.

Amund G. Jansen os working for LottoNL in hope that Dylan Groenewegen can win the sprint.

The powerful Dutchman has been slightly off the pace this week since failing to finish stage 12 of the Tour de France to L'Alpe d'Huez.

48km remaining from 166km

With the race now under control, teams are feeding riders with bidons after some missed the feed zone. 

Florian Sénéchal (Quick-Step Floors) stops for a bike change. 

The team have been hit by a series of flat and mechanicals today.  

43km remaining from 166km

The four breakaways are fighting a side wind but going deep to try to stay away.

The riders are close to Ardooie because they face two 15km laps of the town.  

The two laps will give the sprinters and their teams to see the testing finish. 

The riders face a tight turn with 1km to go and then a chicane. It's a finish for sprinters with nerves of steel and superb bike skills.   

Now Zdenek Stybar changes bikes. The Quick-Step Floor rider changes from disc bike to another disc bike.  

Veranda's Willems has Dries De Bondt in the break but they are also helping the chase in the peloton.

They are tying to set up De Bondt to take the checkpoint sprint and so take the combativity jersey but are also keen to set up Sean De Bie for the Golden time bonus sprint. 

De Bie needs just a single second at the late intermediate sprint to take the race lead from Mohoric.

35km remaining from 166km

The tactical games means the break is only 35 seconds ahead of the peloton now.

34km remaining from 166km

Sprint time.

Dries De Bondt (Veranda's Willems Crelan) wins the intermediate sprint and so takes the lead in the sprints and will pull on the Primus jersey.  

32km remaining from 166km

Next up is the Golden Kilometre sprint with 22km to go.  

The peloton passes through the finish area now, seeing the chicane in the final kilometre. 

Alex Kirsch (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) attacks alone but the peloton is about to sweep up the break.   

Veranda's Willems is riding to set up Di Bie. 

He's chasing the maximum of nine bonus seconds on offer. Of course, other other sprinters will fight for them too, knowing that every second could be vital in the overall classification.

The Golden Kilometre includes 3 sprints in one kilometre. 

27km remaining from 166km

Each sprint awards 3-2-1 seconds and so inspire some aggressive sprinting. 

Alex Kirch sits up and eats a gel, meaning all the riders are together. 

Mohoric is also there to mark Di Bie and fight for seconds.  

Sun web and BMC up front for Matthews and Kung. 

25km remaining from 166km

Here we go! 

Die Bie takes the first sprint. 

But Mohoric takes the second one after 500m. 

Matthews beats Lampaert and Di Bie in the final sprint.

Now it's time to do the maths. 

The sprints have also sparked attacks after the hectic Golden Kilometre. 

22km remaining from 166km

However Katusha control the attacks and the peloton.

The scores are on the boards and Mohoric did enough to keep the race lead for now. 

Di Bie got third in the first sprint, so took 1 second but Mohoric was smart and attacked after the first sprint to win the second sprint and take 3 seconds.  

In theory he leads by two second now but of course has to finish the stage in the same time as his current GC rivals.

18km remaining from 166km

After the flurry of sprinting in the Golden Kilometre, now the sprint trains and the potential stage winners are up front. 

It's going to be a hectic final 15km lap. 

14km remaining from 166km

The circuit includes some narrow country roads and so the speed is up.

EF, LottoNL and Sport Vlaanderen were all up front as the peloton rode through the finish for the last time. 

Julius van den Berg (EF Education First-Drapac) has tried a solo move but that is only to take the pressure off his teammates to lead the peloton.

11km remaining from 166km

The corners have lined-out the peloton as the speed goes up and up.  

Wanty's fluo colours are all over the front now. 

Mitchelton move up in a train for Ewan. Astana and Quick-Step are also fighting for position.

The peloton funnels into another tight right turn. 

Astana attacks on the exit of the corner. 

It's Valgren making a move. 

Joined by fellow Dane Chris-Juul Jensen.

The two are digging deep but the peloton is holding them within touching distance.

5km remaining from 166km

The Danish duo has been caught. 

Trek are now in charge.

They lost Mads Pedersen earlier but they are strong today.

Trek is riding to set up an attack in the final km chicane.

2km remaining from 166km

It's super fast as the sprinters fight for position behind.

They sweep left. 

Trek let one rider go.

Stuyven leads by 40 metres!

Wanty lead the chase but Stuyven is clear.

Stuyven makes it. 

The sprinters were on him but he hits the finish line first. 

Stuyven drops his bike and celebrates on foot. That's a great win for the Belgian after some great team work.

Ryan Mullen and Pedersen lead Stuyven into the corner and then eased up, slowing the peloton.

It was a team victory.

Stuyven is strong and committed 100% to his attack in the final kilometre.

He opened such a gap that the sprint team hesitated slightly. 

When the sprinters went for it, Stuyven was still clear and hung on to win with his arms in the air.

Stuyven punched the air as he won and the sprinters surged passed him. But he took the spoils thanks to great team work by Trek. 

Ewan is confirmed as second, with Zdenek Stybar of Quick-Step Floors third.

Mohoric was in the front part of the peloton and should retain the overall race lead.

This is the top ten for the stage. 

1 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 3:44:46
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
3 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
4 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
6 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
7 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
8 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
9 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
10 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

This TV screen grab shows how Stuyven hung on to win the stage.

Stuyven is still breathing deep as thanks his teammates for setting him up for victory.

This is the General Classification after stage 4:

1 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 11:48:28
2 Sean De Bie (Bel) Veranda's Willems Crelan 0:00:03
3 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:22
4 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:00:28
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:31
6 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:32
7 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:36
8 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:37
9 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:41
10 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin

Stuyven confirmed he is also thinking about the overall classification but knows the hilly stages at the weekend will make it hard for him.

"I keep it in the back of my mind but it's not the main goal. First I’ll try not to lose time," he said.

"Then at the weekend it can be really hard. There will be guys who want to make up time after yesterday and in the TT."

"If another results comes then the GC cones with it."

The Trek riders won together and celebrated together.

Matej Mohoric spoke before heading to the podium to pull on anew green leader's jersey. 

"In the golden kilometre I managed to win one sprint to keep the leader’s jersey, so our goal was complete," he said.

"Then I tried to do the sprint at the finish but went a bit early and couldn’t hang on for top ten place. But it was important not to crash and tomorrow is a new day.”
 

This was Mohoric in green after yesterday's stage. 

This is the moment Stuyven hit the line to win the stage. 

It was an aggressive day of racing at the BinckBank Tour, with three different breakaways, echelons, lots of flats, a hard-fought Golden Kilometre as Sean De Bie and Matej Mohoric fought for the race lead. 

Then in the finale, Trek-Segafredo set up Jasper Stuyven for his solo attack in the last kilometre. He held off the sprinters to win. 

Click here to read our full stage report and see our growing photo gallery of all the action.

Our man on the ground in Belgium Barry Ryan will have exclusive news and interviews from the BinckBank Tour very soon.

Marcel Kittel's Alpecin team did a lot of work to help the German's chances in the sprint. However the very technical finish made it difficult for the sprinters and Kittel is known for his dislike of technical finishes that do not suit his powerful sprint style.

Kittel finished 70th today and so remains with just one to his 2018 palmares.    

The BinckBank continues on Friday with stage 5 from Sint-Pieters-Leeuw to Lanaken over 204km before heading into the Belgian Ardennes and then back to the road of Flanders for the finish on the Geraardsbergen. 

We'll have live coverage of all the action here on Cyclingnews with exclusive news snd interviews.

Thanks for joining us today.