BinckBank Tour: Muhlberger wins stage 6

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Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) took victory in Sittard-Geelen after an action packed finale to stage 6 of the BinckBank Tour. Muhlberger attacked from a small group with just over a kilometre remaining, winning with 100 metres of an advantage over the chasers.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) took second while Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) was third. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) finished in the main group behind to hold onto his overall race lead with just one stage remaining. He now leads Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) by 30 seconds with Taco van der Hoorn (Roompot-Nederlanse Loterij) third at 32 seconds.

There was hardly a moment for the riders to catch their breath with the final 40 kilometres featuring almost relentless attacking. Wellens sparked the race winning move when he attacked from an elite group of seven, that included Greg Van Avermaet and Michael Matthews, with just under 10 kilometres remaining.

With no concerted chase behind, Wellens was allowed to build a very small gap over the riders behind. He spent almost five kilometres on his own before Stybar jumped the gap and joined him. Before Stybar had even made the juncture, another chasing group formed of Muhlberger and Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky) was visible in the background.

Two soon became four and the battled on to hold the peloton behind. It was no mean feat with race leader Mohoric doing a massive pull to try and shut down the move. Mohoric had been very active in closing down a lot of earlier attacks and he had to dig deep to keep the gap to the leaders at a minimum.

Just as the leaders closed in on the final kilometre, Max Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) attempted to get across the gap. With the 24-year-old about to make contact, there was a brief lull in the action and Muhlberger saw his opportunity. The delay in chasing was just long enough to give the Bora-Hansgrohe rider an unassailable lead over the riders behind.

How it happened

After three days where the sprint teams were expected to win but didn’t, stage 6 was set up for a breakaway to take success. With 20 climbs to contend with, it was not going to be an easy day for Mohoric to hold onto the race lead he’d had since stage 3.

It wouldn’t be made any easier with a very fast start that would prevent a breakaway forming until 42 of the 182 kilometres had been completed. The riders who got up the road were Matthias Brändle (Trek-Segafredo), Nick van der Lijke (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale).

The gap went up to more than six minutes briefly, but was soon brought down to a more palatable two minutes as they crossed the line for the first time with 90 kilometres remaining. The status quo would remain for another 40 kilometres, until the action really lit up with 50km to go. With Quick-Step Floors putting in a hefty turn and a number of riders trying to attack off the peloton, the quartet saw their lead cut to just 15 seconds in the space of 10km.

While this was going on, Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) called time on his race and stepped off his bike and into the team car. Ahead of Kittel, the peloton saw their numbers diminish quickly with attack after attack taking its toll on the riders. Two riders succeeded where many failed as Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) got off the front.

Despite a stern chase from several teams, the pair built a lead of close to a minute as they entered the golden kilometre with under 20km to go. Bodnar, who began the day 45 seconds down in the overall classification, took all nine bonus seconds in the golden kilometre.

In the reduced peloton, a short hiatus was followed by another sting of attacks with Wellens, Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) taking a small but significant gap. The strong trio soon had the leaders in their sights and were joined by Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) as they joined forces with the two out front.

The race would not settle and more riders tried to leave the peloton behind. Mohoric led the charge and brought the leaders within spitting distance when Wellens decided to go it alone over the final climbs with just under 10 kilometres to go. Like many of the other attacks before, Wellens never had a large gap, but the twisting, narrow roads made a proper chase difficult to mount.

Eventually, Stybar was able to break clear and joined up with Wellens before Van Baarle and Muhlberger did the same. The four were rarely out of sight of the chasing peloton but they did enough to hold most of them off. Schachmann did get across but not before Muhlberger had made his own move. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider went with the flamme rouge in sight and dug in to take the stage win.

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