Lars Boom wins stage 5 of BinckBank Tour

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After three bunch sprints and an individual time trial, stage 5 of the BinckBank Tour drew the general classification hopefuls into open hostilities, and Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) emerged from a tactical day in the Limburg hills to take the stage win and with it the overall lead.

The Dutchman forged clear of an elite selection of 17 riders inside the last two kilometres of the Amstel Gold-flavoured stage, finishing three seconds clear as Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) led the rest of the group home, with Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) taking third place.

A pumped-up Boom bashed his bike as he celebrated his stage win, and he would soon receive confirmation that he’d be pulling on the leader’s jersey, too. Overnight leader Stefan Kung (BMC) was twice caught out as he struggled defend the green jersey, and both times in the same place.

Twenty-six km into the 38km finishing circuit came the Weg Langs Stammen climb – one of 18 on the 167km route – followed by an exposed stretch of road, and on the first lap Kung suffered a mechanical as the race split into two pelotons. Things would come back together, but at the same point on the second lap the decisive splits formed and it was game over.

At that point, it seemed that Sagan, fourth overall at the start of the day, was destined to regain the leader’s jersey, but Boom, who started the day five seconds down on the world champion, was lifted into green thanks to his 10 bonus seconds for the stage win. Sagan, who collected six of his own, now sits second overall at two seconds, with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) making the selection to remain third overall at eight seconds.

“The spring Classics were not what I hoped for this year, and there was a lot of anger and happiness when I passed the finish with this victory,” said Boom. “I’ve worked really hard in the last few weeks and months to get back in good shape, that’s why I’m so happy.”

Sagan, with two sprint victories to his name so far, had been the star of the show at the BinckBank Tour, and today he was the pivot in a tactical finale. It was a combination of strength and positioning that took the elite selection clear with 12km to go, but from then on in it was a question as to who would work, attack and chase.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Petr Vakoc (Quick-Step Floors), and Michael Valgren (Astana) were already at the head of affairs, having attacked through the golden kilometre and soon other big hitters were up with them. Along with Sagan, Boom, and Dumoulin, there was Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac), Oliver Naesen and Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar) and Danny van Poppel (Sky).

Sagan switched between accelerating and remonstrating with his companions for their perceived lack of work, and a lull allowed Van Avermaet back into contention, along with Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), Jens Keukeleire (Orica-Scott), and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal).

The most promising attack came from Stuyven, once the last of the 18 short climbs was out of the way, but, with Bakelants on his wheel, he was slowly but surely reeled back, with Sagan the chief chaser. Vanmarcke sprang an attack with 2km to go but a sharp right-hander disrupted his progress, and that’s when Boom rolled the dice.

Sagan again found himself on the front of the group but soon swang over to urge others to take up the chase, and that was the moment the stage was Boom’s.

How it unfolded

The stage took in the Kruisberg and Cauberg, two of the Amstel Gold Race’s most famous climbs, but they appeared early in the 167km route, starting and finishing in Sittard-Geleen, and as such had little impact.

Before the first of the 18 climbs at the 30-kilometre mark, a breakaway of seven riders was away, containing Jos Van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo), Mathias Brändle (Trek-Segafredo), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) Michael Hepburn (Orica-Scott), Jon Ander Insausti (Bahrain-Merida) Jesper Asselman (Roompot) and Huub Duijn (Verandas Willems-Crelan).

They managed to carve out a lead of a few minutes as the peloton remained calm until the final 50km, where the race exploded and barely let up to the line. A key moment was just after the first ascent of the Weg Langs Stammen, when the peloton split in two, the front group containing a good 30 riders. Kung appeared present and correct but a puncture soon meant he was frantically chasing as the race crossed the finish line for the bell lap with around 38km to go. His teammate Van Avermaet was up the road but wasn’t going to drop back and after a few minutes of panic, Kung slotted back to join other teammates in the second peloton, where Roompot were working hard having missed the split.

Despite Sunweb setting a furious group in the first peloton, the two groups would slowly but surely come back together, joining with 20km to go, but the raised pace had almost annihilated the break’s advantage.

Hepburn and Vakoc went in for one last roll of the dice and they took their lead into the golden kilometre, positioned just after the Schatsberg, the fourth-from-last climb, with 17km to go.

At that point Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale) attacked from the bunch and was soon joined by Valgren and Wellens as they reached the head of the race, while Marcus Burghardt policed things for Sagan behind.

Over the top of the Weg Langs Stammen, themain group split again, with 10 riders skipping clear as the race turned onto the main road. A quick glance showed the likes of Sagan, Vanmarcke, Naesen, Dumoulin, and Stuyven were all in there and it was clear this was the key move.

Collaboration, though, was poor, and Sagan made a point of launching two big attacks, before looking round to ask why his companions had shut him down but weren’t willing to help kick the group on to distance the likes of Gilbert and Van Avermaet, who were at that point in the second group. They ended up making the bridge in a group of four with 6km to go, and it was a case of who would make the right attack at the right moment, with the circumstances in their favour.

In the end, the stars aligned for Boom.

Brief Results