BinckBank Tour 2017: Stage 7

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January 1 - August 13, Essen, Netherlands/Belgium, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome to live coverage of stage 7 of the BinckBank Tour

BinckBank Tour start list
BinckBank Tour preview

Good afternoon to you all and welcome to coverage of the final stage of the BinckBank Tour. After a downright miserable day yesterday, the weather is being a bit kinder to the riders for now. 

Tim Wellens and Tom Dumoulin are the two riders with the best chance of overall victory at the end of the day after they broke clear of their rivals in the final part of yesterday's stage. Former champion Wellens was the winner on the day yesterday. 

Dumoulin wasn't able to get past Wellens in the run to the line yesterday, but he did enough to put him in the driving seat for today. He leads the GC by four seconds over Wellens. 

The riders are well under way today and there is a group of nine riders clear of the peloton at the moment, with a few familiar names up there. Tony Martin is a glutton for punishment and is on the attack again with Elia Viviani, Jay Thomson, Grega Bole, Kenny Dehaes, Elmar Reinders and Tim Merlier. They have been joined by Jonas Rickaert and Preben Van Hecke. The group has more than two minutes on the peloton. 

We've already had one race finish today with Lotta Lepisto winning a very agressive Crescent Vargarda. If you missed what was a very exciting race then read up on the race here. 

While the leader's jersey is still well and truly up for grabs, there are a few jersey's that are done and dusted. Piet Allegaert has been very aggressive throughout the race and wins the intermediate sprint competition and a lot of beer to go with it. 

The gap to the nine leaders now sits at 2:30.

Tom Dumoulin is expecting a tough fight for overall victory today. He spoke to Belgian broadcaster Sporza this morning and had this to say: "It's going to be a hard day, but I'm confident. The tactics? I especially need to focus on Tim Wellens."

66km remaining from 191km

The riders are fast approaching the infamous Muur van Geraardsbergen. It is here that Philippe Gilbert and Quick-Step Floors blew up the race at the Tour of Flanders earlier this year. 

The gap continues to tumble as the Muur looms large. The nine leaders have just 1:25 of an advantage. 

The riders have just passed through Geraardsbergen and will be on the climb proper in no time. 

Viviani puts in a little dig on the Muur, stringing the breakaway out. 

44km remaining from 191km

So it looks like several members of the initial breakaway have now been brought back by the chasing group and the peloton. Tony Martin and Elia Viviani have 1 minute on the chasers. That chasing group contains Van Poppel, Wout van Aert, Preben van Hecke and Kenny Dehaes. 

News coming in that Andre Greipel has abandoned.

Viviani and Martin have 1:20 on the peloton and 50 seconds on the group of chasers. Van Poppel and Van Aert, who went clear on the Bosberg, now have Grega Bole with them. The remnants of the breakaway are just behind them and about the be reabsorbed. 

Dimonsion Data and Bora-Hansgrohe are setting a tough pace in the peloton as they cut the gap to the two leaders to just 44 seconds. The trio of chasers are still stuck in the middle but it won't be long before they are brought back. 

30km remaining from 191km

Riders are getting dropped from the bunch and Jon Dibben is one of the victims of the pace. 

The three chasers have caught up with the two leaders so we now have five riders out front. Can they extend their 24-second lead on the peloton or will it all be brought back together?

27km remaining from 191km

We will surely see some attacks from this leading group, the question is just 'who and when?'

As Tony Martin attacks the breakaway on the Muur, Peter Sagan attacks from the peloton and passes everybody. 

23km remaining from 191km

Sunweb is leading the chase behind Sagan. They're almost there. 

Martin is with that leading trio now and the Tom Dumoulin group has bridged over. Vanmarck and Boom are still trying to make contact. 

Sutterlin has now attacked

Valgren has brought back Sutterlin now with Sagan. 

The golden kilometre is coming up. Wellens will be very interested in that. 

Viviani attacks. The Italian was dropped on the Muur but came back. 

20km remaining from 191km

It's almost all back together over the top of the Bosberg. Just Postlberger left out front. 

Gilbert is in that chasing group and he now attacks. 

He slows, looks over his shoulder and goes again. Gilbert will be annoyed that he missed out yesterday.

Sagan will also be annoyed about how yesterday worked out. He was in a very good position when he suffered a puncture. By having Postlberger out front he can sit in the wheels a bit more. 

That was one of the main problems for Sagan yesterday, nobody wanted to help him chase and he got frustrated and gave up. 

Postlberger mopping up all the bonus seconds available in this golden kilometre. Gilbert gets a few bonus seconds for himself too. Although, he's over two minutes down so it won't matter too much. 

15km remaining from 191km

A lot of chess games as Kung puts in a little attack to try and force the others to work. He sits up but now LottoNL and Movistar has a go. They are brought back though. 

Attacks upon attacks coming and the peloton is strung out. Peter Sagan is sitting near the back of the group. He needs something from the team car. 

It is a mechanical problem. The car is with him quickly and he's on a new bike. 

He's in the slipstream of the Trek car and he should be back in the peloton soon. 

12km remaining from 191km

Mads Pedersen is trying to chase down Martin but the German is extending his lead bit by bit. 

Weening, however, has managed to get to Martin. He's passed him and carries on. 

11km remaining from 191km

Martin and Devenyns have joined up with Weening and the peloton is closing in with Janse van Rensberg leading the way. Peter Sagan is back in the group. 

It's all change again and Weening is back in the group. Martin and Devenyns push on. The gap is marginal. 

It's all back together again and more attacks are going off the front. It is Van Emden. 

Politt has caught up with Van Emden. Quick-Step Floors doing the chasing behind. 

6km remaining from 191km

Vakoc on the front of the peloton. He's shouting into the radio, getting information on his leader Gilbert. 

5km remaining from 191km

Van Avermaet attack, Sagan follows

Sagan kicks again and passes Van Avermaet. Dumoulin is not too far behind. Wellens has been dropped. 

Sutterlin is with Dumoulin and they are chasing down Van Avermaet and Sagan. 

Wellens has regrouped and is leading the chase behind and he's almost back with the leading riders. 

After dropping off the front a little earlier, Vakoc is now on the attack. 

He's caught by Valgren and Vanmarcke. Naesen is also there. 

3km remaining from 191km

There is now chase behind at the moment. Sagan is refusing to chase so it's up to someone else. 

1km remaining from 191km

Stuyven is into the final kilometre. It looks like he might have this

Stuyven powers up the climb. The group is not too far behind him but it looks like the Belgian has the gap.

Van Baarle leads the chase behind

Now it's Gilbert but it's too late

Stuyven wins the final stage of the BinckBank Tour

Tom Dumoulin celebrates because he has the overall victory

Stuyven is flat out on the ground. He hardly has the energy to accept the congratulations of his teammate. He gave everything for that. 

Confirmation of the top 10 from today's stage shows that Stuyven had just a single second on the chasers. That was so close. 

Wellens actually lost time in that finish and Dumoulin wins the overall title by 17 seconds. Stuyvan overtakes Van Avermaet to take third place overall. 

Gilbert takes a quick drink after the stage. That was some tough racing. 

The top 10 classification for today's stage. 

And the final general classification

That is all from the BinckBank Tour this week. We will have a short break from live coverage before the Vuelta a Espana begins next weekend. 

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