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Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) was the fastest in the final bunch sprint on stage 5 at the Baloise Belgium Tour. The Dutch sprinter captured his second stage win of the five-day race, this time ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Thibau Nys (Trek-Segafredo) in Brussels.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wrapped up the five days of racing, winning the overall title. He moved into the purple leader’s jersey following the stage 3 time trial and extended his lead after winning the previous day’s stage 4.
Van der Poel sealed the overall title by a margin of 40 seconds over Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep).
How it unfolded
The final stage 5 at the Baloise Belgium Tour was a 194km race in Brussels. It began with an opening large loop with two intermediate sprints, and then the peloton travelled toward the two 40km closing circuits before the finish line in Brussels.
Baloise-Trek did not start the final day of racing after thieves stole their bikes and wheels overnight.
A breakaway of seven riders set off within the first 20km of racing that included Alex Colman (Team Flanders-Baloise), Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec-Selle Italia), Andrea Pietrobon (EOLO-Kometa), Kay De Bruyckere (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Lucas Janssen (BEAT Cycling Club), Kobe Vanoverschelde (Tarteletto-Isorex), and Thimo Willems (VolkerWessels Cycling Team).
The riders gained over a minute on the field led by Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal-QuickStep as Colman rolled through to take the points in the first intermediate sprint in Schepdaal. Colman also won the intermediate sprint in Grimbergen at the end of the first of two final laps.
In the final 20km, Colman, De Bruyckere and Janssen were dropped from the break while Willems, Vanoverschelde, Pietrobon, and Gandin held a slim eight seconds on the peloton.
Back together in the closing kilometres, six riders crashed with 9km to the finish line as the teams with strong sprinters organised their final lead-outs.
Alpecin-Deceuninck were the first to start their lead-out for Philipsen but were soon rivalled by teams Soudal-QuickStep and Lotto Dstny in the last three kilometres. In the end, it was Soudal-QuickStep that delivered Jakobsen to his 43rd…
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