Baloise Belgium Tour 2023 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

June 14, 2023

Baloise Belgium Tour 2023 – Stage 1 – Scherpenheuvel-Zichem – Scherpenheuvel-Zichem : 164,9 km

With its first edition dating back to 1908, the Baloise Belgium Tour is the second oldest, still-running stage-race in the world! Falling just a couple of weeks before the start of the Tour, the race is often targeted by sprinters and Classics specialists eager to hone their form ahead of the flatter stages in the first few days of the three-week race. The race typically follows a five-day format, with a short time-trial or prologue combined with a couple of rolling stages through the Flemish Ardennes to really decide the general classification. Some editions have been known to hold two stages on the same day, hosting a time-trial in the morning before a short, 100km-long road stage in the afternoon. Overall, the route is very Classics-esque, with several stages in the wind-battered north of the country and a couple in the hilly regions to the south. Despite the race being a firm favourite amongst fans and home riders, there have been several periods throughout its history where there has been no race, most recently between 1991 and 2001. Thankfully, since 2002, the race has become a permanent fixture on the calendar and in 2020 it became part of the new UCI ProSeries – the second-tier on the racing calendar, just below the coveted WorldTour.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won stage 1 of the Baloise Belgium Tour at the end of a breathless afternoon of racing dominated by his teammate Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman spent much of the day on the attack, but he still summoned up the strength to lead out the sprint for Philipsen after he was caught in the last 2km.

Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) was closing rapidly on Philipsen in the closing metres, but he had to settle for second place in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, while Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto – Isorex) took third place.

Van der Poel led Philipsen all the way to the 100m to go marker, and he still took sixth on the stage after sitting up in the closing metres.

Philipsen will wear the race leader’s jersey on Thursday after claiming the winner’s 10-second time bonus, while Van der Poel helped himself to eight seconds in bonuses thanks to his efforts in the ‘Golden Kilometre’ intermediate sprints in the finale.

The circuit race took place largely on Philipsen’s training roads, and there was no shortage of support for De Flam van Ham – the Flame from Ham – at the start in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem. And, after his teammate Van der Poel had set the race ablaze, Philipsen duly scorched to victory 165km later.

“It feels very nice, there was a lot of support,” Philipsen said. “The race is close to my house, and the stage was on my training roads, so I was motivated. To win here is a nice start to the Baloise Belgium Tour.”

There is, it seems, no such thing as a straightforward day when Van der Poel is involved. This opening stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour offered the obvious prospect of a bunch sprint, but the afternoon took on an unexpected guise when Alpecin-Deceuninck launched a collective attack with 90km remaining.

Joined by teammates Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch, Van der Poel managed to bridge across to the day’s early break, forming a ten-man group at the front and sowing panic in the main peloton.

Soudal-QuickStep and Lotto-Dstny scrambled in pursuit, and their furious chase would bring Van der Poel et al. to heel ten miles or so later. The truce was never likely to be a lasting one with Van der Poel in this kind of mood, however, and the Dutchman duly threw himself into the attack again with 66km to go.

This time out, Van der Poel was tracked by Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), with Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Hugo Page (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Dstny), Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Sander De Pestel (Team Flanders-Baloise), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB) and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X) joining them to form a ten-man group on the front.

The group built a maximum lead of 40 seconds over the bunch, where Israel Premier Tech were now leading the chase.

When first De Pestel and then Stuyven punctured out of the break with 20km to go, it briefly looked as though the move might lose some momentum, but Van der Poel quickly steadied the ship with sharp accelerations on the cobbles of Kerkstraat and again on the climb of Wijndries with 12km to go.

Only Pedersen, Tiller and De Buyst could follow Van der Poel’s pace on the latter climb, while behind, Jakobsen and Sam Welsford (DSM) were among the fast men briefly caught out when the bunch split.

The leading quartet still had 20 seconds in hand when they reached the ‘Golden Kilometre’ with 9km to go, where Van der Poel picked up a total of eight bonus seconds after winning two of the three, rapid-fire intermediate sprints.

That haul ensured Van der Poel had something to show for his aggression, but the repeated efforts can’t have helped the escapees’ prospects of staying clear, and they were duly swept up with a shade over 2km to go.

Rather than end his day’s work there, however, Van der Poel simply shifted into a new role, slotting into his place in Philipsen’s lead-out train. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) also had support in the final kilometre, but it was Alpecin-Deceuninck who seized the initiative. Van der Poel took over inside the final 200m before Philipsen delivered a crisp finish to claim his second win of the week after his triumph at Elfstedenronde Brugge.

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