Description
June 17, 2023
Baloise Belgium Tour 2023 – Stage 4 – Durbuy – Durbuy : 172,6 km
With its first edition dating back to 1908, the Baloise Belgium Tour is the second oldest,
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June 17, 2023
Baloise Belgium Tour 2023 – Stage 4 – Durbuy – Durbuy : 172,6 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.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alepcin-Deceuninck) soloed to the stage 4 victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour. The Dutchman made a late-race attack and held onto a 16-second lead to cross the finish line alone in Durbuy and extend his lead in the overall classification.
Thibau Nys (Trek-Segafredo) jumped ahead of the chasing group to finish second on the day, while Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep) was third.
Van der Poel moved into the overall race lead after finishing fourth in the stage 3 time trial and now extended his lead to 40 seconds ahead of Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) and 53 seconds ahead of Pedersen.
Asked how his performance relates to his preparations for the upcoming Tour de France, Van der Poel said, “I think I have really good shape after the altitude camp I did with the team. Only the National Championships is on my schedule so far, so it will be only one race left, after tomorrow, before I go to the Tour.”
Van der Poel will wear the purple leader’s jersey into the final day of racing for stage 5’s 194km race in Brussels.
How it unfolded
The fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour offered the field 172km in Durbuy. The peloton raced on long circuits that included three climbs; Côte de Hermanne, Côte Grand Houmart and Mur de Durbuy.
The race opened with a series of attacks until an early breakaway formed 20km into the stage that included Asbjørn Hellemose (Trek-Segafredo), Aaron Van Poucke (Flanders-Baloise), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB), Logan Currie (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) and Andreas Goeman (Tarteletto-Isorex).
The five riders built a lead out to just over two minutes, but that advantage was slashed to just 10 seconds as the race hit the 100km to-go mark.
All back together with two circuits left, two more riders escaped with Aime De Gendt (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny). The small gap was closed down immediately shut down by Alpecin-Deceuninck.
As splits in the peloton formed, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sensed an opportunity to attack and jumped ahead of the field with 36km to go.
Soudal-QuickStep quickly lodged a chase, but it was too late, and Van der Poel, wearing the overall leader’s jersey, pushed his gap out to 30 seconds.
His lead grew, even as an unorganised chase group formed behind, which included Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X), Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), Tibau Nys (Trek-Segafredo) at 40 seconds back.
That group was followed by Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ben Hermans (Israel-Premier Tech) at 50 seconds, and then the main field.
On the uphill finish, Van der Poel finished along, holding on to 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Nys and then Pedersen in Durbuy.
Results :
 soloed to the stage 4 victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour. The Dutchman made a late-race attack and held onto a 16-second lead to cross the finish line alone in Durbuy and extend his lead in the overall classification.
Thibau Nys (Trek-Segafredo) jumped ahead of the chasing group to finish second on the day, while Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep) was third.
Van der Poel moved into the overall race lead after finishing fourth in the stage 3 time trial and now extended his lead to 40 seconds ahead of Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) and 53 seconds ahead of Pedersen.
Asked how his performance relates to his preparations for the upcoming Tour de France, Van der Poel said, "I think I have really good shape after the altitude camp I did with the team. Only the National Championships is on my schedule so far, so it will be only one race left, after tomorrow, before I go to the Tour."
Van der Poel will wear the purple leader's jersey into the final day of racing for stage 5's 194km race in Brussels.
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
The fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour offered the field 172km in Durbuy. The peloton raced on long circuits that included three climbs; Côte de Hermanne, Côte Grand Houmart and Mur de Durbuy.
The race opened with a series of attacks until an early breakaway formed 20km into the stage that included Asbjørn Hellemose (Trek-Segafredo), Aaron Van Poucke (Flanders-Baloise), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB), Logan Currie (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) and Andreas Goeman (Tarteletto-Isorex).
The five riders built a lead out to just over two minutes, but that advantage was slashed to just 10 seconds as the race hit the 100km to-go mark.
All back together with two circuits left, two more riders escaped with Aime De Gendt (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny). The small gap was closed down immediately shut down by Alpecin-Deceuninck.
As splits in the peloton formed, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sensed an opportunity to attack and jumped ahead of the field with 36km to go.
Soudal-QuickStep quickly lodged a chase, but it was too late, and Van der Poel, wearing the overall leader's jersey, pushed his gap out to 30 seconds.
His lead grew, even as an unorganised chase group formed behind, which included Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X), Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), Tibau Nys (Trek-Segafredo) at 40 seconds back.
That group was followed by Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ben Hermans (Israel-Premier Tech) at 50 seconds, and then the main field.
On the uphill finish, Van der Poel finished along, holding on to 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Nys and then Pedersen in Durbuy.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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