BinckBank Tour 2019 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

August 15, 2019

BinckBank Tour 2019 – Stage 4 – Houffalize – Houffalize : 96,2 km

Nothing comes easy at the BinckBank Tour, and a glance at the palmarès confirms as much. The most recent winners are Matej Mohoric, Tom Dumoulin, Niki Terpstra, Tim Wellens and Zdenek Stybar, and, on each occasion, the race was decided by mere seconds. A constant in the WorldTour since it succeeded the old Tour of the Netherlands in 2005, the BinckBank Tour – formerly the Eneco Tour – is something of a point of confluence in the cycling calendar. In mid-August, WorldTour riders tend to be in one of two camps: recovering from the Tour de France or still feeling their way back into action after missing out on the big show in July. As ever, the race offers a sample of spring Classics terrain, with a short, stiff leg in the Ardennes on stage 4 and then a demanding trek around the cobbles and hills of Flanders on the final day. In between, there is a short, flat time trial in The Hague, while the four flat stages rarely run quite as smoothly as the profile in the roadbook would indicate.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) snatched victory from Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) on stage 4 of the BinckBank Tour. The experienced Lotto Soudal rider allowed Hirschi to lead out the sprint to the line in Houffalize with over 150m to go before coming through to take the win by a matter of inches. Fellow breakaway companion Laurens De Plus (Jumbo Visma) finished a distant third on the stage. The win marked Lotto Soudal’s first victory since the tragic death of Bjorg Lambrecht earlier in the month.

Wellens now leads Hirschi by four seconds in the general classification after overnight leader Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) was dropped earlier in the stage.

Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain Merida) had been in the final break but was unable to match the leading three riders on the last set of climbs, with the Spaniard bringing home a small chase group at 23 seconds.

The trio of Wellens, De Plus and Hirschi broke clear on the final ascent of the 96.2km stage after several early breaks attempted to split the main field on the climbs that routinely peppered the course.

Iljo Keisse (QuickStep) and Stan Dewulf (Lotto Soudal) were the first riders to attack on the first of three ascents of the Cote de Saint-Roch and they quickly opened up a gap that moved out to almost two minutes. They continued to lead the race on the second time up the climb but on the Cote Rue Bois, with 50km remaining, De Plus attacked and split the main field.

The acceleration from the Jumbo Visma rider ended the early break’s hopes and soon there were nine riders out front with De Plus joined by Wellens, Dewulf, Keisse, Stybar, Gren Van Avermaet, Soren Kragh Andersen, Jay McCarthy, and Simon Clarke.

The stellar group was only able to pull out a gap of 13 seconds before Wellens made a brief solo venture. He too was caught before the final ascent of the Cote de Saint-Roch saw De Plus accelerate once more. This time only Wellens and Hirschi could follow, with the young Sunweb rider looking a class above whenever the leaders hit a wet corner or descent.

Cortina made it four leaders with an attack of his own as the chase began to fragment. With 15km to go De Plus accelerated once more and the Spaniard was unable to follow as QuickStep and Dimension Data struggled to mount a chase and the gap to the trio extended to 45 seconds.

On paper Hirschi was the fastest but Wellens’ experience and local knowledge were key. When the young Sunweb rider opened his sprint from too far out the Lotto rider neatly moved into the Swiss rider’s slipstream. When the road rose gently before the line and the Sunweb rider’s legs began to fade Wellens sensed his moment and came through on the right hand side to take the win.

Results :
1 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 2:20:41
2 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb
3 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:05
4 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:23
5 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data 0:00:26
7 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
8 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:33
9 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
10 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team
11 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
12 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
13 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First
14 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
15 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
16 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
17 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
19 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
20 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
21 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb
22 Kévin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ Continental 0:01:33
23 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:01
24 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:18
25 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos
26 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:22
27 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
28 Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal
29 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
30 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Team Sunweb
31 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
32 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
33 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
34 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
35 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
36 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:05:00
37 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
38 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:03
39 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
40 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
41 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin
43 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
44 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
45 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
46 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:08
47 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:10
48 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
49 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:12
50 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:43
51 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
52 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team 0:11:08
54 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
55 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
56 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb
57 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
58 Senne Leysen (Bel) Roompot-Charles 0:11:15
59 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
60 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
61 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
62 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot-Charles
63 Moreno Hofland (Ned) EF Education First
64 Milan Menten (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
65 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
66 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
67 Edoardo Affini (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
69 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First
70 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
71 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
72 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
73 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
74 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
75 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
76 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
77 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Ineos
78 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe
79 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Total Direct Energie
80 Lars Boom (Ned) Roompot-Charles 0:15:07
81 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
82 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
83 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
84 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
85 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
86 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Charles
87 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
88 Boris Vallee (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
89 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
90 Romain Cardis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
91 Aksel Nõmmela (Est) Wallonie Bruxelles
92 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Total Direct Energie
93 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
94 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team
95 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
96 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos
97 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
98 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
99 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
100 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
101 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
102 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
103 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
104 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Ineos
105 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
106 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
107 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
108 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
109 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
110 Jan Willem van Schip (Ned) Roompot-Charles
111 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
112 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
113 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
114 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates
115 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
116 Juan Sebastian Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
117 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
118 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
119 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team
120 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
121 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
122 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Total Direct Energie
123 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
124 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
125 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
126 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
127 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
128 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
129 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
130 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
131 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
132 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
133 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
134 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
135 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
136 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
137 Stijn Steels (Bel) Roompot-Charles
138 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
139 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Total Direct Energie
140 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Gobert
141 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Roompot-Charles
142 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
143 Brian van Goethem (Ned) Lotto Soudal
144 Damien Gaudin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
145 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
146 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Deceuninck-QuickStep
147 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
148 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
149 Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:15:18
150 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Lukas Spengler (Swi) Wallonie Bruxelles
DNS Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 13:32:46
2 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:00:04
3 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:14
4 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:36
5 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:38
6 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:39
7 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data 0:00:42
8 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team 0:00:49
9 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
10 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
11 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
12 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
13 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
14 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
15 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
16 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
17 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
18 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
19 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Sunweb
20 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First
21 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:17
22 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos 0:02:34
23 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:02:38
24 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
25 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
26 Stan Dewulf (Bel) Lotto Soudal
27 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
28 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
29 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
30 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
31 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
32 Kévin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ Continental 0:04:28
33 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:04:44
34 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team 0:05:12
35 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:13
36 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:19
38 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
41 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
42 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:24
43 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:26
44 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
45 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:06:43
46 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:38
47 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:07:50
48 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:08:37
49 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:08:40
50 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:59
51 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
52 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:11:21
54 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:11:24
55 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
56 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
57 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot-Charles 0:11:29
58 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:11:31
59 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
60 Milan Menten (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
61 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
62 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
63 Senne Leysen (Bel) Roompot-Charles
64 Moreno Hofland (Ned) EF Education First
65 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
66 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
67 Edoardo Affini (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First
69 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
70 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Total Direct Energie
71 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe
72 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
73 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Ineos 0:12:41
74 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:13:14
75 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:14:07
76 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:14:24
77 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:14:53
78 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:15:13
79 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team 0:15:15
80 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
81 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:16
82 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
83 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:17
84 Stijn Steels (Bel) Roompot-Charles 0:15:20
85 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:15:23
86 Aksel Nõmmela (Est) Wallonie Bruxelles
87 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
88 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
89 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team
90 Boris Vallee (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
91 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
92 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos
93 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
94 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Deceuninck-QuickStep
95 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
96 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
97 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
98 Jan Willem van Schip (Ned) Roompot-Charles
99 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
100 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Roompot-Charles
101 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Total Direct Energie
102 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
103 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
104 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
105 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
106 Juan Sebastian Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
107 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
108 Lars Boom (Ned) Roompot-Charles
109 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
110 Romain Cardis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
111 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Gobert
112 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
113 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
114 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Ineos
115 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot-Charles
116 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
117 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First
118 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:27
119 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First 0:16:28
120 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:16:32
121 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:16:35
122 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ 0:16:39
123 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:16:44
124 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
125 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:16:49
126 Brian van Goethem (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:16:55
127 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:06
128 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:17:32
129 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:17:39
130 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:17:46
131 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:17:48
132 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:50
133 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:12
134 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First 0:19:15
135 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:19:32
136 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:20:14
137 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:20:21
138 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:20:24
139 Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:20:33
140 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:20:48
141 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:22:33
142 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:24:29
143 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
144 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:26:15
145 Damien Gaudin (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:29:12
146 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:32:00
147 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:32:13
148 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:32:40
149 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:33:41
150 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Total Direct Energie 0:35:32