Description
October 3, 2020
BinckBank Tour 2020 – Stage 5 – Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve – Geraardsbergen : 183,6 km
The BinckBank Tour, formerly the Eneco Tour, has been part of the WorldTour since it succeeded the old Tour of the Netherlands in 2005.
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October 3, 2020
BinckBank Tour 2020 – Stage 5 – Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve – Geraardsbergen : 183,6 km
The BinckBank Tour, formerly the Eneco Tour, has been part of the WorldTour since it succeeded the old Tour of the Netherlands in 2005. It has typically been positioned in the late August cycling calendar. The 2020 the Dutch-Belgian World Tour race was rescheduled September 29 to October 3 with five stages instead of the original seven, and after stage 1 was completed re-organised for a total of four stages over five days due to COVID-19 coronavirus restrictions in the Netherlands. The 2020 BinckBank Tour starts in Blankenberge, Belgium with flat roads in West Flanders to Ardooie, a total of 132.1km. Rather than continue with a planned 11km individual time trial in Vlissingen in the Netherlands along the North Sea, organisers were forced to have a rest day on Wednesday instead. The start of Thursday’s stage in Philippine and the stage finish in Sittard on Friday also impacted the race, which made new plans to keep the entire event in Belgium, as the Dutch government imposed new limits prohibiting public attendance at sporting events in its borders.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) staged an enormous coup in the BinckBank Tour, winning the final stage in Geraardsbergen and taking the overall victory ahead of Søren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) in third overall.
Van der Poel came into the final stage 17 seconds down on race leader Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) but put in a stinging attack on the Muur van Geraardsbergen Mathieu van der Poel with a full 75km to go to the finish.
After pulling a group away, Van der Poel then attacked again on the second trip over the Muur and went solo with 50km to go.
Behind, Pedersen succumbed when Kragh Andersen attacked on the final ascent with 16km to go and the Dane, together with Küng, Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain McLaren) tried to chase down the Dutch champion.
However, Van der Poel swept up the Golden Kilometre time bonus with 11km to go to seal the overall victory and solo to the stage win, three seconds ahead of Naesen with Colbrelli in third.
“It is incredible that I won the BinckBank Tour”, Van der Poel said. “I had started for the win, but after yesterday’s time trial I didn’t expect that anymore.”
Van der Poel said attacking that far out was not his plan, “It was way too early,” he said. But he felt that the group wasn’t working and decided to go on the climb.
“And suddenly I was alone. For a moment I hesitated, because it was still far to the finish, but in the end I played all or nothing.”
Results :
1 Mathieu Van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix 4:07:38
2 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:03
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:05
4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
5 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:09
6 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Cofidis 0:00:47
7 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:50
8 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:08
9 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:12
10 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:13
Final General Classification :
1 Mathieu Van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
2 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
3 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
 staged an enormous coup in the BinckBank Tour, winning the final stage in Geraardsbergen and taking the overall victory ahead of Søren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) in third overall.
Van der Poel came into the final stage 17 seconds down on race leader Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) but put in a stinging attack on the Muur van Geraardsbergen Mathieu van der Poel with a full 75km to go to the finish.
After pulling a group away, Van der Poel then attacked again on the second trip over the Muur and went solo with 50km to go.
Behind, Pedersen succumbed when Kragh Andersen attacked on the final ascent with 16km to go and the Dane, together with Küng, Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain McLaren) tried to chase down the Dutch champion.
However, Van der Poel swept up the Golden Kilometre time bonus with 11km to go to seal the overall victory and solo to the stage win, three seconds ahead of Naesen with Colbrelli in third.
"It is incredible that I won the BinckBank Tour", Van der Poel said. "I had started for the win, but after yesterday's time trial I didn't expect that anymore."
Van der Poel said attacking that far out was not his plan, "It was way too early," he said. But he felt that the group wasn't working and decided to go on the climb.
"And suddenly I was alone. For a moment I hesitated, because it was still far to the finish, but in the end I played all or nothing."
<strong>Results : </strong>
1 Mathieu Van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix 4:07:38
2 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:03
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:05
4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
5 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:09
6 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Cofidis 0:00:47
7 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:50
8 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:08
9 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:12
10 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:13
<strong> Final General Classification : </strong>
1 Mathieu Van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix
2 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
3 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ)
