Baloise Belgium Tour: Evenepoel takes overall victory

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Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) secured overall victory at the Baloise Tour of Belgium, despite going down in a late crash as the sprinters fought for the stage victory.

Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) won the sprint by taking a wide line as other sprinters clashed with each other.

Evenepoel rode the finish alone, with a hole in his shorts but a smile on his face, knowing he was to be crowned the overall winner. The 19-year-old revelation won stage 2 and then defended his lead in the final stages with strong support from Deceuninck-QuickStep.

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) finished second overall at 52 seconds, with his teammate Tim Wellens third overall at 2:02 but Deceuninck-QuickStep won again, taking their 37th victory of the season. 

“I’m obviously delighted to win. It’s an amazing feeling, it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Evenepoel said.

It was a little bit difficult with what happened in the final sprint. But that’s okay; it’s a huge relief to get over the finish and win, without any of teammates being harmed.

“I’m going to be the youngest winner of the Tour and that’s a great achievement, I’m thrilled. The team again did well to make sure nobody got away again on the final flat stage. I have to thank them for the work they did.

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