Baloise Belgium Tour: Jasper Philipsen wins stage 1, takes early lead

Jasper Philipsen
Jasper Philipsen (Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

Barry Ryan
Head of Features

Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.

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