BinckBank Tour: Wellens wins stage 6

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Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) mastered a wet and windy day to take victory on stage 6 of the BinckBank Tour. Wellens beat Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) in a two-up sprint, after the pair got away in the closing kilometres of the race.

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) got the upper hand on Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) in the bunch behind to take third place on the stage. While Dumoulin was unable to better Wellens in the sprint, he did enough to take the overall race lead from Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) who finished over a minute down on the leaders. Wellens gained some ground with the bonus seconds on offer in the golden kilometre, putting him just four seconds behind Dumoulin in the overall standings.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) had started the day just two seconds down on the race lead, but dropped out of overall contention after he finished in the same group as Boom following a badly timed puncture. As well as the lack of help chasing from the other riders, Sagan will be most frustrated as he'd initially been in what proved to be the race-winning break.

Sagan had gone clear with Wellens in the final 25 kilometres soon after the riders had tackled the Cote de Saint Roch. The pair appeared to be making good ground when the world champion began shouting into his radio and slipped back from his Belgian companion. The timing could hardly have been worse with no team cars allowed on the section of road as it was too narrow. Sagan was thus forced to ride on with a puncture in his front tyre. Riding with a flat in those conditions proved a challenge even for a rider with Sagan's bike handling skills and he struggled around some corners and was quickly dropped.

How it happened

With 14 climbs to contend with, it was always going to be an important day for the overall classification and so it turned out to be. The torrential rain throughout only added to the occasion. At 203.7 kilometres, it was the longest stage of the race but it still took some 50 kilometres for the day's break to form. Six riders took their chance and slipped up the road. They were: Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky), Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac), Rory Sutherland (Movistar), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Pieter Weening (Roompot Nederlandse Loterij).

The gap was allowed to grow above five minutes, but with so much at stake and with Martin, Gougars and Van Baarle just over a minute behind in the overall standings, they were never going to be allowed to stay away. By the time they reached the final loop with just over 30 kilometres to go that lead had been brought back to just 30 seconds.

Lotto Soudal had made their intentions known throughout with Andre Greipel putting in long shifts on the front of the peloton. Tiesj Benoot took that role up on the approach to the finishing circuit and the pace that he set on the Cote de Saint Roch blew the group of favourites apart. Race leader Boom was one of those that quickly lost touch, as was Vanmarcke.

Up front, Geoghegan Hart had made an attempt to extend his time up front, taking Sutherland and Weening with him, but they would not last much longer and with just under 30 kilometres to go they were back with the very reduced bunch of favourites. Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) didn't wait too long before making his own break for freedom.

The Belgian champion gained 20 seconds on the chasers, which was now split up across the road. Naesen pushed hard, taking some risks in the slippy conditions, but it was on the climbs that he struggled to maintain the gap. As the golden kilometre approached, Sagan attacked, passing Naesen like he was standing still.

Wellens was the only rider who could match Sagan's attack and the two began working together. Wellens soon found himself alone when a puncture put paid to Sagan's challenge, not a surprise in the wet conditions. By the time that Sagan had a new wheel, he was more than a minute behind in a group that contained Boom and Vanmarcke. Neither seemed overly keen to help Sagan make the chase and, in the end, the world champion gave a sarcastic thumbs up to the TV camera, signalling his displeasure with the situation.

Up front, Wellens didn't panic and maintained a slim lead over the small group behind him. With just over 20 kilometres remaining, Dumoulin and Van Avermaet set out to bridge the gap but the latter faltered, leaving only Dumoulin able to make contact with Wellens. The gap for the duo was never a big one, but it didn't need to be. Wellens did most of the grunt work, digging in hard on a couple of occasions to push the advantage over 20 seconds. Dumoulin pitched in a few times, but appeared to be happy to sit in Wellens' wheel. Despite the huge efforts put in, Wellens still had the legs to beat Dumoulin in the rush to the line. 

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