Race report

Aranburu thunders to Baloise Belgium Tour stage 3 win

Alex Aranburu won stage 3 of the Baloise Belgium Tour at Durbuy on Friday, outkicking the group to the line and taking the leaders' jersey.

June 19 2026 - 5:20 PM

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The day's early breakaway of five included Stijn Appel (BEAT CC p/b Saxo), Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto-Isorex), Roy Hoogendoorn (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel), Victor Hannes (Aarco), and Michiel Hillen (Baloise Verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions). The escape was caught with around 25km to go, setting up the GC contenders for their attacks on the closing ascent of the Mur de Durbuy.

Berckmoes and Hermans went clear on the Mur de Durbuy with around 22km remaining and went on to establish a slim advantage over the NSN lead peloton. The duo had swept the bonus seconds at the three Golden KM checkpoints, with Berckmoes taking two and Hermans the other.

Two became four not long after as Hector Alvarez (Lidl-Trek) and Aime De Gendt (Pinarello Q36.5) joined Berckmoes and Hermans.

It became a 'tug of war' between the escapees and the breakaway, with the gap fluctuating in favour of the break and then the peloton, teeing up a thrilling finale.

With 12 kilometres to go, the four riders were caught after strong work by NSN, but Biniam Girmay was teetering on the edge of being dropped, as counterattacks followed, with a group forming.

Inside the group were Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Dylan van Baarle (Soudal Quick-Step), Mike Teunissen (XDS-Astana), Quinten Hermans (Pinarello Q36.5) and Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarche), with Girmay, Rick Pluimers (Tudor) and Sergio Meris (Unibet Rose Rockets) bridging across.

The Tudor man then launched solo in an attempt to secure glory, and he took a nine-second gap with 3 kilometres to go and looked on his way for the stage win, but it wasn't to be as he was caught in the final kilometre.

Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarche) was the first to launch, but it was too early as he was swept up, which allowed Alex Aranburu and Lewis Askey (NSN) to duel for the stage win, with the Basque rider taking the stage win and GC lead.

The Baloise Belgium Tour 2026 has two more stages after Friday, with stage 4 to Aarschot on Saturday and the Hoeilaart finale on Sunday. The race has been the traditional pre-Tour de France stop for the sprinters.