Mick van Dijke claims first pro win as Victor Campenaerts takes race lead on Eneco Tour stage 3

Mick van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his first professional victory on stage 3 of the Eneco Tour in Watersley ahead of an aggressive Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike). 

The duo were part of a group that bridged across to the breakaway after attacking from the peloton with just under 40km remaining, before they distanced their companions out front to contest the stage honours. 

Inside the final kilometre, the duo had an advantage of less than 10 seconds over a trio of chasers but they never gave up. Campenaerts led out the uphill sprint before Van Dijke launched past the Belgian early to take his first professional victory on the road by a second ahead of Campenaerts. 

Jonas Rutsch (Lotto-Intermarché), who had been part of the original breakaway, finished third at nine seconds from the stage winner.  

As a result of the aggressive riding, Campenaerts moved into the race lead, having started the stage in seventh place, 29 seconds down on stage 2 time trial winner Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek). 

He now leads Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets) by 15 seconds, with Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in third at 30 seconds. Söderqvist lost 1:34.

"Yes it's the first one, finally. I've been chasing this already for five and a half years now, so super happy," said Van Dijke post race. 

The day’s breakaway featured Rutsch Jesse Kramer (Beat CC p/b Saxo), Pierre Thierry (TotalEnergies), and Rick Ottema (EEW-VDK Cyclingteam).

With just under 40km remaining, Campenaerts attacked from the peloton, and he was joined by Van Dijke and Hartthijs De Vries (Unibet Rose Rockets), and the trio quickly bridge across to the breakaway.

Behind Fisher-Black and Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek) tried but was unable to bridge across before Soudal Quick-Step set up an attack for Pepijn Reinderink, which drew a reaction from Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) and strung out the peloton.

From here, there was a series of attacks, and eventually the race leader Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) was in trouble. 

Campenaerts, Thierry and Van Dijke were clear with 22km remaining, and eventually Thierry would be distanced, leaving the two out front.

With 10km remaining, the leading duo held an advantage of 20 seconds over the remaining breakaway riders. A third group on the road consisting of nine chasers were at 45 seconds, while the peloton sat one minute from the head of the race.

There was an incident in the second chasing group where Menno Huising (Visma | Lease a Bike) crashed after coming into contact with Fisher-Black inside the closing kilometres. 

Ultimately, the stage was to be contested between Campenaerts and Van Dijke out front, who worked well over the final 10km to hold off the chasing groups.