Philipsen wins furious final stage to secure Belgium Tour victory

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) powered to victory on stage 5 of the Baloise Belgium Tour, beating Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Intermarché) and Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) to the line in Hoeilart, while Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) had to settle for fourth.

The win was enough to give Philipsen overall victory ahead of Berckmoes, with both riders leaping ahead of overnight leader Alex Aranburu (Cofidis).

The final stage of the Belgium Tour began with a similar situation as the previous four stages, with a breakaway quickly forming up the road. Inside it were seven riders: Roan Konings (Metec - SOLARWATT p/b Mantel), Alexys Brunel (TotalEnergies), Kay De Bruyckere (Pauwels Sauzen), Jocelyn Baguelin (Aarco), Zeno Moonen (Tarteletto - Isorex), Stijn Appel (BEAT CC p/b Saxo), Victor Hannes (Aarco).

The group cooperated well until 35 kilometres to go, where the peloton began to really set the pace behind. Controlling things were NSN and Alpecin, with Tim Merlier dropped due to the high tempo on a berg with 20km to go.

With 17km to go, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Alessandro Romele (XDS-Astana) sallied off the front but they would be brought back soon afterwards.

Dylan van Baarle (Soudal  Quick-Step), Milan Lanhove (Flanders - Baloise), and Jochem Kerchaert (BEAT CC p/b Saxo) later obtained a slim margin over the chasing pack with 7km to go. Lanhove would then press on alone, with Decathlon CMA CGM leading the chase. When Lanhove was caught, Abrahamsen had another go, but he would be swept up with 600m to go.

That led to a reduced bunch sprint, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) powering over the line to take the stage win and secure the overall classification ahead of Alex Aranburu (Cofidis).