The Tour of Belgium opened with a tough ride through Haagland. During the first two laps in and around Scherpenheuvel, the peloton kept the leading group of six riders in check.
Until Alpecin-Dekonink with Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch managed to break through the peloton hard.
They immediately halved the lead of the six escapees and after merging took a good lead over the peloton.
The peloton then put some speed behind it and the group caught up with the riders again. Meanwhile, Thibaut Nice surprisingly had to let the peloton ride.
After an attack by Stuyven, another leading group of eight knights appears, including Mathieu van der Poel again. However, Stuyven had to deal with a puncture, which ruined his chances of winning.
Van der Poel started the final with 13 kilometers to go. He pressed hard and had only Kasper Pedersen, Jasper de Buest and Rasmus Teller with him.
Van der Poel went to the bonus seconds in the golden kilometer and finished 8 seconds back.
The quad seemed to be heading towards the finish on its own, but the leading group was eventually caught by the tender peloton 2.5 km from the finish.
In the end, there was only one thing to do: sprint.
Thanks to a massive lead by Van der Poel, Philipsen stormed to victory at Scherpenheuvel ahead of Fabio Jakobsen and Timothy Dupont.
Alpecin-Deceuninck took the first two places with Philipsen and Van der Poel.
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