Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) gained the first stage of the Belgium Tour, sprinting forward of Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex).
The Belgian rider claimed his sixth victory of the season and took the chief’s jersey. In the common classification, Philipsen is 2 seconds forward of his teammate Mathieu van der Poel, sixth in the stage, however second general due to the bonuses gained throughout the day.
“It feels very nice, there was a lot of support,” Philipsen mentioned. “The race is close to my house, and the stage was on my training roads, so I was motivated. To win here is a nice start to the Belgium Tour.”
On Thursday, the second stage will take the peloton from Merelbeke to Knokke-Heist on a 175.7 kilometers flat route by the North Sea.
Source link
