"I tried to go for the bonuses, so I didn't really have anything left in the final sprint" - Soren Waerenskjold sacrifices fight for stage to stay in overall lead of Baloise Belgium Tour

Winner of the opening time trial at Baloise Belgium Tour, Søren Wærenskjold, had to dig deep during the golden kilometer of the second stage to defend his leader's jersey as number 2 Mathias Vacek was not going to let two-second margin stand between him and the overall lead.

And while Vacek scored four bonus seconds - enough to provisionally put him in the purple jersey, Wærenskjold removed three seconds from his own time and thus holds onto a one-second lead after two days of racing. However the Norwegian paid for his energy spending in the sprint for the stage where 7th was a maximum possible for the 24-year-old.

"I tried to go for the bonuses, so I didn't really have anything left in the final sprint," Wærenskjold analyzes. "I was barely able to catch anything in the second intermediate sprint, but I am still in the lead," he laughs. "On Friday it will normally be sprinting again, although I also have to make sure I have energy left for the fourth stage. That will decide the rankings, so I hope for better legs there."