"It was not my idea to go on the attack at 88 kilometers from the finish" - Mathieu van der Poel enjoying return to racing and collaboration with Jasper Philipsen

Jasper Philipsen has won the opening stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour after a very attacked day. Alpecin-Deceuninck attacked over and over and was always present in front, as Mathieu van der Poel also looked to deliver a hit in the fight for the overall classification.

“Let me first say that it was not my idea to go on the attack at 88 kilometers from the finish. Well, I'm not hard to convince. The team wanted to make the race difficult a little earlier," van der Poel told Wielerflits. "Jasper can handle a tough race better than the other sprinters. It is a pity that we got away with only four men, three of them from our team. We might have gotten further with a larger group. I did ride in the attack for a long time, but I felt good all day. The goal was to continue until the golden kilometer. So up to 7.8 kilometers from the finish."

Sure enough the strategy worked well, as Ramon Sinkeldam helped the move keep it's gap over a raging peloton behind, and van der Poel net 8 seconds in the golden kilometers which boosted him to second in the overall classification behind only Philipsen himself. "Then we put everything on Jasper. That worked out well.”

Alpecin-Deceuninck then timed their leadout to perfection, with Jonas Rickaert and van der Poel emerging in the final 500 meters to deliver the Belgian to the line, taking an important win. GC wise the team has also placed itself well, and the feedback was positive from the day.

“I notice that my form is already better here than five days ago in the Hageland. I often need a few races to be really super," he explains. "A day like today is exactly why I'm here and not in Switzerland. I hope that I recover well and that I can also race attractively in the other stages in the coming days.”

“In the beginning that Jasper joined the team, we didn't have that much contact yet. By riding a few more races together and being on the road a lot together, we have become friends. We always have a good time together. But it is also nice to do all this work in a race when you know that you have a sprinter who will finish it," the Dutchman believes. "Jasper belongs in the top five of the sprinters anyway, but what makes him so good is that he can survive a tough race very well. He can start sprinting just a little fresher because he's a little stronger than the rest."