Mathieu van der Poel leads out Jasper Philipsen to victory on opening Baloise Belgium Tour stage

Alpecin-Deceuninck exploded the opening day of the Baloise Belgium Tour, with constant attacks putting pressure on rivals, and then a perfect leadout delivering Jasper Philipsen to the stage win.

An almost flat day in Belgium, it didn't seem to be an imminent threat for the sprinters, however it proved to be a very explosive day. Michael Vanthourenhout, Bert-Jan Lindeman, Kobe Vanoverschelde, Alex Colman and Jacob Scott attacked early in the day and formed the day's breakaway.

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However with 90 kilometers to go the race began to explode. Alpecin-Deceuninck was keen on breaking things up, with Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel among those attacking the race. The following 30 kilometers were packed with attacks until eventually a group unlatched from the peloton.

Mathieu van der Poel, Ramon Sinkeldam, Jasper De Buyst, Casper Pedersen, Rasmus Tiller, Cees Bol, Jasper Stuyven, Hugo Page, Sander de Pestel and Ceriel Desal formed the group. Stuyven and de Pestel were unlucky to experience punctures.

Van der Poel, De Buyst, Pedersen, Tiller and Bol went clear when the final tough section began. Eventually however all riders were caught with 3 kilometers to go as a mix of sprinter and GC teams allied to bring it back.

Gianni Vermeersch launched a dangerous late attack but everything was then reeled into a sprint. Lotto Dstny and Uno-X had numbers towards the front in the final kilometer, however Alpecin appeared at the front at the right time, with Mathieu van der Poel leading out Jasper Philipsen to the stage win. He narrowly beat Fabio Jakobsen and Timothy Dupont.

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