Mathieu van der Poel takes dominant win on stage 4 of the Baloise Belgium Tour after attacking solo with 36km to go

A stunning move from Mathieu van der Poel saw the Dutchman attack from 36km out and solo to a truly wonderful win at the Baloise Belgium Tour.

Stage 4 is as explosive as it could be. The town of Durbuy hosts the start and finish to this hilly day and the whole stage consists of a circuit around it's rolling hills.

Heading into the final 55kms no riders were out in front of the breakaway with Alpecin-Deceuninck controlling things at the front of the peloton.

Then with 36km still to be ridden, Mathieu van der Poel decided it was time for a solo attack, quickly gaining a gap of 30 seconds.

With van der Poel's attack rising the pace in the group behind, an elite selection of 19 riders were in the bunch behind.

However, just as van der Poel was back in touching distance, the chasing group stalled and seeing this, the Dutchman doubled his efforts, re-extending his lead.

Mathias Vacek, wearing the Yellow Jersey of best young rider launched a counter-attack and with 10km to go he was around 40 seconds behind van der Poel and 20 seconds ahead of the chasers.

Behind the Dutchman, a trio of Casper Pedersen, Thibau Nys and second place in the GC, Søren Waerenskjold were battling it out for second on the day.

Crossing the line as winner, van der Poel punched the air in delight, with Nys finishing second and Pedersen third.

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