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Tour of Belgium: Van der Poel wins solo Derby
The Dutch leader of the Tour of Belgium, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Dekonink), assumed his responsibilities in the final of the fourth stage of the Tour of Belgium, where the queen stage was contested over 172.6 kilometers around the Derby on Saturday, in isolation in the lead 36 kilometers from the finish. He consolidated his position at the top of the general classification a day before the end of the Belgian event. Van der Poel is now forty seconds ahead of Norway’s Soren Werenskold (Uno X). Dane Casper Pedersen (Soudal-Quick Step), third on the stage behind Thibau Nys (Trek-Segafredo), took two places in the general classification and found himself third at 53 seconds, ahead of the Belgian quintet of teammate Yves. Lambert and Jasper Stueven (Trek Segafredo), Jasper De Buest and Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Destiny) as well as Ben Hermans (Israel – Prime Tech).
The fourth stage of the Tour of Belgium presented 24 listed difficulties with a climb of 2,600 metres, including the Mur de Durbuy 600 meters from the finish. The day was launched in the sun by six riders: Dane Asbjorn Hellemose (Trek-Segafredo), New Zealand’s Logan Currie (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), and Belgians Jens Jenders (Israel-Premier Tech), Aaron van Boeck (Flanders-Baloise) and Cyril Desalle (Pingwall WP) and Andreas Gaumann (Tartletto-Isurex). Halfway through the race, the first group led by less than two minutes.
The advantage of the leading men began to melt 75 kilometers from the finish, the peloton, led, in particular, by the colleagues of the race leader, Mathieu van der Poel, boisterous in a series of bumps. The splits were caught 68 kilometers from the finish by a group of about forty runners.
Van der Poel accelerated heavily on the Petite-Somme coast, 36 kilometers from the finish, to isolate himself at the front and quickly create a gap between the group of 19 riders. Disagreement in the chasing group allowed the Dutch leader to widen the gap. Czech Matias Vasek (Trek-Segafredo) started hunting alone 16 kilometers from the goal. Kasper Pedersen, Soren Ferenskjöld and Thibaut Ness, in turn, increased the pace ahead of the chasing group and got back to Vasek.
Mathieu van der Poel went on to sign the third win of his season following his Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo successes, the 43rd of his career. Thibault won the sprint, ahead of Kasper Pedersen.
The fifth and final stage of the Tour of Belgium will take place on Sunday in Brussels at a distance of 194.1 kilometres. Van der Poel donned the leader’s jersey after Friday’s individual time trial in Beveren, where he finished fourth.
The final winner of the 2023 edition of the Baloise Belgium Tour will succeed Swiss Mauro Schmid who won in 2022 ahead of Tom Wellens and Quinten Hermans.
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