Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) struck again to win stage 2 of the Baloise Belgium Tour, triumphing within the mass dash end on the finish of the 194.4km race.
The Belgian scored his second win of the 2025 season in Putte, having missed out on the dash on Wednesday’s opening stage after nearly taking place in a crash on the end.
He outpaced Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Staff Emirates-XRG) and Jenno Berkmoes (Lotto) to the end line of stage 2 with opening day winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) not difficult for the highest spot.
You could like
Molano leads Philipsen by a single second heading into stage 3’s 9.7km time trial to Ham. Merlier lies third general, two seconds down, whereas Berckmoes is in fourth general at 5 seconds down.
The way it Unfolded
Stage 2 of the Baloise Belgium Tour would deliver the peloton on one other flat stage as riders tackled 194.4km from Beringen to Putte, together with 4 laps of a closing circuit within the ending city.
With a quick begin at a 50kph common pace, it might take nearly 40km for the break of the day to leap away on the entrance.
A six-man transfer went clear, with 4 Belgians, Alex Colman (Flanders-Baloise), Luca De Meester (Wagner Bazin WB), Maarten Verheyen (Baloise Glowi Lions), and Kenay De Moyer (Pauwels Sauzen-Cibel Clementines), joined by Dutch duo Marijn Maas (Beat Biking Membership) and Casper van der Woude (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel).
As Soudal-QuickStep settled into working on the head of the peloton on behalf of stage 1 winner and race chief Tim Merlier, the break raced up the street to a three-minute benefit.
Alpecin-Deceuninck, working for Jasper Philipsen, additionally joined within the pacemaking, restricted the six leaders to a two-minute benefit heading into the 4 laps of the ending circuits.
Simply over 50km from the end, following the 1km cobbled sector, the Peulisbaan, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Philipsen made a transfer on the entrance, splitting the peloton with round 30 riders breaking off on the entrance.
Philipsen was joined by Merlier in addition to GC hopefuls Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) because the lead group swallowed up the breakaway with 45km to run. Quickly after, the chasing group got here throughout too, bringing your entire peloton again collectively.
Counter-attacks swiftly adopted as Olivier Godfroid (Baloise Glowi Lions) and Axel van der Tuuk (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel) went clear, taking a 10-second lead, with Wessel Mouris (Unibet Tietema Rockets) coming throughout in a while on the 30km mark.
By the penultimate passage by the end line at 25km to go, simply forward of the golden kilometres, the trio had constructed a 40-second lead. The breakaway trio shared the bonus seconds amongst themselves on the three golden kilometre sprints, whereas again within the peloton, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal-QuickStep continued to work within the chase.
Different groups, together with UAE Staff Emirates-XRG additionally hit the entrance, whereas the trio out entrance continued with a 30-second lead heading into the ultimate 10km. They hit the ultimate run over the Peulisbaan, 7km out, with a 15-second benefit as Uno-X Mobility pulled behind.
That hole swiftly evaporated, with the peloton making the catch and splitting as soon as once more 5km from house. Uno-X rider Adne Holter seized an opportunity to assault from the 40-man lead group a kilometre later.
He was introduced again at 2km to go, simply as Ineos Grenadiers introduced their man Ganna again to the entrance, prepared for a full peloton to contest the ultimate. Come the closing dash, it was Molano who hit the entrance first. Nevertheless, Philipsen received his timing proper, leaping into the wind on the proper second to push previous the Colombian and pace by for the win.
Outcomes
Outcomes powered by FirstCycling
.jpeg?ssl=1 "T20 World Cup 2026: ‘Abhishek Sharma can turn the match alone’")
