Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) won the Binck Bank Tour in the biggest win of his career on Sunday after Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) claimed the seventh and final stage.
Mohoric’s landmark World Tour stage triumph came at the main expense of Matthews who took second in the overall standings.
The Sunweb rider fended off Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Zdanek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) to land the closing day’s honours in a bunch finish to the 209.5 kilometre ride.
“I finally showed that I still am capable of winning with all the setbacks I’ve had with my shoulder and being sick and having crashes all through the season,” Matthews said. “I had no results, but it wasn’t because I had really bad legs, I was just unlucky. This week I’ve tried to switch my head around, stay focused and finish it off with a good result, whether it was me or Søren Kragh Andersen. To come out and win the sprint today after Søren sacrificed himself for me to bring that breakaway back is the icing of the cake. For the team to believe in me, to believe that I can still win, it’s really special.”
Mohoric began Sunday’s stage from Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure to Grammont half a minute clear of Matthews. He had led approaching the final climb but his challenge faded, crossing 14sec behind Matthews who picked up bonus points to cut the gap in the general classification to five seconds.
Binck Bank Tour 2018 – stage 7 results (Lacs de l’Eau d’Heure – Geraardsbergen):
| 1 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | 4:38:36 |
| 2 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | +01” |
| 3 | Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) | +03” |
| 4 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 5 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 6 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 7 | Dion Smith (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 8 | Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 9 | Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 10 | Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) | +07” |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) | 25:13:01 |
| 2 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | +05” |
| 3 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +20” |
| 4 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | +25” |
| 5 | Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky) | +34” |
| 6 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | +37” |
| 7 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | +39” |
| 8 | Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-hansgrohe) | +43” |
| 9 | Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) | ,,’ |
| 10 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | +50” |
