Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the first stage of the Belgium Tour, sprinting ahead of Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex).
The Belgian rider claimed his sixth victory of the season and took the leader’s jersey. In the general classification, Philipsen is two seconds ahead of his teammate Mathieu van der Poel, sixth in the stage, but second overall thanks to the bonuses won during the day.
“It feels very nice, there was a lot of support,” Philipsen said. “The race is close to my house, and the stage was on my training roads, so I was motivated. To win here is a nice start to the Belgium Tour.”
On Thursday, the second stage will take the peloton from Merelbeke to Knokke-Heist on a 175.7 kilometers flat route by the North Sea.
