Lotto Soudal’s Tim Wellens served up a dose of déja vu on Saturday, taking a the victory on stage 6 of the BinckBank Tour ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb).
The Belgian, who won the corresponding stage in the Ardennes in 2014 and 2015 to take the race lead en route to overall victory, was strongest on a rainy day and outsprinted the Giro d’Italia winner in a two-up sprint.
Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) suffered a puncture at a terrible moment and lost his second place in the general classification.
Dumoulin’s second spot was enough for him to take the race lead from Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) who finished in Sagan’s group, over a minute down on the leaders.
https://youtu.be/XxWPZcrcrh4
BinckBank 2017 – stage 6 results (Riemst – Houffalize):
| 1 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | 5:04:36 |
| 2 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 3 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | +17” |
| 4 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 5 | Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 6 | Michael Valgren (Astana) | +20” |
| 7 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R) | ,, |
| 8 | Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’42” |
| 9 | Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 10 | Dion Smith (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
General classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | 20:27:49 |
| 2 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +04” |
| 3 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | +46” |
| 4 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | +52” |
| 5 | Michael Valgren (Astana) | +01’02” |
| 6 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R) | +01’09” |
| 7 | Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac) | +02’22” |
| 8 | Jan Bakelants (AG2R) | +02’28” |
| 9 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | +02’40” |
| 10 | Dion Smith (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | +03’15” |
