Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was in full command on stage 3 of the Tour of Belgium, making up for his botched sprint on the previous day by sprinting to an all but uncontested victory in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem.
Philipsen's team did a textbook lead-out, dropping the Belgian on the front with 200 metres to go and no other rider could even come alongside.
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) finished second and third on the stage a bike length behind, with stage 2 winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) in fourth.
Stage 1 winner and race leader Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) used the 'golden kilometre' trio of time bonus sprints to ensure he would head into stage 4 in the leader's jersey.
"It is the second year in a row that I have won in Scherpenheuvel, but last year it was a little bit trickier," Philipsen said. "The local laps were quite long this time. You could attack, but you weren't actually going anywhere. Today it was a definite bunch sprint.
"Just like yesterday, we did very well with the team. I'm happy that I'm doing my timing a little bit better today and can finish it like this. It's an ideal opportunity to get back into a routine. We found each other in the last kilometre and were able to really take the lead. I'm happy with how the team is doing, and happy to be able to thank them with a win."
How it unfolded
Stage 3 from Turnhout to Scherpenheuvel-Zichem was another day for the sprinters and their teams kept the race under tight control for a second straight stage.
Lindsay De Vylder (Flanders-Baloise), Diego Sevilla (Polti-Kometa), Yorben Lauryssen (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Stijn Appel (Beat Cycling), Quentin Bezza (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), Stijn Daemen and Jago Willems (Volkerwessels) made the day's early breakaway. But as in the previous stage, they were never allowed to get more than two minutes on the peloton.
A massive crash blocked the entire road with 78km to go, splitting the peloton into two but that didn't slow the chase. As the gap came down below a minute on the final lap, Daemen lost contact but was replaced by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's Sander De Pestel who bridged across to make it seven again.
The peloton finally caught the escapees with 34km to go with Uno-X Mobility keen to deliver race leader Wærenskjold to the time bonus sprints in the 'golden kilometre' with 28km to go, where there are three sprints with 3, 2 and 1 seconds on the line. Wærenskjold won the first and third, but teammate Rasmus Tiller might not have let off enough on the second one.
Following the sprints, an attack came with Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny) escaping with Robbe Ghys (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Alex Aranburu (Movistar). Soon Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quickstep) bridged across but Uno-X Mobility nailed the move back.
Another big crash with 19km to go took Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-Firmenich-PostNL) out of the picture and split the peloton. After 10km, groups started to rejoin what was left of the front bunch, led by Lidl-Trek.
Alpecin-Deceuninck fought their way to the front for Philipsen for another slightly uphill drag to the line. Having waited too long on stage 2, this time round Philipsen timed his sprint perfectly to take the stage for the second year in a row.
Results
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