Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won stage 1 of the Baloise Belgium Tour at the end of a breathless afternoon of racing dominated by his teammate Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman spent much of the day on the attack, but he still summoned up the strength to lead out the sprint for Philipsen after he was caught in the last 2km.
Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) was closing rapidly on Philipsen in the closing metres, but he had to settle for second place in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, while Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto - Isorex) took third place.
