With a tremendous burst of speed in the final metres and a perfect bike throw, Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) won stage 4 of the Baloise Belgium Tour, in a photo finish ahead of Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) in Aarschot.
The early breakaway was caught late in the stage, inside of three kilometres to go, as sprinters' teams did not want to expend too much energy chasing. On the flat run-in to the finish line, NSN Cycling Team took control under the red kite, leading out Biniam Girmay with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) following him. The Belgian got squeezed out and had to fight back into position with Merlier on his wheel, and then Kooij.
