Alex Aranburu (Movistar) was the quickest to the end line in an uphill dash to take the stage 4 victory on the Baloise Belgium Tour.
Aranburu got here round runner-up Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to take the win as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) punched up the climb to take third place on the day.
Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) maintained his total race lead two seconds forward of the day’s late-race breakaway rider Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Aranburu moved as much as third place at six seconds again.
The fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour was a 177km race in Durbuy that included 5 hilly circuits and an uphill end.
A big breakaway of 12 riders emerged mid-stage that included Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Martin Svrček (Soudal-QuickStep), Rémi Cavagna (Movistar), Tristan Scherpenbergh (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), Lindsay De Vylder (Team Flanders-Baloise), Jasper Haest and Jago Willems (VolkerWessels), Jeroen Van Krimpen (BEAT Cycling), Diego Pablo Sevilla (Team Polti Kometa), Valentin Retailleau (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Nathan Smith (Team Novo Nordisk).
Uno-X Mobility, Flanders-Baloise and Movistar set the tempo on the entrance of the sector decreasing the hole to below a minute inside 40km to go.
Several riders misplaced contact because of the difficult terrain and the quick tempo of the breakaway, however all had been reeled again in with 37km to go.
Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike moved to the entrance as counter-attacks from a brand new four-rider breakaway set off with Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty), Joseph Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Dstny).
The quartet prolonged their result in 30 seconds, however that hole was slashed to simply 10 seconds inside the ultimate 4 kilometres as Visma-Lease a Bike pulled the sector into the ultimate run-in to Durbuy.
The breakaway was caught on the ultimate brief and steep ascent within the last kilometre, as riders from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Israel Premier Tech ignited the ultimate. But it was Aranburu who bided his time and made his profitable transfer within the last 100 metres to take the stage win.
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