Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at 3:29 PM
Jonathan Milan won the first stage of the Renewi Tour 2024 in Bilzen. After more than 163 kilometers, the stage ended in a mass sprint in which the leader of Lidl-Trek defeated Jasper Philipsen and Axel Zingle. Behind them, there was also a crash at the finish line between Dylan Groenewegen and Tim Merlier, who were locked in the sprint for fourth place. Olav Kooij had already crashed earlier in the final and had to miss the sprint.
The first stage of the Renewi Tour took place in the northeast of Belgium, in the province of Limburg, for a stage from Riemst to Bilzen. The first hills were the Côte de Hallembaye (1.2 km at 5.2%) and Côte Sur les Coteaux (1.7 km at 4.1%). In the final, two local laps of no less than sixty kilometers followed in the area of Bilzen, with the Slingerberg (1.2 km at 5.6%) and the previously mentioned Côte de Hallembaye and Côte Sur les Coteaux. The local circuit was therefore spiced up by three hills, a Green Kilometer and a slightly ascending finish street.
photo: Cor Vos
Tour de Tietema-Unibet shows itself
Five riders coloured the stage from the breakaway and it were the ProTeams who showed themselves on the offensive. Tour de Tietema-Unibet made their debut here in a WorldTour round and are participating with Jordy Bouts and Axel Huens, as well as Ceriel Desal, Loïc Vliegen (both Bingoal WB) and Lars Craps (Flanders-Baloise). They were given a free pass by the peloton, where the sprinter teams nestled themselves at the front.
Bouts also immediately gave TDT-Unibet a leader’s jersey by winning the SUPER 8 intermediate sprints. In the knowledge of the long-awaited mass sprint, a nice prize for the Dutch formation. Alpecin-Deceuninck, Visma | Lease a Bike, Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek were among those at the front and thus expressed confidence in their leaders Jasper Philipsen, Olav Kooij, Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan. Those teams let the difference with the leading group fluctuate between one and a half and two minutes for a long time.
photo: Cor Vos
Kooij’s crash and bad luck for Philipsen
It was also nervous at times, with a fall and Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) giving up as a result. In the peloton there was no interest in the Green Kilometer in the final, with three bonus sprints in a row. The leaders were therefore able to scrape by, with Huens as the big winner with six seconds won, ahead of Desal (five seconds) and Craps (four seconds).
Then it was time to look forward to the sprint preparation and the mass sprint itself, especially after the five leaders were caught 16 kilometers from the finish. Not much later there was a big crash with Olav Kooij as the biggest victim, for which Visma | Lease a Bike lost its leader. Jasper Philipsen also did not have an ideal preparation, because he had to be brought back to the peloton due to a setback in the final phase. That happened with verve.
The nervousness was very high in the last kilometers, because each team wanted to put their fast man in front. Philipsen found the wheel of Mathieu van der Poel in the penultimate kilometer, while Arnaud De Lie, Dylan Groenewegen, Biniam Girmay, Milan and Merlier also stuck their noses out of the window. For Fabio Jakobsen it went too fast.
Van der Poel started the sprint early for Philipsen, but it was Milan who dove into the wheel of the world champion. The Italian then opted for a long sprint himself, with which it seemed as if he was giving Philipsen a free pass. Milan was able to continue his sprint, while it was too much for Philipsen. He straightened up and came in second, ahead of Axel Zingle. In the sprint for fourth place, Merlier made a striking manoeuvre, with which he took down Groenewegen at the finish line. Both then remained lying down.
photo: Cor Vos
In the general classification, Milan leads by four seconds over Philipsen and early escapee Huens. On Thursday, the Renewi Tour 2024 continues with an individual time trial.
