Olav Kooij edges Merlier by a whisker in Baloise Belgium Tour photo finish

Olav Kooij won the fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour. The Dutch rider from Decathlon CMA CGM was just a milisecond faster than Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in the bunch sprint. It came down to a photo finish, but “The Cheetah of Numansdorp” claimed his third victory of the year.

Their legs must still have been heavy from the queen stage. The third stage around Durbuy was grueling, but it didn’t really create the desired gaps. An attack by the favorites fell apart, after which Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) proved to be the strongest on the Muur van Durbuy. However, the Spaniard had to defend a lead of six seconds or less against no fewer than five different riders.

One of them was Jasper Philipsen, who saw opportunities in the last two (relatively) flat stages. The time bonuses were up for grabs. His first chance came on Saturday during the stage to Aarschot. The breakaway group consisted of Dutch rider Michiel van Vliet (Metec-SOLARWATT), four Belgians (including cyclocross rider Michael Vanthourenhout), and an American.

Soudal Quick-Step and Alpecin-Premier Tech took charge and sent their domestiques out to chase down the breakaway. For Van Vliet, his adventure in the breakaway came to a disappointing end: his wheel got tangled with Vanthourenhout’s, and he took a hard fall. The remaining five saw their lead slowly dwindle.

On the short, small hills of the final stretch, the leading group broke apart, and the last riders in the lead—namely Jarno Bellens (Baloise - Het Poetsbureau Lions), Jonah Killy (Tarteletto-Isorex), Maxence Place (Aarco), and Michiel Coppens (BEAT)—held on for quite a while. With 25 kilometers to go, the gap was still 1.40 minutes. Meanwhile, we saw an awful lot of flat tires in the peloton.

Within a span of ten minutes, Timo Roosen (Picnic PostNL), Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step), and Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech) were pulled over to the side of the road. Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen thus lost key support riders for the final stretch. Despite that, control did not seem to have been lost. With ten kilometers to go, the gap was half a minute.

They fought tooth and nail, but in the final two kilometers, they were eventually caught. Alpecin-Premier Tech, NSN, and Decathlon CMA CGM all sent their sprint trains to the front, but Merlier also held his own. It turned into a true drag race among the big names, and it was Olav Kooij who just had the edge over Merlier and Philipsen.