A busy day of racing across Europe offered several pointers towards the Tour de France, which gets under way in Lille in less than a fortnight. At the Baloise Belgium Tour, Filippo Baroncini wrapped up the overall title as Tim Merlier took his second bunch sprint of the race. In Denmark, Jordi Meeus bagged his second victory in three days at the inaugural Copenhagen Sprint. In Andorra, meanwhile, Mattias Skjelmose confirmed he’s shaping up nicely after illness for July as he won another new race, the Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica.
The Baloise Belgium Tour concluded with a final stage in Brussels. The winner on day one, Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) gained a psychological boost on some of the sprint rivals that he will face at the Tour when he cantered to his second victory of the race.
Swinging into the final straight, Alpecin Deceuninck looked set to lead out Jasper Philipsen for his second success of the race, only to see Merlier sweep out of their slipstream and breeze away for his 10th win of the season. It also that suggested that the Belgian is currently the form sprinter going into the Tour, where the European champion will share leadership with Remco Evenepoel.
Philipsen finished fifth, behind Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek). The overall title went to Molano’s teammate Filippo Baroncini, who finished four seconds ahead of Britain’s Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), who won the race’s time trial on Friday.
In Denmark, meanwhile, Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) bagged his second bunch sprint success in three days when he emerged from the pack in the very final metres to win the first edition of the Copenhagen Sprint WorldTour event.
Winner of stage six of the Tour de Suisse on Friday, Meeus quit the race that same evening and required the agreement of that event’s organisers to be able to compete in Copenhagen.
He made the most of the opportunity in a crash-affected finale. With 10km to go, pre-race favourite Olav Kooij went down with several other riders and failed to finish. In the final straight, Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) both opened early but faded into the headwind blowing from behind the line.
Meeus, though, judged his acceleration perfectly, emerging in the final metres from behind Frenchman Alexis Renard (Cofidis), who was second, ahead of compatriots Émilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
The day’s second new one-day race was the Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica. The threat of thunderstorms resulted in a late reworking of the route. The Beixalis climb was removed, as was the gravel section at Engolasters that was turned into a mud bath by torrential rain during the stage in the 2019 Vuelta a España that saw Tadej Pogačar take his first Grand Tour stage win.
The 114.4km event still featured plenty of climbing, notably the massive Envalira pass, as well as the Coll d’Ordino and Coll de la Comella. On the final 10.7km climb to the finish at the Coll de la Botella, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Enric Mas (Movistar), Cristian Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural) and Estebán Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) ended up vying for victory.
After Colombian veteran Chaves was reeled in following an attack with a kilometre remaining, the leading quintet marked each other until 200m to go, where Skjelmose accelerated. Mas and then Rodríguez chased, but the Dane held on, victory giving him a pre-Tour de France boost after recent setbacks.
“Of course [I’m happy]! I was sick for a long time and lost both the Dauphiné and Suisse,” explained Skjelmose at the finish. “Luckily, I could do this race, and I think the shape is there for the Tour [de France]. I was feeling good all day and the guys did a perfect job. I did my own pace and knew if I could come there that I could sprint.
“This was super good, we had to see how this race was going, but the Tour is a completely different race so we will have to see, but after today I’m more confident, I think we can do a good Tour. I’m looking forward to [it].”
