Alex Aranburu (Movistar) was the fastest to the finish line in an uphill sprint to take the stage 4 victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour.
Aranburu came around 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 overall race lead two seconds ahead of the day’s late-race breakaway rider Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Aranburu moved up to third place at six seconds back.
The fourth stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour was a 177km race in Durbuy that included five hilly circuits and an uphill finish.
A large 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 pace at the front of the field reducing the gap to under a minute inside 40km to go.
Several riders lost contact due to the challenging terrain and the fast pace of the breakaway, but all were reeled back in with 37km to go.
Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike moved to the front as counter-attacks from a 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 extended their lead to 30 seconds, but that gap was slashed to just 10 seconds inside the final four kilometres as Visma-Lease a Bike pulled the field into the final run-in to Durbuy.
The breakaway was caught on the final short and steep ascent in the final kilometre, as riders from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Israel Premier Tech ignited the final. But it was Aranburu who bided his time and made his winning move in the final 100 metres to take the stage win.
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