Baloise Belgium Tour 2024 Stage 2

June 13, 2024 A likely sprint day to Knokke-Heist saw seven riders make the break. The peloton were on edge with the possibility of cross winds and picked up the speed. The bunch caught the break with 76KM to go as they neared Bruges. At 14KM to go, the riders hit the Golden Kilometer with three sets of bonus seconds available. Race leader Søren Wærenskjold of Uno-X Mobility took the first sprint, Lidl-Trek counter attacked with Mathias Vacek taking the second set. AG2R Decathlon set up Benoît Cosnefroy who took the final set of bonus seconds to nudge closer up in GC. The action calmed and teams got re-organized to set up their sprinters for the run in to the finish. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek seemed to have a clear run after the final corner but Tim Merlier of Soudal Quickstep floated the wheels, found the gap, and hit the speed at the right time to take the win. Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck came in next with Olav Kooij of Visma-Lease a Bike in third.