Belgian Lotto-Soudal rider Tim Wellens won the fourth stage of the 2019 BinckBank Tour.
The Belgian beat Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) and Laurens De Plus (Jumbo-Visma) in the sprint to claim the short 96-kilometre stage and the first win for the Belgian team since the death of their young rider Bjorg Lambrecht on the Tour of Poland.
In the process, Wellens also took over the leader’s jersey from Irish triple-stage winner Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), with a four-second lead over Hirshi.
De Plus forced everyone to chase him down on the last climb of the Saint-Roch, but Wellens and Hirshi managed to follow.
The trio went into the final kilometre together and, despite attacks from De Plus and an early attack from Hirshi, 28-year-old Wellens managed to overhaul the young Swiss rider with a final push to take the stage.
In a post-match interview Wellens dedicated his stage victory to Lambrecht.
Bennett drops to fourth on the general classification, 19 seconds down on Wellens.
