BinckBank Tour (st. 4)
Jasha -helped out by Movistar team-mates- stays within BinckBank Tour's main bunch after two mechanical incidents, the latter just 5km from Ardooie's finish. Stuyven (TFS) wins with late attack.
A mixture of technical skill, power and intelligence helped Trek-Segafredo set up Jasper Stuyven for a resounding victory in front of the top sprinters on stage four of the BinckBank Tour -165km from Blankenberge to Ardooie-. Ewan (MTS) and Stybar (QST) were outsmarted by a move into an S-bend with 1.4km remaining, making for another upset in the bunch after a very nervous stage which had the Movistar Team solving several troubles along the way.
A 85 km de meta en la 4ª etapa del #BinckBankTour, la fuga inicial ha sido cazada y se suceden los ataques.
Hace 10 kilómetros se ha producido una caída con varios MOV -por fortuna, sin lesiones-, que ha obligado a @JashaStterlin a reparar un problema mecánico. Ya en el pelotón. pic.twitter.com/ogdjpWEpQR
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) August 16, 2018
Two mechanical incidents affected the Blues’ leader for the race, Jasha Sütterlin, in a day full of short-lived attacks, splits due to crosswinds and crashes in the aftermath of the stage’s only cobbled zone. The first one, 95km from the end, made the German break a spoke in his wheel and require the Movistar Team’s assistance. Quickly back to the bunch, the ‘Bull of Freiburg’ didn’t have time to relax at all, even in a finish where another mechanical, less than 10km before the end, forced his six team-mates to push and help him back to the first half of the peloton.
Jasha, still within the top-20 overall at 50″ from Mohoric (TBM), will have to get safely through a final sprinters’ stage on Friday -209km between Sint-Pieters-Leeuw and Lanaken-, the longest before a weekend where two ‘mini-classics’ will decide the BinckBank Tour’s GC.