After three bunch sprints and an individual time trial, stage 5 of the BinckBank Tour drew the general classification hopefuls into open hostilities, and Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) emerged from a tactical day in the Limburg hills to take the stage win and with it the overall lead.
The Dutchman forged clear of an elite selection of 17 riders inside the last two kilometres of the Amstel Gold-flavoured stage, finishing three seconds clear as Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) led the rest of the group home, with Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) taking third place.
A pumped-up Boom bashed his bike as he celebrated his stage win, and he would soon receive confirmation that he’d be pulling on the leader’s jersey, too. Overnight leader Stefan Kung (BMC) was twice caught out as he struggled defend the green jersey, and both times in the same place.
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Twenty-six km into the 38km finishing circuit came the Weg Langs Stammen climb – one of 18 on the 167km route – followed by an exposed stretch of road, and on the first lap Kung suffered a mechanical as the race split into two pelotons. Things would come back together, but at the same point on the second lap the decisive splits formed and it was game over.
At that point, it seemed that Sagan, fourth overall at the start of the day, was destined to regain the leader’s jersey, but Boom, who started the day five seconds down on the world champion, was lifted into green thanks to his 10 bonus seconds for the stage win. Sagan, who collected six of his own, now sits second overall at two seconds, with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) making the selection to remain third overall at eight seconds.
“The spring Classics were not what I hoped for this year, and there was a lot of anger and happiness when I passed the finish with this victory,” said Boom. “I’ve worked really hard in the last few weeks and months to get back in good shape, that’s why I’m so happy.”
How it unfolded
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