Lotto Soudal’s Tim Wellens Disappointed with Second Place Finish at Baloise Belgium Tour
Despite a strong performance, Tim Wellens of Lotto Soudal finished in second place on the general classification at the Baloise Belgium Tour. The battle for the overall victory came down to the Golden Kilometre on the final day of racing. Wellens and leader Schmid started the day in the same time, making the bonification seconds crucial in determining the winner.
Lotto Soudal worked tirelessly to ensure a complete peloton would reach the Golden Kilometre. After a series of intense sprints, both Wellens and Schmid earned four seconds each, resulting in no differences in the final classification. Fabio Jakobsen went on to win the closing stage, while Wellens secured second place overall and Victor Campenaerts finished fifth.
Reflecting on the race, Wellens expressed his disappointment at coming so close to victory: “Of course I am disappointed to be so close to winning the Baloise Belgium Tour. As a team, we would fully go for the overall victory and we did everything we could to enter the Golden Kilometre in a perfect position, which we also did. It looked very good after the first sprint but it went wrong towards the second sprint. That move of Lampaert did cost me the overall victory but his disqualification does not change anything of course.”
Wellens also acknowledged that losing by such a small margin was tough, but he took pride in the team’s performance throughout the tour: “You might also say that I lost the Belgium Tour in the time trial or the Ardennes stage… In any case, it was a really exciting battle and really entertaining to watch for the fans. Losing with such a small gap is never nice but as a team we can be proud of how we raced during the Belgium Tour and this gives confidence for what’s to come,” concluded Wellens.
Wellens’ teammate Arnaud De Lie played a crucial role in supporting Wellens’ bid for the overall victory and sacrificed his own chances in the final sprint: “It was just logical that I would help Tim today because there was a good chance we could still win the overall classification and eventually we came very close. I launched Tim towards the first sprint, where he immediately took three seconds. The legs exploded a bit after that effort so I didn’t really see what happened afterwards. I still tried to be in the mix for the final sprint but I was a bit boxed in after the team had worked all day long.”
The Baloise Belgium Tour was a thrilling battle and showcased the strong teamwork and determination of Lotto Soudal. While they may have missed out on the top spot, their performance in the tour bodes well for their future races.
