Last year, Jasper Stuyven put that chicane to good use. The home-rider placed a well-timed attack and powered to the line. He won the race just metres ahead of Caleb Ewan, who sprinted to second place.
Previous three editions of the BinckBank Tour featured a Blankenberge-Ardooie stage. Before Stuyven outsmarted the bunch in 2018, Peter Sagan won the uphill sprint in 2017 and 2016. Ardooie served as a finish before that, too. Sagan’s sprint victories were preceded by Tom Boonen (2015) and Nacer Bouhanni (2014), while Mark Renshaw jumped clear in Stuyven-style in 2013 to hold off a charging peloton.
Blankenberge is a seaside resort. Once the flag is dropped the route commences with a local lap before continuing on flat roads to a 15 kilometres circuit around Ardooie. The local round is raced twice, so riders are offered a welcome insight into the last kilometre.
Starting at kilometre 142.5, the Golden Kilometre serves three opportunities to win time bonuses of 3, 2 and 1 seconds within 1,000 metres. The first three riders on the line take 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
Another interesting read: results/race report 2nd stage 2019 BinckBank Tour.
BinckBank Tour 2019 stage 2: route, profile, more
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