Robert Wagner began the Baloise Belgium Tour today with 31st in the prologue. The German was the fastest Team LottoNL-jumbo rider in the time trial won by Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling). The Swiss set a time of 7-54 minutes on the almost seven-kilometre course in Bornem, 28 seconds faster than Wagner.

The 32-year-old German said: “A prologue like this should favour me and I had high expectations. I checked out the course three times. A top ten would have been nice, but I’m still not fully fit after I had to abandon in the Giro. Besides that, I made a few small mistakes.”

Nico Verhoeven looked ahead after the prologue.

“For us, the race truly starts tomorrow. We aim for a good result in a sprint with Tom Van Asbroek and Barry Markus.”

The second stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour leads the pack towards the coast. After a start in Lochristi, the peloton finishes in Knokke-Heist 178.5 kilometres later.

Markus expects to be ready for Thursday’s tricky stage.

“I felt good during the World Ports Classic. Tomorrow, we have to be aware of the wind constantly. The local lap in Knokke is quite open and fairly tortuous. We must ensure that we are well-positioned.”
 

The riders face a new phenomenon on Thursday, the Golden Kilometre. In one kilometre, at around 20 kilometres from the line, the riders can win a total of nine bonus seconds in three intermediate sprints.  

“It’s new and therefore exciting, we’ll see how it pans out,” Verhoeven said.