Florian Vermeersch moves up to third overall in Baloise Belgium Tour TT

Florian Vermeersch and Filippo Baroncini both delivered classy performances on stage 3 of the Baloise Belgium Tour, placing third and fourth, respectively, to leave UAE Team Emirates-XRG in a strong position heading into Saturday’s Queen stage. With 10th place on the day, Rune Herregodts ensured that three of the top 10 would come from the Emirati squad on Friday afternoon.

With their efforts in the 9.7km-long individual time trial, Vermeersch and Baroncini now sit third and fourth in the general classification, less than 20 seconds off the race lead of stage 3 winner Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step). The British rider pipped Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) to the day’s honours in Tessenderlo-Ham.

As the last rider off the starting ramp, race leader Sebastián Molano wore the purple jersey that he had earned with consecutive runner-up spots in Belgium, but the Colombian was hindered by an ill-timed puncture. The mechanical would spell an end to Molano’s time in the leader’s jersey, but the sprinter still took to the day’s podium as the leader of the points classification.

Saturday’s stage 4 will see the peloton head to the steep slopes of Durbuy, where four ascents of the 0.8km-long climb await. With an average gradient of over 8%, the Mur de Durbuy promises to shake up the general classification and provide an entertaining day of action for the expectant crowd.

Following their strong performances on Friday afternoon, all three of Vermeersch, Baroncini and Vermeersch can look forward to racing on the front foot in the Ardennes.

Vermeersch: “I came into this race with a really good shape, and I am happy I was able to show this today. After altitude, sometimes you don’t know quite how the body will respond, but today it was nice to open up the lungs and go all out for 10 minutes.

“I always want to get as good a result as possible, and today we can be really pleased to be third and fourth, with Rune also doing a strong result. There were no true corners and through the whole course, there was only a couple of places where we needed to break, so we were able to push the pedals and see who was the strongest.

“Hayter did a really strong ride and we know the talent of Ganna, so I am happy to have come close to their time over the line. I think it sets us up nicely for the weekend, and I am sure we will be aggressive in how we race, especially tomorrow. It is all to play for in the GC and after Sebas performed well in the first couple of stages, we can take a lot of confidence.”

Baloise Belgium Tour 2025 stage 3 results

1. Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) 10’29”

2. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +0.04″

3. Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +16″

4. Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

10. Rune Herregodts (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +23″

General classification after Baloise Belgium Tour stage 3

1. Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) 8:41:39

2. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +2″

3. Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +15″

4. Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +17″