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’m super happy with the performance. Third place is good, of course, I wanted the victory but sometimes you have to accept that some guys are stronger. It sets us up for a good weekend because Saturday is a hard stage, so we should be in contention for the win.