Lampaert disqualified for this repeated barging of Wellens | Video

Yves Lampaert was not sprinting against Tim Wellens but sought to block him on behalf of team mate Mauro Schmid

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) was repeatedly blocked during the battle for vital bonus seconds in the golden kilometre on the final stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour today. He said in his post-stage interview the tactics by Yves Lampaert (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) had cost him overall victory.

While Lampaert was late disqualified, it had no impact on the overall result as his team mate Mauro Schmid, who benefitted from Lampaert's rule-breaking, still won the event

Wellens went into the final stage today in 2nd place but equal on time with race leader Mauro Schmid (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl). It meant the final time bonuses on offer at the intermediate sprints were always going to decide the race, as neither Wellens nor Schmid were expected to feature in the final sprint.

There were three sprints - with bonus seconds at all three - in the finale. Wellens won the first one and a three-second bonus after a lead-out from team mate Arnaud De Lie, with Schmid taking 3rd and a one-second time bonus. That meant Wellens was virtual leader by two seconds with just 6km remaining on the stage.

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However, in both the second and third sprints, Wellens was impeded by Lampaert, who seemed to engage in very sharp tactics, as the video below shows. Lampaert effectively singled out Wellens for targeting even before the sprints began.

As Wellens was bumped around in the run in to those two sprints,
Schmid won the second sprint, with Wellens 3rd - putting Schmid back
equal on time with Wellens and back in the race lead. And in the third sprint,
Lampaerts again engaged in sharp tactics, meaning Wellens was again impeded as
Schmid claimed the sprint and Wellens was 2nd.

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While shouldering and barging – sometimes aggressively – can be a
feature of sprinting it is very rare to see one rider in a team targeting a
rival who threatens the position of his team mate.

“Yeah, this cost me the victory at the Tour of Belgium. I’m disappointed, but I think we can say we did everything to try to win this,” Wellens said at the finish of today's stage.

Schmid - who took no part in tactical targeting of Wellens - won the race overall while his team mate Fabio Jakobsen claimed the stage today; QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl ending the day with stage and overall victory.

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