The absence of the Ardennes from the parcours of this year´s BinckBank Tour might have limited Tim Wellens´ prospects of final overall victory, but although the terrain wasn´t exactly tailored to his measurements, the Belgian tried on a searing attack for size in the closing kilometres of stage 6 in Sittard-Geleen. The stage was billed as a sort of Amstel Gold Race-lite, with the road dipping and rising constantly as the peloton wound it way through the rippling hills of Limburg for the afternoon. Wellens first produced a sharp acceleration on the Schatsberg to pare down the front group, before he went clear alone on the Windraak with a little over 8km remaining, opening a lead of 13 seconds. Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step) was the first to bridge across to Wellens, followed in time by Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky), Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Max Schachmann (Quick-Step). This quintet led the race into the final kilometre, where Muhlberger produced a canny attack to claim a surprising stage win. Wellens, the day`s primary aggressor, had to settle for winning the sprint for second place, 3 seconds behind the Austrian.ADVERTISEMENT `When I was solo, it was looking good, I had a good advantage but then Stybar came back and we were looking a bit at each other. We were a little bit afraid of each other,` Wellens told Cyclingnews as he sat on the steps of the Lotto Soudal bus afterwards. `The others came back and there we were five of us. Then the Bora got a little bit lucky and he got away. The feelings were very good, but it was difficult to get a big gap.` Wellens won the BinckBank Tour - then known as the Eneco Tour - in 2014 and 2015, forging overall victory on each occasion with stage victory in the Ardennes, at La Redoute and Houffalize, respectively. For good measure, he won in Houffalize last year en route to second place overall, but this year`s truncated route has rather complicated his task. `For me it`s very difficult, because the stage I win eve ...
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