Arnaud de Lie wins Renewi Tour and final stage after EPIC battle with Mathieu van der Poel

Arnaud de Lie and Mathieu van der Poel spearheaded an incredible fight for the overall victory at this Renewi Tour. The Lotto leader entered the day in the race lead, lost it mid-stage due to bonus seconds, and then won the winner-takes-all sprint against Mathieu van der Poel in the end of a thrilling stage.

The final stage promised a lot of spectacle as the riders headed towards Leuven for a hilly and urban circuit, the one where Julian Alaphilippe became a World Champion back in 2021. With Mathieu van der Poel only 1 second behind Arnaud de Lie into the stage we could see the overall classification change and attacks were a certainty.

Edoardo Affini, Kasper Asgreen, Siebe Deweirdt and Alvaras Mijutis formed the day's breakaway, a quartet with a lot of firepower but one which wouldn't be able to resist the high pace in the peloton even before the final circuit. The group would be caught with around 50 kilometers to go with the peloton already riding at full speed. The attacks were constant, and we've had Tim Wellens suffer a mechanical right before the decisive part of the stage began, with Mathieu van der Poel launching a first attack with 34 kilometers to go and de Lie nowhere to be seen.

But in the green kilometer the Dutchman turned the GC around, collecting seconds that put him 1 ahead of de Lie virtually. Van der Poel, Wellens, Toms Skujins and Alberto Bettiol spearheaded another attack, but the peloton still had lots of riders and closed it down. But van der Poel stopped attacking and closing down small moves and so many riders began moving off the front inside the final 10 kilometers. A small group went ahead and in the final climb with 5 kilometers to go Paul Magnier and Thibau Nys went off the front. Then it was Tim Wellens, closed down by van der Poel. Then Maxim van Gils also tried, unsuccessfully.

But everything came back together and a reduced peloton led by Visma headed into the final kilometer. Dries de Bondt took advantage of the lack of speed to launch a dangerous attack in the final kilometer, only caught in the middle of the final sprint.

Arnaud de Lie was the fastest and sprinted to the stage win, taking the race lead back and taking an incredibly important stage win after so much difficulty and disappointment this season. He directly outsprinted van der Poel but the bonifications led the Belgian to also win the overall classification. De Bondt's superb attack saw him still cross the line in third place.