PREVIEW & FAVOURITES | Renewi Tour 2025 stage 3 - Will we have a Mathieu van der Poel show on the cobbles of Geraardsbergen?

From the 20th to the 24th of August the World Tour peloton returns to the Benelux, but not for one-day races this time around, but instead some high-octane stage-racing. The Renewi Tour often provides opportunities for the classics specialists, sprinters and time-trialists to all battle for quality results. We preview stage 3.

The queen stage of the race? Often it is, and certainly this year we can say the same. The race returns to Geraardsbergen and 'De Muur' but this time around on the third day of racing, earlier than usual. The stage begins in Aalter and the start is rather flat, but as soon as the riders enter the Flandrien terrain they will face serious challenges.

The narrow and winding roads are always an aspect to take into consideration, but profile wise it will be a day where the classics specialists can make the difference. The riders will, before the circuit, tackle climbs such as the Taaienberg and Berg ten Houte where the peloton can be split already with a well-planned move, but the riders will climb up the Muur de Geraardsbergen (1.1Km; 7.7%) and Bosberg (0.6Km; 7.7%) combination on two occasions (the Muur ends with 66 and 33 kilometers to go.

However these won't be the only climbs on the day, and notably with only 5.5 kilometers to go the peloton goes through the Donderoodberg which is 600 meters long at 8.5%. The stage ends in Geraardsbergen, halfway through the cobbled climb, where a strong final sprint can always open up a few seconds of gap still.

*** Mathieu van der Poel, Arnaud de Lie
** Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, Ben Turner
* Mathias Vacek, Paul Magnier, Tibor del Grosso, Jasper Stuyven, Alberto Bettiol, Thibau Nys, Roger Adrià, Fred Wright

Pick: Arnaud de Lie

How: Small group sprint.