In the weekend’s other WorldTour event, the Renewi Tour in Belgium, Arnaud De Lie took his first victory since early February when he outsprinted Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to win the final stage in Leuven and wrap up the overall title.
De Lie led his rival by just a single second going into the fifth and concluding day but fell behind in the GC standings when Van der Poel won the first of three sprints in the Green Kilometre, 22km from the finish. The three bonus seconds gained there put the former world champion a second ahead of the Lotto leader, who took just a single second for third place.
Coming into the final kilometre, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s Dries De Bondt made a blistering solo attack that almost carried him to victory. However, just metres short of the line, De Bondt was passed by Van der Poel on his left and then De Lie on his right, the latter producing more finishing speed to claim his first WorldTour success since the equivalent stage of the 2024 Renewi Tour.
“When Van der Poel took three seconds I said ‘Shit!’ to myself, but I then focused on doing as well as I could in the finale. I wasn’t at my very best and I played a bit of poker, but I had to wait for the final sprint and I think I did a beautiful sprint. I got the timing just right and won after months and months of difficulties,” said De Lie, who’s struggled with injury, indifferent form and crashes since winning a stage of the Étoile de Bessèges in early February. “Winning a stage here was a goal, but winning the GC as well is incredible.”
The stage win gave De Lie a three-second margin over Van der Poel. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished third at 31 seconds, with Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) fourth at 55 seconds.
Over at the Deutschland Tour, young Briton Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) took his second stage win of the four-day race, the victory boosting him to second place on GC behind overall winner Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility).
As on the previous day when Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), was relegated from first place in the bunch sprint, there was plenty to discuss, with the Dutchman involved again. Van Poppel crashed in the last kilometre after some jostling with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). There was no debate about the finale, though, as Brennan, led out by Wout van Aert, finished a bike length clear of Wærenskjold, with Milan third. It was the 20-year-old’s 11th victory in an astonishing debut season.
Great Britain also tasted success in the bunch sprint that concluded the opening road stage of the Tour de l’Avenir. A member of the EF Education development team, 21-year-old Noah Hobbs took his eighth win of the season, leading in the bunch ahead of Italy’s Davide Donati and Mexico’s Cesar Macias. France’s Paul Seixas retained the yellow jersey after his prologue time trial success on Saturday.
