Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) defied all expectations, holding off the challenge from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with the victory on the final stage and the overall win as well of the 2025 Renewi Tour.
The Belgian survived numerous attacks on the hilly circuit in Leuven, waited patiently as a solo flyer from Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was caught in the dying metres, and then unleashed a vicious acceleration up the right side to out-sprint Van der Poel on the left. De Bondt held on for third on the day.
The time bonus gave De Lie the general classification win by three seconds over Van der Poel. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was third at 31 seconds.
The overall victory in a WorldTour stage race - a first for the young Belgian - more than made up for a nightmarish season of injury and illness.
"I don't have words," De Lie said. "Winning a stage was already a goal, but winning the overall is incredible."
De Lie almost saw his hopes vanish during the 'green kilometre' - a series of three time bonus sprints, when Van der Poel jumped away to snatch the three-second bonus and he could only manage one.
"When Mathieu took three seconds and I was third, I said 'merde' - I played poker in the end. I was waiting for that sprint, and that's what I did, a long sprint."
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The early breakaway is led by Lewis Askey (Image credit: Getty Images)
The demanding final stage around Leuven was tightly controlled as only seconds separated the top three heading into the stage.
Sean Flynn (Picnic-PostNL), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Natnael Tesfatsion (Movistar), Michiel Lambrecht (Wagner Bazin WB) and Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders Baloise) made up the first breakaway on the final stage of the Renewi Tour but they were reeled in after just 24 kilometres, sparking more attacks.
Another move went clear when Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) leapt clear and was joined by Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), Deweirdt and Aivaras Mikutis (Tudor Pro Cycling).
Their lead went up to nearly three minutes but with time bonuses on tap in the final 25km and only one second separating Van der Poel from De Lie, the move was never going to stick.
Kasper Asgreen leads the mid-race escape (Image credit: Getty Images)
Despite the power in the move, they were brought back with 50km to go. While several more surges came it was always going to be the 'green kilometre' that sparked the most aggression.
Van der Poel put in a vicious acceleration to take the first three-second time bonus to De Lie's one, putting the Dutchman in the virtual race lead. The surges continued, pulling away Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek).
Bettiol won the second sprint and Skujins the third before Bettiol attacked. He was marked by Van der Poel. While Wright was dropped, the other four kept pushing on. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) chased for a while but couldn't make it across. Wellens tried to escape, but Van der Poel was having none of it.
The antics scuttled the breakaway's chances and the peloton hit the bell lap all together.
With 7km remaining, Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar) tried to spark a late move and Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) were game to join him. Three more riders scrambled across, too - Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) and Nys.
Paul Magnier goes all-in with a late attack (Image credit: Getty Images)
However hard the six leaders pushed, the peloton was equally motivated and when they hit the Wijnpers climb with 5.2km to go, only Nys and Magnier still had a small gap.
Van der Poel himself patrolled the head of the now-reduced peloton as the leaders were caught but missed the acceleration of Wellens, who leapt clear with Madouas. Fortunately, Tibor del Grosso was right on it pulling Van der Poel up to the Belgian champion's wheel.
De Bondt tried to foil the sprint with a last-kilometre attack but again, Del Grosso was key to the catch. De Lie timed his sprint perfectly to claim the stage over Van der Poel, doing just enough to win the overall.
Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.
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