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.”
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.
