Renewi Tour 2025 Stage 2

August 21, 2025 The riders arrive in Belgium after a short transfer for the start of the 172KM stage in Blankenberge on the coast of the North Sea near Knokke-Heist. The course zig-zags its way South through Koolskamp and enters a counter-clockwise circuit around Ardooie with 72KM to go. There are four full laps of 16KM as well as the Green Kilometer with 19KM to go before the finish in Ardooie. The last real turn comes with about 1,500M to go when the race enters Ardooie and turns off the Izegemsestraat on to the Motestraat before the finish on the edge of town on the Stationsstraat. A bunch sprint is almost a sure bet and it's hard to look passed Tim Merlier of Soudal Quickstep being in the mix for the win. The wind was coming off the North Sea for the second day in a row. Siebe Deweirdt of Flanders-Baloise, Axandre Van Petegem of Wagner-Bazin WB, and Giosuè Epis of Arkéa-B&B Hotels were in the early break but they would not be in front for long. A cross tail wind made the speeds incredibly high and the peloton caught the break as they were fighting with the wind and each other. The bunch was all together and in relative calm with 70KM to go shortly after they entered the circuit. XDS-Astana kicked the race off again with 63KM to go and stretched the bunch out into single file. It split 2KM later with about 37 riders in the front with the rest of the bunch chasing. When the peloton went through Ardooie with 3 laps and 48KM to go, the gap had grown out to 40 seconds with Cofidis chasing on the front. Jayco AlUla, Groupama-FDJ, and Movistar all added men and the catch was made with 34KM to go coming back into Ardooie in the head wind section of the circuit. Things got serious with 24KM to go when the riders hit the cross winds again and only around 15 riders made the front. They were dragged back but it was a warning shot for the final lap. Visma-Lease a Bike and Decathlon AG2R tried to split the race up once again in the cross wind with 13KM to go. Some were tailed off but sprinters and GC contenders were switched on and the bunch generally stayed together. There were a few moves between 8KM and 4KM to go to break up the peloton but Visma-Lease a Bike were present with numbers at the front and everyone seemed to accept that there would be a bunch sprint. The chicane inside 1,500M caused teams to get separated which made the next kilometer very messy. There was lots of shouldering and dive bombing to get into position but with 500M to go, Jayco AlUla were at the front and leading Dylan Groenewegen into a great spot in third wheel. Alpecin-Deceuninck brought Simon Dehairs forward but when he started his sprint, he didn't have much to give and his legs gave out. Groenewegen was also drifting back as Pavel Bittner of Picnic-PostNL came with speed on the right side of the road. He was followed by Olav Kooij of Visma-Lease Bike and when the Dutchman got space, he went around Bittner and crossed the line with a clean set of wheels. Bittner hung on for second with Arvid De Kleijn of Tudor Pro Cycling in third after the relegation of Milan Fretin of Cofidis. Tim Merlier of Soudal Quickstep finished in sixth which was good enough to retain the GC lead. He now sits on the same as Kooij and Dries De Bondt of Decathlon AG2R who picked up 3 bonus seconds in the Green Kilometer.