Renewi Tour 2025 Stage 3

August 22, 2025 The old Tour of Flanders route is back. Not in April this time but in August with a revival in the Renewi Tour. Riders set off from Aalter for 182KM of Classics racing. The first 75KM of the race is relatively straightforward but the race enters the hill zone through Oudenaarde to take on famous climbs like the Taaienberg, Kortekeer, and Berg ten Houte. The finish circuit is where the damage will be done however. With 67KM to go, the riders will pass the finish line in Geraardsbergen and start the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The Bosberg is next with the Onkerzeleberg and the Denderoodberg before hitting the finish line again. There are two full laps and the Green Kilometer will come on the Bosberg the second time with 28KM to go. The final climb is the Denderoodberg (600M at 8.5%) and it tops out 6KM from the finish back in Geraardsbergen up the cobbled Vesten. A big break of 11 riders were in the lead with 69KM to go on the approach to Geraardsbergen for the first time. The group consisted of Igor Arrieta of UAE-XRG, Jensen Plowright of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Edoardo Affini of Visma-Lease a Bike, Laurenz Rex of Intermarché-Wanty, Matevž Govekar of Bahrain Victorious, Filip Maciejuk of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Johan Jacobs of Groupama-FDJ, Max Walscheid of Jayco AlUla, Aaron Gate of XDS-Astana, Cériel Desal of Wagner-Bazin WB, and Petr Kelemen of Tudor Pro Cycling. Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Maxim Van Gils of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were chasing at 1 minute 25 seconds with the peloton a further 25 seconds back. Tim Wellens of UAE-XRG forced open a gap over the Muur van Geraardsbergen and brought along van der Poel, Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious, Thibau Nys of Lidl-Trek, Davide Ballerini of XDS-Astana, and Arnaud De Lie of Lotto. Another small group containing Axel Laurance of Ineos, Stan Dewulf of Decathlon AG2R, Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious, Tibor Del Grosso of Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek came across at the start of the Bosberg and the group settled into a nice working pace. With 50KM to go, they joined up with the original break and were 30 seconds ahead of the peloton being led by EF-Education EasyPost who had no representation up the road. Soudal Quickstep added to the chase and got the gap to within touching distance when Tomáš Kopecký of Unibet-Tietema Rockets attacked and was able to bridge up to the leaders over the top of the Denderoodberg. When the lead group hit the Vesten and the finish line to start the Muur van Geraardsbergen for the final time, they had 25 seconds on the chasing peloton. Wellens went to the front and ripped up the lead group on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and over the top, van der Poel pushed on with De Lie following and Wellens catching on to make three at the front. On the Bosberg with 28KM to go and through the Green Kilometer sprints, Wellens took 5 seconds, De Lie took 6 seconds and van der Poel grabbed 7 seconds. A few moments later, van der Poel attacked. He went over the Bosberg with about 5 seconds to De Lie and Wellens with a chase group of four riders formed, another 10 seconds back. A few kilometers later, Wellens and De Lie caught van der Poel and the three started to roll turns because Dewulf, Wright, Alberto Bettiol of XDS-Astana, and Del Grosso were chasing at just 10 seconds. As the kilometers ticked by, the Dewulf group lost ground to the three leaders and with 8KM to go on the approach to the Denderoodberg, the gap was out to 35 seconds. Van der Poel led up the cobbled Denderoodberg and there were no attacks. Wellens took to the front under 1KM to go as they entered Geraardsbergen. De Lie made the turn on to the Vesten first with 350M to go and opened his sprint long at 250M. Wellens was dropped as De Lie continued to apply the power uphill on the cobbles. Van der Poel stayed patient and came around De Lie in the final 150M and would not relinquish the front. Van der Poel won the day with De Lie in second and Wellens in third at 12 seconds. De Lie took over the race lead by 1 second to van der Poel and 21 seconds to Wellens with two lumpy days remaining.