August 19, 2026
The organizers of the Renewi Tour do a good job in presenting a taste of each of the regions in Flanders and the different styles of racing therein. The first stage around Diest is firmly in Baloise Belgium Tour country on the Eastern side of Flanders in the Vlaams-Brabant, just 50 km from Maastricht and the Dutch border. It's a plucky opening day with 1,100 meters of elevation in the 191 km stage. The race will head out on the main 67 km loop for two laps which includes the cobbled Heuvelstraat and Kerkstraat and the 400 meter, 5.5% Grasbos. After the second lap, there will be 47 km to go when the riders come through the finish line in Diest where they will start the finale with three 15.5 km laps. On each lap is the Grasbos but it comes 10 km from the finish and should not cause most sprinters too much difficulty. On the second lap, there will be the Green Kilometer, a 1 km stretch of road that contains three sprints separated by 500 meters with 3, 2, and 1 bonus seconds available at each sprint. The profile would suggest bunch sprint but it will be a hard day and one that the fast men will have to stay focused and attentive for.
Highlighted Riders
Arnaud De Lie, Jenno Berckmoes, Jasper Philipsen, Tim Merlier, Florina Vermeersch, Jonathan Milan, Alec Segaert, Matej Mohorič, Olav Kooij, Paul Lapeira, Luke Lamperti, Michael Valgren, Matteo Milan, Iván García Cortina, Sam Welsford, Biniam Girmay, Corbin Strong, Laurence Pithie, Arne Marit, Pavel Bittner, Nils Eekhoff, Jonas Abrahamsen, Søren Wærenskjold, Mike Teunissen, Luca Mozzato, Matteo Trentin, Dylan Groenewegen, Lukáš Kubiš
Race Summary
The majority of the Summer has been hot and dry but the script was completely flipped and rain was hammering Flanders as the riders got going. When live pictures were broadcast, a group of five was clear including Lionel Taminiaux of Lotto Intermarché, Timo Kielich of Visma-Lease a Bike, Carl-Frederik Bévort of Uno-X Mobility, Quinten Hermans of Pinarello Q36.5, and Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla. They had just gone over the Kerkstraat for the last time and were approaching Scherpenheuvel-Zichem on their way back around to Diest. Their lead was just 1 minute 10 seconds on the peloton who were splashing and pounding their way over the concrete Betonweg under the pressure of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe.
The five leaders continued pushing a high pace and turned onto narrower roads leading to the second passage of the Grasbos at 59 km to go still with a 1 minute advantage. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe squeezed on over the top which strung out the peloton but they turned onto a wider road and riders from the back had space to move up into a safer position including Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek who was coming back after a mechanical.
The leaders came through the finish in Diest with 47 km to go and it gave us a chance to see the run in. Overall, the roads were quite wide but there was a wide gap in the middle of the concrete slabs in the last few kilometers and the final turn did not straighten out until 150 meters from the line, all information that the riders would have noticed and noted for the finale.
Back around to the Grasbos for the third time, the gap was creeping out another 20 seconds and Soudal Quickstep made their first appearance at the front of the peloton to help pull things along. Somehow, the rain started to fall harder than it already was and the break was also pushing harder with the idea of staying away for as long as possible. Alpecin-Premier Tech added a man to the chase as did NSN Cycling but the gap was still going out, up to 1 minute 35 seconds with 34 km to go.
By the penultimate time up the Grasbos, the demeanor of the peloton had changed and they were in full chase mode. The break were working very well together but the Green Kilometer came and they all wanted a piece of the bonus seconds. In the first sprint, De Bondt was first, followed by Hermans then Kielich. The second sprint was less contested with Hermans rolling through ahead of Kielich and Bévort. The thought seemed to be to share the prizes and get straight back into a rotation because as De Bondt took the third sprint ahead of Taminiaux and Bévort, they got right back together and hardly lost an ounce of momentum in the process.
We were reminded with 20 km to go that the best place to be on a miserable day like this was in the break. Through a roundabout, Pier-André Côté of NSN Cycling was leading the peloton when his front wheel washed out from under him. Oliver Naesen of Decathlon CMA CGM had nowhere to go but he found a soft landing in the grass on the side of the road. The bunch simply could not navigate the tight, wet corners as quickly as the break and there was real urgency showing in the peloton. Lidl-Trek decided it was time to add men to the chase and they were calling up riders to do their work as did EF-Education EasyPost with a few men.
The five leaders took the bell with 15.5 km to go with an advantage of 55 seconds. There was a big fight to be at the front coming onto the smaller roads to the base of the Grasbos for the final time. The push chopped 25 seconds off the gap by the time the break started climbing. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe led the peloton into the bottom but it was Florian Vermeersch of UAE-XRG who put in a big attack to break the stranglehold of the sprint teams. A crash about ten wheels back saw Arvid De Kleijn of Tudor Pro Cycling come down very hard which created a split of six riders. Vermeersch continued pulling with a few Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe riders behind as well as Arnaud De Lie of Lotto Intermarché who latched onto the back.
There was a mad scramble to bring the Vermeersch group back by Decathlon CMA CGM and others but with the rain coming down so heavily, it was hard to actually see who was doing the chasing. A cooperative formed between Tudor Pro Cycling, Bahrain Victorious, Lidl-Trek, and Decathlon CMA CGM which caught the Vermeersch group with 6.5 km to go but there was still the feat of catching the original break who were clinging to a 20 second lead. Due to the crash on the Grasbos, the group that absorbed Vermeersch and the others was only around 30 riders as the rest of the peloton was chasing frantically another 20 seconds behind. Definitely in the first peloton was Milan, De Lie, Sam Welsford of Netcompany-Ineos, Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM, Pavel Bittner of Picnic-PostNL Raisin, and Tim Merlier of Soudal Quickstep.
With 3 km to go, the main body of the peloton rejoined with the first part bringing Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech and Dylan Groenewegen of Unibet Rose Rockets back into the mix. Lidl-Trek had all of their resource pulling in the peloton and were given a gift with 2 km to go when the break began to look at each other. Kielich and De Bondt tried to escape but the peloton caught their prey with 700 meters to go and the race was set for a bunch sprint.
Inside the barriers with 500 meters to go, Unibet Rose Rockets were leading with two men but there was no Groenewegen in sight. In third wheel was Milan battling with Bittner, then Kooij was tucked in behind. Milan opened the sprint just inside 150 meters to go when the road straightened and the last Unibet Rockets rider pulled off. Bittner was right beside the Italian Champion with Kooij stuck in the middle and nowhere to go. Milan powered towards the finish but Kooij had found space and came level on the line. It was impossible to tell from the head on shot but on the camera looking across the line, it was Milan who got the win but the width of his tire. Third on the day was Merlier with Philipsen coming in for fourth.