August 23, 2026
Like last year, the final stage of the Renewi Tour takes place around Leuven on a circuit that resembles a city criterium more than it does a traditional road race. The course is comprised of one large loop, then laps of a shorter section of that loop. There are two full laps of the main loop but the real race should kick off as the riders enter Leuven at the end of the second lap. Instead of heading back out to Houwaart, Holsbeek, and Nieuwrode, the course stays in Leuven for the final 50 km of the 184 km stage. There are three of these smaller 14.5 km laps with three climbs on each, the Keizersberg, Leopold Decouxlaan, and Wijnpers, all climbs used in the Leuven World Road Race in 2021. The race will be one of attrition with riders getting snapped off the back due to the elastic stretch out of all the corners but a reduced bunch sprint is expected.
Race Summary
A light breeze and clear skies created perfect racing conditions after a few days of wet roads which would have been a relief given the technical nature of the circuit. At KM0, Robert Stannard of Bahrain Victorious and Frederik Frison of Pinarello Q36.5 attacked and went away immediately. 70 km passed before Emil Herzog of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe went up the road. A few kilometers later, Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla went followed by Edward Theuns of Lidl-Trek and Hartthijs De Vries of Unibet Rose Rockets and eventually, all six came together to form one consolidated break away. With 66 km to go on their way towards Leuven, the break was climbing the Chartreuzenberg with a lead of 2 minutes 40 seconds on a nervous looking peloton being led by NSN Cycling.
Off of the Chartreuzenberg and Kratenberg, the roads widened with each passing kilometer as the race neared Leuven and other teams pushed forward to position for the entrance to the smaller circuit. Slowly the gap came down and was under 2 minutes when the break went through the crowds over the Wijnpers climb with 48 km to go. UAE-XRG led the peloton onto Wijnpers but there were many other teams wanting to be near the front and in the action just in case things kicked off early.
UAE-XRG continued pulling on the main ring road until the turn back onto smaller streets when Decathlon CMA CGM showed their presence at the front. Big crowds popped out of the bars and restaurants to see the peloton come across the finish line for 42 km to go as they made their way back to the hilly section of the city.
Without a sprinter in the race, UAE-XRG's strategy was to wind things up, keep it fast, and attack in a hard moment. That moment came with 33 km to go on the Wijnpers climb. Igor Arrieta was the one to move but resources were still available from Decathlon CMA CGM to haul the Spaniard back and reaffirm control of the bunch. UAE-XRG weren't going to sit back and have the race dictated to them however and they went back for a second attempt at their tactic.
All of the activity behind had the gap down to just 1 minute as Theuns led the break through the finish line with 28 km to go. No one in the break was within 4 minutes of the GC lead so when they reached the Green Kilometer with 22 km to go, they just rolled through and swept up the bonuses in the process. The penultimate time up Wijnpers saw UAE-XRG empty the tank for Florian Vermeersch who attacked halfway up and had everyone on their limit to hold the wheel. A small gap formed about ten wheels back over the top as they swung onto the ring road but they could not get everyone to commit and the effort by Vermeersch was nullified.
Alpecin-Premier Tech took control to calm the bunch down and allow the break to get further up the road. Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM started the day just 10 seconds down on Jasper Philipsen so if the break stayed away to get the bonus seconds at the finish, that would play perfectly and all but guarantee Philipsen for the overall victory. They let the gap go from 17 seconds after the attack from Vermeersch out to 30 seconds by the time the bunch hit the finish line for one lap to go.
Just outside 9 km to go on the Keizersberg, Pavel Bittner of Picnic-PostNL Raisin sent a searing attack and immediately gathered a nice gap. The sprinter decided he didn't have the pure speed needed to get a result head to head against Philipsen and Kooij so the next best course of action was to attack. He was followed by Matyáš Kopecký of Unibet Rose Rockets and the pair were able to bridge up to the leading six riders 2 km later. UAE-XRG and XDS-Astana were prominent in the chase and had the race all within about 15 seconds.
On the last ascent of Wijnpers with 5.5 km to go, Kopecký made an all-in attack just as the rest of the break were getting absorbed into the main field. Jenno Berckmoes of Lotto Intermarché had attacked to try and shake Philipsen but his fellow Belgian had the answers and was straight on the wheel. Berckmoes flew through the rest of the break and passed Kopecký but he had to pull the plug on the wide ring road when he realized he wasn't getting rid of Philipsen. Before anyone could regain control, attacks started to fly but no one wanted to be left out of the party and the race was back together and looking set for a sprint.
The group was still chaotic with 1,500 meters to go as riders were scrambling to follow wheels and get in the right position. A touch of wheels in the middle of the group saw at least five riders come down including Biniam Girmay of NSN Cycling. Carl-Frederik Bévort of Uno-X Mobility found himself with a gap through a corner and he pinned it. He had a handful of seconds as he crossed under 1 km to go with the remnants of the bunch chasing. EF-Education EasyPost, Netcompany-Ineos, and XDS-Astana were there with Philipsen sitting in tight behind. When the sprint was opened up by Philipsen just outside of 200 meters to go, Bévort was still leading. Luca Mozzato of Tudor Pro Cycling was first on Philipsen's wheel but as Philipsen went passed Bévort with 30 meters to go, Mozzato could only hold the wheel and watch as Philipsen sailed across the line quite comfortably to take the stage win and seal the GC in the process. Mozzato came home second with Mike Teunissen of XDS-Astana behind in third. Unfortunately Olav Kooij was not involved in the sprint. It was hard to see exactly what happened but he looked to be caught up behind the crash at 1,500 meters to go because directly after, a Decathlon CMA CGM teammate was looking backwards, presumably for Kooij's whereabouts.
Jasper Philipsen went out the winner of the GC after a dominant sprint performance and tactical awareness across the five stages. Jenno Berckmoes took second overall at 14 seconds with Olav Kooij in third at 20 seconds.