De Lie Stuns Van der Poel to Win 2025 Renewi Tour

Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) defied all expectations, holding off the challenge from mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with the victory on the final stage and the overall win as well of the 2025 Renewi Tour.

The Belgian survived numerous attacks on the hilly circuit in Leuven, waited patiently as a solo flyer from Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was caught in the dying metres, and than unleashed a vicious acceleration up the right side to out-sprint Van der Poel on the left. De Bondt held on for third on the day.

The time bonus gave De Lie the general classification win by three seconds over Van der Poel. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was third at 31 seconds.

The overall victory in a WorldTour stage race – a first for the young Belgian – more than made up for a nightmarish season of injury and illness.

“I don’t have words,” De Lie said. “Winning a stage was already a goal,but winning the overall is incredible.”

De Lie almost saw his hopes vanish during the ‘green kilometre’ – a series of three time bonus sprints, when Van der Poel jumped away to snatch the three-second bonus and he could only manage one.

“When Mathieu took three seconds and I was third, I said ‘merde’ – I played poker in the end. I was waiting for that sprint, and that’s what I did, a long sprint.”