With 26 kilometres to go, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) launched his decisive attack out of the peloton to secure overall victory at the Renewi Tour 2024. He first broke away with six other riders, but five kilometres before the finish the Belgian was only joined at the front by his compatriot Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny). Although De Lie won the stage in the final metres, Wellens' lead over the peloton was enough for him to celebrate overall victory in the 2024 Renewi Tour. After 2014, 2015 and 2023, this is the fourth time that the rider from UAE Team Emirates has won the Tour of Belgium.
Wellens still catches Segaert
Before stage 5, Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dstny) was still the overall leader of the Renewi Tour 2024. The young Belgian kept up with the peloton for a long time on the final stage, but was unable to counter Wellens' attack 26 kilometres from the finish. In the end, Segaert was 26 seconds behind overall winner Wellens. Third place in the overall classification went to Per Strand Hagenes (Visma | Lease a Bike), who was in the day's leading group for a long time and was on hand when things really got going in the finale. With seventh place and a strong performance on stage 5, he moved up to the podium in the overall classification. Meanwhile, the best German in the overall classification is Maximilian Schachmann (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished ninth.
Renewi Tour 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 5
- Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) 4:30:56
- Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) +0:05
- Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) +0:17
- Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:20
- Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:20
- Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:20
- Per Strand Hagenes (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:20
- Axel Zingle (Cofidis) +0:38
- Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:41
- Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ) +0:43
The overall ranking of the Renewi Tour 2024
- Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) 16:03:42
- Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dstny) +0:26
- Per Strand Hagenes (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:31
- Christophe Laport (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:37
- Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:41
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:43
- Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:44
- Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:47
- Maximilian Schachmann (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:49
- Alberto Bettiol (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:50
How the 5th stage of the Renewi Tour 2024 went
The 203-kilometre stage from Menen to Geraardsbergen led over typical Belgian classics terrain. The route included the Paterberg, Bosberg and Kapelmuur climbs familiar from the spring classics such as the Tour of Flanders.
A large breakaway group forms
At the start of the race, things got going straight away. Time and again, riders tried to break away from the peloton. But it was only after the first intermediate sprint of the day, which Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) won, that the leading group of the day formed. Around 20 riders broke away, including Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Marco Haller (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgroghe), Per Strand Hagenes (Visma | Lease a Bike), Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost) and Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates).
Meanwhile in the peloton, the teams Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates were among those doing the chasing. They kept the escape group on a short leash, which was barely more than two minutes ahead. Because the pace in the peloton was high the whole time, the two Ineos riders Geraint Thomas and the overall third-placed Tobias Foss, among others, ran into problems and dropped out of the ever-thinning peloton.
After attacks in the leading group by De Bondt and Haller, among others, eight riders broke away at the front of the race. In addition to the two aforementioned riders, Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Tomas Kopecky (TDT - Unibet Cycling Team), Jonas Rutsch and Per Strand Hagenes also found themselves at the front of the race. The other riders around Politt were quickly swallowed up by the peloton.
Runaways are caught thanks to UAE
De Bondt was particularly aggressive at the front of the race. He managed to break away with other riders in the meantime. But his attempts to attack were futile: 26 kilometres before the finish, the breakaway riders were caught by the peloton. This was thanks in particular to the hard-working UAE Team Emirates.
Wellens' decisive attack
Shortly afterwards, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) launched an attack to which only Per Strand Hagenes and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) were able to respond. A short time later, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious), Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) also caught up. Behind them, a group of around 15 riders formed around Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Maximilian Schachmann (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Japer Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) and the overall leader Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dstny). With 12 kilometres to go, the gap between the groups was around 15 seconds.
Five kilometres before the finish, Wellens attacked again. Only De Lie was able to stay on the Belgian's rear wheel. Meanwhile, the gap to the peloton continued to widen, allowing Segaert's overall leader's jersey to slip away more and more. Although Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) managed to catch up with the peloton, the classification riders in the peloton were unable to respond. As a result, Wellens and De Lie rode the final metres of the stage together. While De Lie took the stage win, Wellens became the overall winner of the Renewi Tour 2024.
