Over the final 184 kilometres around Leuven, the 28-year-old had everything under control. When attacks came in the final stages, Philipsen countered them himself, eventually prevailing in the bunch sprint ahead of Luca Mozzato (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Mike Teunissen (XDS Astana Team). Having won the second and fourth stages, he had thus completed his hat-trick. Philipsen now has a total of six victories in this race, equalling André Greipel’s record.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” the winner remarked, adding: “It was one of my better weeks on the bike. I’m very pleased with how it ended. The team wanted the overall victory and controlled the race right up to the bunch sprint.” The Flemish rider was also in the mood for a bit of banter: “I never thought I’d end up as a general classification contender,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Perhaps I’ll have to set myself some different goals now.”

Renewi Tour 2026 – Results of Stage 5

Here’s how Stage 5 of the 2026 Renewi Tour unfolded

Right from the start, Robert Stannard (Bahrain – Victorious) and Frederik Frison (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) went on the offensive. The pair broke away, but had to contend with two further pairs of pursuers. Emil Herzog (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) and Edward Theuns (Lidl – Trek) formed the first chasing group, whilst Dries De Bondt (Team Jayco AlUla) and Hartthijs de Vries (Unibet Rose Rockets) were also looking to move up the field. The gaps were enormous, however. With 110 kilometres to go, the first pair were still three minutes behind Stannard and Frison, whilst the second were a further 30 kilometres behind.

Ten kilometres later, the two chasing groups joined forces and gradually made up ground. But the main peloton was also closing the gap. With 70 kilometres to go, the chasing quartet caught up with the leading duo; at that point, they were just over two minutes ahead of the peloton.

Whilst the breakaway riders were clocking up the kilometres on the final circuit, the peloton continued to close the gap. With 20 kilometres to go, Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) attempted to break away from the peloton. The peloton briefly split apart, but this did not last. However, the gap to the front was now down to just 30 seconds. Pavel Bittner (Team Picnic PostNL) and Tomas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets) closed the gap on the final lap. When they caught up, there were still seven kilometres to go. The chasers, however, were already hot on their heels. Two kilometres later, they were caught.

Berckmoes then went on the offensive. Philipsen countered the attack on the undulating terrain, but did nothing to sustain it, allowing the peloton to catch up again. The next riders to try and avoid the sprint were Tim van Dijke (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) and Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), but they too failed in their attempt, meaning that Philipsen was ultimately able to cap off his overall victory with another stage win.