Echelons in entertaining stage 2 of the Renewi Tour, where Kooij triumphs in the bunch sprint

After the sprinters had started to sprint for the first leader's jersey in this Dutch-Belgian race on day one, the relatively flat course in the second stage was once again designated as a sprint stage. As leader of the GC after his victory in stage one, Tim Merlier was once again the favorite for the stage win. His team, Soudal Quick-Step, tried to keep the peloton in check and maintain control.

The Belgian team did so behind the three early breakaway riders Giosuè Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise), and Axandre van Petegem (Wagner Bazin WB). The trio was given a three-minute lead. That lead faded away because of too strong winds, which broke up the peloton, causing riders to drop back and the speed at the front to increase.

With 116 kilometers to go (of a total of 173 kilometers), the three riders at the front were caught. It didn't take long for a new breakaway group to form. Deweirdt was in it again, reunited with his teammate Ward Vanhoof. Kenneth van Rooy (Wagner Bazin WB) also broke away from the peloton. However, after just over ten kilometers, this breakaway attempt was also over. The peloton was very aggressive, as was evident again a few kilometers later, when several gaps opened up due to the strong wind: echelons!

With 64 kilometers to go, the peloton crossed the finish line for the first time. Outside the center of Ardooie, XDS-Astana, led by Cees Bol, pulled the peloton into a line, after which cracks began to appear again. Forty riders broke away from the larger second group, which was half a minute behind with three laps to go. With 38 kilometers to go, the first echelon was startled by a crash involving Tim van Dijke (RedBull-BORA-hansgrohe), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), among others.

The crash caused the first group to lose momentum, and everyone came back together, although there were several more splits after the regrouping. In the Green Kilometer, Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R), Nils Eekhoff (Picnic PostNL), and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) picked up some bonus seconds. This meant that De Bondt was now tied with Merlier in terms of time, but Merlier had a better chance of gaining time at the finish. From then on, it was all about waiting for the sprint. Right? Well, the wind continued to do its work, and thanks in part to defending champion Tim Wellens, there was some action again.

The Belgian champion from UAE Team Emirates: XRG went all out, but he couldn't break away. The same was true for Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek). Attacks continued to rain down in the final kilometers, but the depleted sprinter teams managed to stay together. Visma | Lease a Bike had the train for Kooij much better on track than during stage 1, while a late attack by Marijn van den Berg was neutralized. Jayco-AlUla had an excellent lead-out, but Mathieu van der Poel had set up the best lead-out for Jensen Plowright. Merlier was able to get out of the wheel, but Kooij came out of nowhere and won easily.