Favorites stage 2 Renewi Tour 2025 | Who can beat Merlier on such a flat course?

Although it looks challenging on paper, the route of the second stage of the Renewi Tour is very similar to that of the first. In other words: extremely flat. With 463 meters of elevation gain in 172.7 kilometers, it is actually nothing at all. From the start in Blankenberge, the riders first make a loop around the city, where there is also an intermediate sprint after 14.5 kilometers.

The peloton then heads south, avoiding Bruges and instead making a loop around the city. They continue south, arriving in Ardooie after about 100 kilometers. There, the peloton has to complete four laps. The first lap also includes an intermediate sprint in Sint-Antonius.

Apart from a golden (in the case of the Renewi Tour, a green) kilometer, it's then a matter of waiting for the sprint. This is less than 20 kilometers from the finish line, which could make for quite a spectacle. The final kilometers are not particularly difficult: the last corner is less than 2 kilometers from the finish line, but it's not even that sharp.

Times
Start: 1:25 PM local time (07:25 AM EDT)
Finish: 5 PM local time (11:00 AM EDT)

Dry and mild, that's what it will be at the start in Blankenberge. A maximum temperature of 20 degrees, but there will be a strong wind from the sea. The breeze, with a wind force of 5, will mainly be at an angle to the riders: will we see an echelon spectacle? It will have to happen relatively early in the day, because the further the peloton moves inland, the less wind there will be. Nevertheless, there is still a risk of echelons.

So it looks like we'll have another sprint on Thursday, although the wind could still change things. In the sprint, we'll have to watch out for Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike), who are on paper the fastest men in this Renewi Tour. The Belgian will be hoping to repeat his impressive sprint from day one.

On Wednesday, we already saw that many strong sprinters have traveled to the Low Countries, so we have to mention quite a few fast sprinters as contenders. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), and Milan Fretin (Cofidis) all have very fast legs.

Although the second stage is no longer in the Netherlands but in Belgium, that does not mean that the Dutch sprinters will not be interested in achieving a result. Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor), and, to a lesser extent, Fabio Jakobsen (Picnic PostNL) and Mike Teunissen (XDS Astana) will all be looking to pull off a stunt.

Anyone else? Yes, definitely! Juan Sebastián Molano is the sprinter for UAE Emirates-XRG, while Paul Magnier is a second trump card for Soudal Quick-Step. Max Kanter (XDS Astana), Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) also have very fast legs. The latter crashed hard in the opening stage, so it remains to be seen whether he will start on Thursday. Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers) finished an impressive sixth on day one.

Top favorites: Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike).
Outsiders: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Long shots:Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL), Milan Fretin (Cofidis),Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor), Max Kanter (XDS Astana), Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Sam Welfsord (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Ben Turner (INEOS Grenadiers)