Merlier overpowers prematurely sprinting Kooij and takes 14th win of the season in stage 4 of the Renewi Tour

The queen stage of the Renewi Tour delivered as expected: stage three to Geraardsbergen was a thrilling three-way battle between Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates – XRG), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). In the end, it was the Dutchman who came out on top, but De Lie took over the overall lead. One he would have to defend in a relatively flat but still tricky fourth stage.

The roads around Bilzen-Hoeselt were rarely truly flat. The peloton tackled multiple short and long local laps. In the opening phase, six riders got away: Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Colby Simmons (EF Education – EasyPost), Michel Ries (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Ward Vanhoof (Flanders Baloise), Leander Van Hautegem (Wagner Bazin WB), and Lukas Kubis (Unibet Tietema Rockets) animated the day. They were surprisingly given a lot of freedom: the gap stretched to 4 minutes and remained relatively stable for a long time.

With 40 kilometers to go, the gap was still around 3 minutes. But Lotto, Visma | Lease a Bike, and Picnic PostNL joined the chase, gradually bringing the lead down. Still, it wasn’t easy for the peloton on the narrow, hilly, and twisty roads. The breakaway riders were strong, and the sprint teams had to dig deep to get anywhere close.

Was a surprise in the making? If it were up to De Bondt, yes. The Belgian was still close in the general classification and had picked up bonus seconds. If the break stayed away, he could’ve vaulted straight into the GC fight. So he pushed hard. It was getting tense. With 10 kilometers to go, the gap was still 50 seconds.

The exhausted breakaway riders started losing time on the Gousbeemdstraat, the final climb of the day. It looked like the brave six would be caught after all, but De Bondt kept believing. He launched two big attacks, and on the second, only Kubis could follow. The pair fought on relentlessly, with Decathlon AG2R doing an excellent job of blocking the chase behind.

But with 2 kilometers to go, they were finally caught, setting the stage for the sprinters. Jayco-AlUla delivered Groenewegen at the right time, but as so often, Soudal Quick-Step came late with Merlier in the slipstream. Kooij was far back, but Laporte brought him forward. He launched the sprint from the front, but Merlier came up the other side and beat the Dutchman to the line.