Van der Poel attacks early and wins the third stage of the Renewi Tour, but fails to shake off new leader De Lie

On day three, the WorldTour peloton would face its first real big test. After two bunch sprints, won by Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike), the Renewi Tour arrived in the Flemish Ardennes. To be specific: Geraardsbergen and surroundings.

From the start in Aalter, the riders headed for the hilly area. The local laps around Geraardsbergen already included several climbs, including the Taaienberg, Kortekeer, and Berg Ten Houte. With two big local laps over the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg, the third stage had everything it needed to create the first time differences.

A large early breakaway formed in the opening phase, including Igor Arrieta (UAE Emirates-XRG), Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Edoardo Affini (Visma | Lease a Bike), Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty), Matevz Govekar (Bahrain Victorious), Filip Maciejuk (RedBull-BORA-hansgrohe), Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ), Max Walscheid (Jayco-AlUla), Aaron Gate (XDS-Astana), Ceriel Desal (Wagner Bazin WB), and Petr Kelemen (Tudor).

With 96 kilometers to go, the eleven riders were suddenly joined by two chasers. And not just any riders: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacked very early and was joined by Maxim van Gils (RedBull-BORA-hansgrohe). At the first finish line in Geraardsbergen, Van der Poel and Van Gils were just under a minute and a half behind. The peloton followed 30 seconds behind for a long time, but when they turned onto the Muur, the Dutch/Belgian duo was caught. Tim Wellens (UAE Emirates-XRG) accelerated.

The peloton eventually exploded. Van der Poel once again moved to the front, with Wellens, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), and Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) in hot pursuit. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) also managed to join them. The six were then joined by Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), and Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Alberto Bettiol (XDS-Astana), and Axel Laurence (INEOS Grenadiers) joined the second group a little later.

With 50 kilometers to go, the leading group and the chasing group merged. However, it would take until the final climb of the Muur before the final battle really ignited. De Lie and Van der Poel accelerated on the Kapelmuur, after which Wellens joined them on the descent. Del Grosso, Bettiol, the Bahrain duo Mohoric and Wright, and Dewulf were also in the chase.

For Van der Poel, the pace wasn't fast enough on the Bosberg. The former world road champion jumped away from De Lie and Wellens. At that point, there were still 28 kilometers to go. Four kilometers later, the trio was reunited. With 17 kilometers to go, their lead over the chasers was 13 seconds.

Del Grosso had to change bikes in the final stretch, but the strong Dutchman managed to return to the chasing group. This meant that the chasing group lost even more time, making it clear that the leading trio would battle it out for the victory. They stayed together on the Denderoordberg: it was all going to happen in Geraardsbergen!

But, would it? No, because Wellens did not want to go to the finish with the two fast riders. Just like in the Tour, he tried to seize the right moment: when a motorbike passed, he jumped behind it, but De Lie reacted quickly enough to close the gap. So the three entered the final kilometer. When the road went uphill, De Lie promptly took the lead. He was the first to sprint, but Van der Poel managed to get past him and won, ahead of De Lie. Wellens lost a lot of time.