Renewi Tour stage 5: Matej Mohorič wins stage, Tim Wellens seals overall

Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) sprinted to victory on a hectic final stage of the Renewi Tour as Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) won the overall standings on home soil.

The Slovenian impressively outsprinted Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), coming around the Italian in the final 50m to earn his 22nd professional win. Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin - Deceuninck) took third on the stage.

The race was marred by a rider protest halfway through the stage, with the stage temporarily neutralised as riders expressed their concern regarding the safety of the final 5km of the route.

After discussions with the race organisers, it was decided that the general classification timings would be taken at the foot of the Keiberg, with just over 5km remaining.

Wellens was safely in the first group as this point was passed, with Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Dstny) and Yves Lampaert (Soudal Quick-Step) rounding out the GC podium.

Adding a third Renewi Tour title to his palmarès, Wellens said: “I’m super happy with the overall victory today, we knew that today was a tricky stage.”

However, the Belgian was also keen to share his thoughts on the safety of the final kilometres during his post-race interview.

“I think everybody in Belgium said that it can be a bit dangerous to ride here, if you arrive with a big group it can be dangerous. We made the decision to neutralise the stage with 5km to the finish and everybody decided that whoever wanted to take the risk, can take the risk. In the end, we arrived with a small group so the problem was not as big as anticipated but you never know. In the end, it was a good decision.”

Rider power prevails at the Renewi Tour

The final day of the Renewi Tour saw the riders tackle a leg-sapping 1,744m of elevation over a 187km course. Two laps of a longer circuit were followed by a final lap of a shorter loop. All four categorised climbs on the route were short and not immensely steep but certain to create gaps as the day progressed.

A group of nine riders managed to break free from the bunch just 10km after the flag was dropped outside of Bilzen. Cameron Wurf, Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), Senne Leysen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Nicolò Buratti, Dušan Rajović (Bahrain - Victorious), Derek Gee (Israel - Premier Tech), Karl Patrick Lauk (Bingoal WB) and Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) were the riders to make up the breakaway.

They built up a gap of four minutes as the race tackled the two longer laps of the circuit in Limburg.

However, with 80km to go, the race came to an abrupt halt. Unhappy with the safety of the route’s final 5km, the peloton, led by Wellens, neutralised the race. Extensive discussions with race organisers followed before a compromise was reached with the general classification timings to be taken at the foot of the Keiberg, just before the 5km to go marker.

With the race back underway, Lotto-Dstny and Soudal Quick-Step put men to work at the front of the pack, alongside race leaders UAE Team Emirates, in a bid to reel in the break and particularly Amador who sat just two minutes behind on the GC.

The pace over the gruelling terrain was so intense that a number of sprinters were distanced from the peloton with 35km to go and the break less than 30 seconds up the road. Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) was one of the contenders for the day to be on the wrong side of the split.

Five kilometres later, the diminished bunch - which still featured Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin - Deceuninck), Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) - made contact with the break.

After a lull in pace, the lead group was ignited again as the final two climbs came into view. Mohorič and Trentin both upped the pace on the final ascent of the Slingerberg, distancing yet more sprinters in the process.

As the 5km marker arrived, Wellens was still present in the front group, confirming himself as the overall winner of this year’s edition, eight years after his last title at the race.

Kragh Andersen then set a high pace in the final 3km to splinter the lead group once more, however, his team leader Philipsen was distanced inadvertently as a result.

With the flamme rouge reached, just four riders remained, with Jasper De Buyst (Lidl-Trek), Trentin and Mohorič joining the Dane up front.

It was the Bahrain-Victorious man who had the most left in the tank for one last effort, pipping Trentin - the purer sprinter on paper - inside the final 50m.

The win marks Mohorič’s fourth stage win, alongside the Tour de Pologne GC, this year - all but one coming on the WorldTour stage.