24th August – Stage 5: Leuven – Leuven
The final day of racing at the Renewi Tour saw the peloton start and finish in the historic city of Leuven, borrowing bits of the parcours from the 2021 World Championships. Team Picnic PostNL approached the stage as a one-day race and tried to infiltrate the earlier bigger moves, with Sean Flynn in a group but they were brought back in. A new break formed and things then settled down until the race began to approach the smaller circuit in Leuven. From there, it was a race of attrition with the team doing really well to consistently be at the front and make sure they were represented in any moves and attacks; with the likes of Nils Eekhoff and Frank van den Broek. The day ultimately came down to a fatigued and reduced bunch sprint finish where Pavel Bittner got up for another strong result in fourth place and with that took sixth on GC.
After the finish Bittner expressed: “We went into the last day not focusing too much on the GC but trying to race it as a one-day race and go for the best result possible. I think all the guys did a really good job. I was properly struggling in the finale but managed to push through and came into the sprint, where I had Sean and Frank with me. I didn’t have the best legs for the sprint but i’m still really proud of the team, and also myself too because I could survive the week and sprint for a fourth place. We didn’t manage to get a win this week but we had some really consistent performances and rides, so we can be pleased with that.”
