Published on : 05/25/2026
What a race from Alexis Renard! He punctures, then bridges back solo to the breakaway before fighting for the win… He ultimately finishes 5th at the Belgian Classic
194 kilometres, 42 sectors of gravel roads and cobbles, scorching heat: the 2026 Antwerp Port Epic showed no mercy. Jenthe Biermans and Nicolas Debeaumarché both crashed in a corner before rejoining the peloton, while Alexis Renard suffered both a puncture and a crash. But our Breton rider refused to give up. He set off alone from the peloton to chase down the front group, managed to close the gap and make the junction. He then fought all the way to the line for the win and came home in 5th place. Jenthe Biermans, despite a crash and a puncture of his own, crossed the line in 11th.
Sports director Sébastien Demarbaix reacts:
"The race was very fast from the opening sectors, too fast for any breakaway to go. On the first gravel sectors, it was chaos with crashes and punctures across the whole peloton. In the final 50 kilometres, we still had Camille Charret, Jenthe Biermans and Alexis Renard in the bunch. With 30 km to go, a group of nine went clear, every team was represented except us. At that moment, Alexis was just rejoining the peloton after a second puncture. He decided to go for it, it was a bit crazy, but he closed 30 seconds all by himself. Obviously it cost him a lot of energy, but it was the right call. We saw a very strong Alexis, unfortunately in the final 3 kilometres he didn't quite have enough left in the tank and finished 5th. He was really impressive today. And credit to Jenthe Biermans too, who also punctured twice and crashed, his sprint finish was excellent. Very positive day overall, we showed we belong at this level."
