photo credits @ Soudal – QuickStep
With only one day of racing in his legs, Tim Merlier claimed today’s Scheldeprijs, earning the Belgian rider his third consecutive victory in the Dutch-Flemish Classic, after beating Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) in a hotly contested sprint.
“It feels really good – definitely – after the problems this winter. I did not have my best day and on the last lap you have the crash, which I could pass – it was unbelievable – I was on my best skills, I think,” Merlier said.
“I thought there was nothing left anymore. I don’t have the explosion anymore. One moment, I thought I was boxed in, and then I found some space again. And then I say, I got to launch the sprint – I think from like 250 meters to go. I know, once I’m on a real speed, it’s difficult to pass me,” the Soudal-QuickStep rider added.
A small breakway group containing Robin Carpenter (Modern Adventure), Bram Dissel and Joost Nat (BEAT CC p/b Saxo), Jonah Killy (Tarteletto Isorex), Đorđe Đurić (Solution Tech Nippo Rali) and Jelle Harteel (Tarteletto – Isorex), escaped the peloton early on.
However, after opening up a modest advantage of around two minites, the group’s margin was cut in half with 55 kilometers to go.
From there, a series of crashes plagued the peloton, while the three remaining escapees continued to cling to a mere 13 second gap with 9 kilometers to go.
With only 3.5 kilometers to go, only Killy was still out front. But, the American rider was soon swepted up.
While Alpecin-Premier Tech led into the final kilometer, Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek) tried to force his hand with a long sprint.
However, once the German faded, Merlier pounced, with race hopeful Jasper Philipsen having no response.
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