Fourth victory of the season for the 31-year-old.

Tim Merlier became the first rider in the history of the UAE Tour to win the first two bunch sprints of an edition after he flew to victory in Dubai, which hosted the fourth stage of the race. It was another chaotic mass gallop Thursday afternoon, but that didn’t bother the two-time Belgian Champion, who was again excellently guided by his Soudal Quick-Step teammates, before finding the space needed to showcase his incredible speed.

The day was a quiet one until ten kilometers to go, when the many teams having a sprinter here began jostling for position. Ayco Bastiaens was responsible for keeping in check the gap of the two escapees from the start of the stage, while white jersey Ilan van Wilder and Mauri Vansevenant contributed to the pace setting in the closing kilometers of the stage.

Once the two peeled off the front inside five kilometers to go, Jordi Warlop and Bert Van Lerberghe hit the front, and their outstanding work meant that Tim was in a perfect position on the run-in to the finish after a tricky corner with 750 meters remaining and had the luxury of patiently waiting before opening his sprint.

It was the 31-year-old’s fourth win at the UAE Tour and 15th in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey, and Merlier couldn’t hide his happiness after this result: “Today was a slow pace the whole stage, but in the end it became hectic. The team put me in a good position, and I waited for the last 500 meters before deciding to change the speed and make my move. The wind came from the left side, so timing was very important. Getting two victories gives me a great feeling. I would love to add at least another one, and although I know it will be difficult, I am looking forward to the next two days.”

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
4:01:47
2 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
3 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:00
4 Stanisław Aniołkowski
Cofidis
0:00
5 Jakub Mareczko
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
0:00
6 Fabio Jakobsen
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
7 Jarne Van de Paar
Lotto Dstny
0:00
8 Phil Bauhaus
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
9 Fernando Gaviria Rendon
Movistar Team
0:00
10 Oded Kogut
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
38 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
41 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
89 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
114 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
128 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
129 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
1 Jay Vine
UAE Team Emirates
11:41:31
2 Ben O'Connor
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
0:11
3 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
0:13
4 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
0:21
5 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - Victorious
0:22
6 Max Poole
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:31
7 Tobias Foss
INEOS Grenadiers
0:33
8 Simon Carr
EF Education - EasyPost
0:36
9 Mikkel Bjerg
UAE Team Emirates
0:37
10 Attila Valter
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:39
16 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
1:01
26 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
1:31
95 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
18:37
109 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
18:55
111 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
18:59
114 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
19:03
1 Mark Stewart
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
48 pt
2 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
40 pt
3 Jay Vine
UAE Team Emirates
32 pt
4 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
32 pt
5 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
21 pt
6 Ben O'Connor
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
20 pt
7 Jakub Mareczko
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
19 pt
8 Fabio Jakobsen
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
14 pt
9 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
12 pt
10 Mikkel Bjerg
UAE Team Emirates
12 pt
1 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
11:41:52
2 Max Poole
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:10
3 Lennert Van Eetvelt
Lotto Dstny
0:22
4 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
0:40
5 Harold Martín López Granizo
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:42
6 Matthew Riccitello
Israel - Premier Tech
0:45
7 Natnael Tesfatsion
Lidl - Trek
1:09
8 Alexy Faure Prost
Intermarché - Wanty
1:31
9 Iván Romeo Abad
Movistar Team
2:01
10 Pelayo Sánchez Mayo
Movistar Team
2:30
1 UAE Team Emirates 35:05:29
2 Bahrain - Victorious 0:59
3 Soudal Quick-Step 1:57
4 Lidl - Trek 2:35
5 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 4:09
6 Movistar Team 4:30
7 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 5:32
8 EF Education - EasyPost 7:18
9 Lotto Dstny 7:20
10 INEOS Grenadiers 8:49

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