The Belgian became the first rider to win three stages at a single edition of the World Tour race.

Tim Merlier racked up his fifth victory of the season, an even more impressive number considering it came in just eleven days of racing, and only seven of these concluded in a bunch sprint. The fastest sprinter in the world at the moment, the 31-year-old rider of Soudal Quick-Step was again in a class of his own Saturday afternoon and made up for the disappointment of the previous stage, where he lost the chance of a hat-trick at the UAE Tour by just a couple of centimeters.

Starting and finishing in Abu Dhabi, the penultimate day of the race was a pan-flat one, which meant a bunch sprint was inevitable at the end. The Wolfpack did their homework, and after reeling in the escapees, brought Tim in a perfect position going under the flamme rouge, as things became nervous again. But the experienced Belgian remained cool as a cucumber and waited for the final 200 meters to kick out and produce another hugely impressive sprint.

Merlier’s 15th success at World Tour level helped him mathematically secure the green jersey with one day to go at the UAE Tour, where he now holds an impressive record – most stage wins at the race, five.

“Everything was perfect today and we can all be proud. The team put me where I wanted to be and I just did my sprint. I am happy with my third win here. There are a lot of very good sprinters here, so to take three victories feels great. This week, and this beautiful series of results, are both excellent for the morale before going to Tirreno-Adriatico, my next appointment of the season”, said Tim, who did the Spiderman celebration at the finish in Abu Dhabi to honor a promise he had made to Bert Van Lerberghe’s son after Friday’s stage.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
3:02:14
2 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
3 Phil Bauhaus
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
4 Milan Fretin
Cofidis
0:00
5 Gleb Syritsa
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:00
6 Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jayco AlUla
0:00
7 Jarne Van de Paar
Lotto Dstny
0:00
8 Fernando Gaviria Rendon
Movistar Team
0:00
9 Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
10 Simone Consonni
Lidl - Trek
0:00
42 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
52 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
82 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
92 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
120 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
133 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
1:17
1 Jay Vine
UAE Team Emirates
18:52:23
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 Lennert Van Eetvelt
Lotto Dstny
0:37
10 Mikkel Bjerg
UAE Team Emirates
0:37
15 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
1:01
25 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
1:31
85 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
18:21
106 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
18:55
108 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
19:03
121 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
20:16
1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
76 pt
2 Mark Stewart
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
48 pt
3 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
48 pt
4 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
32 pt
5 Jay Vine
UAE Team Emirates
32 pt
6 Lennert Van Eetvelt
Lotto Dstny
28 pt
7 Phil Bauhaus
Bahrain - Victorious
22 pt
8 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
21 pt
9 Ben O'Connor
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
20 pt
10 Marco Murgano
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
20 pt
19 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
12 pt
47 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
1 pt
1 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
18:52:44
2 Max Poole
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:10
3 Lennert Van Eetvelt
Lotto Dstny
0:16
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 56:38:05
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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