The Belgian turned in an impressive ride with the support of a strong team.
Tim Merlier finished eighth at one of the hardest editions of Gent-Wevelgem in recent years, racking up his third top-ten finish in the last eleven days, after his magnificent victory in Nokere Koerse and runner-up place in Classic Brugge-De Panne. The 253.1km race held Sunday was an attritional one, but Merlier and his Soudal Quick-Step teammates left everything out there and took a result from which they will draw a lot of confidence going into the season’s two cobbled Monuments.
The first notable event of the day happened with more than 140 kilometers to go, when vicious crosswinds fragmented the peloton. Tim Merlier found himself in a small but select group who continued to pull hard, catching the breakaway and putting almost one minute into the chasers. The race did come together eventually, but not for long, other attacks splitting the field, this time on the iconic Kemmelberg.
From the five men who rode away, two managed to remain in the lead until the end, and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) took the victory. The speed remained high and our squad put in a huge effort to bring back the various groups scattered across the road, the likes of Kasper Asgreen, Gil Gelders and Yves Lampaert sparring no effort as they reeled in the various moves. Just a couple of seconds after the leading duo, the peloton arrived home and Tim Merlier sprinted to a strong eighth place in Wevelgem.
“Today we did the maximum. The race came to life early and Tim saved a lot of energy by being present in the first echelon. Then, when the others came back, we tried to close the gap to the two at the front with several guys, including Gil, who was really impressive despite crashing. It wasn’t easy to bring back the others, but we were in the finale after a hard race, and after all this effort, a top ten is a nice result”, said sports director Tom Steels.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
