Soudal Quick-Step’s sprinter wasn’t far from the win on the 195.3km stage four.

In the first bunch sprint he took part in since June, Tim Merlier showed encouraging signs for the next flat stages of the race, finishing a solid fifth in Prudnik despite being boxed in several times in the last 500 meters.

The two-time Belgian Champion, victorious in a dozen races since the start of the season, relied on a strong Soudal Quick-Step team to control things and deploy him in a good position going under the flamme rouge Thursday afternoon and proved that he had the legs to fight for another win, but luck wasn’t on his side. After eventually finding some space on the right side of the road, Tim put his fantastic sprint on display and eventually concluded just a wheel behind Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), who took the victory.

There will be another chance for Tim on Friday, when another flat stage – this time starting and finishing in Katowice – awaits the peloton at this 27th World Tour stop of the season.

 

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images

Race details

1 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
4:46:20
2 Sam Bennett
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
0:00
3 Mads Pedersen
Lidl - Trek
0:00
4 Jordi Meeus
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
0:00
5 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
6 Stanisław Aniołkowski
Cofidis
0:00
7 Gerben Thijssen
Intermarché - Wanty
0:00
8 Alberto Dainese
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
9 Jensen Plowright
Alpecin - Deceuninck
0:00
10 Phil Bauhaus
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
20 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
40 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
42 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
97 Pepijn Reinderink
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
129 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
139 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
1:24
1 Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
12:51:08
2 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
0:19
3 Wilco Kelderman
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:20
4 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
0:33
5 Magnus Sheffield
INEOS Grenadiers
0:37
6 Matej Mohorič
Bahrain - Victorious
0:44
7 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
0:44
8 Yannis Voisard
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:49
9 Mikkel Frølich Honoré
EF Education - EasyPost
0:49
10 Felix Großschartner
UAE Team Emirates
0:50
56 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
12:05
60 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
13:27
68 Pepijn Reinderink
Soudal Quick-Step
16:38
119 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
30:59
123 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
33:08
125 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
33:37
126 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
33:39
1 Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
49 pt
2 Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
48 pt
3 Wilco Kelderman
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
47 pt
4 Thibau Nys
Lidl - Trek
40 pt
5 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
39 pt
6 Magnus Sheffield
INEOS Grenadiers
38 pt
7 Matej Mohorič
Bahrain - Victorious
34 pt
8 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
33 pt
9 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
27 pt
10 Felix Großschartner
UAE Team Emirates
22 pt
21 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
16 pt
50 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
1 pt
1 Michał Paluta
Poland
33 pt
2 Jan Maas
Team Jayco AlUla
17 pt
3 Szymon Sajnok
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
3 pt
4 Kacper Gieryk
Poland
2 pt
5 Norbert Banaszek
Poland
2 pt
6 Niklas Märkl
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
2 pt
7 Pepijn Reinderink
Soudal Quick-Step
2 pt
8 Hugo Houle
Israel - Premier Tech
1 pt
9 Mick van Dijke
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1 pt
10 Tim Declercq
Lidl - Trek
1 pt
1 UAE Team Emirates 38:34:14
2 Bahrain - Victorious 3:04
3 EF Education - EasyPost 3:57
4 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 7:04
5 Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 7:33
6 Movistar Team 9:34
7 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 11:02
8 Tudor Pro Cycling Team 11:32
9 Lidl - Trek 13:23
10 INEOS Grenadiers 14:50

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