The two-time Belgian Champion delivered the team’s 27th success since the start of the season.

Tim Merlier picked up his 13th win of the year after producing another hugely impressive sprint at the end of Friday’s 187.6km stage five, which started and finished in Katowice. The most successful sprinter of 2024, the 31-year-old Belgian blasted around his rivals in the last 200 meters, putting a bike length into them as he made it 47 career pro victories – half of these having come in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey.

Our team controlled things from the very beginning by posting Ayco Bastiaens at the front of the peloton, who did a tremendous job controlling the breakaway and almost single-handedly reeling in the front trio before the final ten kilometers. Brought towards the front by his teammates, including Bert Van Lerberghe – who made sure his countryman was where he needed to be going under the red kite – Merlier measured his sprint perfectly and powered to a clear success, his third in two participations.

“First of all, I want to thank Ayco. He put in a strong effort, pulling almost by himself the entire stage. Then the guys kept me in the front, which allowed us to take the last corner as we wanted. I timed my acceleration perfectly, anticipating a bit, but had enough to keep it until the line. It’s a victory that makes me happy.”

“We were disappointed after Thursday’s hectic finish and were really motivated for today. Not having radios during the stage made it a bit more nervous, but we managed to keep our composure and produce a great effort to score this win. The race hasn’t been easy until now, with that hard start and the high temperatures, but we remained confident the whole time and and we can be proud of what we achieved today”, said Tim – the first Belgian in 66 years to amass three stage victories at the Tour de Pologne – who together with Paul Magnier and Warre Vangheluwe took to the podium to receive the best team of the day award.

 

Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images

Race details

1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
4:05:00
2 Jordi Meeus
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
0:00
3 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:00
4 Jensen Plowright
Alpecin - Deceuninck
0:00
5 Jake Stewart
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
6 Davide Cimolai
Movistar Team
0:00
7 Danny van Poppel
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
0:00
8 Stanisław Aniołkowski
Cofidis
0:00
9 Andrea Pasqualon
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
10 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
13 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
26 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
91 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
1:16
121 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
2:47
128 Pepijn Reinderink
Soudal Quick-Step
4:13
129 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
4:13
1 Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
16:56:08
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
54 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
13:21
56 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
13:27
79 Pepijn Reinderink
Soudal Quick-Step
20:51
116 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
33:08
118 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
33:29
119 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
33:46
129 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
37:50
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
48 pt
4 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
41 pt
5 Thibau Nys
Lidl - Trek
40 pt
6 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
38 pt
7 Magnus Sheffield
INEOS Grenadiers
38 pt
8 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
36 pt
9 Jordi Meeus
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
36 pt
10 Matej Mohorič
Bahrain - Victorious
34 pt
43 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
8 pt
56 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
1 pt
1 Michał Paluta
Poland
33 pt
2 Jan Maas
Team Jayco AlUla
17 pt
3 Johan Jacobs
Movistar Team
3 pt
4 Norbert Banaszek
Poland
3 pt
5 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
2 pt
6 Kacper Gieryk
Poland
2 pt
7 Niklas Märkl
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
2 pt
8 Pepijn Reinderink
Soudal Quick-Step
2 pt
9 Hugo Houle
Israel - Premier Tech
1 pt
10 Mick van Dijke
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1 pt
1 UAE Team Emirates 50:49:14
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 Tudor Pro Cycling Team 11:32
8 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 11:55
9 INEOS Grenadiers 14:50
10 Cofidis 15:04

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