The rain battered the peloton on the first stage of this week’s World Tour race, leaving every man for himself in the tense and hectic finale that decided the winner in Diest.
The longest day of the race was made even more complicated by the harsh weather conditions and the presence of some small climbs which ended up splitting the field on the last lap. Soudal Quick-Step, who controlled the breakaway from the start of the race, took over the reins in the peloton again to bring things back together for Tim Merlier and did a fantastic job in the nervous closing kilometers, when they reeled in the escapees and made sure to position the Belgian fast man close to the front of the reduced bunch ahead of the flamme rouge.
It was a complicated sprint, with no lead-out trains, just riders fighting for positioning, but Merlier still delivered a strong acceleration to take his sixth Renewi Tour podium finish.
The feeling was good but not great, while the circumstances were chaotic.
“In the finale it was hard to keep the overview of the race situation. I had space in the sprint but was in the wind quite early, and felt that. Because of the cold I didn’t have the legs anymore to win the sprint. But I think that we rode a collective strong race with the team and that’s something to take into the next stages”, Tim explained.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
