The Belgian moved into the red jersey after picking up his tenth win of the season.
Tim Merlier took his first victory at the Tour of Britain, a race where he made his debut this week and where our squad has always enjoyed a fine run at the previous participations. It happened after a nervous stage, during which a large split formed in the peloton, with our riders playing a key role in establishing and maintaining the gap. Together with other teams, the chasing group was kept behind, with the difference fluctuating around the 30-second to one-minute mark for a long period, while up the road, a breakaway was trying to increase their margin.
Fix ALL Quick-Step continued to control the race with Ilan Van Wilder, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Jasper Stuyven and Laurenz Rex as the finish approached, also responding perfectly when one rider made a late move inside the final 10 kilometers. With the breakaway brought back, the focus turned to the sprint. Our squad kept Tim Merlier protected and perfectly positioned in the closing kilometers before Jasper delivered a textbook lead-out. Merlier finished the job in style, taking the win and the points jersey.
I’m really happy to take the win, especially in our special Fix ALL Quick-Step jerseys.
“It was a complicated and pretty nervous day with the echelons, but we all knew that was going to be the case from the start, and the whole team did a fantastic job executing that plan. The last 80 kilometres were very fast, but we stayed focused on keeping our group ahead.”
“I knew it was going to be a very fast run-in to the finish, so I tried to stay in a good position until the last 250 meters, which I managed with the support of this fantastic team. I decided to take a gamble and launch my sprint from there. I felt I had a good acceleration and once I started it, I kept it all the way to the line, where I could enjoy this nice win”, Tim explained after the stage.
Photo credit: ©George Wood / Getty Images
