Five days after Tim Merlier powered home to clinch the first stage of the UAE Tour from an echelon splinter group of 13, on Saturday, the Belgian National Champion struck again, this time capturing a fraught, full-on mass bunch sprint to claim stage 6 in the streets of Abu Dhabi.
Merlier’s prodigious personal run of success has allowed him to take three wins, two in UAE and one in Oman, in a span of 10 days, and also all but guarantees him the green jersey of points leader tomorrow evening atop Jebel Hafeet.
But the main prize for Merlier is undoubtedly claiming so much early success in a team he only joined this January, demonstrating both his versatility and, in the process, that he has integrated perfectly into a squad that rarely has low expectations for any bunch sprint.
Agreeing that the sprint was very different from Monday’s, he pointed out that “it was hectic, dangerous, everyone had fresh legs. And again, no team could take the lead and bring it into one line, which made it really dangerous.”
“In the last 500 metres, Bert [Van Lerberghe, teammate and lead-out man - Ed.] made the right decision to let me pass, and I can find a small gap to go from far, and today it was enough to take the win.”
Asked about how it felt to win against such a high-quality field, only one answer was really possible: “Really good, eh? And winning in the green jersey, this is my third victory in the beginning of the season. That says the shape is good.”
Van Lerberghe and Merlier are connected by a strong friendship as well as now being teammates, and as Merlier said, the two are already working very effectively in the bunch sprints.
“A lot of guys have come up to us and said we are doing a really good job because we are the only guys who can stay close together in the sprints,” he said. “Today was a bit more difficult, but we were together again. Then when he decided to let me go on with 500 metres to go, there was only space for one guy, not two, to get through. He’s a good lead-out man, and I really appreciate him.”
Just because he is one of the most successful sprinters of 2023 to date, Merlier insisted this did not mean he was now the top fastman in the peloton. There have been numerous different winners this season in bunch sprints, he said, and “it’s not like everybody is starting from the same position in the bunch every day.”
“Here, you need a bit of luck because it’s impossible to get one line of sprinters, but I think my second win here shows I’ve got fast legs."
