Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) finished off the Eneco Tour with a commanding sprint into Arnhem to take his second stage win of the race and 14 of the 2026 season.
The Belgian's team were prominent doing the work on the run-in of the 149.2km stage, which always looked set to conclude with a sprint finish. Unibet Rose Rockets countered in the final kilometre with a lead-out for Dylan Groenewegen which ended up looking rather ragged.
Behind them, Merlier was poised to strike, accelerating past his rival with ease and hitting the front with a large gap he'd keep to the line in a comfortable win.
Groenewegen ended the day a distant second place – a second runner-up spot behind Merlier this race – while Davide Donati (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) rounede out the podium.
The sprint finish was set up after solo attacker MichieL Mouris (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was caught with 7.5km to go. The Dutchman had bridged across to the three-man breakaway of Marijn Maas (BEAT p/b Saxo), Rick Ottema (EEW-VDK Cyclingteam), and Mattanja Woets (VokerWessles) with 23km left to run before eventually going solo.
The charging peloton, invested in a sprint finish, dutifully marked out any further attacks on the front, leaving the likes of Soudal-QuickStep, Unibet Rose Rockets, and Visma-Lease a Bike to lead the way into the final kilometres and the inevitable sprint.
Meanwhile, Visma's Victor Campenaerts could end the day, and the race, in celebratory fashion, the Belgian having clinched the overall victory – his first in a stage race – with a 15-second gap over Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets) while Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took third overall, 30 seconds back.
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Results
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Stage result
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time Gap
1
Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep
3:05:07
2
Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets
Row 1 - Cell 2
3
Davide Donati (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies
Simon Goossens (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech Development Team
Row 25 - Cell 2
27
Hartthijs De Vries (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets
Row 26 - Cell 2
28
Leander Van Hautegem (Bel) Team Flanders- Baloise
Row 27 - Cell 2
29
Ferre Geeraerts (Bel) Team Flanders- Baloise
Row 28 - Cell 2
30
Pepijn Reinderink (Ned) Soudal-QuickStep
Row 29 - Cell 2
31
Julius Van Den Berg (Ned) Picnic PostNL
Row 30 - Cell 2
32
Pietro Mattio (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike
Row 31 - Cell 2
33
Edward Theuns (Bel) Lidl-Trek
Row 32 - Cell 2
34
Bert Bolle (Bel) Volkerwessels
Row 33 - Cell 2
35
Sente Sentjens (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
Row 34 - Cell 2
36
Siebe Deweirdt (Bel) Team Flanders- Baloise
Row 35 - Cell 2
37
Otto Van Zanden (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
Row 36 - Cell 2
38
Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike
Row 37 - Cell 2
39
Benedikt Benz (Ger) Lidl-Trek Future Racing
Row 38 - Cell 2
40
Julian Vergouw (Ned) Metec- Solarwatt P/B Mantel
Row 39 - Cell 2
41
Ethan Edward Hayter (GBr) Soudal-QuickStep
Row 40 - Cell 2
42
Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep
Row 41 - Cell 2
43
Nicola Marcerou (Fra) Totalenergies
Row 42 - Cell 2
44
Paul Conor (Fra) Vendee U Primeo Energie
Row 43 - Cell 2
45
Chiel Schulten (Ned) Eew-Vdk Cyclingteam
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time Gap
1
Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
11:49:26
2
Wessel Mouris (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets
0:00:15
3
Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
0:00:30
4
Tomáš Kopecký (Cze) Unibet Rose Rockets
0:00:38
5
Pepijn Reinderink (Ned) Soudal-QuickStep
0:01:02
6
Milan Lanhove (Bel) Team Flanders- Baloise
0:01:06
7
Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike
0:01:09
8
Jakob Söderqvist (Swe) Lidl-Trek
0:01:16
9
Pierre Thierry (Fra) Totalenergies
0:01:17
10
Steffen De Schuyteneer (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché
0:01:22
Row 10 - Cell 0
Row 10 - Cell 1
Row 10 - Cell 2
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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor before being hired full-time. Her favourite races include the Paris-Roubaix, Tour de France Femmes, Tro-Bro Léon, and cycling's fourth Grand Tour, the Volta a Portugal.
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