Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sprinted to victory in the opening stage of the Tour de Hongrie. He beat Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to the line in Békéscsaba to the line in a bunch sprint finish to end the 143km stage.
Soudal-QuickStep, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and Jayco-AlUla led the way into the final of the flat opener shortly after the day's two-man break was caught, while XDS-Astana also worked on the front in the final kilometres before QuickStep and UAE went head-to-head at the finish.
Molano launched first, darting from behind the wheel of his teammate, Rui Oliveira, at 150 metres to go. The Colombian wouldn't celebrate his first win of the season, however.
Instead, Merlier, powering from behind, came through to take the glory. The Belgian may have only been riding his fifth race day of 2026, but he had the closing speed to take his third win of the year.
"Dainese and Bert did a good job, definitely. They lost each other a bit, but they didn't stress about it. With 500 to go, Bert brought me in a perfect position," Merlier said after the stage.
"We still did a little bit of a leadout. Then I was waiting until 200 metres to go, and then I launched it.
"The feeling is OK. It's my fifth race of the season and my third win, so I can only be happy."
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Mathias Sunekaer Norsgaard (left) and Kristian Egholm strike out for Lidl - Trek in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
The opening stage of the 47th Tour of Hongrie took the peloton on a pan-flat route from Gyula to Békéscsaba featuring three long laps between the two towns. The stage was always destined to end in a bunch sprint, but that didn't stop attacks from going from the start.
Lidl-Trek riders Mathias Sunekær Norsgaard and Kristian Egholm got into the break of the day, the Danish duo racing clear to a two-minute advantage along the way.
Behind them, the sprinters' teams, including Jayco-AlUla and Soudal-QuickStep, controlled the peloton. At the second passage of the finish line, 54km from the line, the sprint squads had reduced the gap to 50 seconds in anticipation of the finish.
Along the way, Egholm led the race over the three intermediate sprints on the stage, handing him nine bonus seconds. Frenchman Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) launched his GC bid, meanwhile, picking up a bonus second at the final sprint of the day.
The breakaway riders recognise the catch will be made (Image credit: Getty Images)
Norsgaard and Egholm continued into the final 30km with a slightly increased gap of 1:05, but with QuickStep and UAE leading the charge behind, the break's time was surely numbered.
The pair's adventure came to an end with just over 10km left to run, at which point the sprint teams took over. A host of teams jostled for position at the head of the race on the run back to Békéscsaba, though it was XDS-Astana who led the way into the final 3km.
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) tried a flyer over the only lump on the course, a bridge at just that point, but he was swiftly brought back into the fold. XDS-Astana resumed their control at the front for the final 1.8km, while Soudal-QuickStep moved back up in time for the closing sprint.
Rui Oliveira provided the final leadout, with Juan Sebastian Molano launching off his wheel. However, he couldn't outspeed Tim Merlier in the final metres of the stage.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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