Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) erupted in the final 100 metres of stage 5 to claim his third victory of the week at the Tour de Hongrie. Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) survived the windy day into Veszprém after crashing in the final 20km and secured the overall title.
Riding in the green points classification jersey, Merlier left no doubts as he sprang away lead-out man Alberto Dainese on the right side of the wide course to win the bunch sprint for a hat-trick. Alexis Renard (Cofidis) finished in second and Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) in third, with Dainese locking up fourth.
“It was a good week for us, with three stage victories and a nice GC result. Today we were able to try multiple times with different riders and we can be happy with the outcome," stage winner Merlier said, referencing Junior Lecerf who finished in fourth on GC.
"Winning the green jersey is a nice bonus, one that makes me happy. Hats off to my teammates the for their effort, not just today, but the whole week, they were amazing."
What looked to be a steady day for a seven-rider breakaway turned into late chaos with echelons forming and the yellow jersey going down hard as he attempted to reel back a final breakaway threat.
Söderqvist held a 40-second advantage over Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates) on the final day, with Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) another 12 seconds back. The Swede did a lot of the work with his Lidl-Trek teammates to watch moves by the challengers, a final one by Plapp taking more than 10km to shut down.
He held on to the overall title, with Cosnefroy solidifying second by just nine seconds over Plapp. It was the first men’s elite GC title of Söderqvist's career.
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"The final was a really hectic situation. Plapp put us under pressure, as he should. Then the wind was really strong and we were really fighter on the last centimeters of the road and I was the first to go down there. But in the end it was just a team effort today. I went on my own yesterday, but today I was nothing without the team," the Lidl-Trek rider said.
How it unfolded
The fifth and final day of racing featured sporadic rain yet again, but later sunshine for a change, with the course offering three intermediate sprints and five categorised climbs across 147.1km. An opening circuit of 30.2km, completed twice, began proceedings, with an immediate ascent of Szentkjralyszabadja (2.1km at 5.6%) in the first 4.5km from the start in Balatonalmádi at Wesselényi Beach. The second pass of that same climb would count for KOM points.
Passing through Balatonalmádi on four shorter circuits of 6.1km, the Gella (3.6km; 5.4%) provides KOM points on each pass, the final summit leaving 27.6 rolling kilometres to the finish in Veszprém.
Only two riders appeared to be in contention for the mountains classification - Adrián Benito (Polti VisitMalta) and stage 4 winner Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) – who were separated by just two points heading into the final day. Erik Fetter (Team United Shipping), who was in the breakaway, monopolised the Sunday climbs to move into the KOM lead by the mid-point of the stage.
Merlier held a 12-point margin over Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) in the points classification, and the green jersey was his all day.
A group of 12 tried to get away early and failed, then it was Fetter who attacked a second time and opened a gap on the approach to the first intermediate sprint. He was joined by six others for the main breakaway.
Fetter went to work scooping up KOM points, his companions in the breakaway included Ezra Caudell (Modern Adventure Pro), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VIsitMalta), Niklas Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious), Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise), Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) and Gerben Kuypers (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebow).
With 100km to go, the seven riders at the front had a gap of 2:39 on the peloton led by Lidl-Trek, holding steady tempo for Söderqvist. Kuypers and Meehan posed the greatest threats to the race leader, as Kuypers started the day 2:11 back and the Irishman another 11 seconds off the GC pace.
Approaching the final pass of Gella with 30km to go, the gap between the two groups had dropped to 1:10. Once on the slopes of the category 2 ascent, only eight riders from the peloton were able to bridge to the front group as wind created echelons on the exposed road, key riders including Söderqvist and Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla).
With 20km to go, as Plapp put in an attack, as he was looking to carve away at the GC standings, only trailing by a 9-second deficit to second-placed Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates).
Just a handful of seconds after Plapp hit time-trial mode at the front, Söderqvist crashed when he touched wheels with others forming a line behind the Australian. Suddenly the front of the race was in disarray - Martin Svrček (Soudal-QuickStep), Krists Neilands (NSN Cycling) holding the wheel of Plapp, UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo Cosnefroy and Adrià Pericas trying to rejoin.
Jakob Söderqvist's Lidl-Trek shorts were ripped from the crash (Image credit: Getty Images)
The yellow jersey was absorbed by the peloton, the wind not helping the Lidl-Trek rider in any way. Bauke Mollema and Kristian Egholm did the pacemaking at the front of the peloton, keeping his leader protected, but the trio at the front began to gain time, now 25 seconds with 10km to go, Plapp doing most of the work.
Closing down on the final 2.5km, the lead group began to splinter, Plapp the first one to fall back, but there was still a gap of five seconds to the peloton, driven by the yellow jersey. Mike Teunissen (XDS Astana) reached Neilands and Svrcek at the front with 1.3km to go and a new composition re-energised the break.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG had two riders leading the peloton and ended any hopes for the leaders, which allowed the sprinter's teams to take over in the final 500 metres. Merlier then swooped across the line for a trifecta of stage wins.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.
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