Tim Merlier claims Belgian road race title

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The 224km-long flat course for the Belgian men's road race championship resulted in what was to be expected - a bunch sprint - and Tim Merlier (Corendon-Circus) claimed victory ahead of Timothy Dupont (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

"In the sprint the team was able to deliver me in a perfect position," Merlier told Sporza in the post-race flash interview.

"I started my sprint from the wheel of [Edward] Theuns but when I launched my sprint I panicked a little and kept my legs still for a moment. Then I told myself to lean forward and I was able to hold it until the line. It’s unbelievable."

Only two weeks ago, Merlier was signed by Corendon-Circus to race on the road this summer. In cyclo-cross, he is racing for the Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice team. Last week, the 26-year-old already showed off his fast legs with a surprise sprint victory over Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) in the Elfstedenronde.

Once again, a cyclo-cross rider turns out to be a top-class road cyclist. Merlier was asked the obvious question if he would focus on cyclo-cross or road.

"I was asked the question already a billion times and I’ll hear it a billion more times. Now I’ll just enjoy this win and take in that I’ll wear this jersey for a whole year. Then we will see," Merlier said.

The first part of the 224km long course included a triple passage over famous stretches of pavé near Zottegem: Lange Munte, Paddestraat and Lippenhovestraat. It was flat-out racing on the cobbles and the peloton split into several pieces.

"I was quite alright," Merlier explained. "Early on during the pavé loops I was riding near the front when we were away with about 40 riders. That was an ideal scenario. I wasn’t losing strength there while some favourites were running into trouble, like [Sep] Vanmarcke, Theuns and a QuickStep rider who crashed. I thought to myself ‘Oh, maybe I should start to believe in my chances," Merlier said.

After two hours of racing, on the final passage of the cobbles, Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Dries De Bondt (Corendon-Circus) attacked. They were quickly joined by Lotto-Soudal riders Stan Dewulf and Jelle Wallays. The four leaders carved out a lead of 2:30 when reaching the finish for the first time, still having seven laps of the 15km finishing circuit to cover.

The peloton controlled the breakaway and slowly brought the gap back down to one minute with three laps to go. At 33km from the finish, on one of the few bridges on the flat course, Evenepoel accelerated. His move cost Stan Dewulf his spot up front. From that point on, De Bondt and Wallays skipped more turns than Evenepoel wanted and the gap continued to come down. At 20km from the finish, Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) escaped the peloton while Evenepoel continued to put his companions, Stuyven and the peloton under pressure.

When hitting the final lap and final 15km, the trio in front was 15s ahead of Stuyven and 25s ahead of the stretched-out peloton. At 11km from the finish, the leaders were caught back. Stijn Steels (Roompot-Charles) attacked after an acceleration from Jens Keukeleire (Lotto-Soudal) was neutralized. His solo effort was over at 7km from the finish.

Wanty-Groupe Gobert took command of the peloton in the final kilometres, later being joined by Corendon-Circus, and Tim Merlier perfectly timed his sprint to win ahead of Dupont, Wout van Aert and Philippe Gilbert.

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