Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) stormed to victory to retain his title at Nokere Koerse, outsprinting Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny) at the end of a crash-hit finale at the 193km race.
The Belgian champion hit the front of the much-reduced peloton around the final bend on the cobbled rise to the line in Nokere and couldn’t be beaten as he and what remained of the group sprinted to the line.
In the closing metres, Theuns and Menten behind him couldn’t get close to the 30-year-old, who went on to celebrate his fifth win of the season.
Of the 171 riders who started the day, only around 20 were left at the front at the end of four-and-a-half laps of the closing circuit based around the Nokereberg climb. Crashes at 3km to go and 1300 metres out decimated the peloton, which was hot on the trail of late attackers Sep Vanmarcke (Israel-Premier Tech), Gianni Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny), and Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ).
It looked as though the trio might stay away to contest the finish following the first mass crash 3km out, but even the second coming together didn’t put off the sprinters at the head of the peloton.
In the end the catch was made at a painful 300 metres to go, just as the riders hit the Nokereberg cobbles.
As the trio were swept up, Merlier grabbed the mantle, taking it up at the front to go long and capture prime position for the final bend at 150 metres to go. Theuns and Menten behind had no answer to his turn of speed, and so he sped away to a 28th career victory.
Earlier in the day it was bad news for Team DSM sprinter Alberto Dainese, who crashed hard and headed to hospital before the breakaway was even formed. Once it did, Etienne van Empel (Corratec) was among a seven-man move which also included 2021 winner Ludovic Robeet (Bingoal WB).
The group had little chance of staying away to the finish, though, and they’d last until the 30km to go mark before the peloton swept them up just before the penultimate pass through the line.
Attacks from Lotto-Dstny pair Jasper De Buyst and Victor Campenaerts as well as Bert Van Lerberghe (Soudal-QuickStep) and an active Vanmarcke followed. Campenaerts’ adventure quickly came to an end, however, as he slid out on a sharp corner.
De Buyst would make a solo move at 23km to go, lasting out front until the 12km mark as Soudal-QuickStep led the chase. Groupama-FDJ neo-pro Samuel Watson countered, lasting until the 5km mark, at which point Vermeersch, Vanmarcke and Pithie made their move.
They never gained more than around 10 seconds on the chasing peloton, but it looked like their luck might be in with the spate of crashes hitting the group behind. It wasn’t to be, though, and Soudal-QuickStep would be able to savour their hard work with Merlier finishing off the job to grab their 13th win of 2023 and first at the race since Fabio Jakobsen’s triumph in 2018.
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