Tim Merlier wins Nokere Koerse
Walscheid and De Lie complete podium on cobbles in Belgium
Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) sprinted to victory in Nokere Koerse, using his power to overtake the Groupama-FDJ lead out and blast up the Nokereberg to the win.
The Belgian sat on the Groupama-FDJ lead-out comfortably in fourth wheel behind Max Walscheid (Cofidis) and when he made his move, Walscheid could not match him and had to settle for second.
Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Soudal) came from a long way back, latching onto the wheel of Bert Van Lerberghe (Quickstep-AlphaVinyl) to take the final podium spot.
"This is my home race - for the public it was great, there were many people out there," Merlier said. "There was some pressure - when I raced it was like racing worlds in Leuven last year, there was so much atmosphere and everyone wanted me to win because I'm from here.
"I started the sprint early. This was my first time in Nokere Koerse and I watched the sprint of previous editions. I watched how Nacer Bouhanni won, he also went from pretty far.
"I thought I have to take my speed into the climb and get to that little turn to the left and just keep the watts high. I knew not many riders would be able to pass me."
How it unfolded
The peloton set out into a light headwind for the 189.8km of Nokere Koerse, with the first significant breakaway coming in the hellingen around Oudenaarde, where five riders formed the main escape of the first half of the race.
Robin Carpenter (Human Powered Health), Gil D'Heygere (Minerva Cycling), Adrien Lagree (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), Kobe Vanoverschelde (Tarteletto-Isorex) and Aaron Verwilst (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) worked to build a lead of three minutes but could not stretch it much more.
At the halfway point the race entered the closing circuits and as the breakaway began coming back there was a crash from Hugo Hofstetter, but he was quickly back up and into the peloton. On the Hoevenstraat with 89km to go there was a counter-attack from Iljo Keisse (Quickstep-AlphaVinyl), Laurens Rex (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) and Kévin Van Melsen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) that neutralised the breakaway as the peloton stretched across the cobbles. By the first ascent of the Nokereberg, the race was all back together.
The pace was high with 76km to go but that did not deter Casper van Uden (DSM) from launching a move. He inspired an attempt to bridge from Samuele Zoccarato (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) and Andreas Goeman (Tarteletto-Isorex). They made it to Van Uden with 16 seconds on the peloton and 72km still to go.
It was not a large enough advantage and soon the peloton reeled in first Zoccarato then Van Uden and Goeman. As the gap to the two remaining leaders dropped to 12 seconds, Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal) set out in pursuit and was joined by Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe).
A crash disrupted the chase, with Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani) falling into the culvert with Pier Andre-Cote (Human Powered Health) and Fabio van den Bossche (Alpecin-Fenix).
Van Uden and Goeman stretched their lead to 20 seconds on the Hoevenstraat cobbles with 60.5km to go, and soon Paaschens and Postlberger bridged across. The quartet held around 20 to 23 seconds as Alpecin-Fenix set a maintenance tempo in the bunch. At the top of the Nokereberg, they had 32 seconds in hand.
The gap stretched to nearly a minute but with 40km to go, it began going rapidly in the opposite direction thanks to the forcing of Israel-Premier Tech, Alepcin-Fenix, Groupama-FDJ and Quickstep-AlphaVinyl. It was down to just over 20 seconds but, sensing the breakaway would be easy to catch, the bunch let their gap grow again to 55 seconds.
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) envigorated the chase with 33km to go, halving the lead and with one lap to go, the four leaders crested the Nokereberg again with just 21 seconds and with 23km to go, it was all back together.
Not content to wait for the bunch sprint, Sam Watson (Groupama-FDJ) leapt away inside 20km to go and gained 30 seconds on the peloton. His TV time came to an end with 10km remaining.
UAE Team Emirates set a high pace in the final 2km for Pascal Ackermann but it was Groupama-FDJ won took the front on the cobbles, with Alpecin-Fenix's Merlier pouncing in the final turn to take the win.
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | 4:20:04 |
2 | Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Cofidis | |
3 | Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
4 | Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
5 | Bram Welten (Ned) Groupama-FDJ | |
6 | Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
7 | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | |
8 | Pierre Barbier (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
9 | Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Team Emirates | |
10 | Jannik Steimle (Ger) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
11 | Ethan Vernon (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
12 | Jonas Koch (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
13 | Lewis Askey (GBr) Groupama-FDJ | |
14 | Boy van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
15 | Milan Menten (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | |
16 | Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel-Premier Tech | |
17 | Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel-Premier Tech | |
18 | Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
19 | Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis | |
20 | Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
21 | Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
22 | Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
23 | Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Arkea-Samsic | |
24 | Laurenz Rex (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | |
25 | Barnabás Peák (Hun) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
26 | Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
27 | Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ | |
28 | Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Human Powered Health | |
29 | Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ | |
30 | Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Trek-Segafredo | |
31 | André Carvalho (Por) Cofidis | |
32 | Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
33 | Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM | |
34 | Scott Thwaites (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix | |
35 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
36 | Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | |
37 | Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates | |
38 | BITTNER Pavel | |
39 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
40 | Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Nor) Team DSM | |
41 | Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | |
42 | Cedric Beullens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
43 | Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:24 |
44 | Clément Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 0:00:33 |
45 | Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:39 |
46 | Arne Marit (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:00:40 |
47 | Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | 0:00:42 |
48 | Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel-Premier Tech | |
49 | Gilles De Wilde (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:00:44 |
50 | Sam Welsford (Aus) Team DSM | |
51 | Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | 0:00:46 |
52 | Taj Jones (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech | |
53 | Quentin Jauregui (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | 0:00:48 |
54 | Edward Planckaert (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | |
55 | Christophe Noppe (Bel) Arkea-Samsic | 0:00:52 |
56 | FRIGO Marco | 0:00:53 |
57 | PUPPIO Antonio | |
58 | Wesley Kreder (Ned) Cofidis | |
59 | WATSON Samuel | 0:00:58 |
60 | Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates | 0:00:59 |
61 | Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | 0:01:19 |
62 | VAN UDEN Casper | 0:01:24 |
63 | Morten Hulgaard (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
64 | Floris De Tier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | 0:01:49 |
65 | Vito Braet (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
66 | SAVER Kasper | 0:02:17 |
67 | Felix Groß (Ger) UAE Team Emirates | 0:02:28 |
68 | August Jensen (Nor) Human Powered Health | 0:03:13 |
69 | Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:03:15 |
70 | Tord Gudmestad (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | 0:03:18 |
71 | GOEMAN Andreas | |
72 | Miguel Heidemann (Ger) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
73 | JOSEPH Thomas | |
74 | Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:03:21 |
75 | Markus Pajur (Est) Arkea-Samsic | |
76 | Jelle Wallays (Bel) Cofidis | |
77 | Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo | 0:03:28 |
78 | Julius Johansen (Den) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
79 | LEMMENS Sander | |
80 | Mathijs Paasschens (Ned) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | 0:04:09 |
81 | Maurice Ballerstedt (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix | 0:04:21 |
82 | Daan Hoole (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | |
83 | Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:05:18 |
84 | Dayer Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic | 0:05:39 |
85 | Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis | 0:05:45 |
86 | DHAEYE Enrico | 0:06:07 |
87 | VANOVERSCHELDE Kobe | |
88 | VAN DE KERKHOVE Brent | 0:06:13 |
89 | Raphael Parisella (Can) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
90 | Pier Andre Cote (Can) Human Powered Health | |
91 | Adrien Lagree (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
92 | Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | |
93 | Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | |
94 | VAN SCHOOR Matthew | |
95 | Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
96 | Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel-Premier Tech | |
97 | Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
98 | Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
99 | DE POORTER Maxime | |
100 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
101 | VERHOFSTADT Thibau | |
102 | Luca Colnaghi (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
103 | Colin Joyce (USA) Human Powered Health | |
104 | Robin Carpenter (USA) Human Powered Health | |
105 | Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
106 | Stijn Steels (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
107 | VAN BREUSSEGEM Elias | |
108 | Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) UAE Team Emirates | |
109 | Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux | |
110 | Leon Heinschke (Ger) Team DSM | |
111 | Samuele Zoccarato (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
112 | Joel Suter (Swi) UAE Team Emirates | 0:06:21 |
113 | Alexander Krieger (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix | |
DNF | MUSEEUW Stefano | |
DNF | Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
DNF | Johnatan Cañaveral Vargas (Col) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
DNF | Alessandro Santaromita Villa (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
DNF | Louis Blouwe (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB | |
DNF | WILLEMS Thimo | |
DNF | Enrico Zanoncello (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' | |
DNF | D´HEYGERE Gil | |
DNF | Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Uno-X Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
DNF | Fabio Van Den Bossche (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | |
DNF | Matthew Walls (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
DNF | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
DNF | Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Lotto Soudal | |
DNF | Marc Brustenga Masague (Spa) Trek-Segafredo | |
DNF | Jakob Egholm (Den) Trek-Segafredo | |
DNF | Gage Hecht (USA) Human Powered Health | |
DNF | Michel Ries (Lux) Arkea-Samsic | |
DNS | Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM | |
DNS | Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe |
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