UAE Tour: Tim Merlier doubles up with stage 6 sprint victory

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Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sped to his second sprint win in two days at the UAE Tour, launching early on the curving finish straight at Abu Dhabi Breakwater to claim a dominant victory.

The European champion came around the two-men sprint trains of Tudor and Alpecin-Deceuninck to jump early into the headwind and pull out a gap on his rivals in the closing metres of the race's penultimate stage.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was left to come through for a distant second place, while double stage winner Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) rounded out the podium a whisker further back.

The finish came after several sprint teams fought to control the closing kilometres, with the remains of the day's breakaway brought back 2.5km from the line.

Picnic-PostNL and Lidl-Trek were among the teams with trains on the front speeding towards the line, but it was Tudor who hit the front inside the final kilometre. The Swiss squad wouldn't have any joy in the closing sprint, however, with Merlier launching early and coming around the outside on the bending run to the line.

Starting from a position much further back than his main rivals, Merlier was already at full speed and flying past before the likes of Philipsen and Milan could launch. The 32-year-old blasted through to hit the front and claim a dominant win as the other sprinters picked up the scraps behind him.

"I was in the washing machine like they say. I found a gap at 300 to go and tried to surprise the others. The headwind was a really long effort, so I'm suffering," Merlier said after the finish.

"It was really difficult to organise. Also, my lead-out crashed yesterday so maybe it wasn't a good idea to do real work today. But we tried what we could. We lost each other at 1.9km to go.

"I missed him to make some space for me and I was boxed in, boxed in, boxed in all the time. I thought I wasn't going to make it but I found a gap with 300 to go and then I just gave it a try and it was enough.

"Like every opportunity is an important one. I'm just happy with the win again."

Sunday's final stage, the closing summit finish at Jebel Hafeet, now looms, with the battle for the red jersey set to erupt again. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continues in the overall lead on Saturday evening. He enjoys a 15-second advantage over Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), while Iván Romeo (Movistar) lies third overall at 27 seconds.

How it unfolded

The penultimate stage of the UAE Tour would deliver another expected sprint finish at the end of a pan-flat 165km run from Abu Dhabi Cycling Club to Abu Dhabi Breakwater. Following three sprint stages in five days, stage 6 would be the final chance for the fastmen to take a stage victory.

With little to fight for along the way, barring two intermediate sprints, the fight for the breakaway was a short one, delivering riders from Solution Tech-Vini Fantini and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè to the front.

Vini Fantini trio – black jersey Đorđe Đurić, Kristian Sbaragli, and Carlos Samudio – were joined in the move by Bardiani rider Manuele Tarozzi after the quartet attacked in the opening kilometres of the stage.

Several sprint squads took up the pacemaking load in the peloton, with Visma-Lease A Bike joined by Soudal-QuickStep, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Lidl-Trek, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe putting men on the front.

The teams limited the time gap to the break to around 2:30 at its maximum, with the situation well under control as the riders sped past Abu Dhabi Airport, the Yas Marina Circuit, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and a series of islands in the city before heading for the finish.

Aided by his two teammates, Đurić duly extended his black sprints jersey lead at the Yas Marina Circuit sprint 70km after the start with his five-point lead over Tarozzi growing to 10 there.

The day's second and final sprint came at Qasr Al Hosn 23km from the finish. With the peloton closing to within a minute of the break, Vini Fantini worked once again to deliver Đurić the full eight points. With Tarozzi taking third place, the Serbian added another five points to his total to lead by 15 heading into the final day.

From there, it was up to the sprint squads, with Soudal-QuickStep, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and Picnic-PostNL among the teams leading the chase into the final 10km. Đurić and Sabaragli were the first riders from the break brought back, dropping away from Tarozzi and Samudio with 5km to go.

The remaining duo kept battling on with an ever-slimming advantage on the wide roads running towards the finish, however. But with multiple sprint trains lining up across the highway, their time was numbered.

In the end, the final catch was made at 2.5km from the line, leaving the sprint teams to fight over the final kilometres.

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