Merlier puts injury woe behind him with third straight Scheldeprijs win

Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) won Scheldeprijs for the third year running after he delivered a perfectly timed sprint finish in Schoten.

The Belgian came from a long way back in the finishing straight, surfing the wheels until the opportunity presented itself with 200 metres to go. Merlier’s powerful sprint carried him to victory ahead of Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies).

A nagging knee injury had limited Merlier to just one race day so far in 2026, at last month’s GP Monseré, but the time on the sidelines did nothing to dull his speed or his sharp instincts.

With 2km remaining, Merlier was buried deep in the peloton but he picked his way through the carnage with the aid of teammate Bert Van Lerberghe.

A crash had eliminated Dylan Groenewegen from the reckoning in the final 10km, but Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) looked perfectly placed for victory come the finishing straight. He was tucked in behind Max Walscheid when the Lidl-Trek rider opened the sprint from distance, but he faded in the closing metres as Merlier built up a head of steam.

The unseasonably warm and tranquil weather meant this edition of Scheldeprijs was always destined to finish in the traditional bunch sprint, but that didn’t deter an early group of six attackers from trying their luck off the front.

Robin Carpenter (Modern Adventure), Dorde Duric (Solution Tech Nippo), Bram Dissel, Joost Nat (BEAT p/b Saxo), Jelle Harteel and Jonah Killy (Tarteletto-Isorex) escaped in the opening kilometres, and they would establish a maximum lead of 2:30 before the peloton began to reel them back in.

With Soudal Quick-Step, Alpecin-Premier Tech and Unibet Rose Rockets among those policing the peloton, the escapees were never granted too much leeway, and the gap was inside a minute by they time they passed the finish line in Schoten for the first time with 51km remaining.

Only Carpenter, Dissel and Killy and remained out in front with two laps to go, with the gap at 40 seconds, and that trio still held a lead of 25 seconds when they took the bell with 17km to go.

A pair of crashes inside the final 10km to go saw a number of fast finishers eliminated from contention, including Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Milan Menten (Lotto Intermarché), Milan Fretin (Cofidis) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious).

The following Broekstraat saw Carpenter dropped from the break, while the reduced peloton closed to within 10 seconds of the leaders as they entered the final 5km. Dissel, the last man standing, was caught with 4km to go, setting the scene for the inevitable bunch finish.