Tim Merlier wins a tense wind ravaged day at the Renewi Tour
Merlier powers to yet another victory in the windswept Dutch flatlands and will wear the leader’s jersey into the second of five stages on Thursday.
Tim Merlier won the expected bunch sprint on the opening day of the Renewi Tour on Wednesday, winning a nervous stage where the wind threatened to break the race.
The Soudal-Quckstep rider benefited from having team mate Paul Magnier in the day’s breakaway all day, meaning he had plenty of help positioning in the final. In the end, he sprinted off the wheels of the Picnic-PostNL lead-out, beating Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) into second place, with Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in third.
A huge, 16-man breakaway rode well during the second half of the race, and maintained with their cooperation and advantage into the final 20km, when they began attacking each other. Still, there seemed to be indecision in the bunch, and they were only caught 5km from the line.
Ineos Grenadiers finally brought the break back, and led the race into the last 1,200m, when finally Soudal-Quickstep came to the front. Picnic-Post NL led into the finish straight, but Merlier was far too strong, winning the sprint with relative ease.
It was a windy day in the westernmost part of the Netherlands, and with the route looping one way and then the other, the speed would fluctuate, with a tailwind one kilometre and a crosswind the next, making for a pulsating, nervous race. However, in the end, the wind didn’t affect the result, and it concluded in a bunch sprint.
Stage two sees the race move west, into Belgium for another flat day, and few will bet against a second Merlier victory.
How it unfolded
On the face of it, the opening stage of the 20th Renewi Tour was certainly one for the sprinters, the 182.6km between Terneuzen and Breskens almost completely flat, covering only 453m of vertical ascent. However, taking place on the narrow slither of the Netherlands lying to the west of the mouth of the River Schelde, there was always a risk that crosswinds would spoil the sprinters' fun.
Having headed on an opening loop east, the route headed to the North Sea coast, the course taking the peloton on a number of circuits close to the sea, and with 25kph winds forecast, there was sure to be some gutter action across the flat countryside.
Passing kilometre zero, a breakaway group formed almost instantly, soon building a lead. Rob Stannard (Bahrain Victorious), Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost), Jelte Krijnsen (Jayco-AlUla), Alexandre Van Petegem (Wagner Bazin WB), Andreas Stokbro (Unibet-Tietma Rockets) and the Flanders-Baloise duo of Siebe Deweirdt, Milan Lanhove soon had a lead of two minutes.
That didn’t last long, though. Behind them, aggressive riding in the wind split the peloton in three, and the break was caught, another group of 16 riders getting away as the peloton reformed behind. By the time the leaders crossed the finish line for the first time, with just over 90km to go, their lead was a slender 30 seconds, and it rarely extended beyond that, waxing and waning depending on where on the course the race was and the prevailing wind conditions.
The race concluded with two smaller laps of 22km where, for much of the time, the roads were lined with either trees, hedges or flood banks, which, coupled with the winding roads, meant the wind had little effect.
The Green kilometre, which awarded three, two and one bonus seconds at three sprints over a single kilometre on the penultimate lap, drew out two riders from the break, Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), sharing the bulk of the spoils.
Just inside the final 20km, the breakaway began attacking itself, getting away in ones and twos or even larger groups, but only a move from Stannard gained any traction. But even that wasn't enough, and the whole break was brought back inside the final 5km.
