Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) sprinted to victory in Nokere Koerse, utilizing his energy to overhaul 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 transfer, Walscheid couldn’t match him and needed to accept second.
Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Soudal) got here from a great distance again, latching onto the wheel of Bert Van Lerberghe (Quickstep-AlphaVinyl) to take the ultimate podium spot.
“That is my dwelling race – for the general public it was nice, there have been many individuals on the market,” Merlier stated. “There was some stress – after I raced it was like racing worlds in Leuven final yr, there was a lot ambiance and everybody wished me to win as a result of I am from right here.
“I began the dash early. This was my first time in Nokere Koerse and I watched the dash of earlier editions. I watched how Nacer Bouhanni received, he additionally went from fairly far.
“I believed I’ve to take my velocity into the climb and get to that little flip to the left and simply hold the watts excessive. I knew not many riders would be capable to cross me.”
The way it unfolded
The peloton set out into a lightweight headwind for the 189.8km of Nokere Koerse, with the primary important breakaway coming within the hellingen round Oudenaarde, the place 5 riders fashioned the primary escape of the primary half of the race.
Robin Carpenter (Human Powered Well being), Gil D’Heygere (Minerva Biking), Adrien Lagree (B&B Resorts p/b KTM), Kobe Vanoverschelde (Tarteletto-Isorex) and Aaron Verwilst (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) labored to construct a lead of three minutes however couldn’t stretch it rather more.
On the midway level the race entered the closing circuits and because the breakaway started coming again there was a crash from Hugo Hofstetter, however he was rapidly again 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 because the peloton stretched throughout the cobbles. By the primary ascent of the Nokereberg, the race was all again collectively.
The tempo was excessive with 76km to go however that didn’t deter Casper van Uden (DSM) from launching a transfer. He impressed an try and 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 nonetheless to go.
It was not a big sufficient benefit and shortly the peloton reeled in first Zoccarato then Van Uden and Goeman. Because the hole to the 2 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 Well being) and Fabio van den Bossche (Alpecin-Fenix).
Van Uden and Goeman stretched their result in 20 seconds on the Hoevenstraat cobbles with 60.5km to go, and shortly Paaschens and Postlberger bridged throughout. The quartet held round 20 to 23 seconds as Alpecin-Fenix set a upkeep tempo within the bunch. On the high of the Nokereberg, that they had 32 seconds in hand.
The hole stretched to just about a minute however with 40km to go, it started going quickly in the wrong way because of the forcing of Israel-Premier Tech, Alepcin-Fenix, Groupama-FDJ and Quickstep-AlphaVinyl. It was down to simply over 20 seconds however, sensing the breakaway could be straightforward to catch, the bunch let their hole develop once more to 55 seconds.
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) envigorated the chase with 33km to go, halving the lead and with one lap to go, the 4 leaders crested the Nokereberg once more with simply 21 seconds and with 23km to go, it was all again collectively.
Not content material to attend for the bunch dash, Sam Watson (Groupama-FDJ) leapt away inside 20km to go and gained 30 seconds on the peloton. His TV time got here to an finish with 10km remaining.
UAE Crew Emirates set a excessive tempo within the remaining 2km for Pascal Ackermann however it was Groupama-FDJ received took the entrance on the cobbles, with Alpecin-Fenix’s Merlier pouncing within the remaining flip to take the win.
| Pos. | Rider Identify (Nation) Crew | End result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix | |
| 2 | Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Cofidis | |
| 3 | Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
| 4 | Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Fast-Step Alpha Vinyl Crew | |
| 5 | Bram Welten (Ned) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 6 | Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Uno-X Professional Biking Crew | |
| 7 | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | |
| 8 | Pierre Barbier (Fra) B&B Resorts-KTM | |
| 9 | Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Crew Emirates | |
| 10 | Jannik Steimle (Ger) Fast-Step Alpha Vinyl Crew |
