Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) took the second stage win of the Renewi Tour in Hoeselt on stage 4, handily out-pacing Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) in Bilzen-Hoeselt.
Merlier had to find his way out of the cluster in the final 300 metres, trying first to follow Kooij but then seeing no way through. Finding a hole on the right as Kooij opened his sprint on the left, Merlier shot out of the pack to snatch the victory as Kooij faded.
“This one is a really difficult finish, but the guys brought me into good position,” Merlier said. “We were then a bit boxed in the last 500 metres, but I could come out. At first, Kooij was in the lead, but I think he went a bit too early and I felt he couldn’t hold it. He was slowing down and it was enough for me to win.
“I was a bit boxed in. We were on the side of Kooij, but it didn’t open, so I chose the other side and then it was all-in until the finish.”
The day’s breakaway moved clear in the first kilometres, with five riders: Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Michel Ries (Akréa-B&B Hotels), Colby Simmons (EF Education-EasyPost), Ward Vanhoof (Flanders Baloise), Leander Van Hautegem (Wagner Bazin WB) and Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets), opening up a gap of over four minutes. Reis let go of the breakaway with 40km to go.
With 3km to go, Kubiš and De Bondt continued to fight as the rest of their companions were caught, but they could not hold off the charging peloton as the lead-out trains assembled.
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