Tim Merlier just missed out on a big win at Classic Brugge-De Panne 2024 to fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen and he’s hardly impressed with the finish.
In the final few hundred metres, a boxed-in Philipsen made contact with Merlier as the eventual winner attempted to barge his way into open road and begin his sprint. “When I want to start my sprint, I got a push from behind,” Merlier described the incident in his post-race interview with WielerFlits.
Philipsen went clear as Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) tried to surge towards the finish line. Navigating towards the forefront near the barriers, Philipsen collided with Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep), causing both cyclists to momentarily stop pedalling. Thankfully there was no crash at high speed, which would have been disastrous at the front of the race.
“I sat with my wheel to the left of Danny van Poppel, so I had no room left. That’s why I stuck with it. If I push through there, Jasper will go over the guardrail and I would have been the guilty one. That meant I couldn’t do my sprint.” Merlier added. “At first I didn’t even know it was Jasper. It was mainly a disappointment. Maybe I’m too nice, but I don’t want to kill anyone either.”
It was a hectic finish, he said. “Sprinting is not easy,” he added. “Positioning is always very important, but without wind there is no spectacle. Despite that, it was still quite stressful.”
Merlier thanked his skills and experience to avoid a crash.
“Jasper is lucky that I am a good rider,” Merlier said. “If I’d pushed through, someone would have gone over the barriers. I probably wouldn’t have fallen but I was probably going to be the one blamed. Jasper was coming up and I wanted to start my sprint too but then suddenly I got a push in the hip. I stopped pedalling.”
Hugs, speed and strategy: Three takeaways from Milan – San Remo
The hectic finish comes five days after another talked-about sprint at Saturday’s Milan – San Remo. After a flurry of attacks–including Tadej Pogačar’s blast up the Poggio, and a last minute move by Tom Pidcock, Mathieu van der Poel became a super domestique for teammate Philipsen. Australian Michael Matthews took the lead in the sprint, but would ultimately be bested by Philipsen.
The Jayco-AlUla looked to slightly close the door on the Belgian, but not as much as he could have. After the race, he said he didn’t want to do such a thing as he wanted to win fairly. “Maybe I could…
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