Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) powered to victory on stage 3 of the AlUla Tour after echelons split up the racing and turned a flat day into a chaotic final 30km into the AlUla Camel Racing Track.
Brilliant work from Bert Van Lerberghe allowed the Belgian sprinter to pick the wheel of stage 1 winner Casper Van Uden (DSM-Firmenich Post NL) and once he opened up, no one could match his acceleration. Merlier eased over the line and looked back at the field with his finger in the air as he took victory number one on the season.
Arvid de Kleijn took second after Tudor Pro Cycling had solid numbers in the run-in, but they couldn’t quite get their lead-out sorted in time. Van Uden held onto third ahead of Luka Mezgec, sprinting for Jayco AlUla after Dylan Groenewegen missed out in the crosswinds.
The pre-stage race leader Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) lost the green jersey after missing a split in the echelons then requiring a bike change at the worst moment as the wind was picking up. Van Uden retook the leader’s jersey with a two-second lead now over Merlier in second overall.
More to come…
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…