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Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) made it three in a row at Nokere Koerse, blasting out of a reduced peloton on the Nokereberg to victory.
Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) appeared to be stuck in too big a gear and muscled his way to second several bike lengths in arrears. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was third.
In the frantic battle for position, Merlier, in trying to avoid running into another rider, bumped Philipsen’s teammate Jonas Rickaert, sending him sprawling and sparking a chain-reaction crash.
Merlier then struggled to get into the correct gear but once he did, he opened up the jets and his rivals had no response. He sprinted from the base of the final climb to the top without looking back.
Now the undisputed king of the Nokereberg, a climb close to his home, Merlier had an emotional celebration with his family after two long months on the road notching up five other victories at the AlUla Tour and UAE Tour.
How it unfolded
Six riders made the day’s breakaway after the early attacks: Unai Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Victor Vercouillie and Yentl Vandevelde (Flanders-Baloise), Abram Stockman (TDT-Unibet), Aaron Van Der Beken (Bingoal WB) and Alex Vandenbulcke (Tarteletto-Isorex).
They gained around four minutes on the peloton over the first half of the race, holding that gap to the first trip over the Nokereberg signalling the start of the three finishing circuits.
An attack from Van der Beken, Stockman and Vandevelde disrupted the cooperation. Van Der Beken won the Nokereberg sprint toward the…
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