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Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sped to his second sprint win in two days at the UAE Tour, launching early on the curving finish straight at Abu Dhabi Breakwater to claim a dominant victory.
The European champion came around the two-men sprint trains of Tudor and Alpecin-Deceuninck to jump early into the headwind and pull out a gap on his rivals in the closing metres of the race’s penultimate stage.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was left to come through for a distant second place, while double stage winner Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) rounded out the podium a whisker further back.
The finish came after several sprint teams fought to control the closing kilometres, with the remains of the day’s breakaway brought back 2.5km from the line.
Picnic-PostNL and Lidl-Trek were among the teams with trains on the front speeding towards the line, but it was Tudor who hit the front inside the final kilometre. The Swiss squad wouldn’t have any joy in the closing sprint, however, with Merlier launching early and coming around the outside on the bending run to the line.
Starting from a position much further back than his main rivals, Merlier was already at full speed and flying past before the likes of Philipsen and Milan could launch. The 32-year-old blasted through to hit the front and claim a dominant win as the other sprinters picked up the scraps behind him.
“I was in the washing machine like they say. I found a gap at 300 to go and tried to surprise the others….
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