Saudi Arabia became the 35th different country in which our team took a victory since 2003.

Tim Merlier came out on top at the AlUla Tour after an exciting and action-packed stage 3, battered by crosswinds and broken into echelons inside the final hour, once a left-hand turn opened the way to pure chaos on the road.

Racing in the wind is a Soudal Quick-Step specialty, and our team rode flawlessly when the peloton got split in the last 30 kilometers of the stage that concluded on the Camel Cup Track. Five of the team’s riders made the cut, and those numbers helped the leading group’s buffer reach almost a minute in the blink of an eye, as well keeping things together in the hectic closing kilometers, when it poured with attacks.

After neo-pro Warre Vangheluwe shut down all those dangerous moves and Bert Van Lerberghe did a sensational job in bringing Merlier at the front of the group, no one could match the two-time Belgian Champion’s acceleration when he went with 250 meters to go, capturing his 12th victory in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey.

“It was a typical Belgian day with the echelons and the low temperatures, but thanks to the echelons it became warmer out there. I was very motivated at the start of the stage because today is my son’s birthday, and I wanted this win for him”, Merlier explained. “It was crazy fast on those open roads, and then in the sprint, which was slightly uphill, everything needed to be in the right place, but with the help of the team who did an extraordinary job, I nailed it. Winning early in the season is always good for the confidence, and I’m delighted I could do that in just my third day of racing this year.”

 

Photo credit: ©Alex Broadway / Getty Images

Race details

1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
3:59:52
2 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
3 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
4 Luka Mezgec
Team Jayco AlUla
0:00
5 Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
6 Dušan Rajović
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
7 Rui Oliveira
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
8 Bryan Coquard
Cofidis
0:00
9 Lucas Hamilton
Team Jayco AlUla
0:00
10 Gleb Syritsa
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:00
12 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
26 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
34 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
0:26
35 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:26
45 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
0:55
81 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
0:55
1 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
12:00:37
2 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:02
3 Matteo Sobrero
BORA - hansgrohe
0:10
4 Nils Eekhoff
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:10
5 Bryan Coquard
Cofidis
0:12
6 Rick Pluimers
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:14
7 Fred Wright
Bahrain - Victorious
0:14
8 Finn Fisher-Black
UAE Team Emirates
0:15
9 Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin
Terengganu Cycling Team
0:16
10 Gianluca Brambilla
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:16
16 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:16
29 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:51
31 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
1:06
70 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
3:50
79 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
5:19
92 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
7:33
1 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
30 pt
2 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
24 pt
3 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
22 pt
4 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
17 pt
5 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
12 pt
6 Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jayco AlUla
12 pt
7 Dušan Rajović
Bahrain - Victorious
11 pt
8 Bryan Coquard
Cofidis
10 pt
9 Nils Eekhoff
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
9 pt
10 Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides
UAE Team Emirates
9 pt
12 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
5 pt
1 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
12:00:37
2 Rick Pluimers
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:14
3 Fred Wright
Bahrain - Victorious
0:14
4 Finn Fisher-Black
UAE Team Emirates
0:15
5 Iván Romeo Abad
Movistar Team
0:16
6 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:16
7 Maikel Zijlaard
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:30
8 Andoni López de Abetxuko Jimenez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
0:35
9 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:51
10 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
1:03
31 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
7:33
1 Soudal Quick-Step 36:02:37
2 UAE Team Emirates 0:02
3 Team Jayco AlUla 0:02
4 BORA - hansgrohe 0:02
5 Tudor Pro Cycling Team 0:14
6 Movistar Team 0:15
7 Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 0:57
8 Cofidis 1:04
9 Euskaltel - Euskadi 1:16
10 Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 1:30

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