4 Jours de Dunkerque / Grand Prix des Hauts de France

Stage 6: Avion - Dunkerque

FR France Sunday 21 May 2023 182.6 km

Merlier ends the week with a bang

Merlier ends the week with a bang

Tim Merlier took the spoils on the final stage of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque, racking up Soudal Quick-Step’s 25th victory of the year. The win capped off a solid week of racing for our team, who was a major protagonist also in the fight for the general classification with Kasper Asgreen, the Dane who in his first outing since mid-April concluded this 67th edition in the runner-up spot, just 13 seconds behind the overall victor.

Sunday afternoon, the early threat of echelons failed to materialise on the roads to Dunkerque, and the stage – controlled by a number of teams, including the Wolfpack – came down to a rather chaotic bunch sprint, spiced up by the numerous corners in the closing kilometers. After Bert Van Lerberghe dropped him off with 500 meters to go, Merlier expertly surfed wheels and kicked out just 150 meters from the line, narrowly edging out Erlend Blikra (Uno X) for his sixth win this season.

“This week I couldn’t sprint as I had wanted to until today, and I’m incredibly happy for myself and the team that I could take this victory after a rest and training period. There was a big breakaway and we knew it wouldn’t be easy to reel them in, but the team did a great job and I’m grateful for that”, Tim explained after the stage. “In the sprint I got closed in a bit, I found Bert again and he brought me in a good position. A guy from Uno X went from the distance, so I had to push to outpower him in the end and fortunately it worked out. I’m glad I could take this win with some members of my family here, that made it even more special.”

“It was really nice to return to competition after a few good weeks of rest and training in Denmark and Andorra. It seems that it was good for my shape, as I now finally start to feel like myself again after quite some time. That’s encouraging ahead of the next races. It would have been a pity to go home without a stage win after all the work we put in here, so I’m super happy I could contribute to Tim’s victory”, added Kasper after his second podium in a stage race.

 

Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images

Race details

1 Tim Merlier
Soudal - Quick Step
3:56:38
2 Erlend Blikra
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
0:00
3 Cees Bol
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:00
4 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
0:00
5 Max Walscheid
Cofidis
0:00
6 Rüdiger Selig
Lotto Dstny
0:00
7 Milan Fretin
Team Flanders - Baloise
0:00
8 Paul Penhoët
Groupama - FDJ
0:00
9 Hugo Hofstetter
Team Arkéa Samsic
0:00
10 Matteo Malucelli
Bingoal WB
0:00
16 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
27 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
30 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
0:00
77 Jannik Steimle
Soudal - Quick Step
1:18
89 Stan Van Tricht
Soudal - Quick Step
4:24
97 Lars Craps
Soudal - Quick Step
8:27
1 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
21:14:08
2 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
0:13
3 Cees Bol
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:15
4 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
0:17
5 Brent Van Moer
Lotto Dstny
0:20
6 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
0:24
7 Alexis Renard
Cofidis
0:27
8 Peter Sagan
TotalEnergies
0:36
9 Per Strand Hagenes
Jumbo-Visma
0:36
10 Samuel Watson
Groupama - FDJ
0:39
35 Tim Merlier
Soudal - Quick Step
5:51
39 Stan Van Tricht
Soudal - Quick Step
6:29
47 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal - Quick Step
9:54
73 Jannik Steimle
Soudal - Quick Step
17:31
96 Lars Craps
Soudal - Quick Step
29:35
1 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
41 pt
2 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
28 pt
3 Benjamin Thomas
Cofidis
25 pt
4 Tim Merlier
Soudal - Quick Step
25 pt
5 Erlend Blikra
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
22 pt
6 Paul Penhoët
Groupama - FDJ
21 pt
7 Cees Bol
Astana Qazaqstan Team
19 pt
8 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
19 pt
9 Max Walscheid
Cofidis
18 pt
10 Samuel Leroux
Van Rysel - Roubaix Lille Métropole
17 pt
18 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
9 pt
42 Jannik Steimle
Soudal - Quick Step
1 pt
1 Alex Colman
Team Flanders - Baloise
39 pt
2 Kenny Molly
Van Rysel - Roubaix Lille Métropole
23 pt
3 Tuur Dens
Team Flanders - Baloise
15 pt
4 Ceriel Desal
Bingoal WB
13 pt
5 Mathis Le Berre
Team Arkéa Samsic
7 pt
6 Pier-André Coté
Human Powered Health
4 pt
7 Rait Ärm
Van Rysel - Roubaix Lille Métropole
4 pt
8 Geoffrey Soupe
TotalEnergies
3 pt
9 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal - Quick Step
2 pt
10 Logan Currie
Bolton Equities Black Spoke
2 pt
1 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
21:14:08
2 Olav Kooij
Jumbo-Visma
0:17
3 Ethan Vernon
Soudal - Quick Step
0:24
4 Alexis Renard
Cofidis
0:27
5 Per Strand Hagenes
Jumbo-Visma
0:36
6 Samuel Watson
Groupama - FDJ
0:39
7 Logan Currie
Bolton Equities Black Spoke
0:41
8 Paul Penhoët
Groupama - FDJ
1:52
9 Luca Van Boven
Bingoal WB
2:07
10 Antoine Raugel
AG2R Citroën Team
2:38
14 Stan Van Tricht
Soudal - Quick Step
6:29
32 Lars Craps
Soudal - Quick Step
29:35
1 Jumbo-Visma 63:44:41
2 Lotto Dstny 0:00
3 Soudal - Quick Step 0:01
4 Groupama - FDJ 0:25
5 AG2R Citroën Team 1:14
6 Team Arkéa Samsic 3:39
7 TotalEnergies 3:50
8 Intermarché - Circus - Wanty 8:12
9 Cofidis 9:52
10 Uno-X Pro Cycling Team 10:00

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