Tirreno-Adriatico: Merlier scores another podium

Tirreno-Adriatico: Merlier scores another podium

Tim Merlier racked up his eighth top three finish of the season in Follonica, which hosted a stage finish at the “Race of the Two Seas” for the second year in a row. It was a strong result for Tim on the first bunch sprint of the year for him on European soil, after his spectacular campaign in the Middle East, which saw him take a total of five victories.

Just like in Paris-Nice the other day, the peloton in Italy enjoyed a quiet stage until the final kilometers, when things became hectic, making for a frantic finale. Soudal Quick-Step worked tirelessly the entire day, controlling the stage with Josef Cerny – our best man in the ITT – before Kasper Asgreen and Julian Alaphilippe took over on the local lap, their mammoth turns helping our train take center stage under the flamme rouge.

A tricky right-hand corner made things a bit tricky, but Tim Merlier overcame it with ease, rounding it out in second position. The 31-year-old launched his sprint from afar and took second place behind Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), which put him in contention for the points jersey.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Jasper Philipsen
Alpecin - Deceuninck
4:32:07
2 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
3 Axel Zingle
Cofidis
0:00
4 Amaury Capiot
0:00
5 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
6 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
0:00
7 Giovanni Lonardi
Team Polti Kometa
0:00
8 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
9 Jonathan Milan
Lidl - Trek
0:00
10 Fabian Lienhard
Groupama - FDJ
0:00
75 Fausto Masnada
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
88 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
130 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
131 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
137 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
0:27
165 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
2:29
1 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
4:43:31
2 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
0:01
3 Jonathan Milan
Lidl - Trek
0:12
4 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
0:13
5 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
0:15
6 Antonio Tiberi
Bahrain - Victorious
0:17
7 Kévin Vauquelin
0:18
8 Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:22
9 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
0:22
10 Tobias Ludvigsson
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:23
17 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal Quick-Step
0:27
57 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:43
60 Fausto Masnada
Soudal Quick-Step
0:45
80 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:55
87 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:59
119 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
1:21
152 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
2:43
1 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
12 pt
2 Jasper Philipsen
Alpecin - Deceuninck
12 pt
3 Filippo Ganna
INEOS Grenadiers
10 pt
4 Jonathan Milan
Lidl - Trek
10 pt
5 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
10 pt
6 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
10 pt
7 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
10 pt
8 Axel Zingle
Cofidis
8 pt
9 Amaury Capiot
7 pt
10 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
6 pt
11 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
6 pt
1 Davide Bais
Team Polti Kometa
5 pt
2 Lorenzo Quartucci
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
3 pt
3 Filippo Magli
VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè
2 pt
4 Jan Stöckli
Team Corratec - Vini Fantini
1 pt
1 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
4:43:31
2 Jonathan Milan
Lidl - Trek
0:12
3 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
0:13
4 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
0:15
5 Antonio Tiberi
Bahrain - Victorious
0:17
6 Kévin Vauquelin
0:18
7 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
0:22
8 Max Poole
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:26
9 Thymen Arensman
INEOS Grenadiers
0:27
10 Magnus Sheffield
INEOS Grenadiers
0:31
1 UAE Team Emirates 14:11:31
2 INEOS Grenadiers 0:01
3 BORA - hansgrohe 0:19
4 Bahrain - Victorious 0:20
5 Soudal Quick-Step 0:26
6 Uno-X Mobility 0:29
7 Lidl - Trek 0:30
8 Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 0:32
9 EF Education - EasyPost 0:33
10 Movistar Team 0:38

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