Giro d'Italia

Stage 3: Novara - Fossano

IT Italy Monday 06 May 2024 166 km

Merlier delivers Soudal Quick-Step’s 30th Giro win

Merlier delivers Soudal Quick-Step’s 30th Giro win

Tim Merlier came out on top in Fossano after a breathtaking finale at the end of an awkward stage 3, signing off Soudal Quick-Step’s 120th Grand Tour stage victory. The Belgian, who is riding the Corsa Rosa for just the second time in his career, prevailed again in the region of Piemonte, just like he did in 2021, at his debut.

“It was a hard finale, the hardest of my career. The team did a great job to put me in a good position, and that’s why I want to say a big thank you to Bert, Julian, Luke and Mauri. They brought the attackers back just in time. Once this happened, I knew I had to jump like never before and that’s what I did. For a moment there, I lost the slipstream, but I found one quickly and confident in my legs and the fast Specialized bike I have, I gave my best and I am really happy now”, Merlier said moments after his eighth success of the season.

The stage that started from Novara, where Tim triumphed three years ago, had a slow first two hours, nobody being interested in forming a breakaway. Things completely changed after the first intermediate sprint, where almost all the fast men got involved in the fight for points. Soon after, those 25 riders, including Soudal Quick-Step’s Luke Lamperti and Tim Merlier, peeled away, kicking the stage into life and putting two minutes into the peloton.

That move made for an interesting development, with the bunch being forced to chase hard in order to bring them back, the catch happening only 44 kilometers from the line. The peloton continued as one until the punchier final kilometers, where the pink jersey attacked together with two other riders. This action spread panic in the field, who had to up the tempo on the flat three kilometers to the finish. Our team was among those committed to the chase, ramping up the speed on the finishing stretch and reeling in the trio with just 300 meters to go.

As soon as he found some space on the right side of the road, Merlier put in a massive acceleration that catapulted him into the prestigious maglia ciclamino, which he will wear on Tuesday. It was an emotional victory for Tim, who dedicated this win – just like the one of 2021 – to Wouter Weylandt.

“We knew there were going to be attacks on the last hill, but the team was amazing and made sure we had a bunch sprint today. I suffered in the finale, but I had the confidence I could get the win at the end of what was quite a strange stage. This victory is for Wouter, we miss him a lot even after all those years. It was an emotional moment, not just for me, but also for Iljo, who was in the car today”, added Tim.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
3:54:35
2 Jonathan Milan
Lidl - Trek
0:00
3 Biniam Girmay Hailu
Intermarché - Wanty
0:00
4 Jenthe Biermans
0:00
5 Tobias Lund Andresen
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
6 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:00
7 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
8 Stanisław Aniołkowski
Cofidis
0:00
9 Fernando Gaviria Rendon
Movistar Team
0:00
10 Alberto Dainese
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
37 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
53 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
60 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
77 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
92 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:19
131 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
3:31
161 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
3:37
1 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
11:03:02
2 Geraint Thomas
INEOS Grenadiers
0:46
3 Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda
BORA - hansgrohe
0:47
4 Einer Rubio Reyes
Movistar Team
0:56
5 Cian Uijtdebroeks
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:56
6 Lorenzo Fortunato
Astana Qazaqstan Team
1:07
7 Juan Pedro López Pérez
Lidl - Trek
1:11
8 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
1:13
9 Alexey Lutsenko
Astana Qazaqstan Team
1:26
10 Ben O'Connor
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
1:26
14 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
1:44
42 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
8:09
85 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
25:14
135 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
39:26
142 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
39:38
149 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
39:58
165 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
43:48
1 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
63 pt
2 Jonathan Milan
Lidl - Trek
63 pt
3 Filippo Fiorelli
VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè
42 pt
4 Biniam Girmay Hailu
Intermarché - Wanty
31 pt
5 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
27 pt
6 Jhonatan Narváez Prado
INEOS Grenadiers
25 pt
7 Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
23 pt
8 Lilian Calmejane
Intermarché - Wanty
20 pt
9 Kaden Groves
Alpecin - Deceuninck
20 pt
10 Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
18 pt
36 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
4 pt
44 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
1 pt
991 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
-40 pt
1 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
51 pt
2 Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda
BORA - hansgrohe
26 pt
3 Lilian Calmejane
Intermarché - Wanty
23 pt
4 Andrea Piccolo
EF Education - EasyPost
18 pt
5 Geraint Thomas
INEOS Grenadiers
16 pt
6 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier Egerzeigzaarhka
Lidl - Trek
10 pt
7 Lorenzo Fortunato
Astana Qazaqstan Team
9 pt
8 Giulio Pellizzari
VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè
8 pt
9 Filippo Fiorelli
VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè
7 pt
10 Florian Lipowitz
BORA - hansgrohe
6 pt
991 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
-2 pt
1 Cian Uijtdebroeks
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
11:03:58
2 Alex Baudin
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
0:44
3 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
0:48
4 Filippo Zana
Team Jayco AlUla
1:11
5 Luke Plapp
Team Jayco AlUla
1:37
6 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
1:47
7 Georg Steinhauser
EF Education - EasyPost
1:53
8 Antonio Tiberi
Bahrain - Victorious
1:54
9 Davide Piganzoli
Team Polti Kometa
2:10
10 Florian Lipowitz
BORA - hansgrohe
2:12
51 Luke Lamperti
Soudal Quick-Step
38:42
1 BORA - hansgrohe 33:13:36
2 INEOS Grenadiers 0:32
3 Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:46
4 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 1:36
5 VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè 4:23
6 EF Education - EasyPost 5:32
7 Team Jayco AlUla 6:14
8 Soudal Quick-Step 6:17
9 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 6:35
10 Movistar Team 11:02

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