Merlier sprints to a dominant victory in the Brussels Cycling Classic
Tim Merlier has claimed his second victory at the Brussels Cycling Classic. On Houba de Strooperlaan, he crossed the finish line convincingly in first place. Behind him, the Frenchman Alexis Renard sprinted to second place, ahead of Belgian champion Arnaud De Lie.
As the sun cautiously peeked through the clouds, 155 riders prepared for a 205 km ride in and around the Belgian capital. Around 12:15 p.m., the starting gun sounded in Jubelpark. The course led the riders towards Flemish Brabant and East Flanders, where they had to complete a local loop three times featuring the famous trio of climbs: Muur – Kapelmuur, Bosberg, and Congoberg, before returning to Brussels.
The breakaway of the day consisted of 8 riders. Cyril Barthe (Groupama-FDJ), Theodor Clemmensen (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto), Alessandro Iacchi (Solution Tech – Vini Fantini), Baptiste Vadic (TotalEnergies), Petr Kelemen (Tudor Pro Cycling), Jelle Johannink (Unibet Tietema Rockets), and Tom Portsmouth (Wagner Bazin WB) chose to attack early and built a maximum lead of 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
The race opened up on the second ascent of the Muur, where De Lie (Lotto) tested his legs for the first time. The race was intense, and after the Bosberg descent, 79 km from the finish, eight riders managed to break away from the peloton. Among them were some dangerous names. Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Van Gestel (Soudal Quick-Step), Rex (Intermarché – Wanty), Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Van Dijke (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Andresen (Team Picnic PostNL), Livyns (Lotto), Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), and the now dropped-back Iacchi formed a chasing group that had pulled half a minute ahead of the peloton.
At 66 km from the finish, the original leaders and the chasers merged. Israel-Premier Tech and Cofidis riders had missed the move and had to work hard in the peloton. Their combined efforts kept the gap in check. At the foot of the Muur, the lead of the newly formed front group had shrunk to just 10 seconds.
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At the last climb of the Muur, Abrahamsen, last year’s winner, decided to shake things up. At the top, only Planckaert and Van Dijke could follow his wheel. The other riders in the break were caught by what was left of the peloton, which had also fragmented. Thus, after the Muur, there were three leaders riding up to 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Behind them, the various chasing groups regrouped again after the Congoberg into a full peloton, including several important fast men such as Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty), Fretin (Cofidis), and a strong-looking Arnaud De Lie. On the cobbles of Rosweg, there was little action, but on Heiligekruiswegstraat, 14 km from the finish, Beullens (Lotto) jumped to the leaders. This was in vain, as the escapees were caught about 3 km later.
La Huitouze (Groupama-FDJ) and Geens (Team Flanders – Baloise) each briefly tried to get away from the peloton, but nothing could stop a mass sprint. In the sprint, Bittner (Picnic PostNL) launched first, but Tim Merlier came strongly from behind and outsprinted everyone. Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Arnaud De Lie crossed the line in second and third place respectively.
