Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) claimed his 11th win of the season and put his name higher on the list of the sport's fastest sprinters as he beat Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Visma-Leasea a Bike) to win the second stage of the Baloise Tour of Belgium in Knokke-Heist.
The slightly uphill drag to the line favoured the Belgian, who won three stages of the Giro d'Italia, the Scheldeprijs, Nokere Koerse, three stages in the UAE Tour and two in the AlUla Tour so far this year.
It was a tactical battle for the stage win, with a headwind and a rise to the line, and Merlier took advantage of Philipsen's reluctance to start the sprint.
"I felt it was the right moment," Merlier said. "We didn't have a lot of speed because of the headwind. I knew we had everything under control in the final kilometres, and I managed to get into a good position. I deliberately stayed in the wheels after the last turn."
Merlier said he wasn't on his best form after racing the Giro d'Italia and was surprised to win the stage.
"I didn't expect this. I don't think I'm in top form. I was a little afraid for my sprint, especially against the fresher riders here," Merlier said.
"I've done this stage quite a few times before, and I've never won a stage in the Tour of Belgium before, so it's nice to check this off the list."
Stage 1 winner Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) managed to keep a narrow lead in the general classification after coming seventh on the stage and snatching one of the intermediate sprint bonuses.
"I was a little too tired to sprint but I still have one second lead," Wærenskjold said. "When I came into the finish it was a little hard so I didn't have the best legs. I was too far back before the sprint, and the other guys were much faster."
After the short opening time trial, the sprinters were highly motivated to contest stage 2 of the 2024 Tour of Belgium, an 184.2-kilometre stage from Merelbeke to Knokke-Heist. The mostly flat stage had some climbs and cobbles familiar to riders from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Nokere Koerse, but these obstacles were largely limited to the first half of the stage.
It took almost an hour for the day's breakaway to be established, and when it was, the WorldTour teams kept the gap to an easy-to-close level.
Seven riders from lower-ranked teams made up the move with Ward Vanhoof (Flanders-Baloise), Davide Bais (Polti-Kometa), Kay De Bruyckere (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Lars Loohuis (Beat Cycling), Quentin Bezza (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto Isorex) and Max Kroonen (Volkerwessels) getting a maximum of 1:45.
As the race turned into crosswinds, the gap to the breakaway plummeted, and the race was all back together with 75km to go. Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) won the sprint in Damme with 48km to go.
The peloton hit the closing circuits all together, with Alpecin-Deceuninck, Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal-Quickstep fighting for control. Philipsen found himself with Olav Kooij on his wheel and delayed his jump, while Merlier took advantage of the delay to sprint away to the stage win.
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