Tim Merlier won the first stage of the NIBC Tour of Holland. After a tense finale, the Belgian narrowly beat Olav Kooij on the Zwijndrecht bridge. Jakob Söderqvist collected time bonuses along the way and is the new race leader.
Just a tight day after the prologue of the NIBC Tour of Holland in Zuiderpark, the race continued with a short ride to and from Dordrecht through the Alblasserwaard. A bunch sprint was on the cards, putting the orange leader's jersey of Ethan Hayter immediately at risk, since several sprinters were within ten seconds of the Brit after Tuesday.
On Wednesday, after a neutralized segment of no less than sixteen kilometers, the peloton entered the Alblasserwaard, where most of the day was spent on a circuit by the Kinderdijk windmills. Early on we saw a breakaway with Javier Serrano, Jelle Bouma, Niek Hoornsman, and Luke Verburg take off, but the four never managed to open a big gap on the peloton.
photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
It was clear that a sprint finish was required. The teams of Picnic PostNL, Soudal Quick-Step, and Visma | Lease a Bike all positioned riders at the front of the peloton to keep the quartet in check. With 22 kilometers to go, they were reeled back in, after which a period of unrest followed.
This was mainly due to an attack by Jan-Willem van Schip, which saw ten riders break away from the peloton. Among them was Arnaud De Lie, but also two riders from Picnic PostNL, who consistently sat on the wheels without taking turns at the front. As a result, the peloton was able to come back – and Cameron Rogers and Jakob Söderqvist secured important bonus seconds just over ten kilometers from the finish, putting Rogers virtually in the 'orange' jersey.
Merlier wins tense sprint ahead of Kooij
In the end, it came down to a 'regular' sprint on the Zwijndrecht bridge. In the last few hundred meters, Daan Hoole, Mike Teunissen, and Christophe Laporte executed a lead-out, but it was Tim Merlier who just edged out Olav Kooij. It marked his sixteenth victory of the season.
NIBC Tour of Holland| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 02:33:07 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
