Tim Merlier refuses to give up on classics: "Can win without peak form"

Last week, Soudal Quick-Step team manager Jurgen Foré gave an update on his leader Tim Merlier, but the sprinter himself seems to disagree somewhat.

Foré stated that the classics will come too early for Merlier, whose preparation was disrupted by a knee injury. "I wouldn’t want to have him start a 260-kilometer race with such a weak base. I never say never, but I still think it’s unrealistic," said the manager.

But Merlier has a different perspective. "Of course I want to start the classics as early as possible. But we also have to be realistic. This is only the second week that I’m training fully; I’m missing the base of previous years," he told Sporza.

The Tour of Bruges, In Flanders Fields, the Scheldeprijs, and Paris-Roubaix are scheduled from March 25 onward, although his program is still very uncertain. "Secretly, I hope to be at all those classics," Merlier admits. "But it certainly won’t be with great form. Although I do want to prove that I can shape races to my advantage even with less than ideal condition."