Merlier takes his second stage at the Renewi Tour
Tim Merlier took his second stage win of the Renewi Tour on Saturday, beating points classification leader Pavel Bittner and stage 2-winner Olav Kooij to the line in Bilzen-Hoeselt.
The fourth of five stages at the Belgian-Dutch WorldTour race saw a strong six-rider group break clear early on a day that looked ideal for the pure sprinters. After Friday's Classics-style showdown featuring the Muur van Geraardsbergen, the sprint teams were determined in the chase, but it was a close run thing, the gap still 50 seconds with 10km to go.
The last of the attackers was caught just inside 2km to go, and Jayco-AlUla put on a show of force, but there was no stopping Merlier who reacted to Kooij's acceleration, the young Dutchman fading a little as Bittner surged into second. After finishing safely in the group, Arnaud De Lie remains in the overall lead after finishing a brilliant second to Mathieu van der Poel on stage 3.
[race_result id=21 stage_id=88816 count=5 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=21 stage_id=88816 count=5 gc=5 year=2025]
