Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 1:43 PM
The fourth stage of the UAE Tour, with a finish in Dubai Harbour, was won by Tim Merlier. The Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step was again the fastest in the bunch sprint. Arvid de Kleijn had to settle for second place again. Olav Kooij came third.
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For the fourth stage, the cycling circus descended on the emirate of Dubai. The route remained largely between buildings, but also made a side trip to the desert to visit the special Al Qudra Cycle Track. The wind could possibly cause chaos and fans along the way, but everything else seemed to point to a bunch sprint. Unlike Wednesday’s stage, the riders were not presented with any climbs. Flat, flatter, flattest: that was the motto.
Tireless Stewart and Vanhoucke in attack
The break of the day came early and consisted of only two riders. Three guesses: Mark Stewart was there, just like in the previous rides-in-line. The Briton from Team Corratec-Vini Fantini – who is in the lead in the sprint and intermediate sprint classification – was this time joined by Harm Vanhoucke from Lotto Dstny. This turned out to be an ideal situation for the sprinter teams and the difference quickly increased to more than four minutes.
Refugees Stewart and Vanhoucke – photo: Cor Vos
But Stewart and Vanhoucke never had any real prospect of a stage victory. The Brit was mainly involved to collect the necessary points for the sprint and intermediate sprint classification. There were no obstacles in his way during the intermediate sprints and so Stewart once again did excellent business. The 28-year-old rider was then arrested again by the peloton, knowing that the loot had been obtained. Vanhoucke had to rely on himself in the following kilometers.
Walking stage
The Belgian rode alone in front of the peloton for a while, but was caught again just fifty kilometers from the finish by the men of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Jayco AlUla and DSM-firmenich PostNL. The sprinter teams did not even have to make an excessive effort to catch Vanhoucke again. The pace in the peloton was not too high. In fact, it was somewhat like a walking stage. Everything seemed to point to a sprint and we also got a sprint after 168 kilometers of racing.
Leader Jay Vine had a carefree day – photo: Cor Vos
In the last ten kilometers, the nervousness in the peloton increased noticeably and the sprint trains tried to maintain themselves as best as possible. In the last three kilometers the peloton was startled by a crash involving ten riders, with Pascal Ackermann as the most famous victim. The fast German from Israel-Premier Tech would therefore not sprint for victory. In the meantime, the men of Alpecin-Deceuninck started sprint preparation.
Two out of two for Merlier
However, the intended finisher of the Belgian team, Kaden Groves, did not appear in the piece in the chaotic sprint. In contrast to the first sprint stage, Kooij was quite well at the front and decided to be the first to start early. However, the Dutchman was quickly and clearly remounted by Merlier. The winner of the opening stage went up and over Kooij with powerful pedal strokes and managed to keep the emerging De Kleijn behind him. Kooij finished third.
Once again there was no limit on Tim Merlier – photo: Cor Vos
Further in the top 5 we see the names of Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) and Jakub Mareczko (Team Corratec-Vini Fantini). Fabio Jakobsen again was not really involved and finished sixth. Dylan Groenewegen, Sam Bennett and Mark Cavendish were nowhere to be seen.
2024-02-22 12:43:00
#Tim #Merlier #fastest #UAE #Tour #Kleijn
