{"id":595987,"date":"2026-04-09T16:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595987\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:14:13","slug":"it-hasnt-been-the-easiest-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595987\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been the easiest period\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/tim-merlier\" title=\"Tim Merlier\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tim Merlier<\/a> answered questions over his form in emphatic fashion at <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/cycling\/results-scheldeprijs-2026-tim-merlier-completes-hat-trick-after-late-crashes-strip-back-sprint-field-in-schoten\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Scheldeprijs 2026,<\/a> sprinting to a third consecutive victory in Schoten on just his second race day of the season after a disrupted start to his campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been the easiest period, and you do start to have doubts: \u2018Will I still be able to do it?\u2019\u201d Merlier admitted after the finish, framing the uncertainty that had followed him into the race before delivering the clearest possible response on the road.<\/p>\n<p>From uncertainty to authority in Schoten sprint<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Merlier\u2019s path to victory was far from straightforward. He found himself without teammates in the final kilometre, forced to rely entirely on positioning and instinct rather than a structured lead-out. \u201cThey crashed, but I managed to avoid it in a phenomenal way. In the final kilometre, I was without teammates, but I was well positioned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That positioning proved decisive. As other sprint trains faltered in the aftermath of the crashes, Merlier held his line and waited for the right moment before launching. \u201cOnce I launched my sprint, I knew they would have to come from very far to beat me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one could. The Belgian surged clear to take a third consecutive victory in Schoten, underlining once again his dominance in one of cycling\u2019s purest sprinting contests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis one means a lot\u201d after difficult spell<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the result itself, this victory carried a deeper significance. It was not just another win in a race that suits him, but confirmation that his form is returning after a difficult period. \u201cThis time, there were a lot of question marks and doubts. In training, I was feeling better and better, but in races, I wasn\u2019t having my best days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/scheldeprijs\" title=\"Scheldeprijs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scheldeprijs<\/a> provided the answer he had been searching for. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t come on demand, but this one means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On just his second race day of the 2026 season, Merlier not only returned to winning ways, but did so with a performance that leaves little doubt about his level.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tim Merlier answered questions over his form in emphatic fashion at Scheldeprijs 2026, sprinting to a third consecutive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,289437,17833,85,172711],"class_list":{"0":"post-595987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-scheldeprijs","12":"tag-soudal-quick-step","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tim-merlier"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}