{"id":646384,"date":"2026-06-19T01:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646384\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T01:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:41:12","slug":"baloise-belgium-tour-tim-merlier-wins-stage-2-to-claim-race-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646384\/","title":{"rendered":"Baloise Belgium Tour: Tim Merlier wins stage 2 to claim race lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

After missing out on the opening stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour to Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) was untouchable in the rising sprint to the line in Knokke-Heist on stage 2.<\/p>\n

The Belgian easily held off Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was caught behind Kooij’s lead-out man. After nearly giving up on his sprint, Philipsen re-accelerated for third place.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Thanks to really good work by the team. It was difficult with the timing and I had no idea where everyone was. I maybe went a little too early, but that last kicker to the line is difficult. But it was enough,” Merlier said.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From<\/p>\n

On a nearly completely flat 197.6km stage from Merelbeke-Melle to Knokke-Heist, the day’s breakaway escaped early and were kept on a short leash by NSN and Soudal-Quickstep.<\/p>\n

Michiel Hillen (Baloise Verzekeringen – Het Poetsbureau Lions), Jonah Killy (Tarteletto-Isorex), Stijn Appel (BEAT p\/b Saxo), Victor Broex (Metec Solarwatt p\/b Mantel), Victor Hannes (Aarco) and Viktor Vandenberghe (Pauwels Sauzen – Altez Industriebouw) worked smoothly throughout the stage, but began to come apart as the six riders sprinted for the Golden Kilometre bonuses with 24km to go.<\/p>\n

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Hillen won the first sprint but then lost contact, while Vandenberghe won the next two before letting go of the breakaway.<\/p>\n

With reduced numbers, the quartet’s lead evaporated over the next 15km, and despite Hannes’ best efforts, they were caught with 9km to go.<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Soudal-Quickstep led the sprint out for Merlier but hesitated as XDS Astana surged for their fast man Max Kanter. But Merlier was in a perfect position and made it look easy as the road tilted upward.<\/p>\n

ResultsSwipe to scroll horizontally<\/p>\n

Position<\/p>\n

Rider (Country) Team<\/p>\n

Time Gap<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep<\/p>\n

Row 0 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Olav Kooij (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM<\/p>\n

Row 1 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech<\/p>\n

Row 2 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana<\/p>\n

Row 3 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Emilien Jeanniere (Fra) Totalenergies<\/p>\n

Row 4 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Jenno Berckmoes (Bel) Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9<\/p>\n

Row 5 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Tom Crabbe (Bel) Team Flanders- Baloise<\/p>\n

Row 6 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

Jonas Abrahamsen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility<\/p>\n

Row 7 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

S\u00f8ren W\u00e6renskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility<\/p>\n

Row 8 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

David Dekker (Ned) Beat Cc P\/B Saxo<\/p>\n

Row 9 – Cell 2 GCSwipe to scroll horizontally<\/p>\n

Position<\/p>\n

Rider (Country) Team<\/p>\n

Time Gap<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

8:24:05<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN Cycling Team[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

0:00:06<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Bart Kortleve (Ned) Metec- Solarwatt P\/B Mantel[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

0:00:08<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Viktor Vandenberghe (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen – Altez Industriebouw Cycling Team<\/p>\n

Row 3 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Robbe Mellaerts (Bel) Baloise Verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

0:00:09<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

Olav Kooij (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

0:00:10<\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

0:00:12<\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

Row 7 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Victor Broex (Ned) Metec- Solarwatt P\/B Mantel[cite: 1]<\/p>\n

Row 8 – Cell 2 <\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

Wies Nuyens (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen – Altez Industriebouw Cycling Team<\/p>\n

0:00:13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After missing out on the opening stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour to Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}