Tim Merlier crowned European road champion

At the end of a race that could hardly have escaped a sprinter, Belgian Tim Merlier was crowned European road champion on home soil, ahead of Dutchman Olav Kooij and Estonian Madis Mihkels, Sunday in Hasselt. In Belgian Limburg, on a course with a few cobbled sections but without major difficulties (1200 meters of elevation gain spread over 222 kilometers), the rider, winner for the 14th time this season, succeeded Frenchman Christophe Laporte, 9th on Sunday.

At the end of a race during which the attackers tried everything to trap the sprinters, without however succeeding, the fast 31-year-old finisher perfectly concluded the work of the Belgian team while his compatriot Jasper Philipsen, another favorite of the event, took 4th place. The Norwegian Alexander Kristoff completed the top 5 while the Italian Jonathan Milan, locked in in the last meters, failed in his legitimate ambition to put on the star jersey, after a summer filled with success.

After having fallen heavily twice in the last fortnight (at the Tour of Benelux and then at the Hamburg classic last Sunday), Merlier showed up with some doubts about his condition at the start of this European championship. But he was quickly reassured. “Despite a puncture at a very bad time (shortly after the halfway point, when the peloton was riding at high speed, editor’s note), I felt very good throughout the day. As the kilometres went by, I believed more and more in my chances of victory.”he explained.

Van der Poel, Laporte and Pedersen on the attack

The Belgians never panicked despite several attempts by Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel to tighten up the race. The world champion attacked three times, accompanied in his attempts by Dane Mads Pedersen and Christophe Laporte. But these three men, the most active attackers of the day, were never able to open up a gap that would have caused doubt among the teams that had chosen to bet on a massive race.

Along with the Belgians, it was the Italians who set the pace, to carry out a general regrouping 25 kilometres from the line, controlling the race with impressive authority up to the red flame to favour a victory for Jonathan Milan. The latter, a man in form this summer, victorious five times in August, let himself be locked in in the final kilometres, even failing to finish in the top 10 (13th). Merlier, a former double Belgian champion, could savour “one of the most incredible successes of (his) career”after stage successes in the Tours of Italy and France.