Merlier romps to first stage win with QuickStep and as new dad

It was a winning start for Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) on the road at his new team, with the Belgian sprint star launching his way to a convincing victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Oman.

Tim Merlier of Soudal Quick-Step celebrates at finish line as stage winner during the 12th Tour of Oman 2023, Stage 1 a 147,4km stage from Al Rustaq Fort to Muscat. Credit: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

SBS has the daily highlights for the Tour of Oman on SBS On Demand, with highlights and more on the SBS Sport website.

Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) is enjoying a great start of the year 2023 - he became a father 11 days ago and was already able to dedicate a victory to his young son as he outsprinted his rivals in Stage 1 of the Tour of Oman 2023.

The Belgian National champion took his first victory on the road since joining Soudal Quick-Step in the off-season, after a cyclo-cross win in new team colours in January. He jumped early in the uphill sprint to the line, but had enough power to finish ahead of David Dekker (Arkéa-Samsic) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis).

Merlier’s rock-the-baby victory salute was a fitting tribute to his newborn son.

“I couldn’t be happier! I’ve been a father for almost two weeks now, and this is what makes today’s result so special. This victory is for my son,” said Merlier.

“Okay, I had already won that cyclo-cross race last month, but I was really eager to experience this feeling as fast as possible on the road, and I’m delighted that I did it here, in my very first stage race with the team.”

Merlier said the sprint preparation was far from perfect, but that he had the ability to overcome those difficulties pointed towards good signs for the future.

“In the closing kilometres, I lost the guys a bit, but I could come back, and it was quite easy to follow Bert (van Lerberghe) from that moment on,” said Merlier. “Then, in the sprint, I went a bit too early, but I had what it took to keep the speed, and this gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”

The early parts of the 147.4km stage saw the early breakaway Rodrigo Alvarez (Burgos-BH), Said Al Rahbi (Oman National Team) and Jeroen Meijers (Terengganu Polygon). They bring their gap up to a maximum of 2’45’’ at km 13 but Tim Merlier’s Soudal Quick-Step quickly react to control the day towards a potential sprint.

Meijers pushed clear on the short Fanja clim mid-race, taking the mountains points and going solo, though he wasn’t able to take a significant lead on the peloton and was swept up with 17 kilometres remaining in the race.

It was time for the sprint trains to take over and the pace increased dramatically. Lotto-Dstny, UAE Team Emirates and AG2R-Citroën all moved to the front to position their sprinters.

Many eyes were on Astana Qazaqstan and their support for Mark Cavendish, and they looked cohesive in their first leadout for their new sprinter. They gathered to protect Cavendish and stayed on the wheels until two kilometres to go. They moved to the front with three riders ahead of Cavendish and well into the final kilometre, the Manxman seemed perfectly poised to contest the sprint.

However, as the road rose gradually in the final 500 metres, Soudal Quick-Step came up from the left to take control of the sprint. Other teams followed them and suddenly Cavendish was swamped, he eased up and finished 21st over the line, Merlier bounced to his win.

Stage 1 was the only day expected to be ruled by the sprinters, and the overall lead will almost certainly change hands tomorrow, with the first summit finish in Qurayyat.

SBS has the daily highlights for the Tour of Oman on SBS On Demand, with highlights and more on the SBS Sport website.