Belgian double in the second stage of the Tour of Belgium 2024. The arrival at Knokke-Heist promised a prestigious sprint with some of the best sprinters in the world and Tim Merlier came out on top (Soudal Quick-Step), who overcame adversaries of great value such as his compatriot Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and Dutch Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike).
This is the forty-fifth career success for Merlier, who has already raised his arms to the sky in 2024 eleven times, including the three successes at the last Giro d’Italia. Truly a phenomenal first part of the season for the Belgian sprinter, who today demonstrated that he is still in great shape against an opponent like Philipsen who wants to be the dominator of the sprints at the Tour de France.
A stage characterized by a breakaway of seven men with Davide Bais (Team Polti Kometa) also present. The group, however, driven above all by Soudal Quick-Step and Uno-X, always controlled. We therefore arrived in the last kilometers with the trains of sprinters ready to do their job. In the sprint the fastest man was Merlier, ahead of Philipsen and Kooij.
Fourth place for the Frenchman Pierre Barbier (Philippe Wagner/Bazin) ahead of the Belgian Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto Dstny) and the Dutchman Mike Teunissen (Intermarché – Wanty). Seventh place for the Norwegian Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), who maintains the leader’s jersey in the general classification.
