15/09/2024

Magnificent Tim Merlier crowned European Champion in Limburg! Olav Kooij and Madis Mihkels complete top 3

Tim Merlier has been crowned the 2024 men's elite European road race champion. In a frantic finale, Merlier fought off competition from his own teammate Jasper Philipsen and Olav Kooij among others.

Five riders attacked early on and got themselves in the early break. With France's Mathis Le Berre refusing to pull though, due to having reigning European champion Christophe Laporte in the peloton behind, the cooperation wasn't great amongst the leaders.

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With over 110 kilometres still to go, Mathieu van der Poel was already on the attack from the peloton, drawing a small group clear with him, including the likes of Mads Pedersen and Matteo Trentin among others. With this attack causing real alarm in the peloton however, the pace upped and with 107km to go, the break and the counter attack were caught, bringing things all back together again.

Every time the peloton was going through a cobbled sector, Van der Poel was active and attacking at the front of the bunch. With 80km to go, the Dutchman had managed to garner a narrow lead of around 20 seconds alongside Matteo Trentin and Mikkel Bjerg. With a dangerous counter soon joining though, once again the alertness of the peloton behind was spiked and the pace upped, as they worked hard to cancel out the moves. With just over 60km to go, the peloton's work had done the job and the group was brought back.

As the cobbled sectors returned, so did the attacks, this time led by 2023 European Championship winner, Christophe Laporte. With 50km to go, Laporte, Van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Danny van Poppel, Jonas Rutsch and Arthur Kluckers were around 15-20 seconds clear of the main bunch. With the Belgians and the Italians working hard on the front of the peloton however, the lead group's advantage was not extending much further.

With around 25km to go, the attack was nullified and the bunch sprint finish was looking more and more likely. Things were still all together heading into the final 10km too. That wasn't to say everyone else had given up though, with the Danes especially still holding hope with both Soren Kragh Andersen and Kasper Asgreen on the attack.

In the end though, it was a sprint that decided things. With sprint trains all over the road, Tim Merlier powered to the win for Belgium ahead of Olav Kooij, Madis Mihkels Jasper Philipsen in a frantic finale.