Tim Merlier: "If I win again it will be a dream. If you remember me on a victory of the Giro, or the Tour, it's unbelievable"

Ready to tackle another season on the road, Alpecin - Fenix's Tim Merlier has given some good insight on his past year and his way of racing.

"If you ask me if I am going to win again in the Tour or the Giro, then I'm not gonna say for sure or something. If I win again it will be a dream. If you remember me on a victory of the Giro, or the Tour, it's unbelievable. It was like living the dreams," Merlier said in a recent interview.

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After developing in the Cyclocross scene, the Belgian has came to the road and discovered his massive talent in the sprinting field. He had already shown very good signs, but upon signing with Alpecin - Fenix halfway through 2019 he quickly became Belgian national champion and won five more races within a short time span.

"I want to be good as possible, to do the same this year. But that will not be easy, so I'm really looking forward to it, to try to do as good as last year. I have pressure for myself, I want to show that it was not a lucky year last year. I want to show the team and everyone around cycling that I can do the same. So for myself I put a bit of pressure on my shoulders. I can live with it."

In 2020 he stepped up and started to race in the World Tour where his potential was more than confirmed as he won a stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, and in the following year took sprints in both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, aswell as several more wins throughout the year.

"It gives a good feeling that I did it, but like I said before, it was like a dream when I'm living it. If you're young the Tour de France was so big, it was already so big that I was a participator, and now I win a stage, it's good," the Belgian affirmed.

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Starting off a new year it will be hard to improve on 2021's record, but Merlier does have that ambition: "Well now I'm at altitude training here to be on a good level and try and put everything out of me to be good. I'm trying to be on a top level when I race, but I don't know... I hope with altitude I will already be directly good, but we will see next week how I'm going to react."

"We have a lot of good riders. I think again, we are a bit stronger than last year," Merlier says regarding the team, who has finished 7th on the UCI ranking despite not being a World Tour team last season.

He continued, "I believe we can do even better than last year. We need a bit of luck also, let's hope that Mathieu recovers fast, it makes us also easier for us. It's a good team, and I have the confidence of it. I want to show the team that it was not one rookie year last season."

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Asked about the pressure of racing, he admits he is fond of racing with another leader in the team: "If I can choose I would always ride a program with Mathieu, because if you ride with a strong team with another winner, yeah, it makes it easier in the mind. That's what I like the most. "

"If everything is on my shoulders, it's difficult, more difficult, but okay, I did that already at the Giro. We started with a team riding just for me. But with a really strong team and with more than one leader, that is always nice."

Merlier is targeting another classics season full of wins, wether they come at World Tour or Pro Continental level. If he keeps showing the quality of the past that is likely to happen, before setting his eyes once again on the first two Grand Tours of the season where he will be hunting more stages.