Tim Merlier reacts to victory, crash and Pogacar breakaway at UAE Tour: "For those who had to set the pace it must have been very hard"
Cycling
European Champion Tim Merlier certainly had an eventful day at the UAE Tour, but as he is known for, the chaotic finales usually suit the Soudal - Quick-Step rider. Merlier beat Jonathan Milan in the crash-marred sprint, and then crashed himself after the finish line.
"We discussed with the team yesterday what went wrong. Today we did really well," the Belgian said in a post-race interview. "They put me in a really good position in the last kilometer and a half. I was on Milan's wheel, and then that crash was behind us. I hear that my lead-out was there, so I hope he's okay. I waited for my moment, and at the right moment I started my sprint. I'm very happy".
Merlier managed to avoid the absolute chaos that happened behind him in the final 4 kilometers, with two mass crashes taking out almost the entire field from stage contention. He took advantage of Lidl-Trek's forced early leadout to then outsprint Milan in the final meters of the stage.
But even a sprint wasn't assured on a seemingly innocent day, as Tadej Pogacar was part of a strong 11-man breakaway that marked the day. "If you are in a good position, it is not bad to ride on such a course. The day was not made easy. Some riders were very motivated to impose a hard stage. It was a hard pace, all day. But for us in the peloton it was not bad; for those who had to set the pace it must have been very hard
But as he has for several years, he's won again at the UAE Tour and takes the weight off his shoulders. "I am always happy to come here. I love this country, but so do Saudi and Oman, it is nice to ride these kinds of races, and I am happy to take a victory here this season".
After the stage, he crashed, after colliding with a staff member. However after taking the win, the fall seemed to be nothing but a minor inconvenience. "I think I'm okay," he chuckled, giving away that at least no injuries should come from the incident.
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Tim Merlier powers to the stage win after a chaotic finish... then takes a tumble after the finish line 😳💥#UAETour pic.twitter.com/oxsCrVt5Ry
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 21, 2025
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- Nice though you have to ask why they call it a wildcard as it’s always pretty obvious who will receive them.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Absolutely, we are inundated by articles (not only in cycling or sport but everywhere from stocks to weather to elections) from self-called or popularly regarded experts making calls without reasoning. They basically know little more than any other informed or interested party and base everything on odds. The fact that they never have to justify their wrong calls post event but continue to get to make calls should get some attention. It would be cool if someone tallied up and recorded their predictions for future reference.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Yes, I agree but you’re taking risks writing such long posts here ;-) In that sense, the Tourless Primoz discussion is also pretty pointless as he virtually won a Tour (nobody would have counted on Tadej doing what he did at the last moment at that time and I guess it was bad karma for Primoz for so ofren cutting things so fine). I think you over interpreted my original thesis, it was not for trying to explain his current state, it was to suggest there was already mental material pre-crashes that has helped worsen his state, when it rains it pours. I really do remember having the feeling in that past he was more focused on not letting MVDP get better than him than doing his own thing. The seed of doubt was already planted and it doesn’t take much for doubt to grow in all sorts of directions.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- i wouldn't count Pogi out. Low probability of a win, but not impossiblemobk01-04-2025
- Right now it doesn't seem that his legs are there or that his head is in the racevappaxbipmv01-04-2025
- would have been nice to hear exactly WHY he thinks pog has zero chance in some greater detail. i mean, tend to agree that his chances aren’t GREAT, but some explanation from the expert with an opinion would be nice. MINE is that, in spite of the recon he did where tadej concluded that the course “wasn’t that hard” i think that doing the full route at full gas is really going to beat up pogacar’s 145lb body, to a degree that he maybe isn’t expecting. but hey, we’ll see in a couple weeks. like everyone else, i do think it’s supercool that he’s going.OCexile01-04-2025
- Go back to that era and look at the lousy mechanicals he's had at Paris-Roubaix. Take those away, maybe he has another Monument, Van der Poel has one less, and suddenly all the rules change. Those mechanicals preceded his awful crashes - and you're right, that Tour was amazing. Ventoux, TT, and Champs-Elysees?! Something that Pogacar and Van der Poel can't do, just Wout. It still amazes me.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Oh, the impossibility of this kind of comparison. A pre-WW2 Binda had amazing statistics, and that was one era. During what I think of as the romantic era, Poulidor had an incredible run at the Tour without winning, and Bobet won some grand tours and some Monuments. In this modern era (for me: after Hinault), we've had multiple Monument winners win a grand tour (such as Valverde and Kelly, with Kelly the better rider in general), and then we've got someone like Roglic, the true GC rider. Sure there was a Monument that was kind of a fluke (both Pogacar and Hirschi might have won, and twitchy Alaphilippe deserved relegation), but what matters are the 5 grand tours and all these wins across the 1 week GC races except for the Tour de Suisse (you'd think he'd race it to get the set of them all). In this era, since 2000 or so, maybe he meets the description as best non-Tour winner. How many GC riders have these wins and not the Tour? To compare to other eras really is not possible. He's his own unique rider, and it's been amazing watching him for the past many years. That's about all we can say.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Ease up on a brother!bobo01-04-2025
- Primoz finds ways to win. Too bad he'll never take Tour de France.awp01-04-2025