Tim Merlier kicked off the year with a bang in the AlUla Tour with a victory after a tense echelon stage, with Van Uden and De Kleijn finishing second and third

Tim Merlier won the third stage of the AlUla Tour on Thursday afternoon. The 31-year-old sprinter was faster in the sprint after a challenging echelon stage than Arvid De Casper van Uden. The Norwegian Sören Waerenskjold lost his leader's jersey.

The race began under cool temperatures and amidst a sky dotted with cumulus clouds at AlUla's international airport, marking the third leg of this Saudi stage race. Early on, three riders broke away: Spanish veteran Luis Angel Mate of the Euskaltel Euskadi Team, Greek rider Polychrónis Tzortzákis of Roojai Insurance, and Japan's Yuma Koishi from JCL Team UKYO. Gianluca Brambilla of Italy, riding for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, also attempted to bridge across but ended up in no man's land.

Just like yesterday in the second stage won by Sören Warenskjold, the wind was strong in the desert and caused a lot of nervousness in the peloton. One of the victims was the Pole Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates), who with his climbing abilities is mainly gearing up for Saturday's stage around the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid.

Echelons once again determined the race

In contrast to the opening stage of the Tour of Valencia, the peloton didn't want to be caught off guard and thus didn't allow the breakaway riders much leeway. The breakaway's maximum lead did reach five minutes, but that was it. At one point, the lead group dropped down to a group of two, because the Japanese rider suffered a puncture, but he quickly rejoined the front group.

Majka, who is currently sitting in twentieth place in the general classification, just twelve seconds behind Waerenskjold, found himself without any team support in the midst of the peloton, which, propelled by a blistering pace, managed to reel in the breakaway with more than 75 kilometers to go. Unwilling to give up, Maté and Tzortzakis launched another attack. The duo from Spain and Greece opened up a significant gap once more, with Tzortzakis visibly enjoying the moment, even playfully twirling a toy frog around his finger.

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With around thirty kilometers left, the race was blown wide open yet again, but this time it was the echelons that caused complete disarray. Soudal-Quick Step, experts in navigating favorable crosswinds, tore the peloton apart, putting several riders at a disadvantage. Waerenskjold, along with competitors like Pierre Latour, were left chasing, and to compound the Norwegian leader's troubles, he also suffered a flat tire, dashing any hopes of retaining the leader's jersey for another day.

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The relentless pounding of the Wolfpack, working for Tim Merlier, together with teams BORA-hansgrohe and Movistar, formed a select lead group of around thirty riders, including Casper van Uden. The chase group was larger, featuring dsm-firmenich PostNL teammates like John Degenkolb, who hesitated to work together due to having their promising Dutch sprinter up front. On the lengthy AlUla Camel Cup Track, which included a tricky hill in the final stretch to prime the legs for a (likely) sprint finish, Movistar's Ivan Romeo and Mathias Norsgaard attempted a break, but without enough backing, it was in vain.

In the sprint, Van Uden came up very fast against the wind, which Merlier cleverly took advantage of and proved to be much faster than Tudor-sprinter Arvid De Kleijn and Van Uden. As a consolation prize, the 22-year-old sprinter did regain the leader's jersey.

Stage 3 results of the AlUla Tour 2024