UAE Tour stage 4: Tim Merlier doubles up with sprint victory in Dubai

Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) sprinted to his second victory of the week in stage 4 of the UAE Tour, once again proving the fastest rider after a tense run-in to Dubai.

After perfect support from Soudal Quick-Step that allowed him to launch his sprint at the right moment, Merlier was able to come round a fast-finishing Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the final few metres to win.

Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) took second, as he did on stage 1, whilst Kooij held on for third.

A crash in the final 3km saw a handful of riders go down in the middle of the bunch, include most of the Bora-Hansgrohe train which scuppered Sam Welsford's chances, but most of the sprinters and their lead-outs made it safely to the finish.

After a relatively calm day that saw the two-man breakaway brought back well before the finish, the action ramped up towards the finish in Dubai, where the sprinters fought it out on the flat, wide roads once again.

“It was not easy. Maybe it looks like it but sprinting is never easy,” Merlier said at the finish. “We found each other really well today. They brought me to a good position. And then it was a bit the same in the last 500 metres, I was waiting to start my sprint. I wanted to go again a bit too early, so then I waited again and I saw Olav on the left side go. I tried to go on his wheel and then when I was there I passed him with enough to win again.

“I will try to win again, but it won’t be easy, so I’m just going to try. The train is on the rails as we say in the team, so I’m looking forward to the next two days to work together.”

A build into a crescendo in Dubai

After the time trial and the Jebel Jais summit finish, stage 4 was back to more familiar territory in the Middle East: pan flat roads through the desert. With no climb or anything to act as a launchpad for an early break, the attack attempts started within the first 5km as riders tried to clip off the front of the peloton. The riders that managed to do that were Mark Stewart (Corratec-Vini Fantini), who was wearing the points jersey after two days in the break already, and Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Dstny). The pair quickly built up a big gap, and were three minutes up the road after 25km of racing.

With the peloton taking the chance to have a more relaxed start to the day, the situation remained stable for the first half of the race. The leading duo stayed away long enough for Stewart to pick up maximum points at the two intermediate sprints, and with his goal achieved he promptly sat up and waited for the peloton, which Vanhoucke soon did too. This meant the peloton was all together heading into the final 50km of racing, slowly winding up towards the sprint.

The bunch took it relatively easily towards the finish, but things started ramping up inside the final 25km, with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal Quick-Step controlling things on the front of the peloton. Bahrain Victorious also got organised at the front early on, whilst Mark Cavendish’s Astana Qazaqstan teammates tried to keep him safe in the melée. The wide road leading into Dubai made it hard for any one team to dominate, with the bunch spready 10 riders deep across the road.

By 8km to go, the lead-out was already approaching full pelt as the fight for position heated up. The tension continued to rise throughout the bunch, and a crash towards the middle of the peloton saw several Bora-Hansgrohe riders, including Danny van Poppel, go down.

On the final turn into the last 750m, Merlier had just one teammate in front of him and was some way down the bunch, so had to surf the wheels once the sprint began, but clearly picked the right wheels and was able to launch from behind Olav Kooij at the last moment to sprint to victory ahead of De Kleijn and Kooij. Despite having perhaps the longest lead-outs, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) both got lost in the final push to the line and finished outside of the top 10, as did Mark Cavendish and Sam Welsford, whose lead-out fell apart in the crash.

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