Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) won the 76th edition of the Nokere Koerse on Wednesday, which was contested between Deinze and Nokere over the distance of 189.8 kilometers. All the breakaways of the day did not prevent the arrival of a grouped peloton for the final sprint on the cobblestones of Nokereberg. Four riders started the Nokere Koerse breakaway: Frenchman Adrien Lagrée (B&B Hotels-KTM), American Robin Carpenter (Human Powered Health) and Belgians Aaron Verwilst (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Kobe Vanoverschelde (Tarteletto- Isorex) and Gil d’Heygere (Minerva). The gap of the quartet was 2 minutes following 50 kilometers of racing. The advantage of the leading men, which has always been controlled by the peloton, was reduced to nothing in the first local circuit, following a hundred kilometers of racing.
Four runners, Casper van Uden (DSM) and Andreas Goeman (Tarteletto-Isorex), joined in a second time by Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) and Luka Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), relaunched the offensive at less than 70 kilometers from the goal. The peloton, led mainly by the Lotto-Soudal and Alpecin-Fenix teams, never really gave the runaways carte blanche, as the advantage never reached a minute. The peloton was activated, under the action of, in particular, Victor Campenaerts, before the entry of the last local circuit. The general regrouping happened 24 kilometers from the finish. The last attempts at breakaways were in vain. The peloton thus presented itself grouped at the foot of Nokereberg, at the top of which we saw the Belgian Tim Merlier emerge in front of the German Max Walscheid (Cofidis) and the Belgian Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Soudal).
On the Nokere Koerse list, Tim Merlier succeeded Brabançon Ludovic Robeet who won in 2021. The Alecin-Fenix sprinter signed his second success of the season following that in the 1st stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.
