As expected, the flat 6th stage of the UAE Tour around the capital of the United Arab Emirates also ended in a bunch sprint. Tim Merlier once again showed that he is currently one of the best sprinters in the world. The Belgian celebrated his third stage win of the tour and relegated Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) to second and third place. As expected, there were no shifts in the overall standings.
Merlier's patience is rewarded
While the competition around Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) and Gleb Syritsa (Astana Qazaqstan Team) opened their sprint quite early, Merlier stayed in the slipstream for a long time. It was only shortly before the finish that he left the slipstream of Cofidis rider Milan Fretin and outsprinted his rivals with a spirited attack. With a clear gap of almost two bike lengths, he was able to be celebrated by his team-mates at the finish.
Everything went perfectly for the team today. We were in the positions we wanted to be in, so I was able to ride my sprint the way I wanted to. It's a perfect week for us. - Tim Merlier in the winner interview
The best German was Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious), who confirmed his upward trend and finished in third place. Bora-Hansgrohe sprinter Sam Welsford, on the other hand, was unable to intervene in the decision.
UAE Tour 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 6
- Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) 3:02:14
- Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:00
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Milan Fretin (Cofidis) +0:00
- Gleb Syritsa (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
- Jarne Van De Paar (Lotto-Dstny) +0:00
- Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) +0:00
- Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
UAE Tour 2024 - Results: The current standings in the overall standings
- Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) 18:52:23
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:11
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +0:13
- Ilan van Wilder (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:21
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:22
- Max Poole (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:31
- Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:33
- Simon Carr (EF Education EasyPost) +0:36
- Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) +0:37
- Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) +0:37
How the 6th stage of the UAE Tour 2024 went
Immediately after the start of the race, a three-man breakaway group broke away from the peloton: Eddy Fine (Cofidis), Marco Murgano (Team Corratec - Vini Fantini) and Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek). The latter also won the first intermediate sprint and bagged three bonus seconds. Shortly afterwards, the two Alpecin-Deceuninck riders Jonas Rickaert and Henri Uhlig joined the leading trio. The leading group of the day was given a maximum of three minutes, but was not really let off the leash by the sprinter teams.
The Spaniard from Lidl-Trek also won the second intermediate sprint, which took place around 30 kilometres before the finish. A short time later, the dream of a breakaway victory was over: 13 kilometres before the finish, the last breakaway riders were caught, the peloton was complete again and the teams formed up in their sprint trains.
In the subsequent bunch sprint, Tim Merlier once again showed his class and sprinted to victory. Phil Bauhaus finished as the best German in third place.
