Scheldeprijs: Tim Merlier makes it look easy with third successive victory after season delayed by knee injury

Tim Merlier celebrates his win with one arm raised.

After a winter of struggling with a knee injury and a season delayed by months, Tim Merlier gave Soudal-Quickstep their first Spring Classic victory in the Scheldeprijs. Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) rounded out the podium.

The victory came after a crash near the head of the peloton with 9km to go split the bunch, leaving only about 40 riders in contention for the sprint. Among those left was Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), but after getting an early lead-out, Philipsen was boxed in and had to settle for eighth.

Merlier's victory is remarkable because he had only one day of racing in his legs before coming into the 205-kilometre race. Because of his knee injury, he had missed the UAE Tour and other planned early-season races. However, having won Scheldeprijs in 2024 and 2025, he knew exactly when to launch his sprint.

“It feels really good, especially after the problems I had in the winter" Merlier said.

"I wasn’t on my best day, and on the final lap there was also that crash which I was lucky to avoid thanks to my cyclo-cross skills. At that moment, I thought there was nothing left anymore in the legs and that the explosion was gone. In the sprint, I got boxed in for a moment but found some space and decided to go, despite being 250 meters from the line.

“Three victories in Scheldeprijs, I guess that’s not too bad. There were a lot of question marks for me before the start, that’s why this victory gives me a lot of confidence for the next races."

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How it unfolded

The day's breakaway contained Robin Carpenter (Modern Adventure), Bram Dissel and Joost Nat (BEAT CC p/b Saxo), Jonah Killy (Tarteletto Isorex), Đorđe Đurić (Solution Tech Nippo Rali), and Jelle Harteel (Tarteletto - Isorex).

With nice weather and little wind, the sprinters' classic played out true to form, with the six escapees getting just over two minutes on the field before being brought to within one minute with 55km to go.

The six leaders just dangled in front of the bunch until Đurić, Harteel and Nat were dropped. Then the remaining trio continued to hang just under 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.

2026 Scheldeprijs: the break of the day (Image credit: Getty Images)

With 9km to go, a crash near the front of the peloton disrupted proceedings, taking down a dozen riders, including Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) and holding up many more.

When the breakaway hit the final stretch of cobbles on the Broekstraat, they had just 13 seconds. Dissel accelerated, leaving Carpenter behind.

He and Killy persisted but were finally brought back by a much-reduced peloton with 4km to go. Killy gladly sat up, but Dissel continued to power on until he was finally swept up with 3.5km to go by the bunch led by his own teammates.

Alpecin-Premier Tech led into the final kilometre, but Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek) tried to force his hand with a long sprint. Once the German faded, Merlier pounced, and Philipsen had no response. He got boxed in, and Bittner and Jeannière trailed Merlier in for the podium spots.

2026 Scheldeprijs: the peloton in full flight (Image credit: Getty Images)

Results

114th Scheldeprijs: Terneuzen- Schoten: 205.2km

Pos	Name (Country) Team	Time
1	Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep	4:25:01
2	Pavel Bittner (Cze) Picnic PostNL	0:00:00
3	Emilien Jeanniere (Fra) Totalenergies	0:00:00
4	Dušan Rajović (Srb) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:00:00
5	Žak Eržen (Slo) Bahrain Victorious	0:00:00
6	Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) NSN Cycling Team	0:00:00
7	David Dekker (Ned) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:00:00
8	Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:00:00
9	Steffen de Schuyteneer (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché	0:00:00
10	Tom Crabbe (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:00:00
11	Emils Liepins (Lat) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:00:00
12	Daniel Cavia Sanz (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:00:00
13	Stanisław Aniołkowski (Pol) Cofidis	0:00:00
14	Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	0:00:00
15	Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Jayco-AlUla	0:00:00
16	Elmar Reinders (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets	0:00:00
17	Robin Froidevaux (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling	0:00:00
18	Hugo Scala Jr. (USA) Modern Adventure	0:00:00
19	Cesar Macias Estrada (Mex) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:00:00
20	Maximilian Richard Walscheid (Ger) Lidl-Trek	0:00:00
21	Jed Smithson (GBr) Hagens Berman Jayco	0:00:00
22	Edoardo Zamperini (Ita) Cofidis	0:00:00
23	Joshua Giddings (GBr) Lotto-Intermarché	0:00:00
24	Martijn Rasenberg (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets	0:00:00
25	Leander van Hautegem (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:00:00
26	Jonah Killy (USA) Tarteletto - Isorex	0:00:00
27	Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:00:00
28	Rodrigo Alvarez Rodriguez (Spa) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:00:00
29	Niklas Märkl (Ger) Picnic PostNL	0:00:00
30	Christiaan van Rees (Ned) Development Team Picnic Postnl	0:00:00
31	Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:00:00
32	Jules Hesters (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:00:04
33	Matevž Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious	0:00:08
34	Thom van der Werff (Ned) Development Team Picnic Postnl	0:00:08
35	Rayan Boulahoite (Fra) Totalenergies	0:00:08
36	Petr Kelemen (Cze) Tudor Pro Cycling	0:00:08
37	Sente Sentjens (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:00:08
38	Aivaras Mikutis (Ltu) Tudor Pro Cycling	0:00:08
39	Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:00:08
40	Rotem Tene (Isr) NSN Cycling Team	0:00:11
41	Brent van Moer (Bel) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:00:14
42	Ferre Geeraerts (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:00:29
43	Edward Theuns (Bel) Lidl-Trek	0:00:29
44	Simone Consonni (Ita) Lidl-Trek	0:00:29
45	Mick van Dijke (Ned) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	0:00:34
46	Alessio Magagnotti (Ita) Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe Rookies	0:00:34
47	Danny van Poppel (Ned) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	0:00:34
48	Jonas Geens (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:00:34
49	Simon Dehairs (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:00:34
50	Fabio van den Bossche (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep	0:00:37
51	Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling	0:00:39
52	Florian Dauphin (Fra) Totalenergies	0:00:41
53	Itamar Einhorn (Isr) NSN Cycling Team	0:00:44
54	Niklas Larsen (Den) Unibet Rose Rockets	0:00:48
55	Julius van den Berg (Ned) Picnic PostNL	0:00:53
56	Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Soudal-QuickStep	0:00:53
57	Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché	0:00:53
58	Laurence Pithie (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	0:00:53
59	Frederik Frison (Bel) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:00:56
60	Tommaso Nencini (Ita) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:00:56
61	Timothy Dupont (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex	0:01:00
62	Michele Gazzoli (Ita) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:01:03
63	Georgios Bouglas (Gre) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:01:03
64	Thor Michielsen (Bel) Lidl-Trek Future Racing	0:01:03
65	Kiaan Watts (NZl) Nsn Development Team	0:01:03
66	Casper Pedersen (Den) Soudal-QuickStep	0:01:03
67	Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Mgl) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:01:03
68	Robin Carpenter (USA) Modern Adventure	0:01:03
69	Hector Alvarez Martinez (Spa) Lidl-Trek Future Racing	0:01:03
70	Tilen Finkšt (Slo) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:01:03
71	Arne Santy (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex	0:01:03
72	Iben Rommelaere (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex	0:01:03
73	Yves Lampaert (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep	0:01:03
74	Bert van Lerberghe (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep	0:01:03
75	Max Kroonen (Ned) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:01:16
76	Tim Marsman (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech	0:01:16
77	Artuur Torney (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:01:45
78	Kamil Małecki (Pol) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:01:45
79	Ben Oliver (NZl) Modern Adventure	0:01:45
80	Shunsuke Imamura (Jpn) Lotto - Groupe Wanty	0:01:45
81	Camille Charret (Fra) Cofidis	0:01:45
82	Vojtěch Kmínek (Cze) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:01:45
83	Noah Vandenbranden (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:01:45
84	Brem Deman (Bel) Team Flanders - Baloise	0:01:45
85	Jens Verbrugghe (Bel) Nsn Development Team	0:01:48
86	Clement Izquierdo (Fra) Cofidis	0:01:52
87	Dries de Pooter (Bel) Jayco-AlUla	0:01:52
88	Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Lidl-Trek	0:01:52
89	Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Ned) Lotto-Intermarché	0:01:52
90	Bram Dissel (Ned) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:01:52
91	Callum Thornley (GBr) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	0:02:49
92	Sebastian Putz (Aut) Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe Rookies	0:02:49
93	Alfred Brockwell Wright (GBr) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:03:21
94	Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Pinarello-Q36.5	0:03:23
95	Simon Goossens (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech Development Team	0:03:32
96	Djordje Djuric (Srb) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:03:32
97	Attilio Viviani (Ita) Solution Tech Nippo Rali	0:03:32
98	Dillon Corkery (Irl) Picnic PostNL	0:03:32
99	Robbe Dhondt (Bel) Picnic PostNL	0:03:32
100	Milan Menten (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché	0:03:32
101	Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché	0:03:32
102	Scott Mcgill (USA) Modern Adventure	0:03:40
103	Joost Nat (Ned) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:03:55
104	Floris van Tricht (Bel) NSN Cycling Team	0:04:00
105	Oded Kogut (Isr) NSN Cycling Team	0:04:00
106	Jelle Harteel (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex	0:04:15
107	Jelle Vermoote (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex	0:04:15
108	Nicola Marcerou (Fra) Totalenergies	0:04:15
109	Pierre Thierry (Fra) Totalenergies	0:04:15
110	Samuel Leroux (Fra) Totalenergies	0:04:15
111	Sean Christian (USA) Modern Adventure	0:04:15
112	Riley Pickrell (Can) Modern Adventure	0:04:15
113	Marius Mayrhofer (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling	0:04:15
114	Ceriel Desal (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team	0:04:15
115	Tomoya Koyama (Jpn) Burgos Burpellet BH	0:04:19
116	Robert Donaldson (GBr) Jayco-AlUla	0:05:17
117	Seppe van den Boer (Bel) Tudor Pro Cycling Team U23	0:05:20
118	Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis	0:06:08
119	Hamish Mckenzie (Aus) Jayco-AlUla	0:06:17
120	Kelland O’Brien (Aus) Jayco-AlUla	0:06:17
121	Abram Stockman (Bel) Unibet Rose Rockets	0:06:17
122	Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets	0:06:17
123	Karsten Larsen Feldmann (Nor) Unibet Rose Rockets	0:06:17
124	Tijmen Eising (Ned) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:06:17
125	Michiel Coppens (Bel) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:06:17
126	Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) Lidl-Trek	0:07:22
127	Sebastian Kolze Changizi (Den) Tudor Pro Cycling	0:07:22
128	Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious	0:07:49
128	Vlad van Mechelen (Bel) Bahrain Victorious	0:07:49
130	Daan van Sintmaartensdijk (Ned) Beat Cc P/B Saxo	0:07:49
DNF	Zeno Moonen (Bel) Tarteletto - Isorex
DNF	Leonardo Consolidani (Ita) Bahrain Victorious Development Team
DNF	Daniel Skerl (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
DNF	Luka Mezgec (Slo) Jayco-AlUla
DNF	Brody Mcdonald (USA) Modern Adventure
DNF	Wessel Mouris (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets

2026 Scheldeprijs: the peloton speeds over a bridge (Image credit: Getty Images)

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