European champion Tim Merlier (Soudal Fast-Step) continued his positive run of kind by selecting up his fifth win of the season on the opening stage of Paris-Good in Le Perray-en-Yvelines. Ideally arrange by his teammates, the Belgian sprinter completed effectively away from his rivals, who have been led in by Frenchman Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Lodges), with Italy’s Alberto Dainese (Tudor Professional Biking Group) in third place.
Winner of the race’s opening stage on his solely earlier look in ‘The Race to the Solar’ in 2023, Merlier absolutely lived as much as his pre-stage standing because the day’s favorite. The 32-year-old Belgian jumped throughout to the left-hand barrier as he opened his dash with a little bit greater than 200 metres remaining and by no means appeared prone to be caught as he cruised to victory.
The success additionally put him within the race chief’s yellow jersey. The ten-second time bonus he acquired left him 4 seconds forward of Démare and Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Group Emirates-XRG). The Ecuadorean champion, who received the Tour Down Underneath in January, is prone to be one the contenders for total victory this week and underlined his GC intentions by successful the day’s intermediate dash, 10km from the end.
Run in gentle circumstances with little or no wind, the racing was nonetheless usually quick and nervy, because the opening days of this race all the time are usually. Samuel Fernández (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) broke away proper firstly, however have been by no means given a lot leeway. Their lead maxed out at two-and-a-half minutes and the trio have been reeled in 49km from house.
From that time on, the peloton remained tightly compact till the strategy to the final of three third-category climbs with 22km left. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Professional Biking Group) was the primary to speed up there, with Matteo Jorgensen (Visma | Lease a Bike) fast to comply with, the American main over the climb.
The following flurry got here on the intermediate dash at Les Mesnuls with 10km to go. Jorgensen was on the forefront as soon as once more, however was outpaced by Narváez, who took six bonus seconds, with Jorgensen bagging 4 and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) two for third place.
After sorties by Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) had been closed down, the latter’s teammate Josh Tarling was the following to attempt his luck. Joined by Matteo Trentin (Tudor) and with Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose monitoring them, the pair opened a small hole, however by no means threatened to get out of the peloton’s vary and have been caught simply earlier than the 2km banner.
The important thing then was positioning going right into a sweeping left-hand nook with 600m to the road. Soudal Fast-Step ensured Merlier was precisely the place he wanted to be, and as soon as the Belgian opened up his dash the end result was by no means doubtful.
2025 Paris-Good stage 1
1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, in 3:32:03
2. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Lodges, st
3. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Professional Biking Group, st
4. Juan Sebastián Molano (Arg) UAE Group Emirates-XRG, st
5. Axel Zingle (Fra) Group Visma | Lease a Bike, st
6. Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) XDS Astana Group, st
7. Mick van Dijke (Ned) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, st
8. Timo Kielich (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, st
9. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) EF Educatiion-EasyPost, st
10. Max Walscheid (Ger) Group Jayco AlUla, st
Common Classification
1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, in 3:31:53
2. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Lodges, +4
3. Jhonatan Narváez (European) UAE Group Emirates-XRG, st
4. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Professional Biking Group, +6
5. Matteo Jorgensen (USA) Group Visma | Lease a Bike, st
6. Magnus Sheffield (USA) Ineos Grenadiers, +8
7. Juan Sebastián Molano (Arg) UAE Group Emirates-XRG, +10
8. Axel Zingle (Fra) Group Visma | Lease a Bike, st
9. Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) XDS Astana Group, st
10. Mick van Dijke (Ned) Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, st
