Merlier at the double at Al-Ula Tour / Photo: © AFP
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Merlier at the double at Al-Ula Tour
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Merlier at the double at Al-Ula Tour
Tim Merlier of Quick Step won stage three of Saudi Arabia's Al-Ula Tour on Thursday.
After also winning stage one Merlier tops the sprint points red jersey rankings with two stages to go.
Britain's Tom Pidcock remains atop the general rankings having won Wednesday's second stage where he dropped his rivals impressively on the Bir Jaydah mountain.
Pidcock is a double Olympic mountain bike champion and switched Ineos for new colours this season joining ambitious Swiss outfit Q36.5.
On Thursday's flat run Belgian sprinter Merlier dominated the final sprint and picked up ten bonus seconds for the win after a run through the desert marked by echelons, where the riders align in diagonal formation to avoid strong cross winds.
Jayco Al-Ula's Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen was second and the Colombian UAE rider Juan Sebastian Molano came in third at the Tayma Fort finish line after a 180.6km run from Hegra.
M.Odermatt--BTB