Tim Merlier was forced to make a hasty exit over the barriers and into the crowd today at Scheldeprijs when he took a short cut down the finishing straight and found the second group sprinting towards him.
Merlier had been in the lead group, which split to pieces on the run to the finish line, and placed 9th in the race. After finishing he then turned around and rode back through the finish area and down the home straight towards his team vehicles parked nearby.
However, soon the second group on the road, sprinting for 14th place, was hurtling towards him. Merlier (Alpecin Fenix) had nowhere to go but stop, hand his bike over into the crowd and jump the barriers to avoid the oncoming group.
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The race was won by Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) after he attacked the lead group in the final 10km and rode solo to the finish.
Both Ryan Mullen and Sam Bennett - of Bora-hansgrohe - made the front group today but Bennett was under par and lost touch with the group after trying to attack it. Mullen, however, made the top 10 and we'll have more on the Irish riders later.
