Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) claimed victory in the opening stage of the 2025 Paris-Nice, establishing himself as the race’s first leader. Merlier decisively outsprinted Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), who nabbed second, and Alberto Dainese (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who was third.
The 154.1 km stage started and finished in Le Perray-en-Yvelines, featuring multiple laps through the Yvelines department along a lumpy profile that featured the challenging Côte de Villiers-Saint-Frédéric (1.2km/7%) two times.
Several riders attempted to break away, including a notable move by Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro cycling Team) on a short climb just kilometers from the finish. However, these efforts were swiftly neutralized by the peloton, setting the stage for a sprint finish. Merlier, supported by his Soudal-Quick Step team, positioned himself optimally in the final kilometers. With 700 meters to go a sharp left turn decided who would be contesting the sprint, and Merlier, who was in the perfect position only had to wait for the final 200 meters befoe he surged ahead to surge ahead and easily took the stage victory by 2 bike lengths.
Merlier explained afterwards that the stage was not as easy as it looked.
“From seventy kilometers from the finish Visma made the peloton very nervous. And it remained very nervous after that. There were also some attacks on the climbs. Julian, attacked. And on the second climb there was a sprint for the bonis [bonuses].”
“But we managed to stay in front,” Merlier further explained. “The other teams closed the gap to the leaders. I was dropped off in a good position, after which Bert [Van Lerberghe] did a perfect lead-out.”
Sprinter Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who many expected to be a contender for the stage win, finished a disappointing 12th, blaming poor teamwork for his performance.
“There’s not much to analyze. It was just terrible,” Pedersen said afterwards on TV2. “Today we just didn’t work well enough. There’s not much more to say. You can analyze all you want, but it just wasn’t good enough.”
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