Philipsen edges out De Lie in chaotic sprint at Münsterland Giro; Merlier crashes in finale

The Sparkassen Münsterland Giro is one of the only major one-day races in Germany this year. Traditionally, a sprint is expected in the flat landscape around the city in North Rhine-Westphalia, about 50 kilometers from the Dutch border. However, the race sometimes produces a surprise, such as when Per Strand Hagenes won in 2023.

Given the large number of top sprinters, we could normally count on a bunch sprint. Men such as Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike), Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) were present. Mads Pedersen was also supposed to travel to Germany after the European Time Trial Championships and then ride back to France, but he recorded a DNS.

Most of the hills were in the early part of the race, where four riders broke away. Colby Simmons (EF Education - EasyPost), Rasmus Wallin (Uno-X Mobility), Vinzent Dorn (BIKE AID), and Pepe Albrecht (REMBE Rad | Net) took the lead, although the latter was quickly dropped. The remaining three managed to build up a 2-minute lead, but the sprinter teams maintained control of the race.

The lead gradually decreased, and with 40 kilometers to go, the peloton was back together. The sprinter teams were able to control the race with ease for a while, but everyone knew that the pace would increase as the peloton approached the finish. Moreover, it was an ongoing series of attacks, especially from the German continental teams.

Of course, they stood no chance against the strength of teams such as Alpecin-Deceuninck, Soudal Quick-Step, and Visma | Lease a Bike. In the last 10 kilometers, it seemed that there would be no surprise: we would get a sprint in Germany, between the absolute sprint kings (except for Jonathan Milan).

Merlier would not be involved either. He crashed with six kilometers to go and saw his chances go up in smoke in the commotion after Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) tried to break away. Not many sprinter teams were left after this crash. Unibet Tietema Rockets launched Lukas Kubis, but De Lie came out of the wheel. The Belgian was beaten at the finish by Philipsen, who came out of nowhere.