The “unofficial sprinters’ world championship” saw the peloton take on a the traditional flat route from Terneuzen to Schoten, with a sprinkling of cobbles along the way on Wednesday afternoon. With no strong wind or rain throughout the day, what can sometimes be a very attritional race, looked set to be a big bunch sprint come the finale.
Team Picnic PostNL set out with a clear goal and plan of helping to control the race so that it did come down to that bunch kick, where they would go for it with fast finisher Pavel Bittner. Robbe Dhondt contributed to the early pace making in the peloton, before Dillon Corkery pitched in, with the bunch keeping the breakaway in check as the kilometres ticked down.
Like always in Scheldeprijs it was chaotic in the final ten kilometres but the team remained in good position, with Development program riders Thom van der Werff and Christiaan van Rees riding well in the .Pro level race to keep the squad towards the front. Coming into the closing few kilometres Julius van den Berg and then Niklas Märkl took over, and despite the chaos, they could position Bittner in a position to go for it in the sprint. Bittner kicked past several riders but just found Merlier faster on the day, but he and the team could still end the day on the podium with a strong second place.
