Belgian champion Tim Merlier timed his sprint to perfection to win a hotly contested sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Fenix – Alpecin rider latched onto Fernando Gaviria’s wheel as the action reached its conclusion and produced a mammoth kick to round the Colombian before wrapping up his first WorldTour win.

Two-time stage winner Pascal Ackermann (BORA-hansgrohe) took second place on the stage with Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education First Pro Cycling) in third, one place ahead of Gaviria (Deceuninck – Quick-Step).

All the main GC contenders crossed the line in the same time as Merlier meaning Simon Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) retained the blue leader’s jersey and a 16-second advantage over Rafal Majka (BORA-hansgrohe). Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) remains 39 seconds back in third overall.

After the stage Merlier said: “It wasn’t easy in the mountains after my crash on the first stage, but today was my last chance to take the victory so I’m happy I was able to do that for the team. I got the perfect lead-out from them and they put me in the perfect position. Then I made the right choice in the sprint.”

Here’s some Magnus Cort Nielsen’s standout data from the final sprint: