Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sprinted to victory in the opening stage of the Tour de Hongrie . He beat Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to the line in Békéscsaba to the line in a bunch sprint finish to end the 143km stage.

Soudal-QuickStep, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and Jayco-AlUla led the way into the final of the flat opener shortly after the day's two-man break was caught, while XDS-Astana also worked on the front in the final kilometres before QuickStep and UAE went head-to-head at the finish.

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Mathias Sunekaer Norsgaard (left) and Kristian Egholm strike out for Lidl - Trek in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)

The opening stage of the 47th Tour of Hongrie took the peloton on a pan-flat route from Gyula to Békéscsaba featuring three long laps between the two towns.…