Tim Merlier wins Tour de France stage in Châteauroux, edges out Milan in photo finish

Tim Merlier secured his second Tour de France stage win in Châteauroux, overtaking Jonathan Milan in a thrilling sprint finish. After an early breakaway by Van der Poel and Rickaert, Merlier’s late burst sealed victory by half a bike length.

Hyderabad: Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) secured his second Tour de France win in a week, denying Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) a double of his own, thanks to deft maneuvering and a serious turn of speed inside the final 200m of the stage.

As sure as it was to finish in a bunch sprint in Chateauxroux, the scene of three Mark Cavendish victories, it almost didn’t. Mathieu van der Poel and his Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mate Jonas Rickaert were the only two riders to leave the confines of the peloton at Kilometre 0.

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The pair spent the entire stage out front, until Rickaert faded with 6km to go, leaving Van der Poel with a lone fight for the stage win. The winner a week ago in Boulogne-sur-Mer was only caught 700m from the line, before the sprinters gathered for their grandstand finish.

With two of the first week sprint stages having seen no early breakaway, it was reasonable to imagine the third might produce the same. It was therefore something of a shock to see two Alpecin-Deceuninck jerseys emerge, as race director Christian Prudhomme gave the signal to start.

The peloton seemed satisfied to see them fly the nest, and the pair gained two minutes on the field before Jonathan Milan’s Lidl-Trek team-mates looked to put a lid on their escape. The early consensus was that, with sprinter Kaden Groves behind, Van der Poel and Rickaert would call off their effort at the early intermediate sprint, which came 24km in. Instead they pressed on, averaging 47kph for the first hour and a half, their advantage maxing out at non-trivial 5’30, after 65km.

Van der Poel and Rickaert, visibly suffering, soldiered on. It looked all but over at 20km to go, as the lead slipped below one minute. A lull in the action behind allowed them to regain half a minute over the next ten thousand metres. When the lights go out, they go out, and eventually Rickaert ran out of road. At 6km from the finish it was left to Van der Poel to see how far he could take it. A glance behind to a vacant road gave encouragement, but the peloton had more firepower.

Under the flamme rouge, 1000m from the line, his lead was in the single digits. Just three hundred metres later he was overwhelmed.

The sprint teams did not have time to organise but they did not need to, as most of the favourites were in the mix anyway. As the stage bubbled to its high speed conclusion, it came down to who was fastest between Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step.) The Italian went longest, as he did on Saturday, but Tim Merlier had the timing and the top speed, passing his rival in the final metre to win by half a bike length.