BERGERAC, France — He may not be a contender for the overall championship, but Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier is on a roll early in this year’s Tour de France.
Merlier, who competes for Soudal Quick-Step, won the eighth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish Saturday, giving him back-to-back stage victories as two-time reigning champion Tadej Pogacar kept the overall race leader’s yellow jersey.
Pogacar, who races for UAE Team Emirates-XRG and is seeking a record-tying fifth victory overall, finished in the main pack along with two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard and maintained his overall lead of 2 minutes, 42 seconds over his main rival, a 29-year-old Dane who races for Team Visma-Lease a Bike. Isaac del Toro, one of Pogacar’s teammates, is third.
Saturday’s state took the peloton on a 112-mile route from Périgueux to the southeastern city of Bergerac in sweltering conditions amid another heatwave.
“Just like every day, a lot of water and keep cooling the body down,” said Pogacar, a 27-year-old from Slovenia. “The body gets tired in the heat. Definitely we need to be careful and keep cooling down, take care of nutrition, hydration.”
For the second day running, Mathieu van der Poel rode hard to put fellow WorldTeam Alpecin—Premier Tech rider Jasper Philipsen at the front, but the Belgian duo’s attack came too early and Merlier timed his run to the line perfectly for a fifth career stage win in the showcase race.
“I needed to fight for my position all the time … I almost crashed, thought it was over,” Merlier said. “In this heat it was a really difficult effort.”
Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay finished second, and Dutchman Olav Kooij was third, all timed at 3 hours, 52 minutes, 50 seconds.
Sunday’s ninth state is a hilly trek from Malemort to Ussel in central France and has been shortened by 30 kilometers to 155.5 kilometers (96.6 miles) due to the extreme heat. Organizers made the decision Saturday evening because the local department where the stage takes place has been placed on red alert.
Ahead on Monday is the first rest day of this year’s three-week, 21-stage race, before a return to the mountains Tuesday.
The race concludes with its traditional finish in Paris on July 26.