Back-to-back sprint wins for Merlier at Tour de France, Pogacar keeps overall lead

BERGERAC, France, July 11 : Belgian Tim Merlier claimed his second straight Tour de France sprint stage win on Saturday, as the Soudal Quick-Step rider pulled off another come-from-behind sprint in stage eight of the race.

Merlier, who won stage seven with a similar late surge on Friday, waited till the last 400 metres to make his move. His raw power was enough to carry him past Jasper Philipsen and others who had positioned themselves for the sprint finish.

Four-time champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) retained his overall lead after the flat 180.4-km ride from Perigueux to Bergerac, while Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) stayed second in the race for the yellow jersey, 2 minutes and 42 seconds off the lead.

"Just before the last corner I was a bit boxed in, then I almost crashed — I thought it was over... With 250 m to go I say, 'I'll give it a try and we will see'," said 33-year-old Merlier.

Eritrean Biniam Girmay (NSN) finished second in the stage, while Merlier's compatriot Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) came in fourth behind stage five winner Olav Kooij (Decathlon-CMA CGM).

Thibault Guernalec, Jakub Otruba and Liam Slock made an early breakaway while the general classification contenders stayed back in the peloton.

Belgian Slock (Lotto-Intermarche), who made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana last year, launched an attack during the climb to Buisson de Cadouin and went solo with about 40 km left.

The peloton began to chip away at his lead in the last 10 km, with riders from NSN, Decathlon-CMA CGM and Uno-X Mobility taking turns at the front of the group, and Slock was finally caught just before the final km.

After a final right turn, the Alpecin–Premier Tech team set up Philipsen for the final