Merlier wins Tour stage 12 as late crash mars sprint finish

CHALON-SUR-SAONE, France, July 16 : Belgian Tim Merlier underlined his status as the Tour de France's dominant sprinter by winning Stage 12 on Thursday, his third victory of this year's race after a dramatic finale to the 179.1-km ride from Nevers to Chalon-sur-Saone.

The Soudal-Quick Step rider, who missed out on victory in Nevers on Wednesday, stayed clear of a major crash about 400 metres from the finish that brought down Colombian Fernando Gaviria and several other riders.

He surged through to beat Dutchman Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM and fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech.

"I think my radio was broken and I didn’t know about the late attack before the climb with 20 riders," Merlier said. 

"Jasper Stuyven got a flat tire but we stayed calm and I was on a good day. Today I was really focused on the guys who were boxed in yesterday. I found some space and I launched. It was the kind of finish that suited me."

The victory added to Merlier's earlier stage wins in Bordeaux and Bergerac and was the 33-year-old's sixth career Tour de France stage triumph.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG safely retained the yellow jersey, maintaining an overall lead of more than three-and-a-half minutes over two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard.

Earlier, Baptiste Veistroffer launched a solo breakaway after around 25km and was later joined by three riders, but the move was gradually reeled in by the peloton.

A subsequent attack by a group of 14 riders inside the final 35km also failed to gain decisive ground, with the bunch bringing them back with 24km remaining before the stage built towards an expected sprint finish.

GREEN JERSEY BATTLE TIGHTENS

There was no change at the top of the general classification,