Tour de France Stage 7: Merlier Mashes Big Bunch Sprint Into Bordeaux

Tim Merlier won a massive bunch battle into Bordeaux on Friday, timing things perfectly in the drag race to the line and scooping the fourth Tour de France stage win of his career.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider swept past Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) to win, with Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) and Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team) netting third and fourth.

Jasper Philipsen received a very strong leadout from Alpecin Premier Tech teammate Mathieu Van der Poel and launched just inside 250 meters to go. It was a little early but he also lacked speed, with others whipping past him almost immediately and consigning him to fifth.

“I feel really well,” said Merlier. “It is only my third Tour de France and now in every participation I take a win. So it makes me proud.”

Green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was back in ninth place, yielding points to those in front of him.

The stage to Bordeaux has often features sprints in the past, featuring wins by some of the greats of the peloton, and the flat profile made it almost certain that the same pattern would be seen again. Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) tried to disrupt the predications but their breakaway was controlled and then blotted out inside 20km to go.

Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates-XRG) finished safely in the peloton and retains the yellow jersey.

He stays 2:42 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). There was no change to the top 15 overall, but Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) lost almost three minutes and slipped from 16th to 24th.

Breakaway puts in long-range, fruitless move

Stage 7 of the Tour was always one likely to go to the sprinters, being an almost completely flat 175.1km to Bordeaux. Still, attacks were guaranteed and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) leaped clear almost immediately.

The sprinters teams controlled their gains and by km 35 the duo had 1:25. Riders such as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) tried to break the elastic approaching km 70, narrowing the gap, but things settled down again and the break hit a new high of 1:35 87km in.

Veistroffer led over the line at the intermediate sprint at Landiras, while behind Pedersen beat Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team), Max Kanter and others (XDS Astana Team) for third. The leading duo pressed onwards and were pursued by Uno-X Mobility riders Anders Skaarseth and Jonas Abrahamsen with 22km to go.

Those two chasers were quickly recaptured and Veistroffer and Otruba were gobbled up 18km from the line.

The sprinters’ teams all jostled for position, with Alpecin-Premier Tech leading into the final kilometer and Van der Poel putting in a great leadout. However Philipsen wasn’t at his best and instead Merlier was the one who triumphed.

“I launched my sprint without knowing how far it was,” he said. “It was a mess to be in position, but I made it thanks to the team, the great work by them. After all their work two days ago and today, we were the only team with Alpecin who were riding to take the breakaway back. So I am happy it is not another team who won.”

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