The Japan Times - Merlier doubles up in Tour de France sprint stages

Merlier seemed out of contention when he was caught out of position in the last few hundred metres but launched a long range charge to reel in all of his rivals and beat Ethiopian Biniam Girmay into second with Dutchman Olav Kooij third.

It was Merlier's fifth stage victory in his third Tour appearance and also brought him to within 15 points of Dane Mads Pedersen in the sprinters' green jersey competition.

"If you win one, you can win a second, and I'm happy," said Merlier.

"Three (sprint) stages, I won two.

"(It's) definitely my Tour de France."

The eighth stage in the Dordogne region, known for its 1,000 castles and ancient cave drawings, had always looked destined to finish with a bunch sprint.

Once again, as they have done since the race began in Barcelona a week ago, riders braved scorching temperatures in the high thirties Celsius.

But Sunday's ninth stage will be shortened, organisers ASO said, after French weather authorities announced a "red alert due to an exceptionally intense heatwave" in the central Correze region.

"In light of this, it has been decided to adjust the route of stage nine of the Tour de France, from Malemort to Ussel, on Sunday 12 July 2026," ASO said in a statement.

"This decision has been made necessary by the exceptional weather conditions."

- 'Boxed in' -

On Saturday's stage, Belgian Liam Slock tried to upset the formbook, setting off alone with 40km left after spending most of the day in a three-man breakaway.

But he was caught 1.3km from the line and while former world champion Mathieu van der Poel did his best to set up Alpecin-Premier Tech team-mate Jasper Philipsen for the victory, Merlier simply proved too strong once again.

"It didn't feel like this," said Merlier when it was suggested to him that he was the sprint boss.

"I needed to fight for my position all the time until the last minute.

"Just before the corner, I was a bit boxed in, and then they almost crashed.

"I thought it was over, so I gave it a try to come back off the guys who did the lead out.

"I was coming with so much speed."

He had been caught the wrong side of a gap when Van der Poel dragged another six riders clear of the others, but the Belgian simply turned on the power, with Girmay in his wheel, and charged through to win.

Kooij, who won the first sprint finish in Wednesday's fifth stage, darted out from behind Philipsen but could not match the acceleration of Soudal Quick-Step's Merlier.

The last two sprint stages had seen one-man and two-man breakaways but this time, three riders headed off up the road together.

One of those was Slock, who made headlines -- and went viral on social media -- last month when he claimed his first victory in the professional ranks.

He crashed metres from the line as he lost control of his bicycle while celebrating early during the Gippingen Grand Prix in Switzerland.

However, he had enough momentum to slide over the line on his side and claim that precious victory, with his own Lotto-Intermarche team joking about it when posting a video of his unconventional finish on social media.

Slock was joined by Czech Jakub Otruba, who had been in the breakaway on Friday with Baptiste Veistroffer, and Frenchman Thibault Guernalec.

They had a lead of over two minutes at one point but on the 2.2km Cote du Buisson-de-Cadouin, Otruba accelerated first and then Slock left him in his wake before forging on alone with 40km still to race.

Slock held on admirably but as the kilometres ticked down, it became increasingly clear that he would not make it it.

He was finally caught with 1.3km left, after more than 175km in a breakaway.

K.Inoue--JT