Merlier outsprints Milan to speed to Tour de France win
Van der Poel had rolled off the front of the peloton alongside team-mate Jonas Rickaert at the start of the 174km stage from Chinon in what looked a certain suicide mission, but the Dutchman held off the chasing pack until the final few hundred metres.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck adventure had forced rival teams to burn their lead-out men in a furious chase through crosswinds in the final 30km of the stage, and with the sprint trains thoroughly depleted, the quick men had to fend for themselves at the finale.
It proved too hot for Australia's big sprint hope Kaden Groves as he finished 10th following his third-placed finish on Saturday's stage.
Milan, who'd earned his first Tour triumph on Saturday, had good position on the barriers but Merlier went long and the European champion pipped the Italian to the line.
"It was really hard," said Merlier, who also won stage three into Dunkirk. "Five minutes (to van der Poel) is a lot but we tried to chase and also the other teams start to help, the pacing was quite high at the front, but it was hard for all the guys. The bunch was nervous.
"In the end we just went all in and I'm happy I can win my second stage here."
Chateauroux, this week dubbed 'Cavendish City' in honour of Sir Mark, who took the first of his Tour-record 35 career stage victories here in 2008, has only ever known sprints in its history in the race, but van der Poel did his best to break that streak.
When he and Rickaert went early, it looked like a play purely for the intermediate sprint points, but they rolled through that line early in the day and just kept going, building a lead of more than five minutes.
Even as teams furiously fought for position in the wind behind, the lead still held at 50 seconds with 10 kilometres to go as splits appeared in the peloton.
Rickaert fell back with six kilometres left and it became a straight fight between the powerful but shattered van der Poel and some disorganised lead-out trains behind.
It would go the peloton's way, but van der Poel got at least one wish with Rickaert being named the most combative rider of the day.
"It's hard not to be able to finish it off but we put up a good show today," said van der Poel.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Tadej Pogacar remaining 54 seconds clear of Remco Evenepoel. Jonas Vingegaard is behind Kevin Vauquelin in fourth, one minute 17 seconds off yellow.
But Pogacar sufffered a blow as a key lieutenant Joao Almeida had to abandon the race as a result of injuries suffered on stage seven
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