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
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
9 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Age-defying Venus Williams claims historic win over world No.35 Peyton Stearns
Venus Williams has become the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 to beat Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — by a 6-3 6-4 score at the DC Open. It was the first singles victory for Williams in nearly two years. The only older woman to win a match was Martina Navratilova at 47 in 2004. The former world No.1 Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn't won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as 'inactive'. 'It is not easy to (come back) after all that time and play the perfect match,' Williams said. But backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hard-court tournament in Washington, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in women's doubles — all alongside younger sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles. 'I wanted to play a good match,' she told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: 'And win the match.' In Tuesday's second game, for example, Williams smacked a return winner to get things started, then delivered a couple of other big responses to break Stearns, a 23-year-old who won singles and team NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th in the world. In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach a drop shot and replied with a winner. Soon, she led 4-2, then was closing that set. She was accompanied by choruses of cheers. The first arrived when Williams walked out into the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7000-seat arena that's more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode from the sideline to the center of the court for the formality of the coin toss. The noise really reached a crescendo when Williams began hitting aces — at 170km/h and faster — the way she used to. There also were moments where Williams — who said her fiancé was in the stands — looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken at love this way: forehand wide, forehand into the net, forehand long, backhand long. At the end, it took Williams a bit of extra effort to close things out. She kept holding match points and kept failing to convert them. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams powered in a 180km/h serve that Stearns returned into the net. That was it: Williams smiled wide as can be, raised a fist and jogged to the net to shake hands, then performed her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave. She advanced to a second-round match-up against No.5 seed Magdalena Frech, a 27-year-old from Poland. In other action, Emma Raducanu handed No.7 seed Marta Kostyuk a sixth consecutive loss by eliminating her 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. That set up a second-round meeting between Raducanu and four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who was a 6-2 7-5 winner against Yulia Putintseva. Two top men's seeds exited: Cam Norrie beat No. 2 Lorenzo Musetti 3-6 6-2 6-3, and No.3 Holger Rune withdrew from the tournament because of a back injury. No. 4 seed Ben Shelton defeated Mackie McDonald 6-3 6-4.
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
DC Open delight for tour veteran Venus Williams
Venus Williams has become the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — 6-3 6-4 at the DC Open. This was the first singles victory for Williams in nearly two years and the only older woman to win a match was Martina Navratilova at 47 in 2004. The former No.1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match anywhere since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn't won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as "inactive." "It is not easy," Williams said, "to (come back) after all that time and play the perfect match." But backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hardcourt tournament in the nation's capital, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her grand slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in women's doubles — all alongside younger sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles. "I wanted to play a good match," she told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: "and win the match." The first cheer for Williams arrived when she walked out into the main stadium, a 7000-seat arena that's more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode to the centre of the court for the formality of the coin toss. There also were moments where Williams looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken to love. At the end, it took her a bit of extra effort to close things out. She failed to convert numerous match points but eventually powered a serve that world No.35 Stearns returned into the net. Williams advances to a second-round match-up against fifth-seeded Pole Magdalena Frech while earlier on Tuesday, Emma Raducanu handed No.7 seed Marta Kostyuk a sixth consecutive loss, defeating her 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. This was the fifth tournament in a row where Kostyuk exited in the first round; she hasn't won a match since May 11 in Rome. The 46th-ranked Raducanu, who won the 2021 US Open, will face four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, a 6-2 7-5 winner against Yulia Putintseva, next. At the hardcourt WTA250 event in Prague meantime, Australia's Priscilla Hon was beaten 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the first round by Czech Barbora Palicova in a little over two hours.
SBS Australia
14 hours ago
- SBS Australia
The giant delivers French smiles
In the latest SBS Cycling Podcast, the hosts celebrate a stunning French victory atop Mont Ventoux, capturing the electric atmosphere and scenic Alpine backdrop. The episode also explores the general classification battle, with an analysis of Vingegaard and Pogacar's rivalry. A quick look ahead at the next stages leaves fans eager for more Tour de France action.
