Merlier doubles up with sensational sprint win on stage 8 – Tour de France

Tour de France 2026

Stage 8

It was back-to-back wins at the Tour de France for Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) as the Belgian sprinted to stage 8 victory after a tense finale that saw breakaway rider Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarché) caught at the very last, just 1.3km from the line.

Stage 7 winner Merlier had to come from behind and launch from seventh wheel, but once he went, his speed was completely untouchable, and he sped to the line to win for the second day in a row.

Biniam Girmay (NSN) took second half a bike length behind Merlier, and Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished third. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) again had to settle for outside of the top three placings.

Slock had been out front all day in a breakaway of three and then by himself for the final 40km, and looked at one point like he might make it all the way and cause an upset as he entered the final 5km with a 30-second gap. But once the peloton really ramped up, albeit late, Slock’s dreams were over, and he was caught 1.3km from the finish line in Bergerac.

Once Slock was caught and the sprint opened up proper, it was XDS Astana who led things out for Max Kanter and led through the last corner into the final straight, with Alpecin’s Mathieu van der Poel then opening up for Philipsen in what was a very good lead-out, and indeed the speed saw a gap open up to Merlier.

But despite a great lead-out, as soon as Philipsen was dropped off, he found himself boxed in by Kooij and a flying Merlier, who had to launch from several wheels down to get back to the front, but carried his speed all the way to the line for the win. Girmay followed Merlier’s wheel and was coming up fast, but it was only good enough for second.

“It didn’t feel like this!” Merlier said when Tour host Seb Piquet said he was ‘the boss’ winning his fifth Tour stage.

“I had to fight for position all the time and until the last metre. Just before the corner I was a bit boxed in, and then they almost crashed. I thought it was over, but I gave it a try to come back to the guys who did the lead-out, and I was coming with so much speed. I saw it was 250m and I said I’ll give it a try until the finish and we’ll see. But even in the last 50m, I couldn’t push any more.

“Mostly when you win one, you can win a second,” he said about going two for two. “I’m happy that from three [sprint] stages I can count two wins.”

GC-wise, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continues to lead the race, holding the yellow jersey with a 2:42 and will more than likely take the lead into Monday’s rest day, with Sunday offering up a breakaway-friendly stage 9 in the hills of the Massif Central.

It was another flat, sprinter-friendly, and therefore doomed-for-the-breakaway 180km stage through the Dordogne, so there wasn’t much enthusiasm to go in the break, and it didn’t take long to form. After less than 10km, the three leaders of Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarché), Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) were in the lead.

Perhaps surprisingly, given the day was a clear chance for a rest, the peloton kept the break relatively close, only growing out to two minutes after 50km as the sprint teams kept things fairly controlled, though it was definitely easy for most of the bunch.

As a result, the stage was highly uneventful for most of the middle of the day, with the break working well together but not breaking free of the peloton’s hold as everyone enjoyed a calm and warm day in southwest France.

Over the Côte de Domme, Slock won the singular KoM point available, which wouldn’t trouble Pogacar’s lead in that classification. The next point of interest was the intermediate sprint, where Otruba and Slock went toe-to-toe to try and win the points – and prize money – and the Caja Rural rider just narrowly beat Slock to the line as Guernalec swept up third place.

With points still available for the peloton, there was also a decent sprint behind, with Jasper Philipsen just beating Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) to the maximum 14 points still available, but all of the top 15 across the line added points to their tally.

With 50km to go, the leaders were still holding a gap of two minutes as the peloton had to start to ramp things up. On the second climb, Ortruba and Slock dispatched with Guernalec to fight for the points, with Slock grabbing it and going ahead solo in the process.

Interesting, behind in the bunch, EF Education-EasyPost decided to use the climb to light things up, with Kasper Asgreen launching to drag clear a group of strong riders including Mathieu van der Poel, Ilan Van Wilder and Jonas Abrahamsen. However, with most riders there to follow for their sprinters rather than really attack, the split was undone relatively soon but had upped the pace in the bunch as they chased the now broken-apart break.

Slock went into the last 30km with a 1:30 gap and looked strong as the gap was coming down, though not rapidly, even as the sprint teams kicked into chase mode.

Despite the efforts of NSN, Alpecin and Soudal-QuickStep, Slock still held 1:20 going into the final 20km, as it started to look touch-and-go whether he might actually be caught. Some teams were hesitant to commit riders to the chase, preferring to keep more riders fresh for the sprint, but this tactic became risky as it became less and less certain that there would be a sprint to contest at all.

The gap was still a minute with 10km to go as the urgency clearly ramped up in the peloton, and Slock put his head down to ride his heart out and chase a mammoth upset. But as the line approached, the speed in the peloton just kept going up and up, and the gap started falling faster and faster. With 5km, the gap was 28 seconds and falling rapidly as Slock’s dream of a miracle seemed to be fading away.

At 3km to go, the gap was still 10 seconds, but the bunch were closing in now and once Slock looked round and saw he was in their sights, he gave in and let himself be swallowed up with 1.3km to go.

With turns in the final kilometres, positioning was seemingly going to be key and it was XDS to got it right into the final corner with Merlier well out of position and a long way behind Philipsen and Kooij, but in the end nothing but speed mattered as he zipped to a second win in as many days in France.

With these two wins, Merlier has rocketed himself up to second in the green jersey standings, now only 15 points down on leader Mads Pedersen, though Pedersen may well add to his tally again on Sunday as the race heads back into the hills for a breakaway-friendly stage in the Massif Central.

Sunday’s 9th stage from Malemort to Ussel is the final challenge before the first rest day. There are no mountains, but the riders face a relentless succession of tough climbs over 155.5 kilometres. The stage was originally due to be around 30 kilometres longer, but the opening section is shortened because of the extreme heat.

As a result of the route change, the riders skip the Puy Boubou (2.8 kilometres at 4.1%) and Côte de Lagleygeolle (5.2 kilometres at 3.9%), rejoining the original course in Lanteuil. Shortly after km 0, they tackle the Côte de Miel, a 6.6-kilometre climb averaging 3.9%. The opening 2.6 kilometres gp up at 4.9% and lead to the intermediate sprint in Beynat.

The remainder of the stage is unchanged. In the first half, the Côte des Naves (2.3 kilometres at 7.4%) and Puy de Lachaud (3 kilometres at 5.6%) serve as warm-up climbs — if that’s the right word in this heat — for the toughest ascent of the day. The Suc au May averages a punishing 7.7% over 3.8 kilometres.

Around 15 kilometres later comes the Côte de la Croix de Pey, which climbs for 4.8 kilometres at an average of 6%. However, the road is already rising before the official start of the climb and continues uphill afterwards, making the actual ascent considerably longer. After the descent, the route heads uphill once again on rolling roads towards the Mont Bessou, whose final 900 metres average 7.3%. From the summit, 24.5 kilometres remain to the finish.

Shortly after descending into Meymac, the last notable rise appears: the Côte des Gardes. After this 2.2 kilometres climb at 4.8%, there are 14 kilometres left to the finish.

Stage 8 result:

1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:52:50

2. Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN Cycling

3. Olav Kooij (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM

4. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech

5. Pavel Bittner (Cze) Team Picnic PostNL

6. Rick Pluimers (Ned) Tudor Pro Cycling

7. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Team Jayco AlUla

8. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United

9. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana

10. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis, all at the same time

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 28:49:07

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:42

3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3:27

4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:30

5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +3:34

6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:55

7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:00

8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:21

9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+4:57

10. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +7:10