'He was empty' - Merlier abandons Tour de France after hat-trick of stage wins
During Sunday's stage to Plateau de Solaison, Merlier was dropped from the peloton early before eventually climbing off his bike and bringing his Tour to an end.
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Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) abandoned the Tour de France during stage 15 to Plateau de Solaison.
"It’s a shame he had to stop, but he wasn't having a good day," explained sports director Davide Bramati to Sporza.
The former Belgian and European champion started the stage in 164th out of 169 riders in the overall standings, and fourth in the points classification, 90 points behind Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). More importantly, Merlier claimed a hat-trick of victories in bunch sprints on stages 7, 8 and 12.
Merlier had previously indicated that chasing the green jersey was not among his main objectives, and with only a few opportunities remaining, surviving the Alpine stages in week 3 was always likely to prove an arduous task.
"He was empty and couldn't finish. Maybe something would have been possible on Wednesday, but he simply had a bad day. He gave it his all. That’s just how it is,” added Bramati.
Despite his early exit, Merlier leaves the race having enjoyed the most successful Tour of his career, collecting three stage victories and reaffirming his status as one of the greatest sprinting forces.
Merlier was not the only high-profile withdrawal on stage 15, as Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) was forced to abandon following a crash, around 20km from the finish, suffering a fractured collarbone.
In the Dane's absence, Merlier's former teammate, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) outsprinted UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro to claim the stage victory atop Plateau de Solaison.
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