Merlier shines in sprint showdown on Tour de France stage 7

Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) sprinted to victory on stage 7 of the Tour de France in Bordeaux ahead of Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) and Biniam Girmay (NSN).

Following the catch of the breakaway duo, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) with 17km remaining, the tension in the peloton increased on the approach to a pinch point with 7.2km to go as the road narrowed significantly. 

Cofidis led the peloton with 3km to go, before a well-organised Alpecin-Premier Tech seized control inside the final 2km. 

Under the flamme rouge, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) delivered the final leadout for Philipsen. However, despite the excellent leadout, Philipsen was swamped after launching his effort, and it was Merlier who stormed clear to take an emphatic sprint victory. 

With his fourth stage victory at the Tour, Merlier has continued his trend of winning in each of his three appearances at the race. 

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished safely inside the peloton to defend the yellow jersey. The world champion sits 2:42 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) in the overall standings, with Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in third at 3:27. 

After his odyssey two days ago, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) embarked on another breakaway expedition. Unlike on stage 5, the Frenchman had company this time around in the shape of Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

The odds of holding off the peloton were already mightily slim when they first went clear, but this was compounded by the fact that Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal Quick-Step kept the duo on a tight leash of around a minute throughout the first half of the stage. 

There was a change of pace, with around 110km remaining when a trio of Uno-X Mobility riders attempted to roll off the front of the peloton, forcing the Belgian sprint teams to close the gap. This sparked a brief window of unrest in the bunch as some riders tried to break clear, before things settled down once more.

With 55km remaining and with little else to contest on the stage, Otruba and Veistroffer duked it out at the intermediate sprint. It was Veistroffer who claimed the maximum 25 points.

Behind Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was quickest from the peloton in what was arguably the most competitive intermediate sprint of the race so far, taking 16 points, ahead of Biniam Girmay (NSN), Max Kanter (XDS Astana), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step).

Veistroffer also beat Otruba on the day’s only categorised climb, the Côte de Béguey, with 38km remaining, as their advantage on the chasing peloton remained around the minute mark, an advantage that would be whittled down ahead of the looming bunch sprint in Bordeaux.

Uno-X Mobility had a clear game plan to disrupt the sprinters, as Anders Skaarseth and Jonas Abrahamsen launched a tandem attack with 22km to go. Soudal Quick-Step fought to rapidly put out the fire, consolidating the fact that the stage would be decided in a bunch sprint, with the breakaway duo caught a couple of kilometres later.