Belgian rider Tim Merlier dominated the bunch sprint for the second day in a row, winning the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.
Despite being in an unfavorable position in the last few hundred meters, Merlier launched a powerful surge to catch up with all his rivals and overtake Ethiopian Biniam Giorgis, who finished second, and Dutch Olaf Kuijz, who came third.
This victory marks Merlier's fifth in his third participation in the Tour de France and allows him to close the gap to Dane Mads Pedersen in the fight for the green points jersey, reducing the deficit to 15 points.
Merlier expressed his satisfaction, stating: 'If you win one, you can win another, and I am happy.' He also emphasized that this is 'definitely my Tour de France,' noting that he won two out of three sprint stages.
The eighth stage took place in the Dordogne region, known for its thousands of castles and ancient rock carvings, and initially looked set to end in a bunch sprint. Belgian Liam Slok attempted to disrupt this trend by going into a solo breakaway after spending most of the day in a three-man breakaway, which started 40 kilometers from the finish.
However, Slok was caught 1.3 km from the finish line. Although former world champion Mathieu van der Poel tried to prepare his teammate Jasper Philipsen from Alpecin-Premier Tech for the win, Merlier once again demonstrated his exceptional strength.
Merlier explained his success by saying that he didn't feel like the 'boss of the sprint,' but rather that 'I had to constantly fight for my position until the very last minute.' He added that he was slightly squeezed before the turn, and there was an almost crash, after which he decided to take a risk and rejoin the group leading the peloton, thanks to his high speed.
When Van der Poel sent six more riders ahead, Slok found himself in a difficult position, but the Belgian simply accelerated, using Giorgis as a draft, and broke through to victory. Kuijz, who won the first sprint in Stage 5 on Wednesday, managed to pull away behind Philipsen but could not match Merlier's acceleration from Soudal Quick-Step.
The last two sprint stages featured solo and two-man breakaways, but this time the breakaway included three riders. One of them was Slok, who attracted public attention last month when he won his first professional race. He fell near the finish line, losing control of his bike during the Hippigen Grand Prix celebration in Switzerland. Nevertheless, he had enough momentum to cross the finish line on his wheel and secure this valuable victory, which led to jokes from his team Lotto-Intermarché on social media.
Slok was accompanied by Jakub Otruba, who participated in the breakaway on Friday with Baptiste Weistroff, and Frenchman Thibault Guernalec. At one point, they had a lead of over two minutes, but on the Cote du Buisson-de-Cadouin section, which is 2.2 km long, Otruba accelerated first, and then Slok left him behind and continued alone 40 kilometers from the end of the race.
