Merlier recurrences and breaks the wings of Van der Poel in Châteauroux

Tim Merlier won his second victory in the sprint in this Tour de France on Sunday in Châteauroux, where Jonas Rickaert and Mathieu Van der Poel gave all his chandelier to the noble art of the escape.

Right at the moment when the debate resurfaced on these days of plain so conducive to the nap but feared by the organizers in search of a show, Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert came to recall that even a flat stage as the hand could give rise to what they qualified themselves as « grand show ».

Starting from the zero kilometer, the two teammates of Alpecin embarked on an odyssey which ended only 700 meters from the line, when Van der Poel, heroic, was swallowed by the pack, while Rickaert had parked five terminals earlier, at the end of strength.

“Mathieu told me that we needed to be two. But, in the end, I was just dead. I can come home tomorrow, my turn is over ”joked Rickaert, a model teammate, whose dream of one day climbing the Tour protocol podium was granted when the battle is awarded.

When the two accomplices attacked, they first thought that they were targeting the intermediate sprint at km 24 to take points for the green jersey. But they continued their effort to rush into a raid on desperately straight roads capable of undermining the most intrepid morale.

Malin Merlier

“I am not targeting the green jersey, I really wanted to take the breakaway. It was very hard on these roads. And with the wind that was blowing hard, we knew it was going to come back ”said Van Der Poel, winner in Boulogne-sur-Mer last Sunday and carrier for two days of the yellow jersey.

The gap is still mounted up to 5:35 before the sprinters teams take action. The rhythm hardened again when the Visma tried, in vain, a border to trap Pogacar.

In the end, the peloton arrived once again ahead of the scheduled schedule, for the second fastest step in history (50.013 km/h) whose suspense and the Alpecin panache will first be remembered.

“We suffered but we also have a lot of fun, we offered a good show”A conclu van der Poel.

Once the Dutchman has been resumed, the sprinters took the hand and it was a long time Jonathan Milan who seemed to hold the rope. But the green jersey, winner the day before in Laval, was capped by the Malin Merlier who, from the age of 32, knows how to sneak into a peloton.

“I’m happy but it was very hard today with the heat. In the final, with all these attempts at borders, I did not succeed in drinking and I finished a little dehydrated ”commented the Belgian, who signs his third victory in the Tour by counting that of 2021.

The mountain without Almeida

Its objective, as well as that of other sprinters, is now “Surviving the mountains” which is looming on Monday with a sacred part of mouton in the Massif Central for July 14.

We enter the kingdom, or one of the kingdoms, of Pogacar, who easily kept his yellow leader as a leader on Sunday.

But the world champion lost his main lieutenant, the Portuguese Joao Almeida, too decreased by his fall occurred two days ago.

“It’s a big loss, it was in great shape”regretted the Slovenian who will have to do without his best ally against Jonas Vingegaard and his chamois band.

“It was a luxury to have it in the fight for the general classification. His abandonment will modify our plans a little but we will try to do the best at seven ”underlined Pogacar who can always rely on Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler or even Jhonatan Narvaez in the passes.

His UAE team will also console himself with the idea that Pogacar may, perhaps, need nothing or anyone so much he has dominated cycling for months.