Belgium's Merlier edges Milan in photo finish after crash-marred stage
The Soudal Quick-Step rider needed a photo finish to confirm he ended narrowly in front of Italian Milan at the finish line in the coastal city of Dunkirk.
Germany's Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious was third, while Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel kept the yellow leader jersey after finishing in 23rd place.
The stage took a dramatic turn 60km from the end when Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen withdrew from the Tour following a heavy crash.
The peloton rode closely together for most of the 178.3 km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkirk.
Seemingly cautious, the riders held back from making any decisive moves, with nearly the entire group staying in the peloton until the final stretch, setting up a mass sprint finish that ended with several riders crashing in the closing metres.
"It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position," Merlier said.
"I think from two kilometres I fought back from behind to come back in position, and I was in the wind all the time, and only with 500 metres to go I found a bit of slipstream. I know next to Milan is always difficult."
The messy finale saw two separate crashes within the last 3km with the first one bringing down several riders, including Geraint Thomas, Jordi Meeus and Remco Evenepoel.
Just ahead of the final corner, several riders lost control and went down, including Alexis Renard, Cees Bol, and Paul Penhoet, who chose to walk his bike across the finish line.
"I lost Bert (Van Lerberghe) before the last corner, but I must say the team did an incredible job in the last 5km, but then the real chaos started and it was really difficult to find position," Merlier added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Cycling-Pogacar beats Van der Poel to win Tour stage four in 100th career victory
Cycling - Tour de France - Stage 4 - Amiens to Rouen - Rouen, France - July 8, 2025 UAE Team Emirates XRG's Tadej Pogacar celebrates winning stage 4 REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier FRANCE (Reuters) -Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar overtook race leader Mathieu van der Poel just before the line to win stage four of the Tour de France on Tuesday, and is now level at the top of the general classification after earning his 100th career victory. The 174.2km ride from Amiens to Rouen came down to a sprint finish between the top three in the overall standings, with the Slovenian world champion getting the better of the Dutchman, and Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) coming in third. A breakaway group of four riders -- Lenny Martinez, Jonas Abrahamsen, Thomas Gachignard and Kasper Asgreen -- got away early but the peloton, led by Van der Poel's Alpecin-Deceuninck team, kept them well within reach. The action was always going to come in the closing 50km, with five categorised climbs packed into the finale, and Martinez was the last to be caught with 20km remaining, shortly after a crash had brought down several riders in the bunch. Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates took control at the front coming to the penultimate climb, before Visma-Lease a Bike took over, pushing hard on the descent, as anticipation grew for a late attack. When it came on the final climb, it was the expected break from Pogacar, but he was unable to shake off two-times champion Vingegaard, and the pair were joined by five other riders, including Van der Poel, to set up a high-stakes finish. Van der Poel went first, looking for his second stage win in three days, but Pogacar had the legs to overtake before the line, and made up the four seconds which separated the pair overall thanks to the stage win bonus. (Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Christian Radnedge)
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Tennis-Djokovic, Swiatek eye Wimbledon last four as Sinner faces injury worry
(Reuters) -Novak Djokovic continues his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam title against Flavio Cobolli and Poland's Iga Swiatek looks to get past Liudmila Samsonova, while Jannik Sinner battles an injury going into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. TOP MEN'S MATCH: FLAVIO COBOLLI V NOVAK DJOKOVIC Djokovic's pursuit of a 25th major has been the tale of a climber repeatedly falling just feet from the summit, with the Serbian knocked out in three semi-finals and losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final for the second year in a row. The 38-year-old was struggling against a young contender yet again in the last 16 as he lost the first set to Australian Alex de Minaur, making double-faults and hitting errant forehands. But he fought back to win the next three sets. "He was exposing my game, exposing my weaknesses," Djokovic said of De Minaur. "I went into kind of full lock-in mode ... I finally was able to kind of do what I wanted to do and swing through the ball." Despite the confidence-boosting win over a difficult opponent like De Minaur, Djokovic sounded cautious about facing 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli in the last eight, saying he was "pleasantly surprised" to see the Italian make it this far in the tournament. "He doesn't strike me as a grasscourt specialist with his game, but he reached the quarter-finals," Djokovic said of the 23-year-old, who has reached the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time. 'He's beaten (Marin) Cilic and some big servers and big players that are grasscourt specialists, so to say. So huge credit to him. He's a big fighter." Cobolli, who has won only two claycourt titles on the ATP tour, has surprised many with his improvement on grass as he discovers how high he can climb, putting the 38-year-old Djokovic at risk of yet another fall from close to the peak. TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: IGA SWIATEK V LIUDMILA SAMSONOVA Swiatek, known as the 'Queen of Clay' due to her success on the surface, has a new-found love for grasscourts after reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the second time in her career. The five-times Grand Slam winner looked like a natural as she brushed aside her last two opponents as the eighth-seeded Pole aims to win her first title on the surface. "I feel like I'm doing a great job at just learning how to play on grass. First time I feel, like, more comfortable. I feel like the process has some kind of logic," said Swiatek, who reached her maiden grasscourt final last month at the Bad Homburg Open. "It's tough when the expectations are high and people talk to you like you're underperforming. I guess this year is just different." The 24-year-old was confident ahead of facing Russian 19th seed Samsonova in the last eight, having won all four of their previous meetings. But the two have never before met on grass. "She's a player that likes fast surfaces," Swiatek said of Samsonova, who has won two grasscourt titles on the tour. "She's pretty experienced too so it's going to be a challenge. I'll just prepare the same way as before any other match and I'll be ready." SINNER FACES HIGH-FLYING SHELTON AT A LOW POINT Top seed Jannik Sinner was two sets down when his last-16 opponent Grigor Dimitrov retired due to a pectoral injury, but the walkover win was no comfort for the top seed, who also suffered an elbow injury during a fall early in the match. "I don't take this as a win at all," Sinner said after the match, adding that he would have an MRI scan later to check his elbow injury. "It didn't seem a tough one, but I still felt (the injury) quite a lot, especially (during) serve and forehand." For American Ben Shelton, who has lost the last five times he has met Sinner, this may be a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time. Tenth seed Shelton, a crowd favourite, said Sinner is "like a machine" but the 22-year-old was ready for a long battle. 'When I get to the big tournaments, I'm more confident about getting in the second week and having deep runs because I've done it a lot,' he said. WIMBLEDON ORDER OF PLAY ON WEDNESDAY (prefix number denotes seeding) Centre Court (Play begins 1230 GMT) 7-Mirra Andreeva (Russia) v Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 22-Flavio Cobolli (Italy) v 6-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Court Number One (Play begins 1200 GMT) 8-Iga Swiatek (Poland) v 19-Liudmila Samsonova (Russia) 1-Jannik Sinner (Italy) v 10-Ben Shelton (U.S.) (Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
The Sun
17 hours ago
- The Sun
Jasmine Paolini splits with coach after Wimbledon loss
WORLD number four Jasmine Paolini has announced her split with coach Marc Lopez shortly after her second-round defeat at Wimbledon. The Italian, who made history last year as the first Italian woman in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon final, fell to Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova in a tight three-set match. Paolini had teamed up with Lopez in April after ending a long-term collaboration with Renzo Furlan. Under Lopez, a former doubles specialist and part of Rafael Nadal's coaching team, she secured her second WTA 1000 title at the Italian Open and claimed the women's doubles crown at Roland Garros. Reflecting on their partnership, Paolini shared on social media, 'We had some great results together. Especially in Rome and Paris. I appreciate all the hard work and energy Marc gave every day.' She added, 'Now that this part of the season is over, I've decided to make a change. I've learned a lot and made good progress. And now I'm taking the time to reflect on what the next step will be.'
