Tadej Pogačar loses key Tour de France ally as Tim Merlier wins dramatic sprint
There was no significant change in the overall standings and three-time Tour champion Tadej Pogačar kept the race leader's yellow jersey.
Sunday's stage headed into central France on a 174 kilometre flat stretch for sprinters.
But van der Poel, a one-day classics specialist with a flamboyant style of riding, almost foiled their plans.
The Dutch rider joined his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jonas Rickaert in an early breakaway and produced a tremendous effort over 173 kilometres at a speed of about 48 kilometres per hour but could not go all the way and was swallowed less than a kilometre from the line.
Merlier won the sprint ahead of Jonathan Milan, the winner of Saturday's stage, with Arnaud De Lie completing the podium. It was Merlier's second stage win of this year's Tour.
"I got boxed in a bit but then I managed to go all in and I was able to do my sprint like I wanted to and I'm happy to win my second stage here," Merlier said.
In the overall standings, double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel remained 54 seconds behind Pogačar in second place.
Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin was third at 1:11 behind, and two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard sat 1:17 behind in fourth spot.
Earlier in the stage, João Almeida, a key teammate of Pogačar, abandoned the race.
Almeida, who fractured a rib during stage seven, was dropped early and the UAE Team Emirates-XRG later announced over the race radio that the Portuguese rider had retired.
The Portuguese rider was caught in a high-speed crash earlier in the week as riders scrambled for position at the front, 6 kilometres from the finish line.
He escaped without a concussion but his rib fracture finally proved to be too painful to carry on in the three-week race.
Almeida finished fourth at the 2024 Tour de France and he started this year's edition on the back of strong results elsewhere, having won the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie and Itzulia Basque Country.
The mountainous stage on Bastille Day from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore features seven second-category hills or passes. The final climb has an 8 per cent gradient.
AP
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