Merlier claims photo finish win in crash-strewn Tour de France stage
Soudal-QuickStep's Merlier had the power to come around Milan and take the win in a photo finish in Dunkirk, but it was a reduced sprint as two crashes in the final five kilometres split the peloton — with Merlier's team-mate Remco Evenepoel among those to go down.
Philipsen had not even made it that far, forced to abandon after a heavy crash at the intermediate sprint on a day when a calm start to the 178km stage from Valenciennes turned into a frantic, dangerous finish.
Mathieu van der Poel retained the leader's yellow jersey, still four seconds clear of Tadej Pogacar, but it was a costly day for his team.
Alpecin-Deceuninck had enjoyed a dream start with two victories from two, aiming to become the first team to win the opening three stages of a Tour since the French squad in 1961 — but it came to an abrupt end a little under 60km from the finish.
As the pace ramped up on the approach to the intermediate sprint, where Philipsen was looking to extend his advantage in the points classification, Laurenz Rex and Bryan Coquard tangled on the right side of the road, sending Coquard left and into the side of Philipsen.
The Belgian hit the deck hard and it was immediately apparent his Tour was over, with his team later saying he had suffered a broken right collarbone and a broken rib.
As the pace dropped again, Tim Wellens rolled off the front of the peloton and claimed the sole king of the mountains point on offer, enough to relieve his team-mate Pogacar of the the polka-dot jersey.
But there was more drama to come as the peloton reached Dunkirk. Evenepoel — third overall last year and again targeting a podium finish in Paris — was caught in the first of two big crashes, rolling to the line holding his left side.
There was then another violent incident on the final approach to the line, with Alexis Renard and Cees Bol going down hard at high speed.
Merlier emerged from the chaos with his second career Tour stage win, four years after the first.
"It was a really hard battle," the Belgian said. "It was difficult to be in position in the battle before the last corner and I must say, my team did an incredible job to the last 5km and then the real battle started.
"I was able to get some slipstream next to Milan. It's always difficult to beat him but I'm happy I can take today my second win in the Tour de France.
"At first I was sure (I had won) and put my hands in the air but then I was not sure anymore so I was waiting until I was."
Tour debutant Milan's second place saw him inherit the green jersey from the unfortunate Philipsen.
British debutant Joe Blackmore moved up to sixth overall, 41 seconds off yellow, to go second in the young rider's classification.
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