Belgium's Tim Merlier claimed his second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de France on Saturday, powering to a dramatic sprint win in Bergerac. The Soudal Quick-Step rider, who won stage seven on Friday, looked out of contention with 500 meters to go but launched a long-range charge to overtake his rivals and clinch stage eight.
Merlier hit the front with less than 200 meters remaining, holding off Eritrean sprinter Biniam Girmay for his fifth career Tour stage win. Dutch rider Olav Kooij finished third. "If you win one, you can win a second, and I'm happy," Merlier said. "Three sprint stages, I won two — definitely my Tour de France."
The victory narrowed Merlier's gap to Mads Pedersen in the green jersey standings to 15 points. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar retained the overall yellow jersey, maintaining his lead over Jonas Vingegaard after the flat 180.4 km stage from Perigueux to Bergerac.
The stage passed through the Dordogne region's castle-dotted countryside and looked set for a bunch sprint. A three-man breakaway dominated most of the day until Liam Slock went solo with 40 km left but was caught 1.3 km from the line. Mathieu van der Poel tried to set up teammate Jasper Philipsen, but Merlier surged ahead.
"I needed to fight for my position all the time until the last minute," Merlier added. "Just before the corner, I was a bit boxed in, and then they almost crashed. I thought it was over, so I gave it a try to come back off the guys who did the lead-out. I was coming with so much speed."
Tour organizers announced that Sunday's stage nine would be shortened from 185.5 km to 155.5 km due to an intense heatwave in the Correze region.