07/11/26 12:05:00
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07/11 12:03 CDT Merlier wins stage 8 of Tour as race favorite Pogacar keeps
yellow jersey
Merlier wins stage 8 of Tour as race favorite Pogacar keeps yellow jersey
BERGERAC, France (AP) --- Belgian rider Tim Merlier won the eighth stage of the
Tour de France in a sprint finish to claim back-to-back-stage victories, while
defending champion Tadej Pogacar kept the race leader's yellow jersey on
Saturday.
Four-time champion Pogacar finished in the main pack along with two-time
champion Jonas Vingegaard and maintained his overall lead of 2 minutes, 42
seconds over his main rival. Pogacar's teammate Isaac del Toro is third.
Stage 8 took the peloton on a 180-kilometer (112-mile) route from Prigueux to
the southeastern city of Bergerac in sweltering conditions, amid another
heatwave.
"Just like every day, a lot of water and keep cooling the body down," the
Slovenian rider Pogacar said. "The body gets tired in the heat. Definitely we
need to be careful and keep cooling down, take care of nutrition, hydration."
For the second day running, Mathieu van der Poel rode hard to put his teammate
Jasper Philipsen at the front, but their attack came too early and Merlier
timed his run to the line perfectly for a fifth career stage win in the
showcase race.
"I needed to fight for my position all the time ... I almost crashed, thought
it was over," Merlier said. "In this heat it was a really difficult effort."
Eritrean Biniam Girmay finished second and Dutchman Olav Kooij was third, all
timed at 3 hours, 52 minutes, 50 seconds.
Red Alert
Stage 9 on Sunday is a hilly trek from Malemort to Ussel in central France and
has been shortened by 30 kilometers to 155.5 kilometers due to the extreme heat.
Organizers took the decision on Saturday evening because the local department
where the stage takes place has been placed on red alert.
The race concludes with its traditional finish in Paris on July 26. -__
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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