Merlier claims third Tour de France stage win in crash-hit sprint finish

Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier claimed his third stage victory of this year's Tour de France, winning a chaotic and crash-ridden sprint at the end of Thursday's 12th stage.

Tim Merlier powered to his third victory of this year’s Tour de France after surviving a chaotic, crash-hit sprint at the end of Stage 12 from Magny-Cours to Chalon-sur-Saône. The Belgian once again proved the sharpest in a messy, disorganised finale, threading his way through a congested run-in and launching a perfectly timed burst to beat Olav Kooij and Jasper Philipsen to the line. The sprint had already been thrown into turmoil when Fernando Gaviria crashed heavily, bringing down several riders including Stage 11 winner Soren Waerenskjold, and leaving the peloton scattered as they tried to reorganise for the final push.

The day had begun with yet another show of defiance from Baptiste Veistroffer, who attacked around 25 kilometres into the stage for his third breakaway attempt of the race and his second solo effort. Three riders eventually joined him after 57 kilometres, but the Frenchman’s relentless pace proved too much, and all three dropped away before the final 50 kilometres. A flurry of counter-attacks in the last 35 kilometres briefly produced a group of fourteen riders off the front, but with 24 kilometres remaining the peloton had restored order and the stage reset for a bunch sprint.

From there, the run-in became increasingly frantic. No team managed to impose control, and the lead-out trains dissolved under the pressure of repeated surges. Alpecin-Premier Tech tried once more to deliver Philipsen to the perfect position, but Merlier, as he has done throughout this Tour, found a clean line when none seemed available and surged clear to claim his sixth career Tour stage win. Kooij, winner of Stage 5, was forced to settle for second for the second day in a row, while Philipsen completed the podium.

Tadej Pogacar finished safely in the bunch, avoiding the late crash and maintaining his commanding overall lead of three minutes and thirty-six seconds over Jonas Vingegaard. Remco Evenepoel remains third, with Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas rounding out the top five as the Tour heads toward more selective terrain.

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