No luck for Tim Merlier in Wednesday’s hectic bunch sprint.
Stage 11 was almost flat, but despite this, the start was fast and furious as many teams without sprinters here tried to book a place in the breakaway and derail the fast men’s plans. The teams who targeted a mass gallop, including Soudal Quick-Step, were quick to react and shut down the large group that were beginning to take shape in the opening twenty kilometers. It was only ahead of the intermediate sprint that four men were given some space to attack and form a group whose gap was kept at all times in check.
Pascal Eenkhoorn did a magnificent work behind them, pulling for more than 100 kilometers and making sure the gap wouldn’t go north of 1:30 before gradually chewing into that margin. His job finished ahead of the last ten kilometers, when his Soudal Quick-Step teammates took over and brought back the escapees. The bunch sprint was incredibly chaotic, with Tim Merlier being boxed in twice in the space of just 100 meters, which ruined any chance of a good result in Vichy, the city that made its Tour de France return after more than 70 years.
Tim talked about what happened in the closing meters of the stage seconds after the finish of the fastest ever Tour de France stage (50.91km/h): “It’s frustrating when there is no speed in the finale because the peloton stays closely together and you can’t find any space. I lost Jasper’s wheel, but even so, I tried several times to go, only to be blocked each time. At that point everything turned into a lottery, as I had to focus on not slipping. It’s really difficult to get a result in these conditions, but it is as it is.”
In this type of sprints, on a narrow finish, it’s hard to do a lead-out and you also need a bit of luck, which today wasn’t on our side.
- Tom Steels -
“We lost each other a bit in that succession of left-right corners and it was difficult to come back after this. It was a fast and aggressive stage today, as a lot of teams and riders wanted to fight for the win, be it from the breakaway or in the sprint. The boys did a good job, but the finale turned out to be very complicated”, explained sports director Tom Steels.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
