Tim Merlier won stage nine of the Tour de France at Chateauroux on Sunday after a heroic long-range escape from Mathieu van der Poel was caught in the final kilometre.
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There was no change atop the overall standings with Tadej Pogacar now holding a 54sec advantage over Remco Evenepoel in second with French starlet Kevin Vauquelin third.
This was a second win for Soudal Quick-Step sprinter Merlier who was first across the line on stage three at Dunkirk as he racked up a 12th stage win this year.
Merlier was led in by team leader Evenepoel.
"It's mad, we are supposed to be helping him (Evenepoel) but he's helping us," Merlier said.
"I need to make it through the mountains now, I won't be any use to Remco there, but I want to help him in the other ones," said the 32-year-old.
🗣️ "I am so much more confident with him [Bert] in front of me. I came out just before 200m or after, I went all in and I’m happy I can win my second stage here." - 🇧🇪@MerlierTim
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2025
Interview with Stage 9 winner, Tim Merlier ⤵️
🗣️ "Je suis beaucoup plus confiant avec lui [Bert]… pic.twitter.com/A3cqPz4i5E
On a sun drenched slog from the Chinon vineyards, Van der Poel and a teammate broke early and built up a lead of 5min 30sec on the flat roads to Chateauroux.
'NEARLY MADE IT'
Jonas Rickaert won the combativity award for accompanying Van der Poel to within 10km of the line before slumping over his handlebars.
"I'm really happy. That was one of his (Rickaert) dreams, to win the combativity award and that's why we went," Van der Poel explained.
"In the end we nearly made it but we hadn't expected to get that far," he said of his 173km breakaway at an average speed on 49.9kph.
As with many heroic exploits, their epic escape was ultimately doomed to a gut wrenching narrow failure.
But his gung-ho all-in style Van der Poel grew his Tour de France legend here despite being caught with 700m to go, the plaudits will be both his and Merlier's.
"It's hard to not be able to finish it off, but we put on a good show," said the Dutch rider.
As Van der Poel was reeled in, it looked as though Jonathan Milan would win a second consecutive stage but Merlier got ahead with 50m remaining as Milan finished second with Arnaud De Lie completing the podium.
🤩 Caught with less than a km to go after a huge effort, @mathieuvdpoel couldn't prevent the sprint. A look back at the last km of this 9th stage.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 13, 2025
🤩 Repris à moins d'un km de l'arrivée après un énorme numéro, @mathieuvdpoel n'a pas pu empêcher le sprint. Retour sur le dernier… pic.twitter.com/rehkblSMaB
Road signs in honour of British cycling great Mark Cavendish had been placed at entry points to Chateauroux -- reading Cavendish City -- in homage to the now-retired 40-year-old, after he won three stages there in 2008, 2011 and 2021.
Pogacar's Tour de France defence took a hit on Sunday as his key teammate Joao Almeida threw in the towel two days after his nasty fall at the Mur de Bretagne, where he fractured a rib.
"It's a big loss he was in good shape. He's our hero. I was suffering today so I understand how he must have felt. Every respect to him," the Slovenian said.
Stage 10 should shake up the race with eight classified climbs in the Massif Central on the 14 July French national holiday.
After finishing in the peloton on Sunday, Pogacar was already looking ahead to Monday's mountainous 165.3km slog.
"Visma have a strong team for tomorrow and I think Jonas (Vingegaard) will be ready," Pogacar said of his great Danish rival.
"There will be attacks from the main contenders, it's up and down all day.
"I'm pretty confident in my team though. I'm looking forward to the hard stages," added the 26-year-old three-time champion.
STAGE NINE WINNERS
1. Tim Merlier (BEL) Soudal Quick-Step 3:28:52
2. Jonathan Milan (ITA) Lidl - Trek "
3. Arnaud De Lie (BEL) Lotto "
4. Pavel Bittner (CZE) Team Picnic PostNL "
5. Paul Penhoët (FRA) Groupama - FDJ "
6. Biniam Girmay (ERI) Intermarché - Wanty "
7. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious "
8. Jordi Meeus (BEL) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe "
9. Stian Fredheim (NOR) Uno-X Mobility "
10. Kaden Groves (AUS) Alpecin - Deceuninck "
11. Alexis Renard (FRA) Cofidis "
12. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Israel - Premier Tech "
13. Arnaud Démare (FRA) Arkéa - B&B Hotels "
14. Anthony Turgis (FRA) TotalEnergies "
15. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Team Jayco AlUla "
16. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Tudor Pro Cycling Team "
17. Bastien Tronchon (FRA) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team " 18. Matteo Trentin (ITA) Tudor Pro Cycling Team "
19. Danny van Poppel (NED) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe "
20. Cees Bol (NED) XDS Astana Team "
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - XRG 33:17:22
2. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal Quick-Step +54
3. Kévin Vauquelin (FRA) Arkéa - B&B Hotels +1:11
4. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Visma - Lease a Bike +1:17
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Team Visma - Lease a Bike +1:34
6. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin - Deceuninck +1:46
7. Oscar Onley (GBR) Team Picnic PostNL +2:49
8. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe +3:02
9. Primož Roglic (SLO) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe +3:06 10. Mattias Skjelmose (DEN) Lidl - Trek +3:43
11. Ben Healy (IRL) EF Education - EasyPost +3:55
12. Tobias Johannessen (NOR) Uno-X Mobility +4:28
13. Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar Team +4:35
14. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team +4:49
15. Carlos Rodríguez (ESP) INEOS Grenadiers +4:51
16. Jordan Jegat (FRA) TotalEnergies +5:39
17. Aurélien Paret-Peintre(FRA) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team +7:23 18. Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (FRA) Groupama - FDJ +8:13
19. Jhonatan Narváez (ECU) UAE Team Emirates - XRG +8:28
20. Emanuel Buchmann (GER) Cofidis +8:35