Merlier wins stage 8 of Tour as race favorite Pogačar keeps yellow jersey

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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 Pogačar kept the race leader's yellow jersey on Saturday.

Four-time champion Pogačar 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. Pogačar’s teammate Isaac del Toro is third.

Stage 8 took the peloton on a 180-kilometer (112-mile) route from Périgueux 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 Pogačar 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.

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. ___

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