After demolishing his Tour de France rivals and taking the yellow jersey at Gavarnie-Gdre on Thursday, Tadej Pogaar enjoyed an uneventful stage seven, finishing the day still sitting pretty 2:42 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), with Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) taking the bunch sprint win.You get the impression this will be the first of many straightforward days in yellow lying ahead for UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogaar. Even on the high mountain stages where his rivals could take him on at his own game, it feels as though something exceptional will need to happen even for someone to take a small chunk of his lead from him.For many race followers, the only chance of overturning Pogaar would seem to be if he has a bad day, or crashes with the latter being a scenario that even Vingegaard's fans wouldn't wish for.Along those lines, he was asked after stage seven about his bad day on the Col du Granon in 2022, when he ceded the yellow jersey to Vingegaard, finishing the stage 2:51 behind the Dane an uncannily similar amount of time to that by which he leads the race now.That day he was the victim of a poor feeding strategy. How had he evolved since that day four years ago, he was asked."If I look at my physical capabilities, of course I'm a bit better than back then," he told journalists. "My mind is growing as well, and [my] experience."However, he added: "I think one of the biggest changes that we could do as a team is organisation around the feeding and having really good hydration and nutrition [plan]."That included regulating his body temperature, he said, describing the current race as "hellish hot". Indeed, on the day of stage seven, the finishing city of Bordeaux was sizzling in 37-degree temperatures."This Tour is hellish hot, [but] for sure my body temperature is cooler than it was in 2022 or any before, because we really keep focused on cooling down," he said. "I think that's a big difference. Just planning, organisation and motivation for the next few days is very different to what it was in 2022."In theory, then, we won't be seeing Pogaar losing yellow to a blood-sugar crash again in the next two weeks like he did that day in 2022. That said, his team no doubt believed they had their strategies nailed that day too. Best laid plans, as they say. It's a hoary old rider favourite, but there's no denying the sheer factual correctness of the phrase, "the Tour isn't over till it's over". We'll all have to wait and see.

Whilst in the spring classics Mathieu van der Poel cannot be removed from the headlines, at the Tour de France that is not always the case. After a 2025 where the classics specialists got plenty opportunities, this year's route almost exclusively focuses on the climbers and sprinters once again. In...

A second sprint stage.Merlier, earlier: Baptiste Veistroffer attacked at KM0 again and this time was joined by Jakub Otropa. It might be a forlorn move but both teams are visible again and when the rest day comes and we look at the prize money standings so far as a proxy for which teams are the most visible, they certainly wont be last.Alpecin-PremierTech lead the chase for much of the day, notable again as its yet to pay off. Meanwhile Uno-X had a quick team attack, a real move or a dress-rehearsal for days to tome?Tim Merlier won the sprint, simply the fastest in the finish but there in part because he bumped shoulders with Mathieu van der Poel and came off the better, then with help from Jasper Stuyven. Van der Poel delivered a luxury lead-out to Jasper Philipsen but the Belgian couldnt build on it, fading. Fernando Gaviria came up on the right and looked like it could be 2018 again but it was evanescent and with 150m to go Merlier had the opening and kicked clear.Two stages in and one for Kooij, now Merlier but no obvious hierarchy, either from sprint trains and lead-outs; or among the sprinters.The Route: 180km and 1,150m of vertical gain. The start and finish are not far away, Bergerac to Prigueux was a 54km time trial in 2014. Its scenic countryside and not much to write home about, the marked climbs are easy. The approach from Lalinde onwards has its street furniture and more coming into the finish.The Finish: a ride into Bergerac but not the town centre and then out. This avoids some urban traps and tight corners traps but the roads are not big boulevards.The Contenders: informed by two sprints now Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is a contender but Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) is looking better. Biniam Girmay (NSN) was third on Stage 6 and starting to close in on Pedersen but narrowing the gap for now, a result here will help his quest.Olav Kooij (Decathlon-CMA CGM) is still among the contenders and again itll be hard for the rest of the field to get ahead of these four.MerlierPhilipsen, Girmay, KooijKanterWeather: hot and sunny, 38C. A 5-10km/h breeze from the south.TV: KM0 is at 1.25pm and the finish is forecast for 5.30pm CEST. The scenery is pleasant today especially when viewed from a helicopter but not stunning. If you want to ration screen time, save plenty for tomorrows stage.The post Tour de France Stage 8 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Things arent clicking for Jasper Philipsen at this Tour de France. The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider is a 10-time stage winner, a former green jersey wearer, but from two sprints this edition, hes only managed to scrape a pair of fifth places. The results have left him baffled, wondering why hes not at his best. We just have to look into it, Philipsen said after stage seven in Bordeaux. The only thing I can say is that I did everything I could, I rode as fast as possible, but it was not fast enough. Victory on Fridays seventh stage went to Soudal Quick-Steps Tim Merlier. To get back to his team bus post-race, Philipsen had to ride past Merliers, parked closer to the finish line on the bank of the Garonne river, where fans had begun to congregate to celebrate his win. It's a scene that Philipsen has grown used to around him at the Tour over the years. In each of his last four participations, he has won at least one stage. In 2023, he won four. So whats going wrong? Wheres the sprinter that, just three years ago, won on the same stretch of road outside Bordeaux's Place de la Bourse? I dont know, Philipsen said. It was a really good lead-out. Everybody did what they were capable of and it was a really amazing team effort, so Im really happy with that. But of course, disappointed with my own legs, my own sprint. That was just not how it should be and how my legs should be.After stage five in Pau, won by Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), Philipsen spoke of a similar lack of power. I was quickly on the limit not how I normally feel in a bunch sprint, he had said. But neither then, nor on Friday, was his tone downcast. If anything, he leant more towards optimism. We just take it day by day, he said. Hopefully in the coming days it will come.Philipsen (left) launched his sprint first in Bordeaux, but was overpowered to the line. (Image credit: Getty Images)It bears reminding that the opening week of this years Tour has been more attritional than usual. Philipsen won stage one's bunch sprint in Lille last year, earning the races first yellow jersey, but this time round he had to wait until day five for his first shot at a flat finish. Already, he has faced an arduous team time trial, a hilltop finish, two mountain stages, and a near 40C day. Perhaps its the heat that has held back his punch? The heat is there for everybody, he said, quick avoid excuses. Its been really demanding for the body, the muscles are sore, but we try to tackle it as well as possible. So far, its going OK. Philipsens Alpecin-Premier Tech sports director, Christoph Roodhooft, also saw no clear reason for the missed sprint opportunities. If we could explain it, it would not happen, he said. The lead-out was all perfect [in Bordeaux], nothing to say about it. Jasper launched his sprint, and he could not take up the speed he usually has.We do not blame Jasper, Roodhooft continued. Its just what it is. Its sport and hes human. Fortunately, Philipsen and his team will not have to wait long for their next sprint opportunity; Saturdays eighth stage to Bergerac offers another flat finish, another chance to taste victory at the Tour. It took him until stage 10 to win in 2024. He then went on to win twice more in that edition. Don't write off Philipsen just yet.

Tim Merlier is in his third Tour de France appearance, and has won a stage this time around as well. The leader of Soudal - Quick-Step deployed a powerful sprint in Bordeaux to take his first triumph at this years' Grand Boucle on stage 7. The finale into the French southwestern metropolis was fast...

As he crossed the line in Bordeaux first on stage seven of the 2026 Tour de France on Friday, there was enormous relief for Tim Merlier.The Soudal Quick-Step rider didn't scream, get carried away, that's not his style; instead, he dusted off both shoulders, as if he'd had an intense case of dandruff halfway through the day.There was a meaning behind the gesture, of course, more complicated than the traditional hands-in-the-air approach. It was about proving he had taken the pressure of his svelte shoulders."We had a meeting before the Tour, before the TTT on the bus, and the CEO, Jurgen For put a bit too much pressure on my shoulders," Merlier explained in his winner's press conference.You can picture the scene, the team boss wanting to see success on the biggest stage, and applying it a bit to thickly. The thing is, Merlier does always deliver at the Tour, something the 33-year-old was keen to point out. He's raced three Tours de France, and won at least one stage at each of them, it's not a bad record. However, things have not been easy this year, or even at this Tour. On Thursday, Bert Van Lerberghe, Merlier's leadout man, abandoned on the Col du Tourmalet."I missed him a bit in the stage, and I think we're going to miss him even more in the other stages too," the winner explained. "For sure I miss him, with Bert there's a bit more space in the bunch, because he's a big guy."2026 did not start simply, with the Belgian not racing until late March due to a knee injury, so the whole season has been an uphill battle."It was a difficult start of the season, it was a bit annoying, that I couldn't start the season like usual," he explained. "When I was back in competition, I won Scheldeprijs, so I knew my sprint level was still there. To go to the Tour was big pressure. Everything was going well, but I missed two months of training, so it's always scary to go to the highest level of cycling. My sprint is still there, so I'm happy."However, the biggest thing working against Merlier, according to him, is not his slow start to the year, or his missing teammate, but how hard this route is, and how few opportunities there are for the fast men. Time is running out for them to make a dent on this Tour, already. The first bunch sprint didn't come until stage five, while the last could feasibly be stage 11."After the third place in the first sprint stages, I knew I only had four or five opportunities left, and once a rider wins, he normally takes a second one," Merlier said of his chances. "You start to be scared, because there aren't a lot of opportunities, but I'm really happy I can take another win here."I remember when I was younger there was a lot more opportunities, and I also saw that this is the hardest Tour in years, so if you're here, as a sprinter, you feel it will be a hard three weeks. Let's hope for the rest of my career I can go to Grand Tours and have opportunities, otherwise it would be just nor possible for us any more in cycling.

Despite his veteran status in the professional peloton, Michael Matthews still has a lot to offer in races. However the last two seasons did not match his ideal due to severe health problems. In 2025, missed the entire summer due topulmonary embolism. This year, he missed the entire spring instead...

The Tour de France is wide open with only six stages completed, featuring a Grand Depart with three consecutive days for the overall classification contenders and this Thursday a mammoth mountain stage in the Pyrenees. After being defeated by Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard might consider pulling ou...