Tim Merlier extended his incredible run in stage races and the Tour de France, sprinting to victory on stage 7 from Hagetmau to Bordeaux today.Alpecin took the lead with 2.5km to go, with Mathieu van der Poel leading out Jasper Philipsen, who won in Bordeaux in 2023. But after van der Poel pulled off with 250m to go, there was no stopping Merlier, who came from far back in the bunch to break ahead and win the stage.Merlier described the closing moments of the stage as a mess, as he tried to keep his eyes on Philipsen. They boxed me in everywhere, he said, adding that he lost ground before he eventually gained space to give the legs a bit of air.This was the Soudal QuickStep rider's first win of the 2026 Tour de France, his fourth in three Tours, and his eighth Grand Tour stage win. Its also the 10th stage race in a row where Merlier has won.Lotto-Intermarches Baptiste Veistroffer and Caja Rural-Seguros RGAs Jakub Otruba were in a two-man breakaway for almost all of the stage, which had only 850m elevation.Merlier commented on the work by his team and Alpecin-Premier Tech: We were the only team riding with Alpecin to take the breakaway back, so Im happy it wasnt another team who won.It was Veistroffers second breakaway of the 2026 Tour de France after a 144km solo attack on stage 5 because, I wanted to enjoy myself. His efforts on stage 3 and today mean Veistroffer spent 234km of the Tour de Frances first 1,000km in a breakaway.The duo took the top two places on the intermediate sprint with 54km to go, with Veistroffer collecting the maximum 25 points and Otruba coming in second.The favourites in the points classification sprinted for the remaining points. Pedersen took third place for 16 points and extended his lead in the points classification over NSN Cycling Teams Biniam Girmay, who took fourth place for 14 points.Veistroffer and Otruba fist bumped as they were enveloped by the peloton with 18km to go.The bunch was arguably going too slow, with Uno-X Mobilitys Jonas Abrahamsen launching his third attack to push the pace with 10km to go. NetCompany-Ineos also came to the front in the hope of Dorian Godon claiming the stage.But it was always a day destined for the big names and sprint trains, with Merlier adding another victory to his palmeres, Uno-Xs Sren Wrenskjold coming in second and Girmay finishing third. Max Kanter came fourth and Pedersen rounded out the top five. More on the 2026 Tour de France Has Tadej Pogaar already won the 2026 Tour de France after his ritual mauling of the peloton? History doesn't have good news for us Tadej Pogaar wins Tour de France stage 6 and claims Souvenir Jacques Goddet prize on Col du Tourmalet I wanted to enjoy myself: Baptiste Veistroffer shares the stats behind his 144km Tour de France solo break "Its outstanding" Norwegian who was treated for cancer now leads the Tour de France Ridley built this custom yellow-jersey Noah Fast for Torstein Traen in less than 30 hours after he took the lead in the Tour de France A Tour de France breakaway only has a 2% chance of winning, so why join one? Every team bike at the 2026 Tour de France