Results Tour de France 2026 Stage 8 - Tim Merlier does it again! Belgian denies Jasper Philipsen and goes back-to-back after Liam Slock caught inside final kilometre
CyclingSaturday, 11 July 2026 at 17:24
Tim Merlier claimed his second consecutive victory at the 2026 Tour de France on Stage 8, coming through late to beat Biniam Girmay and Olav Kooij in Bergerac.
Liam Slock had threatened to deny the sprinters after carrying a slender advantage into the final three kilometres, but the Lotto-Intermarche rider was caught immediately before the flamme rouge after a long solo resistance.
Sprint teams control quiet opening
Several riders attempted to escape after the start in Perigueux, but Kasper Asgreen was repeatedly marked by Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal - Quick-Step. Baptiste Veistroffer was also brought back before his Lotto-Intermarche teammate Slock attacked and was joined by Thibault Guernalec and Jakub Otruba.
Once the trio had moved clear, Dylan van Baarle and Silvan Dillier controlled the peloton for Quick-Step and Alpecin-Premier Tech. Their advantage remained around two minutes during an opening 100 kilometres which passed without significant incident despite temperatures climbing above 30°C.
Slock took the solitary point on the Cote de Domme before Otruba outmanoeuvred him at the intermediate sprint in Saint-Cyprien. Behind, Jasper Philipsen accelerated past Max Kanter and Mads Pedersen to lead the peloton through.
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Slock carries fight deep into finale
The break began to fracture on the Cote du Buisson-de-Cadouin, a 2.2-kilometre climb averaging 5.3%. Otruba attacked first, but Slock waited before closing the gap and passing the Czech rider approximately 300 metres from the summit.
Asgreen attempted another move from the peloton on the climb, only to be closely followed by Mathieu van der Poel and several riders protecting their teams’ sprint ambitions. The acceleration was quickly neutralised.
Slock continued alone after the summit and still held approximately 90 seconds with 30 kilometres remaining. NSN Cycling Team and Decathlon CMA CGM Team added riders to the pursuit for Girmay and Kooij, but the Belgian retained more than a minute entering the final 10 kilometres.
The rising road finally began to erode his advantage. It fell from 40 seconds at seven kilometres to just 15 seconds with three kilometres remaining, where Slock accelerated once more after a right-angled corner.
His effort ended shortly before the flamme rouge. Slock moved aside completely spent as the sprint trains swept past and began fighting for position through the technical approach to the line.
Merlier overhauls rivals in Bergerac
Kanter was guided into the final 2.5 kilometres by three XDS Astana teammates, while Philipsen moved up behind Van der Poel approaching the last corner.
Van der Poel launched the sprint with approximately 700 metres remaining and Philipsen positioned directly on his wheel. Merlier had further ground to recover, but surged through to claim his second win in as many days following his Stage 7 success in Bordeaux.
Girmay crossed the line second, with Kooij completing the podium. Philipsen finished fourth ahead of Pavel Bittner, Rick Pluimers, Pascal Ackermann, Clement Russo and Kanter.
Carlos Silva is a writer for CiclismoAtual.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he contributes race reports, interviews, analysis pieces, and live coverage of the international cycling calendar. Holding a degree in Sports from the Jean Piaget Institute, he combines academic knowledge of performance, training, and competition with hands-on journalism experience in professional cycling.
Throughout his career, Carlos has conducted interviews with leading figures in the sport, including Alberto Contador, Joaquim Rodríguez, Óscar Pereiro, João Almeida, Isaac del Toro, Derek Gee, John Degenkolb and Geraint Thomas. These conversations reflect direct engagement with Grand Tour winners, Classics specialists, and emerging talents.
He has provided on-site coverage at major events ranging from the Vuelta a España to the Tour de France, alongside stage races such as Vuelta a Andalucía, Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Portugal and O Gran Camiño. Covering the mythical climbs of the Giro d'Italia remains one of his professional ambitions.
Carlos is responsible for liveblog coverage of all major WorldTour races and beyond, including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. His reporting integrates verified data from ProCyclingStats to ensure statistical accuracy, contextual depth, and analytical precision.
A lifelong cycling enthusiast, he approaches storytelling across written, photographic, and video formats with a focus on credibility, tactical insight, and informed race interpretation.
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- Slashed by 30km? More like timidly trimmed. The riders will still be out there during the hottest hours, from 2 to 5 pm.Hills3311-07-2026
- Perfectly put. Most of the criticism of sprint stages comes from people who find the GC the only interesting thing. Then any stage without GC action, like stage 4, is boring. It's a testament to Pogačar's greatness that he makes mountain stages much more boring than sprints. But then, Froome did that too. And Vingegaard does too. And Contador. And Merckx...
Rafionain-Glas11-07-2026 - lance armstrong calling out someone’s behavior - crazy. there is no bigger poor sport bad teammate in the history of the sport.mij11-07-2026
- I find it boring to watch guys sitting in for 100K just to sprint the last 200 meters, lol. To each his own
ScottG11-07-2026 - Yeah, kind of disappointed me a bit more there. I respect that there are situations where someone in his position would strike a balance that lands the wrong side of history but we now live in a time where each of us has to make changes to our situation to avoid having to make bad choices. And as an example to so many others you have a bit more responsibility in the choices you make. That said, anyone seriously concerned about the future of our world would probably never have chosen to try to become a pro rider unless wanting to militate for change so he is probably not the best person to expect more from. Hopefully at some point he’ll realise the error and find solutions and better sponsors, can’t imagine he can’t be more picky.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- MTB making headlines during the TdF, haha. even boring articles about MVDP’s expected lack of results at the TdF will get more clicks. For MVDP going to the TdF must feel like most of us feel having to spend Christmas at the in-laws.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- Welcome to CUTD :-)Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I did that just through cringing at the text :-) And then there are the contradictions like trying to make you think the shallow rise explained the growing gap when elsewhere it’s the descent.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I doubt the official narrative is just one thing and there have been plenty of improvements elsewhere, or else why is equipment nowhere like it was back in the days? Coming from another sport, many of us were always quite surprised at how underdeveloped cycling used to be, including in training but recently that seems to have been realised and reversed which accounts for the relatively big improvement compared to more « advanced » sports. If you also follow amateur cycling you’ll see improvement has been across the board. If you’re interested in more than just pro racing you’d also see how the limits are being pushed out in many different directions like training, endurance and aerodynamics and that pros still have a lot of upward potential, hence the arrival of a Seixas after a Pogačar is not really that surprising.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
- I think if you do a proper survey you’ll discover differences between Different types of races Different periods of his career Growth from certain areas/reasons and reductions from others. Before any survey, you should decide why you want or need to know. For sure TdF crowds depend more on the kind of French participation there is than anything else. Despite its global screen reach, spectators are largely locals with a high number of visitors following along a series of stages. Pretty sure none of the Mou aren’t there though and considering his criticism of Trump, I’m not quite sure how they let him in, must have been a sleeper before Tadej’s activity woke him.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
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