Heart-break for Slock, thrilling victory for Merlier
Tim Merlier and Soudal Quickstep dominate Tour de France sprint into Bergerac
Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarche) won the Combativity Award on today’s stage 8 of the Tour de France. He certainly earned the damn thing.
He was combative almost right from the drop of the flag. A whopping 174 kilometers from the finish, he attacked along with Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
That’s a bold move from a long way out on the third hottest day in Tour history. It was 102 degrees out on the course. Baking on the road to Bergerac.
The peloton let them go and then settled into the immediate task at hand: avoiding heat stroke. The kilometers ticked by as the trio up front worked together. The gap never got much over two minutes because this was a sprint stage and sprinters hate to miss an opportunity.
Then things got a little spicy — and even more combative. With 40 kilometers to ride, Slock attacked on the category 4 Côte du Buisson-de-Cadouin. He used that four percent grade to drop Guernalec and Otruba.
Then he really got down to work. This was more than just a bid for camera time and team sponsor love. He began picking up speed, a man on a mission.
Once he hit the 20k to go banner, he still had a gap of 1:20 and showed no sign of slowing down.
It was time for the peloton to wake up but they were discovering Slock was not going to go down without a fight. Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal Quickstep had to burn some riders early to cut the deficit.
Ten kilometers from Bergerac and still the gap hovers at one minute. The stage is balanced on a knife edge. The catch is going to be tricky.
SLock takes two red water bottles from a neutral service moto and dumps the water over his head, then gulps the rest. He knows the bastards are coming fast now.
The pedals are still turning but he’s dying — the gap is 30 seconds at 5k, then 15 seconds at 3k.
Millions watching on their phones, laptops and TV’s try to will Slock to victory.
Sadly, at 1.4 kilometers, the peloton shoots past him without a glance. Alpecin cues up Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay of NSN Cycling and Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM shoot forward.
Then an absolute blast of wind.
From at least eight riders back, Tim Merlier simply rockets past everyone for his second win in two days. It was like watching Tadej Pogacar dominate on the Tourmalet.
As for the brave, heart-broken and frustrated Liam Slock? Well, congratulations, you just won the Combatively Award.