Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) proved he could manage without his trusty lead-out man Bert Van Lerberghe, winning stage 7 of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint in Bordeaux.
Merlier started from too far back in the previous sprint stage on Wednesday, but, despite being a man down due to Van Lergberghe’s abandon, he floated beautifully in the hectic final kilometres before producing a devastating acceleration for the line.