Tim Merlier conquered his second Tour de France stage victory in Dunkirk, after his 2021 win in Pontivy, ahead of Philipsen and Bouhanni.

"This is the first time I managed to sprint and it was an immediate bullseye. It was a difficult, very chaotic finale, but in the end I made it."

Last Saturday in Lille, the Belgian had experienced disappointment, falling behind and unable to participate in the sprint that awarded the first yellow jersey. Today, two days later in Dunkirk, he secured his second Grande Boucle stage win. "It was truly a tough fight at the end. It was difficult to maintain position because I lost Bert Van Lerberghe's wheel before the last turn. Our team did an excellent job until the last 5 kilometers, but after that it became challenging. In the last 2 kilometers, I had to recover a lot and it wasn't easy. I was always facing headwind which made me consume a lot of energy. At 500 meters from the finish line, I found the slipstream, but winning against a rider like Jonathan Milan is always difficult."

Merlier raised his hand immediately after the finish line, but the victory was decided by photo finish, as the difference with Milan was minimal. "At first, I was sure of the victory and celebrated immediately, but right after I was no longer certain I had won, so I had to wait for official confirmation. Then fortunately the news of my victory arrived and I was super happy."

After the disappointment in Lille during the first stage, Merlier is now finally happy, because opportunities for sprinters are few and it's never easy to be in the best positions to sprint. "I came to the Tour to win at least one stage. Of course, our initial goal was to win the first stage and take the yellow jersey, but it didn't go well, but I'm still happy to have won today."

The stage ending in Dunkirk was characterized by several crashes, and Jasper Philipsen, who was wearing the green jersey, was one of the riders forced to withdraw. "Today there was a lot of nervousness in the race and there were many crashes and I'm sorry for Jasper. But I can say I'm happy for myself because I managed to stay upright. It was complicated for me because I no longer had teammates and had to solve the situation alone. When you find yourself in such situations, you must know how to make the right decision and I knew how to do that."

Merlier is third in the green jersey classification behind Girmay and Milan, the current green jersey holder. There are just 18 points difference between the Belgian and the Italian, but Merlier looks at this classification secondarily, as he must help Remco Evenepoel in the general classification.

"For us in this Tour, stage victories and the general classification with Remco are important. Anything that comes in addition, like the green jersey, will be a nice gift for us."