Tim MERLIER. 10 with honors. Give me five, even though the Belgian takes his fifth Tour victory with sheer force exactly like yesterday. And like yesterday he appears from nowhere. Magician Merlier starts from sixth position and masterfully overtakes everyone. He's a cat, a hawk, a dragon—whatever you want to call it: one thing is certain, he devours them all in one bite. Majestic like few others, surgical like no one else. He does it all by himself, because nowadays the trend for teams is this: sprinters are no longer a priority, but an optional extra. He's a Magician, even though he doesn't have a magic wand and a "train" at his disposal, but he has two legs like that.

Biniam GIRMAY. 8. A 6th, a 3rd, and a 2nd place. Three sprints, three top-ten finishes, two in the top three. The Eritrean is there, but he's just missing a little something. That little something that often makes the difference.

Olav KOOIJ. 6.5. The flying Dutchman takes flight again. After his victory in Pau, today he tries to get his nose in front of everyone, but a couple of riders force him to come up just short.

Jasper PHILIPSEN. 4. Once again Mathieu Van der Poel (9) sets the table for him as perfectly as possible. He leaves him at 150 meters: he just needs to hit the gas. It's likely he was already at full throttle. He crumples in on himself and sadly gets sucked back like a breadcrumb by a vacuum cleaner.

Pavel BITTNER. 6. The 23-year-old Czech from Picnic tries to find an opening. He doesn't find one, but it's good that he at least tried.

Rick PLUIMERS. 6. The 25-year-old Dutchman from Tudor is a man with bursts of speed; today he shows them, but he clearly needs to improve.

Pascal ACKERMAN. 6. For the 32-year-old Jayco AlUla rider, it's his first top-ten finish after two 12th places. It's not much, but it's something.

Max KANTER. 6. Today he probably got shut down; the 28-year-old German from XDS Astana has the misfortune of taking the sprint a bit too far back, but in any case he grabs his third top-ten finish. He's always there.

Fernando GAVIRIA. 5. Who saw him?

Dorian GODON. 5. It's likely he didn't even try to contest the sprint. That's what I hope.

Mads PEDERSEN. 5.5. Today he fails to finish in the top ten, but the good news is he stays in green. But Girmay and Merlier are on his heels. The Dane has 225 points, Merlier 213, Girmay 203. What a battle!

Liam SLOCK. 7. The 25-year-old Belgian from Lotto Intermarchè enters the day's breakaway and with Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies) and Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) they make a day of it. On the roads of Cirano toward Bergerac, the three write a love story whose ending is already known: it won't be sweet. Indeed, they get caught in the final kilometer. But credit goes to them for trying, with conviction and passion. For the 25-year-old Belgian who made headlines for his first professional victory in Switzerland, there remains that clumsy and spectacular slip from a loss of balance while raising his arms to the sky: worthy of a blooper reel. But also worthy of the highlight reel.