Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier outsprinted his fellow fastmen to win stage seven of the Tour de France in Bordeaux on Friday. The Belgian timed his sprint perfectly to beat Søren Wærenskjold and Biniam Girmay into second and third place respectively.The early stages of the day were dominated by a curious break, made up of breakaway addict Baptiste Veistroffer (also known as the the Wild Boar of Fouesnant) and Czech rider Jakub Otruba. The peloton was unwilling to give them a lead of more than 90 seconds so the pair just dangled out in front as the kilometres ticked down.Behind them the remaining points for the intermediate sprint were gathered by the green jersey hopefuls, with current holder Mads Pedersen taking third place a minute or so behind the duo in front.Veistroffer and Otruba were finally reeled in with 22km to go, setting up a nervous finale in Bordeaux, although safety fears over the road furniture in France’s seventh-largest city fortunately came to nothing in a perfectly-executed stage.Jacob Whitehead and Beren Cross break down the key moments from the stage.The inevitability of Tim MerlierAfter what felt like 170 kilometres of waiting for the inevitable conclusion in Bordeaux, it was Tim Merlier who kept his powder dry for the longest before clinching victory in the city’s famous street. The 33-year-old Belgian bided his time until the final 150 metres, when he found the crucial gap before hitting top speed to see it over the line.This was Merlier’s fourth Tour de France stage win and his eighth Grand Tour victory overall. Soudal–Quick-Step were able to celebrate after Jasper Stuyven successfully navigated Merlier through the myriad street furniture, narrowing roads and bunch for the win they were searching for. His team’s performance was particularly impressive given his main leadout man, Bert Van Lerberghe, abandoned the race during stage six due to injury.Merlier outpaced everyone on stage seven (JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG / AFP via Getty Images)It was another Belgian team, Alpecin–Premier Tech, who had dominated the final kilometre of the race. Mathieu van der Poel was the last man in their lead-out for Jasper Philipsen. The 2023 world champion was at the front of race as he peeled off with 250 metres to go, which, given the headwind, proved too early for Philipsen.The finish line proved too far away for Philipsen as he was swamped by Max Kanter, Biniam Girmay, Soren Warerenskjold and Merlier. Questions may be asked of Philipsen’s duel with Fernando Gaviria, however.