Greig Leach

Clearly neither the crash not the chase back to the peloton didn't dampen the legs of Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step). For the second stage in a row, he showed a clean set of wheels to the rest of the peloton in the sprint finale. He took the time to look back and confirm that he had plenty of space before raising his arms in celebration. He got the better of Emilien Jeanniere (TotalEnergies) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). Pedersen finished fourth, but the guy in third was relegated for a dangerous sprint. With this second stage win Merlier increases his lead to a fourteen second advantage over the rest of the field. In two days, he as ten and a half minutes over the Lantern Rouge (the rider sitting last on the general classification).