Merlier and fellow sprinters fear OTL, while van Aert criticizes extended time limit: "Really disappointing"

The slowest times were set by Luka Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step). The two-time stage winner struggled considerably along the way, he told Sporza afterwards. “Out of time? That's definitely a possibility,” he said, immediately very realistic. “I had a bad day. I have to wait and see. It was just bad, and I couldn't stick to my pacing plan.”

The fact that the Tour de France has been a crazy race so far, with high speeds every day, will not have been beneficial for the European champion. “This Tour has also been very tough,” confirmed the Belgian sprint sensation. “There's a bit of decompression. You start, you try, and you feel that it's not going to work. Then you have to pray in the bus.”

Mick van Dijke has little to fear. He finished 3 minutes faster than the slowest time. The Dutchman from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe always kept the time limit in mind. “We predicted what Pogacar would ride,” he told NOS. “Then you try to pace yourself a bit, but just before the start, I heard that the time limit is 40%. If I don't make it, they can send me home.”

It looks like that won't be a problem for Tim van Dijke's twin brother. “I'm not stressed,” he said after finishing. “Another day done.” What can we expect from Pogacar? The Dutchman couldn't give an exact time, but he did come up with an expectation. “Between 7.3 and 7.5 watts per kilo. In minutes? I don't know. Maybe around 22 minutes, maybe a little faster.”

Van Aert took it relatively easy in the climbing time trial. He didn't have to do anything and finished safely. How did he ride the climb? “I kept pedaling hard,” said the Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike. “The time limit is something you have to take into account; it's unbelievable how fast the guys at the front are riding.” Van Aert himself easily finished within the time limit. "I'd like to say something about that, actually."

“I find it really disappointing that it was set at 40% this morning. Nothing has changed in terms of conditions; it has remained the same for months. Suddenly, 10 minutes before the start, the time limit is extended. I hope I don't upset many sprinters with this, but something like this should be clear in advance, not just without reason.”

If the time limit had remained at 33%, it was almost certain that many would not have made it. “That could be, and I would also find that very unfortunate, but then they should have thought about it much earlier,” Van Aert concludes.

Pascal Eenkhoorn also thought it was a strange decision to change the time limit so late. 'Take Bini Girmay, for example, who is riding really well uphill in this Tour. If five or six sprinters finish outside the time limit, he obviously has a much better chance. The same goes for Wout. So in his case, I definitely understand. If you're going to decide that, do it before the Tour, not an hour before the start. I think a large part of the peloton agrees with that, but I'm happy for us as a team, of course.“

Tom Dumoulin responded to the Belgian's criticism. "I think it's a wise choice. I expect Pogacar to aim for 23 minutes. We initially thought 22 minutes, but I did the calculations: I won't go into too much detail, but that would be too fast. At least then all the sprinters are safe, and no one will be out of time."

If the old time limit had been used, there would definitely have been some riders who were too slow. "Then you would have had some sprinters out of the Tour, including Merlier." The former time trialist understands Van Aert's criticism. "In cycling, there are often last-minute decisions and no consensus. He wants it to be clear for the Tour."

So why did the Tour organization wait until the last minute to make a change? You know about these things in advance, don't you? “Sometimes you find out during a stage like the one to Hautacam, where Pogacar is suddenly so much faster than the rest,” Dumoulin explains. “Then someone realizes: ‘Oh my, if we continue like this tomorrow, we’re going to lose a few riders.’ We can’t have that in a stage like today’s.”