Norwegian Soren Waerenskjold took second place with Eritrean Biniam Girmay third as reigning champion Tadej Pogacar held onto the race leader's yellow jersey.

In a relatively uneventful day in southwest France, where the temperatures reached a maximum of 38C in Bordeaux, Merlier timed his effort to perfection, reeling in compatriot Jasper Philipsen and Girmay to secure a clear victory.

Philipsen's Alpecin-Premier Tech team had seem to set up the 10-time Tour stage winner perfectly for his dash to the line but he simply did not have the straight line speed to hold off Merlier.

Philipsen was fifth behind German Max Kanter in fourth, while Dane Mads Pedersen retained his lead in the sprinters' green jersey points competition after finishing eighth.

It was another day with a breakaway doomed from the start, and few riders showing an interest in being a part of it.

Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer escaped from the chequered flag for the second time in three days.

But having ridden 144km alone on Wednesday, this time he had Czech Jakub Otruba for company.

The sprinters' teams were not prepared to take any risks and never let the duo get more than a minute and a half up the road.

They were caught with 18km left after 156km out in front -- meaning that Veistroffer had spent 300km in breakaways over the last three days.

Uno-X Mobility, whose rider Torstein Traeen had worn the yellow jersey for two days before a crash on Thursday forced him out of the race, repeatedly launched attacks to try to escape off the front of the peloton, but to no avail.

The stage was set for a sprinter's dash to the line.

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