CHALON-SUR-SAONE, France, July 16 (Reuters) - Belgian Tim Merlier underlined his status as the Tour de France's dominant sprinter by winning Stage 12 on Thursday, his third victory of this year's race after a dramatic finale to the 179.1-km ride from Nevers to Chalon-sur-Saone.
The Soudal-Quick Step rider, who missed out on victory in Nevers on Wednesday, stayed clear of a major crash about 400 metres from the finish that brought down Colombian Fernando Gaviria and several other riders.
He surged through to beat Dutchman Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM and fellow Belgian Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech.
"I think my radio was broken and I didn’t know about the late attack before the climb with 20 riders," Merliersaid.
"Jasper Stuyven got a flat tire but we stayed calm and I was on a good day. Today I was really focused on the guys who were boxed in yesterday. I found some space and I launched. It was the kind of finish that suited me."
The victory added to Merlier's earlier stage wins in Bordeaux and Bergerac and was the 33-year-old's sixth career Tour de France stage triumph.
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG safely retained the yellow jersey, maintaining an overall lead of more than three-and-a-half minutes over two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard.
Earlier, Baptiste Veistroffer launched a solo breakaway after around 25km and was later joined by three riders, but the move was gradually reeled in by the peloton.
A subsequent attack by a group of 14 riders inside the final 35km also failed to gain decisive ground, with the bunch bringing them back with 24km remaining before the stage built towards an expected sprint finish.
GREEN JERSEY BATTLE TIGHTENS
There was no change at the top of the general classification, but the fight for the green jersey became even tighter after Stage 12.
Points leader Mads Pedersen strengthened his tally at the intermediate sprint, yet lost ground to his closest rivals at the finish as stage winner Tim Merlier and third-placed Jasper Philipsen continued to close the gap.
Pedersen leads the standings on 357 points, ahead of Biniam Girmay (317), Philipsen (311) and Merlier (307).
With four riders separated by 50 points and plenty of sprint opportunities still to come, the race for the points classification looks set to go down to the final stage in Paris scheduled to take place on July 26.
(Reporting by Vincent Daheron; Writing by Karan Prashant Saxena in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
