Tim Merlier powers to stage seven sprint victory – Tour de France

Tour de France 2026

Stage 7

Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) proved he could manage without his trusty lead-out man Bert Van Lerberghe, winning stage 7 of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint in Bordeaux.

Merlier started from too far back in the previous sprint stage on Wednesday, but, despite being a man down due to Van Lergberghe’s abandon, he floated beautifully in the hectic final kilometres before producing a devastating acceleration for the line.

Alpecin-Premier Tech dominated the lead-out, with an old-fashioned train of five riders peeling off in turn from 2.5km out, but Jasper Philipsen, launched by Mathieu van der Poel, couldn’t finish it off, fading to fifth in the headwind.

Second place went to Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), who jumped earlier but was passed decisively by Merlier on the left-hand side of the road. Third place went to Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), while stage 5 winner Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) was out of position and out of the picture.

“Perfectly? I don’t know. It was a mess to get in position but I made it thanks to the team,” said Merlier, who was popped into the thick of it by Jasper Stuyven.

“For a long time I was following Jasper but I lost him, then I saw I was in the casino, then got a bit more space and some time to give the legs a bit of air, then in the last 600 metres it was boxing again. I thought to myself ‘are we going to fight to the finish?’ I’m happy I could take it.”

The win marks Merlier’s fourth in the Tour de France in three appearances, following his double last year and his debut win back in 2021.

“In every participation I take a win, so I can be proud.”

There was no change to the top end of the general classification on a quiet day for the yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with another potential sprint stage on the menu on Saturday.

The second flat stage at the 2026 Tour de France unfolded in similar fashion to the first, two days ago. Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal-QuickStep controlled the peloton as Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) headed up the road. The only difference was that the Frenchman had company this time, albeit just one companion in the form of Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural).

Again, the breakaway went immediately from kilometer-zero, with absolutely no struggle to get up the road and precious little interest.
And once again the breakaway, though unthreatening, was kept on a very short leash, their advantage never growing out beyond the two-minute mark.

There were, however, some flurries of action.

Firstly, and surprisingly, after 60 or so kilometres Uno-X decided to attack, looking to launch Jonas Abrahamsen up the road. A few went with him, but Alpecin and QuickStep were quick to snuff it out and it soon came back together.

The flurry of action saw the breakaway’s lead halved to 45 seconds but it soon went back out again as the bunch relaxed.

The next simmering point would come at the intermediate sprint in Landiras with 120km ridden and 55km to go. After Veistroffer led Otruba over the line in the break, there was a battle for green jersey hopefuls from the peloton behind, with the wearer of that jersey, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) coming out on top. Once again XDS Astana produced a big lead-out for Max Kanter, who was third, behind Grimay and ahead of Philipsen and Merlier.

Once again, the injection of pace brought the break’s lead down to 30 seconds before it went back out once more. Just over 10km down the road came the day’s only climb, the category 4 Côte de Beguey, where Veistroffer beat Otruba to the sole mountains classification point.

The next injection of pace came with 22km to go and once again from Uno-X, who again tried to fire Abrahamsen up the road. Despite being launched by Anders Skaarseth, the Norwegian was quickly brought to heel by Alpecin and QuickStep.

Soon after, it was game over for the breakaway duo. Veistroffer tried to attack his companion but there was no separation and, after offering a conciliatory fist bump, the two of them were swallowed back into the peloton with 18km to go.

Despite one final Abrahamsen acceleration with just over 10km to go, the race wound itself up for the bunch sprint, with the sprint trains getting organized despite a few narrow roads.

Ineos bumped shoulders with Cofidis to take pole position through a series of bends at the 5km to mark, which stretched out the peloton. Those two teams held the front until around 2km to go, where Alpecin moved up with one clean line of five riders.

They peeled off one-by-one, laying out the carpet for Philipsen, but Van der Poel perhaps dropped him off too early, with 250 metres to go. As Philipsen brushed shoulders with Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural), Merlier found space on the left and darted out with 200 metres to go, surging to the front and brushing off his shoulders as he crossed the line.

At 180.4 kilometres, tomorrow’s stage 8 of the Tour de France takes the riders from Périgueux to Bergerac. There are hardly any obstacles along the way, giving sprinters who missed out on victory in the previous stage a chance to make amends.

Périgueux boasts a rich history. Long before the Romans arrived, a fortified settlement stood on the site, and later the Vikings made their mark, plundering the town three times. Today, the Saint-Front Cathedral dominates the town on the Isle River.

Jacques Anquetil once dominated here too. In 1961, he won an individual time trial in the streets of Périgueux by nearly 3 minutes over Charly Gaul. While that time trial started in Bergerac, the roles were reversed in 1994. From Périgueux, Miguel Indurain raced 64 kilometres to Bergerac, taking a 2-minute advantage over Tony Rominger.

This year, the start and finish towns are the same as in 1994, but the route is completely different. The riders take a long detour towards Bergerac, following the Vézère River for a stretch before heading into the Dordogne valley, eventually reaching Bergerac.

It is the fourth time a Tour stage finishes in the streets of Bergerac. Alongside Miguel Indurain, Ramunas Navardauskas and Marcel Kittel have also triumphed here. The German sprinter took victory in 2017 ahead of fellow countryman John Degenkolb and Dylan Groenewegen.

Given the flat nature of the course, another bunch sprint is next to certain.

Stage 7 result:

1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:44:20
2. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
3. Biniam Girmay (Eri) NSN Cycling
4. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana
5. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
6. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
7. Huub Artz (Ned) Lotto Intermarché
8. Dorian Godon (Fra) Netcompany Ineos
9. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
10. Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) NSN Cycling, all at same time

General Classification: 

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 24:56:17
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:42
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3:27
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +3:30
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +3:34
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:55
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:00
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:21
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+4:57
10. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, +7:10