Tour reporter
Belgian Tim Merlier went all out to win the second stage of this year’s Tour de France. With his success in Bergerac he shows that he is currently the best sprinter in the field.
Tim Merlier just wanted to get out of the sun. He had just reached the finish line of Stage 8 of the Tour de France in 39-degree temperatures when he spun almost 400 meters behind the finish line. The sliding door opened and Merlier rode his bicycle into the air-conditioned event center. Bergerac.
The Belgian handed his working tool to someone, poured cold water and lay down on the stairs. He stayed there for a few minutes before groaning and getting up to go to the awards ceremony. The conditions clearly gave him trouble. “To be honest, I don’t know how I had the strength to run so far from the finish line,” Merlier said later.
Third place once, stage winner twice
In the last turn, 500 meters before the finish, he got stuck and almost fell. “Then I thought it was all over.” But then he found a way to rush past everyone else with a powerful sprint. After his second straight stage win, Merlier was asked if he was now the Tour’s sprint leader? “There was no such feeling. I had to fight for my position all the time,” Merlier said.
However, the question was not unreasonable. Because every year the tour quickly finds its best sprinter. And after three mass arrivals, the issue regarding the 113th issue has now become clearer. After a bad sprint on stage 5 in Pau, where his sprint train stopped due to a fall and where he still finished third, he is in Bordeaux and now they have won one victory each in Bergerac.
At the peak of creative power
The Belgian is now 33 years old. However, this is only his third tour this year. For a long time his teams favored other sprinters, but Merlier now has five Tour stage wins. He seems to be at the peak of his creative potential as a sprinter. Even if he didn’t want to base it on his Bergerac win. “Given the conditions, it wasn’t my best sprint,” Merlier said. “But it may have been due to the heat.”
In France, Merlier has to make do without his sprinter and childhood friend Bert Van Lerberg. They trust each other blindly, but Van Lerberg crashed on stage 6 and was forced to finish the race. The experienced Jasper Stuyven now took over the role of Merlier’s driver. “It was only the third Conclusion from Jasper. And today I felt like I was playing PlayStation,” Merlier said.
The green jersey remains a dream
Sprinters tend to get caught out during the tour. Flowif they manage to win the stage. This is exactly what happened to Jasper Philipsen in 2023, when the Belgian followed up his first day’s success with three more wins and took home the green jersey. Philipsen has been out of form this year. At Bergerac, despite Mathieu van der Poel’s almost perfect lead, he failed to reach top speed in the sprint. “I have no legs,” Philipsen complained after the sprints in Pau and Bordeaux. “That’s something we need to look at.”
Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay, runner-up in Bergerac, also experienced a tour where everything came together. In 2024, he took three stage wins and became the first African to win the green jersey.
For Merlier, the top scorer’s jersey now also appears to be within reach. Moreover, this year you need 70 points for a victory on a level stage. With two sprint victories, Merlier now moves 15 points clear of Mads Pedersen, who currently still holds the lead. Green Jersey is.
“It would be a dream to wear the green jersey, just for one day,” Merlier said in Bergerac. “But to win, I will have to get better at climbing mountains. I may have to change my preparation for this.” Or simply win the two remaining sprint stages in the second week of the tour. As the Tour’s top sprinter this year, he could do it.