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“On paper, I see about six sprint opportunities… but we’ll see if they really are.” His biggest concern is in the last week, which he describes as “extremely hard,” remarking on a penultimate stage that he considers unnecessarily extreme. His analysis is clear: the design calls for minimizing the space for the fast men.<\/p>\n
The Belgian sees an obvious pattern: “They’re looking for fewer sprints and more spectacle,” he says. What surprises him is that the systematic hardening of the courses doesn’t benefit the big climbers either: “They are also exhausted in the final phase and need to recover. It doesn’t always have to be harder to be pretty.”<\/p>\n
Still, he knows his ability to influence is limited: “I’m not going to change the race,” he admits. To illustrate his frustration, he resorts to an image that has gone viral: “In boxing, lightweights never face heavyweights. In cycling, they do.”<\/p>\n
A metaphor that sums up what he feels when faced with courses that seem designed to exclude pure sprinters.<\/p>\n
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Tim Merlier fears the disappearance of sprints from the Tour de France and cycling<\/p>\n
A forbidden future for sprinters?<\/p>\n
Merlier fears that the current evolution of cycling will leave out profiles like his. He wonders if the day will come when only lightweight riders will have a real chance to shine in the big races, a drift he considers sad and impoverishing for the sport.<\/p>\n
He sees it also reflected in the World Champtionships routes. Since Peter Sagan won the title in 2017 in a reduced sprint, no sprinter has worn the rainbow again. “Every generation of sprinters should have at least one real chance. I’m afraid that chance will never come for me,” he admits.<\/p>\n