{"id":695445,"date":"2026-07-16T20:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695445\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:35:15","slug":"tim-merlier-surges-to-tour-de-france-2026-hat-trick-on-stage-12-but-crash-hits-sprinters-tour-de-france-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695445\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Merlier surges to Tour de France 2026 hat-trick on stage 12 but crash hits sprinters | Tour de France 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The likely final sprint stage of this year\u2019s Tour de France was won by Tim Merlier, of the Soudal Quick-Step team, who added victory on the banks of the Sa\u00f4ne to his wins in Bordeaux<\/a> and Bergerac<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In what has been a Tour of rare opportunity for both sprinters and breakaways, the final hour of racing was manic in its intensity and peppered with constant but futile attacks, until the riverside finish came into view.<\/p>\n

But the 2026 Tour\u2019s first sprint pile-up saw several riders come down, including stage 11 winner S\u00f8ren W\u00e6renskjold<\/a> and Netcompany Ineos\u2019 sprinter, Dorian Godon.<\/p>\n

With riders left lying across the road in his wake, Merlier emerged from the chaos and took victory comfortably from stage five winner<\/a>, Olav Kooij.<\/p>\n

Joined by his young son on the podium, Merlier has now established himself as the fastest sprinter in this year\u2019s race, eclipsing past multiple stage winner, Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech, who seems a shadow of his former self.<\/p>\n

As his family looked on, Merlier was jubilant. \u201cHe is still young,\u201d he said of his son, \u201cbut maybe he will remember it, and can watch it later. It\u2019s extra motivation to win for them. This one is a special one, because they were here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merlier said he had learned from past mistakes. \u201cYesterday, I was really focused on the guys who were on the move, and that was the reason I was boxed in. So today, I tried to stay in front of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found some space and I needed to calm down and then launch again.\u201d But he added: \u201cI knew it was the kind of finish that suits me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merlier, like other riders including Tadej Pogacar, experienced communication issues during the race. \u201cWe had radio problems,\u201d Merlier said. \u201cMy radio was broken, and I was busy because the other guys were all coming to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The urgency for the sprinters in this Tour has become all the greater, with today\u2019s stage expected to be their last opportunity for a win, and the final stage in Paris again based on a hilly circuit through Montmartre. For the rest of this Tour, they now expect to suffer through the climbs.<\/p>\n

They will certainly not be in the mix in Friday\u2019s stage, which includes the first category Ballon d\u2019Alsace \u2013 the first mountain pass to feature in the Tour in 1905 \u2013 just 30km from the finish in Belfort.<\/p>\n

Although the 9km climb offers a platform for another Pogacar attack, the champion described the stage to Belfort as \u201cweird\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Saturday and Sunday will be bigger days,\u201d he said, \u201cand tomorrow we need to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, the Ballon\u2019s steep climb is also likely to further rattle Jonas Vingegaard\u2019s cage, as the number of his potential podium-hunting usurpers seems to be growing by the day.<\/p>\n

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As many have noted, the fatigue of racing and winning May\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a> may soon catch up with the Dane. Remco Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas are all within a minute of the double Tour winner, and his customary second place position to the uncatchable Pogacar is now under serious threat.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard\u2019s defence of his podium position is further weakened by the illness that has stricken his key teammate, Matteo Jorgenson, who has been isolated from his team and is even travelling to and from the race starts and finishes in a separate vehicle.<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard (second from right) has several potential rivals for a podium spot. Photograph: Pool Luca Bettini\/Belga\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Of Vingegaard\u2019s three immediate rivals, it is 19-year-old Seixas who has\u00a0impressed the most on the Tour. The decline that was predicted\u00a0by some after the Tour\u2019s opening\u00a0weekend has not materialised and instead\u00a0the debutant is just 29 seconds behind third-placed Evenepoel\u00a0as the Tour nears the end of week two.<\/p>\n

His calm racing style and maturity have struck many of those around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s naturally self-confident,\u201d Seixas\u2019s friend, Cyprien Masson told the French media. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get big-headed. When things aren\u2019t going so well, he stays calm, thinks, and bounces back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe keeps perspective, knows what he wants, how he works best and has a vision for his career,\u201d his Decathlon CMA CGM teammate Aur\u00e9lien Paret-Peintre added. \u201cThe first time I really got to know him, I was taken aback, because he talked like a 25-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next three days both Vingegaard\u2019s resolve and that of his rivals will be tested to the extreme, with Saturday\u2019s stage through the Vosges to Le Markstein and Sunday\u2019s summit finish to the Plateau de Solaison. Pogacar, however, may have designs on them both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The likely final sprint stage of this year\u2019s Tour de France was won by Tim Merlier, of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-695445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}