Merlier alone and unlucky in Pau

The sprint in Pau, stage five of the 2026 Tour de France, was exactly what Tim Merlier and his Soudal-QuickStep team were eagerly awaiting. Finally, a finish line for pure sprinters, finally a chance for the Belgian rider who won two stages of the Grande Boucle in 2025 and who this year finds himself shouldering the full weight of the team's ambitions, following the departure of Remco Evenepoel.

The team had worked flawlessly in the opening hours of the race: intelligently conserving energy during the toughest stages, and then carefully managing the breakaway in the decisive stages. The leaders had been caught in an orderly fashion, and everything seemed set for a textbook finale. Then, however, cycling unleashed its usual dose of cruelty.

About five kilometers from the finish, a crash engulfed Jasper Stuyven and Bert Van Lerberghe , two of the key men in the Merlier train. "Bert was pushed sideways, bounced off the barriers, and from there it was inevitable: I ended up on the ground," Stuyven said. "It was total chaos."

With his two teammates on the asphalt, Merlier found himself alone under the Flamme Rouge, forced to jostle for a position within the compact group. It was no easy task for a sprinter who should have been launched at full speed by his teammates. "After losing Bert and Jasper, I was alone and had to find a way to position myself and still fight for a good result. I thought I'd found an opening, but I was immediately forced to go around it, and that was the end of the game," Merlier explained in the team statement.

Yet, even in those less-than-ideal conditions, when the Belgian found space to launch his sprint, the result was remarkable: third place behind Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Max Kanter (XDS Astana), with a progression that made it clear to everyone that he's got the energy. For fantasy cycling, it's a clear sign : Merlier is in top form, his top speed is top-notch, all that was missing was a favorable environment.

The peloton will now face Thursday's mountain day, but their eyes are already on the next opportunities: Friday's stage to Bordeaux and then Saturday's to Bergerac could offer two more of the very rare sprint finishes of this 2026 Tour de France . For those who have him on their fantasy cycling team, Merlier remains a solid bet : the talent is there, the team is working well, and bad luck can't last forever. "I hope that in the next stages, luck will be on our side," said the Belgian rider. We're counting on it.