The Belgian picked up his fourth Grande Boucle stage victory with another trademark sprint after a top job from his teammates.
10-Jul-2026: Tim Merlier dashed to his eighth Grand Tour win on Friday in Bordeaux, one of the iconic sites of the Tour de France, for Soudal Quick-Step’s 56th success at the race. In doing so, our team extended an already impressive record which goes all the way back to 2013. Since then, The Wolfpack has won at least a stage in each Tour de France edition, this year being the 14th in a row that one of our riders stood on the top step of the podium – a performance unmatched by any other squad this century.
The seventh stage of Le Tour started from Hagetmau and took in 175.1 kilometers and just one small climb that the peloton had to tackle in the last hour of the day. Soudal Quick-Step worked the entire stage and stayed around Tim Merlier the whole time, nullifying the two-man breakaway and some late attacks before bringing him in a perfect position for the sprint.
Things became hectic again in the closing kilometers, just like two days ago, but after coming off the wheel of Jasper Stuyven, Tim used his experience and instinct to navigate through the field in the closing 400 meters and charge through at the right moment, powering to his 73rd pro victory in Bordeaux, where current Soudal Quick-Step sports director Tom Steels also won back in 1999.
“I’m delighted to get another victory at the Tour! When I launched my sprint, I didn’t know how far it was. It was a mess to be in position, but I made it, thanks to the team, it was great work from them. After all the hard work two days ago and today, it feels good to know I could repay the guys. With 600 meters to go, I got boxed in, but told myself I would fight until the finish, and that’s what I did, managing to find some space. I’m really happy with this victory”, said Tim – the first Belgian to win at this edition – after this success which put him in contention for the green jersey.
Stage 7
1 Tim MERLIER SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 03h 44′ 20” – B : 10” –
2 Søren WÆRENSKJOLD UNO-X MOBILITY 03h 44′ 20” – B : 6” –
3 Biniam GIRMAY NSN CYCLING TEAM 03h 44′ 20” – B : 4” –
GC
1 Tadej POGACAR UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG 24h 56′ 17” – B : 26” –
2 Jonas VINGEGAARD HANSEN TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 24h 58′ 59” + 00h 02′ 42” B : 12” –
3 Isaac DEL TORO ROMERO UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG 24h 59′ 44” + 00h 03′ 27” B : 14” –
