This is how sprint rivals want to beat on-fire Merlier on stage 11 of the Tour de France: 'Hoping he is too far back'

Tim Merlier is making a big impression at this Tour de France, but his stage win in Bergerac on day eight really left everyone speechless. He managed to win at an incredible speed. Is the Belgian unbeatable, then? Ahead of stages 11 and 12 on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 July, IDL Pro Cycling asked Mike Teunissen of XDS Astana and Søren Waerenskjold of Uno-X for their thoughts.

The sprinters had to wait a long time for their first opportunity in this Tour de France. It wasn’t until day five that they were presented with a virtually flat stage, and that’s when Olav Kooij struck for Decathlon. On days seven and eight, there were two opportunities in a row, and both went to Merlier, who appeared to be in particularly dominant form. On the brutal stage 10,

Merlier had a hard day in the mid-mountains after the first rest day. Attacks from early breakaway hopefuls saw the sprinter dropped almost right away. Things went from bad to worse and UAE went to work, with Merlier's deficit growing and growing through the 166km stage. Merlier just finished within the time cut thanks to his Quick-Step team. But how much will this effort cost him on stage 11?

Another rider who excels in those sprints: Max Kanter. The German rider from Astana finished second on day five and came in fourth and ninth in stages seven and eight, respectively. In addition to his strong sprint, the German owed this success to the excellent work of his teammate Teunissen. The Dutchman set up his team leader perfectly in those bunch sprints.

Before the start of Stage 10, IDL Pro Cycling spoke with the friendly Teunissen, who immediately said he was feeling “pretty good.” But: “The problem is that most of the guys can take it easy on a flat stage. Then we still have to work hard. These are really nine days where you have to give it your all. It’s actually going pretty well,” repeated the 33-year-old veteran.

Still, Teunissen also noticed that it was Merlier who managed to win on two occasions. Can the Belgian be beaten, and if so, how? “We’ll have to hope he’s too far back,” Teunissen said. “Basically, he’s just the fastest. He almost always is, but a Tour sprint still has to be raced. We can’t take him too much into account, because basically, he’s just faster.”

So at Astana, they’re mainly focusing on their own plan. “And then we just try to set up Max as well as possible. That’s going well. Then we just have to hope the gap is as small as possible.” That’s already been evident a few times. “We’ve had three sprints so far, and we’ve come up with a plan for each one. Twice, we’ve executed it perfectly.”

In an incredibly strong field of sprinters—and that’s certainly the case in this Tour de France—that’s not enough for a stage win, though. “There are forty riders here trying to do that. We’re the ones who do it every time, so that’s nice. It really boosts morale,” said a nonetheless satisfied-looking Teunissen.

The Dutchman was therefore enthusiastic about his German teammate. “You can see that he’s putting in some good sprints. We’ve been working on this for months, so it’s great to see it pay off. Of course, it would be absolutely fantastic if that could lead to a stage victory,” the Dutchman concluded hopefully.

Søren Waerenskjold also came very close to a victory in a bunch sprint during this Tour de France. The Norwegian rider from Uno-X finished second behind Merlier in Bordeaux. So, Søren: can he be beaten? “I think that if anyone could beat him… I think Kooij has a lot of speed, too. He didn’t really show it in Stage 8, but I think Olav and Merlier are the fastest sprinters.”

In the Norwegian’s view, Merlier is just a bit faster. But as for winning himself? “I’ll need a bit of luck. Hopefully they’ll get boxed in at some point,” the 2025 Omloop winner admitted honestly. At Uno-X, they take the same approach to the sprints as Astana. “You just have to focus on your own sprint.”

Because, as Waerenskjold knew all too well: “You can’t follow his wheel, because it’s not easy to get past him then. "I think you just have to focus on your own sprint and then hope he makes a mistake," he said. So the Norwegian will just have to hope that luck is on his side at least once on Wednesday or Thursday.