Tim Merlier won the sprint, but his son Jules won the hearts of the whole Tour de France after stage 12

Tim Merlier claimed his third victory of the 2026 Tour de France on Thursday. The Belgian rider from Soudal Quick-Step held his ground in the chaotic final stretch and then finished with a commanding performance. He beat his two main rivals, Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), which left him feeling satisfied.

Merlier’s partner, Cameron Vandenbroucke, daughter of the late cyclist Frank, and their young son Jules were in attendance, with Jules also making an appearance, dressed head to toe in Soudal Quick-Step gear, during the flash interview.

"That definitely gave me some extra motivation. He's still very young, but hopefully he'll remember this later on. And if not, we can always show him the footage," laughs the down-to-earth Belgian. “That really gives you that extra motivation to win for them. And yes, this one is very special because they were here today. It’s not easy to win on the very day they’re here, so I’m incredibly happy about this.”

There were some aggressive attacks in the final quarter of the race, but Merlier was also preoccupied with other things. “Well, we had some communication problems. I think my radio was broken, so I was busy trying to fix it the whole time. The other riders were all coming toward me... and without even realizing it, I was so preoccupied with the radio that, in the meantime, a group of about 27 riders had launched an attack. So I had no idea what was going on.”

"But then we hit a small climb, and I saw that only a small group was left. Fortunately, I didn’t have to push as hard as I had in recent days. I managed to pass the others, and once I was in a good position for the final climb, that gave me extra motivation,” continued the Belgian rider from Soudal Quick-Step.

"And then Jasper Stuyven also had a flat tire. The rest of us probably didn’t see it, and I didn’t know about it at first because of the radio. But… I think he wasn’t so sure himself whether he’d make it to the finish. I told him, ‘Stay calm, the tire’s patched.’ And yes, I think our communication with each other was simply a lot better today. I told him to stay calm, and he did. And I think he knew by then that I was having a good day,” said Merlier.