'We didn't dream about it, it was too big for us' – Tim Merlier eyes first Tour de France yellow jersey with childhood friend as lead-out

Trust is often vital in a sprint lead-out, and few of the fastmen lining up at the 2025 Tour de France will have a better connection with their right-hand man than Soudal-QuickStep's Tim Merlier and Bert Van Lerberghe do.

Both born in Kortrijk and close friends from school for more than 20 years, the pair of 32-year-olds are among the favourites to claim the first yellow jersey on Saturday's flat opener in Lille, but it wasn't a future they ever expected to be living.

Starting out their cycling journeys at different times, lead-out man Van Lerberghe admits that even just racing the Tour was something that felt too big to even talk about, back when cycling just meant riding twice a week and the occasional after-school BMX session.

"We were in the same class when we were 11, 12 years old, so more than 20 years ago already and directly we had a really good relationship. We were best friends, and we both rode bikes," Van Lerberghe told Cyclingnews three days before the Grand Départ.

"We were actually never thinking about becoming pro. It's really strange – we loved riding the bike, but we never said 'Ah let's go pro'. It was a hobby for us, and we were quite good at it.

"We were not best in Belgium or Europe because we just rode the bike, we didn't do what everyone is doing now – we rode two times a week and raced a bit and then 'shit, we became pro'. And now we have to do everyday the bike.

"It would have been a dream if we dreamed about it, but we didn't dream about it because it was too big for us. We never thought about it."

Merlier is racing only his second Tour, having claimed a stage win on debut in 2021 before swapping sprint duties with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and eventually DNF'ing. Van Lerberghe is on debut, however, and believes the pair's trust will play an essential to their sprint success.

"We can, ever after a bad sprint, pick up our thoughts directly for the next one. We can swap quite fast, also because we can say almost anything to each other without breaking each other's balls," he said, speaking after the team's press conference near Kruisem.

"We try to make it as fun as possible because – not that we are laughing – but we are not doing 100% everything always for the sport. You can also make it nice, and we try to do that."

Merlier's main rivals on the opening day are expected to be Philipsen and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), and all will be highly motivated with that career-goal of the maillot jaune on offer, but the "main objective is to win a stage here", not specifically just the first one.

"The first day is already a really important day for the sprinters as we can take the yellow jersey, but it's only one guy who can do that," said Merlier. "If it's not on day one, then we focus on another stage."

Merlier has won the most races out of the three sprint favourites so far in 2025, with 10, several coming in front of one of his two key rivals, so he has form on his side. But Van Lerberghe getting the piloting job correct en route to Lille will play just as important a role. The trust is certainly there, but will the legs be?

Van Lerberghe has worked for top sprinters such as Mark Cavendish and Fabio Jakobsen, and credits his discussions with former teammate Michael Mørkøv in establishing the instincts he carries into the varying sprint situations.

But now, he'll be leading out his best mate, almost solo, with the rest of Soudal-QuickStep focused on GC leader Remco Evenepoel, and at cycling's biggest race. Yellow on day one would be the ultimate dream, so big that they never even dreamed of it.

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