After four days of suffering in silence, the sprinters finally get a shot at victory at the 2026 Tour de France on stage 5 to Pau, with Tim Merlier's Soudal-QuickStep team ready to chase down any attacks despite forecasts of another hot day in the saddle.
As Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) targeted the stage victory in Foix, Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) joined the Dane in the break to fight for the intermediate sprints points. Merlier, on the other hand, stayed hidden in the peloton, tried to stay cool and finished in the gruppetto.
It will be fascinating to see how Merlier and the other sprinters have handled the heat and the early hilly stages of the 2026 Tour de France.
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Will the fatigue of the opening stages still be in their legs? Have they suffered in the heat? The first Tour sprint of 2026 in Pau's huge Place de Verdun square, will reveal many things and offer the first sprinting bragging rights.
Girmay is hoping that his rivals have felt the toll of the challenging opening days, while his climbing ability may have helped him suffer less and so recover better. In contrast Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) has already abandoned due to illness and fatigue, Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) struggled to finish inside the time limit on stage 3, while Kelland O'Brien (Jayco-AlUla) finished outside the time limit on stage 4 after a crash on stage 2.
Other big-name sprinters to watch for include Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), Max Kanter (XDS-Astana), Dorian Godon (Netcompany Ineos), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL).
Merlier won two stages in the 2025 Tour de France and his sports director Tom Steels expects more from him this year, starting on Wednesday.
"If you have a sprinter, you have to take every opportunity you get and there are a few in this Tour. We have Pau, then after the mountain stage, we have two further opportunities," Steels told Cyclingnews and Rouleur.
"Tim is feeling pretty good because he handles the climbs pretty well. Like everybody else in the peloton he is suffering in the heat but he's OK.
"I think a few teams should be eager to go for the bunch sprint but the heat is taking its toll. Luckily we race for three weeks against the same people, everybody's getting tired."
Merlier's status as one of the best sprinters in the world will put the onus on Soudal-QuickStep to lead the pursuit of any attacks and breakaways.
"You can't take risks with breakaways at the Tour. We can't think we can give them two minutes and then we're going to catch them back, because that's usually not easy," Steels warned.
"I think the other teams will look a lot at us and we accept our responsibility. Fortunately, in the Tour, you're usually not alone. There are not many, but there are some teams that are looking forward to a bunch sprint.
"Alpecin-Premier Tech will probably be our main competitor and our main help in controlling the attacks. Decathlon will not be keen to ride early but once we get into the final, I think they will ride for Olav Kooij. I think we can look forward to a nice bunch sprint in Pau."
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