Tim Merlier Wins Tour de France Stage Seven in Bunch Sprint Finish

Tim Merlier of Belgium won the seventh stage of the Tour de France on July 10, 2026, in a bunch sprint finish on the flat 175.1 km route from Hagetmau to Bordeaux. He completed the stage in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 20 seconds. Soren Waerenskjold of Norway finished second and Biniam Girmay of Eritrea placed third, both at the same time as Merlier.

Max Kanter, Jasper Philipsen, Phil Bauhaus, Huub Artz, Dorian Godon, Mads Pedersen and Tom van Asbroeck rounded out the top ten, also finishing together. Merlier, who rides for Soudal Quick-Step, said the finale was chaotic. "It was a mess to be in position, but I made it thanks to the team," he said.

"We were the only team with Alpecin who were riding to take the breakaway back, so I'm happy it's not another team who win. It's only my third Tour de France. " Merlier previously won Tour stages in 2021 and 2025.

Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, riding for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, kept the yellow jersey after the stage. His cumulative time stands at 24 hours, 56 minutes and 17 seconds. Jonas Vingegaard sits second in the general classification, 2 minutes 42 seconds behind Pogacar.

Isaac del Toro is third at 3 minutes 27 seconds back, followed by Remco Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso, Paul Seixas, Florian Lipowitz, Lenny Martinez, Mattias Skjelmose and Mathias Vacek. Norway's Torstein Traeen withdrew from the race on July 9 after a crash while wearing the yellow jersey. Stage eight on July 11 covers 180.4 km from Perigueux to Bergerac and is expected to finish in a sprint.