Merlier wins third stage of Tour de France, German sprint drought continues

Tim Merlier celebrates his third stage win at the Tour de France. Source: Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP/dpa

Tim Merlier sprinted to his third stage victory at the Tour de France, once again proving he has the fastest legs in the peloton. The win, however, had no impact on the overall standings.

German sprint aces continue to play only a supporting role at this year's Tour, as Merlier raced to a hat-trick. The Belgian secured his third daily victory in what was possibly the last mass finish in Chalon-sur-Saône, establishing himself as the sprint king of the 113th Tour de France.

Merlier won the 12th stage — 179.1 kilometers from the Magny-Cours race track to Chalon-sur-Saône — ahead of Dutchman Olav Kooij and his Belgian compatriot Jasper Philipsen.

The best German finisher was Max Kanter, who sprinted to seventh place. The days when Marcel Kittel and André Greipel racked up sprint wins at the Tour are gradually fading into memory. The last German daily victory came 1,834 days ago, when Nils Politt celebrated in Nîmes in 2021.

Just behind Kanter, a heavy mass crash occurred. "The crash was two, three positions behind me. We were maybe a tick too early, but better too early than too late. It was actually okay. I lose a lot of positions, the way was too long for me," Kanter said on ARD.

Pogacar Still in Yellow

In the overall standings, everything remained unchanged. Slovenian favorite Tadej Pogacar continues to hold a comfortable lead of over three minutes over Dane Jonas Vingegaard. German hope Florian Lipowitz sits 4:44 minutes back in sixth place.

Merlier has now triumphed for the tenth time across the three Grand Tours, despite this being only his sixth start in the Tour, Giro, or Vuelta. In 2024, he also won the European Championship, beating his famous compatriot Philipsen.

Tadej Pogacar continues in Yellow. Source: AP Photo/Thibault Camus

"He is the fastest in the world," raved lead-out man Jasper Stuyven about Merlier, who is married to Cameron Vandenbroucke, the daughter of Belgian cycling star Frank Vandenbroucke, who died in 2009.

Last year, the 33-year-old was still riding as a lone fighter, as the Soudal-Quick-Step team was tailored to double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel. But Merlier knows how to help himself — with or without a sprint train. "He is ice-cold and never panics," praised his sports director Tom Steels.

With an average speed of 50.91 km/h, the peloton set a record on Wednesday — excluding prologues or time trials. A day later, it wasn't quite as fast, partly due to intermittent rain.

Start at the Magny-Cours Race Track

About 25 kilometers after the start at the Magny-Cours race track — where Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher once triumphed eight times — a four-man breakaway group formed, including constant escapee Baptiste Veistroffer. The group was caught 35 kilometers from the finish. Afterwards, other riders attempted to break away — without success.

Florian Lipowitz even had time for jokes along the way. The 25-year-old from the German Red Bull team aimed a water bottle at a target board set up on the roadside, missed, and commented laconically on TV: "That's the reason I quit biathlon." Lipowitz began his sports career as a biathlete and was also part of the national squad.