CyclingUpToDate Podcast: "The best sprint of the year" - Tim Merlier's sprint wins; Mathieu van der Poel's return and the spectrum of tactics at the Tour de France
Cycling
The first week of the Tour de France is over, and on episode 4 of the CyclingUpToDate Podcast, Rúben Silva and Gavin Quinn have taken a look at the race's sprint stages, the outlook of the points classification and Mathieu van der Poel's victory on stage 9.
On stage 5 the riders had their first bunch sprint, and Olav Kooij was the surprise winner on his very first bunch sprint at the Tour de France.
"Maybe there were some small doubts on his fitness. I'm just delighted that Olav Kooij is here and immediately he pays dividends for the team," Gavin Quinn said. "It's already a success in his book. He's a Tour de France stage winner, you can't really take that away from any sprinter".
On stage 7, the peloton rode into Bordeaux and Tim Merlier took the honours. 24 hours later, the Soudal - Quick-Step had his second win in as many days, but with a sprint that was far different and impressed many in Bergerac.
"The victory of Tim Merlier, maybe one of the best, maybe the best sprint of the year," Rúben Silva argued. "Man, it's hard to compare it with any other. It is a sprint where he came from 10th or 11th position, closed a small gap, Mathieu van der Poel in the front drilling it for Jasper Pillipsen and Merlier launches the sprint... Just goes straight like a bullet".
This saw the points classification be threatened for Mads Pedersen, as the Belgian showed incredible speed, and showed that he will be hard to beat in the coming sprints at the Tour. With Jasper Philipsen struggling to match his rivals in France, the debate for best sprinter in the world - of which a few are missing from the Tour - seems to be settled for now.
Quinn puts it bluntly, it is Tim Merlier. "Definitely as a pure sprinter, yeah. If you're a team manager, you know that Jasper brings an awful lot more as well in terms of classics and climbing to it, but that sprint is a little blunted with all those classic exploits every spring".
Mathieu van der Poel takes his Tour de France win
Alpecin - Premier Tech faced a very difficult situation following two perfect leadouts but the lack of wins after eight days of racing. But in Ussel, Mathieu van der Poel took the stage win and bounced back in style.
"UAE doing a bit of groundwork for INEOS and then Lidl-Trek to chase, but weird stage," Gavin Quinn believes. "If I'm Mathieu van der Poel, I'm Tobias Johannesson or Tom Pidcock, I'm getting pretty pissed off with UAE behind, right?"
"if I'm Mathieu van der Poel, I'm saying, why are you chasing me? [...] Tadej Pogacar is not going to win that stage if it comes down to a sprint, or if he doesn't have enough terrain to really get that breakaway or get out of the peloton."
The Emirati team put on a lot of chase to the breakaway, despite not having a seeming candidate to win the stage or a GC threat up front. Tadej Pogacar might have wanted another stage win, but the finale was not fitting and the work saw no payback in the end.
"No matter how good people say Pogacar is, I don't think he could have done it on Sunday. Maybe better suited for Isaac del Toro, but it's a very slim margin to really invest that kind of energy nine days into a scorching Grand Tour".
As for the former Paris-Roubaix winner, the victory was race-changing. "Mathieu Van Der Poel, some say he hates the Tour. I'm not putting words in his mouth, but he definitely has a complicated relationship with the Tour. It doesn't always offer him what he wants, and he doesn't like riding for what he doesn't want".
"He doesn't want to be riding 21 stages, of which 19 of them aren't for him. When he finally gets one that is for him, he goes full out. He would either finish first today or last as the last rider on the road. He just goes all in and he reminds us, I guess, why he's one of the best in the world".
Mathieu van der Poel won stage 9 of the Tour de France
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The stages were also marked by the breakaways of Baptiste Veistroffer and Liam Slock on stages 7 and 8, which threatened to disrupt the path of the sprinters with breakaway efforts that impressed.
"Today I saw the comparison between Baptiste Veistroffer and Yoann Offredo [...] and the argument behind it was that 'I hope that Veistroffer ends up winning races so that he doesn't turn out to have a career like Offredo, which is just based on pointless breakaways and no victories', and I disagree with that".
"I mean, Veistroffer does have pro wins already, I think it was at the Tour of Oman that he won a stage doing exactly this. He is this year's breakaway man and I don't think that there's much of an argument for that. When you think of breakaway rider in 2026, you see Veistroffer in the start list... He's going to do it."
Whilst the Frenchman hasn't gotten a stage win at this time, he has become a crowd favourite with his long-standing and brave efforts, in what is his debut Tour de France. For Rúben Silva, his efforts are supported by logic, and already do have a payoff for Lotto-Intermarché.
"Most riders struggle to get stage wins. They struggle to get that big TV time, those results... Spending a day, spending three or four hours by yourself leading the Tour de France when you're a French rider, I mean... Just make the math. Yeah, that does mean something and for some reason he didn't just stop".
Quinn pointed out the Frenchman's work for the struggling Arnaud de Lie on the opening days of the race, and now that given freedom, he has completely changed the outlook of his race and his showing his best level.
"Veistroffer he's one of the MVPs of the first week," Silva stated. "There's no doubt about that because the work he's done for De Lie, whilst the breakaways, the excitement that he's been helping the race have in these days that are sometimes more monotonous, it makes him a fan favourite as well and for good reason".
"And if he ends up - I think it was still early to claim this - but if he ends up in the podium in Paris with the super combative award, there's no one that can tell him 'that doesn't mean anything'. That does, yes".
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However Silva looks at those who attack, but also those who do not. And a few teams have captured his attention from the opening days of the Tour de France. "These teams are not rolling the dice, they're not trying to capture this elusive stage win on days where you expect, which is what they have to do".
Silva referred to Team Picnic PostNL, Groupama - FDJ, Tudor Pro Cycling Team and TotalEnergies in specific, but was not selective to just the. "They have a team of eight riders... And just look at the Giro d'Italia, where you had several sprint stages being won by breakaways". The Milano stage at the Giro d'Italia was a reference point, in which Fredrik Dversnes won from a breakaway that few would've thought stood any chance of resisting.
"I think that there's a lesson to be taken here, that some teams are just not not taking the lesson, they're not reading through the lines [...] Of course, this is my opinion and I know that executing this is harder than saying - But when you see the start of some of these stages, you realize that it's... These are sprint stages, and you're not having a massive breakaway battle to be in front".
"Put two, three riders in there... One goes first, if it doesn't succeed the other goes; this is how it works. Put the rider in the breakaway, probably it won't work but if it works... If you have a TotalEnergies and you happen to win a stage from a breakaway like that, it makes the whole race. Iit's a huge difference".
Silva was focused on Team Picnic PostNL, who have brought a team almost fully focused on the sprints of Pavel Bittner, but see the Czech sprinter following wheels in the final kilometers whilst the team's many rouleurs and classics specialists do not try and surprise.
"The difference between having four or five lead-out riders is really not that significant, especially when Picnic is not going to go in the sprint leading from the front. Bittner is always going to be in the wheels".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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