Everything about Tim Merlier

Who is Tim Merlier? 

Tim Merlier is a professional cyclocross and road cyclist. Coming from Belgium, he's had a career start mostly focused on cyclocross where he was one of the top riders, but later made the change to the road around the same time as the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. He is a Tour de France and Giro d'Italia stage winner, as well as European Champion on the road.

Name: Tim Merlier
Born: 30 October 1992
Place of birth: Wortegem-Petegem, Belgium
Turned pro: 2011
Height: 1.88m

Instagram
Twitter
Strava
Facebook

In CYCLOCROSS, Merlier became junior national champion in the 2009-2010 season beating at the time none other than Laurens Sweeck. He turned under-23 in 2010-2011 and for four seasons he raced at this level, taking his first and only win in February 2013 at the under-23 Krawatencross (where Wout van Aert was third). In 2014-2015 he became a fully elite rider but continued to have a strong level amongst his peers, winning two crosses in this season (in Germany and Switzerland respectively). He would always be a consistent rider, regularly on the Top10, but despite scoring a few podiums he didn't manage to make it to the top step.

In 2020-2021 he began to race a smaller schedule, shifting his focus mostly to the road. However he would finally win his first Belgian cross in January 2023 in Zonnebeke, beating Ryan Kamp and David van der Poel.

On the ROAD, Merlier turned under-23 in the 2011 season, racing for the Sunweb - Revor team (the current Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal team). A continental team, and he used the road to complement the CX calendar. Hence, he had small racing calendars and without victories to show for, but had an increase in level in 2015. In 2016 he joined the Crelan - Vastgoedservice and took his first pro win at the GP Stad Zottegem... In 2017 he was now a rider for Vérandas Willems-Crelan, teammate of Wout van Aert.

This team now raced at Pro Continental level and in 2018 the Belgian had a breakthrough. At the Tour of Denmark Wout van Aert won the GC, but Merlier won two stages and above all showed himself as a quality sprinter. Here he would realize his potential to be a bunch sprint specialist on the road, which he then evolved significantly in a short space of time. In 2019 he signed with Cordendon - Circus (now Alpecin-Deceuninck) where he was teammates with Mathieu van der Poel.

Having four months of racing, Merlier won the Elfstedenronde, but then really proved himself as he beat Timothy Dupont and Wout van Aert to win the Belgian national championships. He still won stages at the Tour Alsacs (3) and one at the Tour of Denmark; besides a few other quality results including a second place at the Antwerp Port Epic where he also showed that he could also handle the classics terrain quite well.

In 2020 Merlier would change his main focus onto the road. He won at the Tour of Antalya before the Covid-19 pandemic, but after he returned to winning ways at the Brussels Cycling Classic. In September he won at World Tour level for the first time, beating Pascal Ackermann at Tirreno-Adriatico.

In 2021 Merlier would win Le Samyn and the GP Jean-Pierre Monseré early in the year, and then would would the Bredene Koksijde Classic before a third spot at Dwars door Vlaanderen. Merlier would make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia, and in his very first opportunity on stage 2 he won the bunch sprint in Novara ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo. He also made his Tour de France debut two months later and incredibly won the first bunch sprint once again, winning stage 3 ahead of teammate Jasper Philipsen. His season would still include wins at the Ronde van Limburg, Elfstedenronde and two wins at the Benelux Tour.

2022 came along and Merlier, a consolidated top sprinter, now had big ambitions at hands. He won at Tirreno-Adriatico to open up the year, and then quickly won the Nokere Koerse and his first World Tour-level classic at the Classic Brugge-De Panne. He was still 6th at Gent Wevelgem. Merlier won the Belgian national championships once again in June, winning a luxurious bunch sprint. He would make his Vuelta a España debut later on but struggled through and couldn't take a win. His last race with Alpecin-Fenix however was won, it was the Memorial Rik van Steenbergen.

In 2023 Merlier signed with Soudal - Quick-Step to become it's new head sprinter. He won at the Tour of Oman and then took two stage wins and the points classification at the UAE Tour. He followed that up with triumphs at Paris-Nice, Nokere Koerse, 4 Jours de Dunkerque, Tour de Pologne, GP de Fourmies and Tour de Slovaquie. However he did not race a Grand Tour, but this would change in 2024 much due to his requests.

He started off the year with two wins at the AlUla Tour and three at the UAE Tour. In March he won the Nokere Koerse and then Scheldeprijs - one of the top classics for sprinters. His return to Grand Tour racing was met with a lot of success as he won stages 3, 18 and 21 at the Giro d'Italia. Merlier would still win stages at the Baloise Belgium Tour and Tour de Pologne before what was perhaps the biggest win of his carer. On the 15th of September he soared to a convincing win at the European Championships in Belgium, int he city of Hasselt where he beat Olav Kooij and Madis Mihkels. Merlier would take his first two wins with his new jersey within a single week, winning the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen and Gooikse Pijl.