"It will be a special Tour" - Yellow jersey dreams and Remco Evenepoel partnership on the menu for Tim Merlier this July

Tim Merlier raced the Tour de France only once, back in 2021, and this year he returns as one of Soudal - Quick-Step's leaders. The Belgian is aiming to win stages but most importantly the opening day of the race in Lille where a yellow jersey will also be on the line.

“It’s been a while, but I’m looking forward to being able to do the Tour again. I’m not going to say that I missed it, because I also enjoyed the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta in other years," Merlier said in an interview with Wielerflits. "You don’t look forward to it a bit, because you’re cut off from everything and everyone for a month. But generally speaking, I’m happy to be back.”

Stage 1 will be flat and provide the first opportunity for the sprinters to conquer yellow right away since 2020. “It will be a special Tour. The opening stage will be very important. The last time the first stage was for the sprinters was a while ago. So that may not be the case again in the future.”

With victories at the AlUla Tour, UAE Tour, Paris-Nice, Scheldeprijs - and more recently the Brussels Cycling Classic, Merlier is having another stellar season and is fully worthy of an opportunity to be a leader himself at the Tour de France.

For this he has been training for an extended period of time and returned to competition in the past two weeks. He will now use the Baloise Belgium Tour as his final major preparation race ahead of the Grand Boucle.

“It is a new test, but every race is important. My first weekend back in competition was good to very good. In principle, I don't need an extra victory for my confidence towards the Tour, but I would like to. I give the best of myself in every race. There I mainly worked as I always do. Following the feeling, that is usually the best recipe. Now I am looking forward to more.”