Description
July 10, 2026
113th Tour de France 2026 🇫🇷 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 7 – Hagetmau – Bordeaux : 175,1 km
The 113th edition of the Tour de France starts in Barcelona on July 4 and ends three weeks later.
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July 10, 2026
113th Tour de France 2026 🇫🇷 (2.UWT) ME – Stage 7 – Hagetmau – Bordeaux : 175,1 km
The 113th edition of the Tour de France starts in Barcelona on July 4 and ends three weeks later. Riders have to cover all 21 stages of the 2026 Tour de France route. The rider who completes the distance in the fastest time wins the race, also known as the ‘overall classification’. Each day, the rider who has completed the entire distance raced the quickest is the leader of the Tour de France, and wears a yellow jersey to signify him as such. There is a secondary time classification for the best rider under the age of 26, the best young riders’ classification, and he wears a white jersey if leading. Riders also gain points for their position at the end of each day of racing, known as “stages”. There is a secondary prize for the rider who gains the most points – the points classification, and the leader each day wears a green jersey. There are also points atop a select number of mountain passes for the first riders to cross the top, with more points available the harder the mountain is to climb. The leader of the mountains classification wears a white jersey with red polka dots.
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) proved he could manage without his trusty lead-out man Bert Van Lerberghe, winning stage 7 of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint in Bordeaux.
Merlier started from too far back in the previous sprint stage on Wednesday, but, despite being a man down due to Van Lergberghe’s abandon, he floated beautifully in the hectic final kilometres before producing a devastating acceleration for the line.
Alpecin-Premier Tech dominated the lead-out, with an old-fashioned train of five riders peeling off in turn from 2.5km out, but Jasper Philipsen, launched by Mathieu van der Poel, couldn’t finish it off, fading to fifth in the headwind.
Second place went to Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), who jumped earlier but was passed decisively by Merlier on the left-hand side of the road. Third place went to Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), while stage 5 winner Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) was out of position and out of the picture.
“Perfectly? I don’t know. It was a mess to get in position but I made it thanks to the team,” said Merlier, who was popped into the thick of it by Jasper Stuyven.
“For a long time I was following Jasper but I lost him, then I saw I was in the casino, then got a bit more space and some time to give the legs a bit of air, then in the last 600 metres it was boxing again. I thought to myself ‘are we going to fight to the finish?’ I’m happy I could take it.”
The win marks Merlier’s fourth in the Tour de France in three appearances, following his double last year and his debut win back in 2021.
“In every participation I take a win, so I can be proud.”
There was no change to the top end of the general classification on a quiet day for the yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with another potential sprint stage on the menu on Saturday.
Flat and fast
The second flat stage at the 2026 Tour de France unfolded in similar fashion to the first, two days ago. Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal-QuickStep controlled the peloton as Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) headed up the road. The only difference was that the Frenchman had company this time, albeit just one companion in the form of Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural).
Again, the breakaway went immediately from kilometer-zero, with absolutely no struggle to get up the road and precious little interest.
And once again the breakaway, though unthreatening, was kept on a very short leash, their advantage never growing out beyond the two-minute mark.
There were, however, some flurries of action.
Firstly, and surprisingly, after 60 or so kilometres Uno-X decided to attack, looking to launch Jonas Abrahamsen up the road. A few went with him, but Alpecin and QuickStep were quick to snuff it out and it soon came back together.
The flurry of action saw the breakaway’s lead halved to 45 seconds but it soon went back out again as the bunch relaxed.
The next simmering point would come at the intermediate sprint in Landiras with 120km ridden and 55km to go. After Veistroffer led Otruba over the line in the break, there was a battle for green jersey hopefuls from the peloton behind, with the wearer of that jersey, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) coming out on top. Once again XDS Astana produced a big lead-out for Max Kanter, who was third, behind Grimay and ahead of Philipsen and Merlier.
Once again, the injection of pace brought the break’s lead down to 30 seconds before it went back out once more. Just over 10km down the road came the day’s only climb, the category 4 Côte de Beguey, where Veistroffer beat Otruba to the sole mountains classification point.
The next injection of pace came with 22km to go and once again from Uno-X, who again tried to fire Abrahamsen up the road. Despite being launched by Anders Skaarseth, the Norwegian was quickly brought to heel by Alpecin and QuickStep.
Soon after, it was game over for the breakaway duo. Veistroffer tried to attack his companion but there was no separation and, after offering a conciliatory fist bump, the two of them were swallowed back into the peloton with 18km to go.
Despite one final Abrahamsen acceleration with just over 10km to go, the race wound itself up for the bunch sprint, with the sprint trains getting organized despite a few narrow roads.
Ineos bumped shoulders with Cofidis to take pole position through a series of bends at the 5km to mark, which stretched out the peloton. Those two teams held the front until around 2km to go, where Alpecin moved up with one clean line of five riders.
They peeled off one-by-one, laying out the carpet for Philipsen, but Van der Poel perhaps dropped him off too early, with 250 metres to go. As Philipsen brushed shoulders with Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural), Merlier found space on the left and darted out with 200 metres to go, surging to the front and brushing off his shoulders as he crossed the line.
Results :
 ME - Stage 7 </strong> - Hagetmau - Bordeaux : 175,1 km
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The 113th edition of the Tour de France starts in Barcelona on July 4 and ends three weeks later. Riders have to cover all 21 stages of the 2026 Tour de France route. The rider who completes the distance in the fastest time wins the race, also known as the 'overall classification'. Each day, the rider who has completed the entire distance raced the quickest is the leader of the Tour de France, and wears a yellow jersey to signify him as such. There is a secondary time classification for the best rider under the age of 26, the best young riders' classification, and he wears a white jersey if leading. Riders also gain points for their position at the end of each day of racing, known as "stages". There is a secondary prize for the rider who gains the most points - the points classification, and the leader each day wears a green jersey. There are also points atop a select number of mountain passes for the first riders to cross the top, with more points available the harder the mountain is to climb. The leader of the mountains classification wears a white jersey with red polka dots.
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) proved he could manage without his trusty lead-out man Bert Van Lerberghe, winning stage 7 of the Tour de France in a bunch sprint in Bordeaux.
Merlier started from too far back in the previous sprint stage on Wednesday, but, despite being a man down due to Van Lergberghe’s abandon, he floated beautifully in the hectic final kilometres before producing a devastating acceleration for the line.
Alpecin-Premier Tech dominated the lead-out, with an old-fashioned train of five riders peeling off in turn from 2.5km out, but Jasper Philipsen, launched by Mathieu van der Poel, couldn’t finish it off, fading to fifth in the headwind.
Second place went to Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), who jumped earlier but was passed decisively by Merlier on the left-hand side of the road. Third place went to Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), while stage 5 winner Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) was out of position and out of the picture.
“Perfectly? I don’t know. It was a mess to get in position but I made it thanks to the team,” said Merlier, who was popped into the thick of it by Jasper Stuyven.
“For a long time I was following Jasper but I lost him, then I saw I was in the casino, then got a bit more space and some time to give the legs a bit of air, then in the last 600 metres it was boxing again. I thought to myself ‘are we going to fight to the finish?’ I’m happy I could take it."
The win marks Merlier’s fourth in the Tour de France in three appearances, following his double last year and his debut win back in 2021.
“In every participation I take a win, so I can be proud.”
There was no change to the top end of the general classification on a quiet day for the yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with another potential sprint stage on the menu on Saturday.
<strong>Flat and fast</strong>
The second flat stage at the 2026 Tour de France unfolded in similar fashion to the first, two days ago. Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal-QuickStep controlled the peloton as Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) headed up the road. The only difference was that the Frenchman had company this time, albeit just one companion in the form of Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural).
Again, the breakaway went immediately from kilometer-zero, with absolutely no struggle to get up the road and precious little interest.
And once again the breakaway, though unthreatening, was kept on a very short leash, their advantage never growing out beyond the two-minute mark.
There were, however, some flurries of action.
Firstly, and surprisingly, after 60 or so kilometres Uno-X decided to attack, looking to launch Jonas Abrahamsen up the road. A few went with him, but Alpecin and QuickStep were quick to snuff it out and it soon came back together.
The flurry of action saw the breakaway’s lead halved to 45 seconds but it soon went back out again as the bunch relaxed.
The next simmering point would come at the intermediate sprint in Landiras with 120km ridden and 55km to go. After Veistroffer led Otruba over the line in the break, there was a battle for green jersey hopefuls from the peloton behind, with the wearer of that jersey, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) coming out on top. Once again XDS Astana produced a big lead-out for Max Kanter, who was third, behind Grimay and ahead of Philipsen and Merlier.
Once again, the injection of pace brought the break’s lead down to 30 seconds before it went back out once more. Just over 10km down the road came the day’s only climb, the category 4 Côte de Beguey, where Veistroffer beat Otruba to the sole mountains classification point.
The next injection of pace came with 22km to go and once again from Uno-X, who again tried to fire Abrahamsen up the road. Despite being launched by Anders Skaarseth, the Norwegian was quickly brought to heel by Alpecin and QuickStep.
Soon after, it was game over for the breakaway duo. Veistroffer tried to attack his companion but there was no separation and, after offering a conciliatory fist bump, the two of them were swallowed back into the peloton with 18km to go.
Despite one final Abrahamsen acceleration with just over 10km to go, the race wound itself up for the bunch sprint, with the sprint trains getting organized despite a few narrow roads.
Ineos bumped shoulders with Cofidis to take pole position through a series of bends at the 5km to mark, which stretched out the peloton. Those two teams held the front until around 2km to go, where Alpecin moved up with one clean line of five riders.
They peeled off one-by-one, laying out the carpet for Philipsen, but Van der Poel perhaps dropped him off too early, with 250 metres to go. As Philipsen brushed shoulders with Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural), Merlier found space on the left and darted out with 200 metres to go, surging to the front and brushing off his shoulders as he crossed the line.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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