Even in one of the most climber-friendly Tours de France ever, route designers still found ample room for the sprinters in the 2026 edition of the race. By our count, there are six stages that are very likely to end in sprints at the Tour this year – stages 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 17 – with other in-betweener days that could go to the breakaway or a bunch finish.
That's an abundance of opportunities for a field of fast finishers that looks to be pretty open in the run-up to the race, with one single rider having established himself as the clear top dog at the moment. To be sure, there are a handful of riders who look to be a cut above the rest, but long gone are the days of Mark Cavendish or Marcel Kittel blazing into the Tour as hot favorites for huge victory hauls.
Often, the Tour has seen a rider emerge as the clearcut sprinter of the race, winning multiple stages and showing the sort of finishing speed (and/or leadout prowess) that starts to seem unbeatable by the third week. That was certainly true of both aforementioned sprint legends in their biggest years.
In 2025, however, it was hard to pinpoint any one rider as the Sprinter du Tour, the rider who emerges as clearly dominant over the competition. None of the sprinters won more than two stages in what seemed like a pretty evenly matched field. Since then, nobody has managed to show clear dominance at the top of the sprinting food chain, so maybe we are in for another year without an undisputed sprint king – or maybe we're about to see someone new emerge as the rightful holder of that crown.
There are a few strong candidates for the role, and a few dark horses to take it on as well, and given the prestige of Tour stage wins and also the retooling of the points classification to favor the sprinters even more this year, the stakes are pretty high. With that in mind, let's take a closer look at the riders who are candidates to claim the title of Sprinter du Tour.
Three favorites
There are three riders who stand out above the rest as likely contenders in the bunch kicks. Two of them were in this same conversation last year (alongside a rider who is not racing this year's Tour, 2025 green jersey winner Jonathan Milan). The other rider that we are including in the favorites tier – perhaps a bit generously – is a Tour debutant.
Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step)
Most prognosticators would probably put Tim Merlier at the top of the sprint hierarchy by a small margin, and that probably makes sense – but it must be said that he is not the dominating presence that you might expect from the top sprinter of the Tour de France. Merlier won two stages last year and he is indeed extremely fast in a pure, straightforward bunch kick, but knee issues derailed the early part of his 2026 campaign and frankly, even a fully fit Merlier has never been a Kittel-level force.
So often in his career, he has done a fine job in smaller stage races and semi-Classics while hardly even making starts in the biggest events, and due to a variety of factors, he has not won a WorldTour race since August of last year. Quick Step's leadout also isn't the powerhouse we have seen in years past. Still, Merlier looked to be in solid form with a stage win at the Baloise Belgium Tour in mid-June, where all three of our top-tier riders were kind enough to put their form on display for us.
All things considered, Merlier has a good chance of winning a stage or two at the Tour, just as was the case in 2026, although anything more than that would be a bit of a surprise given his career trajectory. Would nabbing two more Tour stage wins make Merlier a worthy candidate for the title of Sprinter du Tour? We'll leave that up to you.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Being Mathieu van der Poel's teammate may be both a blessing and a curse for Philipsen, who has benefited from truly spectacular leadout work over the years while also kind of living in Van der Poel's shadow. The 28-year-lld Belgian is a 10-time Tour de France stage winner, which is pretty special, but it feels like he doesn't quite get the recognition he deserves for all that success, maybe thanks to his more famous teammate.
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