Every great sprinter needs a trusted last man, and Van Lerberghe has been Merlier's launch pad for years — the pair are close friends off the bike too. The towering West Fleming has almost no wins of his own, but his fingerprints are on nearly every one of Merlier's biggest victories. At 1.90m he punches one of the biggest holes in the wind in the entire peloton.
Palmarès
- Last man in Tim Merlier's Tour de France stage wins (2021, 2025)
- Last man in Merlier's Giro d'Italia sprint wins (2024)
- Eneco Tour combativity classification (2016)
- Multiple Grand Tour finishes (Vuelta 2021, Giro 2022 & 2024)
Cut-out factAt 1.90m and 85kg he is one of the biggest riders in the race — a human freight train whose entire job description is the final 500 metres before Merlier launches.
The squad
Riding the 2026 Tour with Tim Merlier, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Jasper Stuyven, Dylan van Baarle, Ilan Van Wilder, Louis Vervaeke — see the full Soudal Quick-Step team page.
Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: Wikimedia Commons, author: Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick, license: CC BY-SA 3.0.
A fan project — not affiliated with the Tour de France or A.S.O.
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