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Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wins the Tour de France for 2nd straight year

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Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France for a second straight year as cycling’s most storied race finished Sunday on the Champs-Élysées.

With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour.

The 26-year-old Vingegaard drank champagne with his Jumbo-Visma teammates as they lined up together and posed for photos on the way to Paris.

“It’s been a long journey, yet it went by so fast,” Vingegaard said. “Day after day, it was a super hard race with a super nice fight between me and Tadej. I’ve enjoyed every day. I hope to come back next year and see if I can take a third win.”

It had been a three-week slog over 3,405 kilometers (2,116 miles) with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps.

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time trial 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogačar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost 6 minutes ahead of his exhausted rival.

“I’m dead,” Pogačar said.

The Slovenian rider responded by winning the penultimate stage on Saturday, but Vingegaard still had an insurmountable lead of 7 minutes, 29 seconds going into the final stage – a mostly ceremonial stage which is contested at the end by the sprinters.

“We have to be careful not to do anything stupid,” Vingegaard warned Saturday, “but yeah, it’s amazing to take my second victory in the Tour de France.”

Vingegaard kept that lead and was able to celebrate early Sunday as organizers decided to take the times one lap before the finish when it started raining on the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées. The decision invited the sprinters to fight for the stage victory – the only remaining uncertainty.

Belgian cyclist Jordi Meeus prevailed in a photo finish between four riders on the line, just ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen.

“It was my first Tour. It was a super nice experience already so far, and to take the win today is an indescribable feeling,” said Meeus, who clocked a top speed of 68.8 kph (42.8 mph) on the last kilometer.

Pogačar, who attacked after just one lap of eight altogether on the Champs-Élysées, was wearing the white jersey as the best young rider for the 75th day – extending a career Tour record. The 24-year-old Slovenian rider has won the best young rider classification every year since 2020.

But Pogačar had to be content with second place in the general classification again.

British rider Adam Yates, Pogačar’s teammate, finished third overall, ahead of his twin brother Simon.

Colombian rider Egan Bernal, the 2019 Tour winner, completed the race as he made his impressive comeback from a life-threatening crash. The 26-year-old Bernal said he narrowly avoided becoming paralyzed after an accident with a bus while training in Colombia in January 2022.

“It’s difficult to compare with the year I won but it’s almost the same feeling because for me it’s a great victory,” Bernal said. “Yesterday, in the last climb, I was so lucky I was alone and could enjoy the last kilometers. I was so emotional.”

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Jonas Vingegaard Wins Tour de France Again After Vanquishing His Rival

What started as a tense two-man battle became a foregone conclusion when Tadej Pogacar couldn’t stay with Vingegaard in the 17th stage of the race.

By Kevin Draper

When Tadej Pogacar slipped behind Jonas Vingegaard on the Col de la Loze mountain pass through the Alps on Wednesday, eight kilometers and a world away from the top of the hot, punishing climb, it was only briefly unclear why. Pogacar’s own voice, over his team’s radio and broadcast on television during the Tour de France’s 17th stage, provided an immediate explanation for the rare sight of him being left behind like a mere mortal.

“I’m gone,” he told his team. “I’m dead.”

It was an astonishing bit of television, a moment that will be replayed on every Tour broadcast for decades.

Most of Pogacar’s teammates did not wait for him. They did not try to help him. What would have been the point? There was no saving his race. Pogacar, the 24-year-old from Slovenia who usually rides with a smile on his face, perpetually unbothered, tufts of hair peeking out of his helmet, was gone.

Vingegaard quickly rode away from him, and rode away with his second consecutive Tour victory.

The Tour ended Sunday with pomp, aerial shots of the Eiffel Tower and eight furious laps on the cobbled roads of central Paris, capped by a sprint down the Champs-Élysées. Vingegaard, ahead of Pogacar by 7 minutes 29 seconds, rode easy in the leader’s yellow jersey, sipping Champagne while surrounded by his Jumbo-Visma teammates.

There were, as is always the case in a three-week race, several noteworthy stories. Jasper Philipsen won four stages and proved that he is the best sprinter in the world. Thibaut Pinot rode his final Tour de France with his typical verve and panache, while Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish ended their illustrious careers not with a bang but with a whimper. Hopefuls crashed and breakaways surprisingly succeeded.

Pogacar’s teammate, Adam Yates, finished a distant third, but from beginning to end the Tour was about Pogacar and Vingegaard. The decisive 17th stage and the gap between the two — the winning margin was the Tour’s largest since 2014 — belies what was, until then, one of the most tense and exciting races in years.

After beginning in Bilbao, Spain, three weeks ago, the Tour followed an unusual cadence. Instead of most of the decisive mountain stages being stacked in the last week of the race, hard climbs were scattered throughout, as were hilly, punchy climbs packed with intrigue.

It led to Vingegaard and Pogacar trading blows, heavyweight fighters (though they look more like featherweights on bikes) slugging it out.

Vingegaard struck first, on the Col de Marie Blanque in the Pyrenees during the fifth stage. Jai Hindley, a fringe contender who ultimately finished seventh, won the stage in a breakaway and for a day wore the yellow jersey. On the steepest part of the climb, Vingegaard surged away from Pogacar, gaining over a minute on his rival.

Despite Pogacar’s pedigree — he won the Tour in 2020 and 2021 — questions were asked as to whether the race was already decided. After a blistering spring season that saw him win two stage races and three of the more prestigious one-day classic races, Pogacar broke his wrist in late April, and it was not fully healed when the Tour began. If Pogacar could not stay with Vingegaard early in the race in the Pyrenees, how would he possibly fare in the Alps?

The next day Pogacar gave his answer . Vingegaard tried attacking twice, dropping the field, but Pogacar stayed glued to his wheel. Three kilometers from the end of the stage, as fans set off flares beside them, Pogacar flipped the script with a surprising counterpunch and won the stage, gaining 24 seconds back.

“If it’s going to happen like yesterday, we can pack our bags and go home,” Pogacar recalled thinking during one of Vingegaard’s attacks. “Luckily I had good legs today.”

Slowly but surely, Pogacar chipped away at Vingegaard’s advantage. On stage nine, up the famed Puy de Dôme extinct volcano, he gained back eight seconds . Four stages later, he clawed back another eight seconds on the mountaintop finish on the Col du Grand Colombier. Twice he launched devastating sprints near the end of stages, and twice Vingegaard was unable to stick with him.

Only in retrospect, with the full results known, was it possible to look at these stages in a different light. Vingegaard has traditionally been stronger than Pogacar on long mountain climbs where he can grind away, whereas Pogacar is a more explosive rider who pulls away with impossible-to-follow bursts. But while Pogacar gained time on Vingegaard across three stages, he was unable to bury him. Vingegaard lost a few seconds, but did not let a loss turn into a rout.

Vingegaard, a quiet 26-year-old from Denmark, first showed what would eventually become his dominant form on the only individual time trial of the race, one day before he shattered Pogacar on the Col de la Loze. Starting the time trial second to last, Pogacar was faster than the rest of the field by over a minute. He had a good day. But Vingegaard had a great day .

Starting last, Vingegaard rode to his limit, taking impeccable lines at unbelievable speeds during the downhill portion of the course and showing off his climbing skills on the uphill finish despite riding on a heavier time trial bike. In the end, he gained almost two minutes on Pogacar. He was so fast he thought his equipment was malfunctioning.

“I think it was one of my best days on the bike ever,” Vingegaard said after the stage.

The next day, Pogacar would, by his own words, die. For two weeks, Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team had set a relentless pace, aiming not necessarily to help Vingegaard win stages or gain time but rather to drain Pogacar of energy, to put his healing wrist under pressure, so that he was deeply fatigued by the time the race got to the Alps, Vingegaard’s territory.

On the long hot stage, the food Pogacar ate stayed stuck in his stomach, he later said, and never made it to his legs. Vingegaard never attacked. He did not need to. Pogacar could not stick with him up the Col de la Loze, and as soon as Jumbo-Visma saw this, Vingegaard’s domestiques increased the pace to assure that Pogacar would fall farther behind. He never stabilized; instead, second by second, pedal stroke by pedal stroke, he seemed to fall back down the mountain.

On the 20th, and penultimate, stage on Saturday, Pogacar did not try attacking Vingegaard early on the Col du Platzerwasel mountain pass. There would have been no point; he was not going to gain back minutes. Instead they climbed the mountain together, passing opponents until the end, where Pogacar beat Vingegaard in an uphill sprint to win the stage — a final prize, but only a consolation.

Vingegaard and Pogacar have combined to win the last four Tours, and neither has yet reached the age when cyclists typically peak. “It’s been an amazing fight we’ve had since Bilbao, and hopefully also in the future,” Vingegaard said after his victory was assured.

The only shame is that the next episode of this fight will not take place for another year.

Kevin Draper is an investigative reporter on the Sports desk, where he has written about workplace harassment and discrimination, sexual misconduct, doping, league investigations and high-profile court cases. More about Kevin Draper

Home > Events > Cycling > Tour de France > Winners > List

Tour de France Winners List

The most successful rider in the Tour de France was Lance Armstrong , who finished first seven times before his wins were removed from the record books after being found guilty of doping by the USADA in 2012. No rider has been named to replace him for those years.

> see also more information about how they determine the winners of the Tour

General Classification Winners

* footnotes

• 1904: The original winner was Maurice Garin, however he was found to have caught a train for part of the race and was disqualified.
• 1996: Bjarne Riis has admitted to the use of doping during the 1996 Tour. The Tour de France organizers have stated they no longer consider him to be the winner, although Union Cycliste Internationale has so far refused to change the official status due to the amount of time passed since his win. Jan Ullrich was placed second.
• 1999-2005: these races were originally won by Lance armstrong, but in 2012 his wins in the tour de france were removed due to doping violations.
• 2006: Floyd Landis was the initial winner but subsequently rubbed out due to a failed drug test.
• 2010: Alberto Contador was the initial winner of the 2010 event, but after a prolonged drug investigation he was stripped of his win in 2012.

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Jonas Vingegaard wins Tour de France for 2nd straight year

• ESPN News Services

Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France for the second straight year as cycling's most storied race finished Sunday on the famed Champs-Élysées in Paris.

With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour.

Vingegaard drank champagne with his Visma-Jumbo teammates as they lined up together and posed for photos on the way to Paris.

"It's been an amazing year. What a Tour de France for us," Vingegaard said. "We started the plans early, and once again, I could not have done it without my team. It's been an amazing Tour for us, and I'm so proud of every one of us.

"Tonight we will celebrate, have a good dinner. It will be a nice evening. Thanks to my opponents, who have been amazing. It's been an amazing three weeks fighting with you guys."

It had been a three-week slog over 2,116 miles with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps.

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time trial 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogačar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost six minutes ahead of his exhausted rival.

"I'm dead," said the 24-year-old Pogačar, who won the white jersey as the best under-25 rider for the fourth year in a row.

The Slovenian rider responded by winning the penultimate stage Saturday, but Vingegaard still had an insurmountable lead of 7 minutes, 29 seconds going into the final stage -- a mostly ceremonial event that is contested at the end by the sprinters.

Belgian cyclist Jordi Meeus won the final stage in a photo finish between four riders on the line, just ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen.

"It was my first Tour. It was a super-nice experience already so far, and to take the win today is an incredible feeling," Meeus said.

British cyclist and Pogačar teammate Adam Yates took third place overall, while Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen won the green jersey for the points classification and Italian competitor Giulio Ciccone took the polka-dot jersey for the mountains classification.

Vingegaard's Jumbo-Visma won the teams classification.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Awe-inspiring Philipsen takes fourth win, Vingegaard stays in yellow

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Tour de France past winners

A full list of champions from 1903 – 2021

Previous overall and classification winners 

1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 2 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 3 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers

2020 1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 3 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo

2019 1 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Ineos 2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma

2018 1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 3 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky

2017 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale

2016 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 2 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale 3 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team

2015 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team

2014 1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 2 Jean-Christophe Péraud (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale 3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr

2013 1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 2 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 3 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha

2012 1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

2011 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 3 Frank Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek

2010 1 *Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 2 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 3 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

2009 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana

Note: *Andy Schleck was awarded victory of the 2010 Tour de France after original winner Alberto Contador was disqualified for doping. *Lance Armstrong was stripped of all race results from August 1, 1998 onwards following the US Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into doping at the US Postal Service team. *Austria's Bernhard Kohl tested positive for EPO-CERA on October 13, 2008. He admitted to its use on October 15, 2008 and was stripped of his third place GC finish at the 2008 Tour de France. *Oscar Pereiro was awarded the victory of the 2006 Tour de France on October 16, 2007, after original winner Floyd Landis was disqualified for doping.

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Tour de France favourites 2024: Who will win this year's yellow jersey?

Rouleur looks at who the bookies are backing for this year's Tour de France title

Words: Stephen Puddicombe

With the Tour de France now less than two weeks away excitement is brewing at what promises to be a thrilling and – even by the standards of the world’s biggest race – star-studded contest for the yellow jersey. 

All the talk all year has been about how the big four of Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel will duke it out for what will be the first Grand Tour each has simultaneously appeared in, but there are varying doubts and question marks surrounding each one, be it a matter of fitness, form or fatigue. 

That opens up the possibility for a whole host of other riders to dream big, and this year it feels like there is an especially deep pool of potential GC prospects. Let’s consider the outstanding candidates among them. 

Odds correct at time of publishing.

Tadej Pogačar - 2/5

Unlike each of his main rivals, there have been no fitness doubts plaguing Tadej Pogačar in the past few months. He is the only one of the big four to enjoy a clean run-in to the Tour with no crashes, an advantage reflected in the very short odds of 2/5 being offered by the bookmakers.

Instead, the big question regarding Pogačar’s chances is whether or not his appearance and victory at the Giro d’Italia last month has rendered him more or less likely to also win the Tour. On one hand, the way he crushed the opposition to win the maglia rosa by almost 10 minutes, and picked up six stages on the way, was a sensational display of form that sent an intimidating warning shot to everyone set to compete against him at the Tour. 

But on the other hand, peaking in form for both the Giro and the Tour has been notoriously difficult to do these past few decades, and all of Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome have in the recent past won the former only to run out of steam at the latter. You sense, though, that if anyone has the talent to achieve the elusive double, it’s Pogačar. 

Pogačar during the 2024 Giro d'Italia (Image by SWPix.com)

Jonas Vingegaard - 9/4

One talking point overshadows all others leading into the Tour de France: will Jonas Vingegaard be fit enough to start? His season came to an abrupt halt at Itzulia Basque Country when he was one of the most badly affected riders on the stage four horror crash that blighted that race, and now, just days away from the Grand Départ in Florence, he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team are still yet to make a final decision. He has however been seen training at altitude in Tignes with his teammates, in what could be a significant indication that his team will decide to take him.

But even if he does make it, will he have the condition to again defend his title? The team have said they only want him to ride if 100%, but will that be possible on the back of training only, and no race days for almost three months?

Leaving all those questions aside, if Vingegaard is in top condition, he will be the man to beat. He ended up winning what had been a close Tour de France between himself and Pogačar at a canter last year, and, if anything, had looked even better this year, winning both Tirreno-Adriatico and O Gran Camiño in astonishingly one-sided fashion. The cycling world waits anxiously for more news.  

Vingegaard during the 2023 Tour de France (Image by SWPix.com)

Primož Roglič - 15/2

There is a sense that Primož Roglič’s opportune time to win the Tour de France came a few years ago, before the rise of his Slovenian compatriot Pogačar and former teammate Jonas Vingegaard. After all, doing so now would make him the second oldest winner ever of the yellow jersey, an especially remarkable feat given the recent tendency of riders to peak at a younger age. 

But short odds of 15/2 reflect how he still has a great chance of doing so this year. Despite also being involved, he wasn’t anywhere near as badly affected as Vingegaard was at the Itzulia Basque Country crash, and is building up to the Tour in a much more traditional, safer way than Pogačar, skipping the Giro d’Italia and riding the Critérium du Dauphiné , in which he sealed overall victory last week.

That Dauphiné victory is a reassuring sign of form ahead of the Tour, even if it did end with a more difficult day as he scraped victory by eight seconds after being dropped on the final mountain. The overall performance of his Bora-Hansgrohe team in controlling the race was also encouraging, and suggests everything is pretty much as he’d want it to be as he fine tunes his final preparations. 

Roglič at the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné (Image by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

Remco Evenepoel - 14/1

The last member of the big four is also the most unproven at Grand Tour level, and consequently not quite as fancied by the bookies. While he did prove his credentials by winning the Vuelta a España two years ago, his other three Grand Tour appearances have seen him either pull out altogether (Giro 2021 and 2023), or drop out of the GC race and chase stages instead (Vuelta 2023).

As yet another rider involved in the Itzulia Basque Country pile-up, his preparation hasn’t been ideal either, but he’s on the up. He described his shape at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he finished seventh overall, as being hugely improved from where he was just a few weeks ago, and if he continues to recover at such a rate then he could be competitive for the yellow jersey at the Tour. As a rider with so much raw talent, there’s no telling how high his ceiling might be this July. 

Remco Evenepoel at the 2023 Giro d'Italia before he has to pull out due to illness (Image by SWPix.com)

Carlos Rodríguez - 14/1

He might not be the most glamorous of names, but the bookies listing Carlos Rodríguez as the best of the rest outside of the big four underlines his prospects this Tour. In fact, his odds have shortened to match Evenepoel as the race draws closer. The Spaniard seriously impressed on debut last year by finishing fifth overall and winning an Alpine stage, and, still aged 23, has plenty of scope for improvement.

He’s already shown some of that scope by following up a second place finish at Itzulia Basque Country with overall victory at the Tour de Romandie, and enters the Tour having just won the last mountain top finish of Critérium du Dauphiné to seal fourth overall. He’s set to lead a strong Ineos Grenadiers line-up, and looks poised for a very good ride.

Rodríguez on his way to winning stage eight of the Tour of Britain (Image by SWPix.com)

Matteo Jorgenson - 22/1

American Matteo Jorgenson was not even featured in the list of top favourites by the bookies before the Dauphiné, despite having been one of the best riders on his Visma-Lease a Bike team this year, winning Paris-Nice and Dwars door Vlaanderen.

A combination of wavering confidence over the fitness of Jonas Vingegaard as well as Jorgenson's impressive second place at the Dauphiné (in which he pushed Roglič all the way to the end) have catapulted the 24-year-old into consideration for the overall, but he still has much to prove in Grand Tours, having so far only contested the GC in shorter stage races. Nevertheless, should Vingegaard be unable to ride or lack the form he needs to win, then Jorgenson looks like Visma-Lease a Bike's next best option.

Adam Yates - 28/1

Last year, UAE Team Emirates went into the Tour with Adam Yates labelled as co-leader alongside Tadej Pogačar, and the Brit lived up to the billing, finishing third overall just behind his teammate — and in terms of time, much closer to Pogačar than the Slovenian was in turn to Vingegaard.

Yates enters the race with relatively short odds, though his chance have not been increased by his dominant victory at the Tour de Suisse last week, according to the bookmakers. Yates and his teammate João Almeida won two stages each and finished first and second respectively on GC, but that outstanding form is still certainly to be primarily used to support Pogačar to victory rather than Yates' personal ambitions.

Yates had a stint in the yellow jersey last year (Image by SWPix.com)

Juan Ayuso - 33/1

Along with Remco Evenepoel, the Tour de France debut that’s attracting the most excitement is that of Juan Ayuso. The 21-year-old appears to have it all, from climbing, time trialling and punchy accelerations, to the ability to last the distance at Grand Tours, having already placed third and fourth overall at his two appearances at the Vuelta a España.

The Spaniard also has the form, having finished second at Tirreno-Adriatico and won Itzulia Basque Country. Or, at least, he had it — as one of the worst affected from the mass pile-up in the rain that caused the neutralisation of stage five at Critérium du Dauphiné, he had to abandon the race, and his plans are now a little up in the air. But if he can put those injuries behind him before the Tour, it could be him this time who lines up as UAE Team Emirates’ co-leader alongside Tadej Pogačar.

Ayuso in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico (Image SWPix.com)

Egan Bernal - 40/1

Egan Bernal might not be among the eight most in form GC riders going into the Tour de France, but his past record as a winner of the yellow jersey from 2019 means he is among the top nine bookies favourites. He’s the wildcard among the GC contenders — we all know how good he can be, it’s just a matter of whether he’s capable of reaching his past levels again following the crash that nearly ended his career a few years ago. 

His form so far this year has been encouraging. Following some promising results in the early season stage races, he placed third overall at Volta a Catalunya, his first time on a WorldTour podium since winning the Giro d’Italia three years ago.

He narrowly missed out on repeating that feat at last week's Tour de Suisse, losing his podium spot to Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in the final time trial, but there were signs throughout the week that the old Egan Bernal is returning gradually. Whether that will be enough to contest the podium at the Tour seems unlikely, and his most recent odds reflect that, but the Colombian has surely done enough to earn a place on the Ineos Grenadiers' team alongside Rodríguez and Tom Pidock.

Bernal during the 2023 Tour de France (Image by SWPix.com)

Other favourites

In the event that Vingegaard is deemed unfit to start, the onus will be on Matteo Jorgenson (see above)  and/or Sepp Kuss to lead the line for Visma-Lease a Bike. While Jorgenson’s excellent form this season has seen his odds slashed in recent days, Kuss’ performances this year have not yet reached his usual standard. However, his record as a proven Grand Tour winner following overall victory at Vuelta a España last year means he’s still at 50/1. 

Kuss won the 2023 Vuelta a España (Image by Getty Images)

Bora-Hansgrohe boast similar strength-in-depth in their line-up. As well as Roglič, they have another former Grand Tour winner in 2022 Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley , who is at 66/1, while Aleksandr Vlasov ’s impressive display in support of their Slovenian leader at the Dauphiné sees him at 80/1.

Both Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and  Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula)  command attention as former Grand Tour winners (the latter at the 2018 Vuelta, the former the 2019 Giro), but questionable form means they’ve longer odds than usual, at 66/1 and 70/1 respectively. Enic Mas (Movistar) is another dependable Grand Tour performer, having seven times made the top six on GC, including twice at the Tour, and his comparatively good pre-Tour form sees him at 55/1.

The potential of Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) following his excellent performances in the mountains and eighth place finish overall last year, and the multi-talented Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) is reflected in their odds of 80/1, while memories of Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) surprise win at the 2020 Giro d’Italia sees him at 100/1 despite form and fitness concerns

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Tour de France 2024 – Comprehensive team-by-team guide

A s the 2024 Tour de France rolls out from Florence, Italy on June 29, there will be 176 riders competing across 22 teams – some with a target on overall victory, others looking for stage wins and more still pleased with any opportunity that comes along their way to gather publicity on the biggest cycling stage in the world. 

All 18 WorldTour teams, plus the two best-ranked ProTeams – Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto-Dstny – got their automatic invitations to race while organisers ASO handed out wild card entries to Uno-X Mobility and TotalEnergies.

Crashes, form and Olympic goals have shaped the selections and ambitions for the teams but regardless all will be fighting to make an impression as the 21 days of racing over 3497.3km from Tuscany to Nice in the south of France unfolds.

Cyclingnews has pored through every squad, assessing their leaders, objectives and chances of success to bring you this comprehensive team-by-team guide.

Alpecin-Deceuninck

• Team leader: Jasper Philipsen
• Objective: Stage wins, points classification
• Rider to watch: Mathieu van der Poel

In the bunch sprints of the Grand Tours of recent years, one team has stood out above the rest as masters of the lead-out train: Alpecin-Deceuninck .

They were a prominent presence throughout the bunch finishes at the recent Giro d’Italia, but Kaden Groves wasn’t able to ride them to victory. However, at the Tour de France, the team will have Jasper Philipsen , the quickest sprinter in the peloton.

Philipsen was one of the stars of last year’s Tour, storming to four stage wins (as many as any sprinter has managed at a single Tour since the 2011 edition), as well as riding consistently enough to claim the green jersey. He didn't slow down this spring, either, with victories at Milan-San Remo and the Classic Brugge-De Panne, as well as a second place at Paris-Roubaix, among his very impressive results.

Not only is Philipsen the quickest sprinter in the race, but he’ll also have the quickest lead-out man riding for him in Mathieu van der Poel . The pair work brilliantly together, as seen not just at last year’s Tour sprints, but also during the spring, when Van der Poel helped Philipsen to triumph at Milan-San Remo, and vice versa at Paris-Roubaix.

Van der Poel will also go hunting for stage wins on appropriate stages, most likely on days with punchy parcours too hard for sprinters but not hard enough for climbers. For a man so untouchable in the Classics, it’s perhaps surprising that he only has one stage win to his name from three Tour appearances, but he has often ridden here with a future goal in mind, as will be the case this year as he builds towards the Olympics.

Arkéa-B&B Hotels

• Team leader: Arnaud Démare
• Objective: Stage wins
• Rider to watch: Kévin Vauquelin

With Warren Barguil having followed Nairo Quintana out the door, Arkéa-B&B Hotels are going in a fresh direction for the 2024 Tour with sprinter Arnaud Démare as their new talisman.

Having grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of opportunities provided him by his former Groupama-FDJ team, who selected him for only one Tour de France start in the last five years, Démare has moved to a team where he won’t just be picked but will command unified support behind him.

It’s hoped that as a winner of two Tour stages in the past, Démare can deliver the team their long-awaited first-ever following ten winless Tours, but does the Frenchman have the shape to do so? He hasn’t made the top ten of any race for almost four months, and recently fractured a finger at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, plunging his Tour preparations into doubt.

It could therefore be up to others in the line-up to deliver, from which Kévin Vauquelin has shown particular potential. The 23-year-old has done everything this year, from making the top 10 at both Itzulia Basque Country and Tirreno-Adriatico, finishing second on the Mur de Huy at La Flèche Wallonne and winning a time trial at Etoile de Bessèges. He could be a contender for a variety of different stages though specialises in climbing hills and mountains.

Astana Qazaqstan

• Team leader: Mark Cavendish
• Rider to watch: Alexey Lutsenko

At last, it's nearly time for the race that Astana Qazaqstan 's whole season has been building up towards.

Since signing Mark Cavendish in January 2023, they've made it their foremost mission to deliver the Manxman to the elusive win number 35, move clear of Eddy Merckx, and thereby become the outright record holder for most stage wins at the Tour de France.

It had initially been intended as a one-year plan, but after the heartbreak of last year’s race, where Cavendish crashed out at the end of the first week , he and the team have decided to have one last shot at history this July.

Unlike last year, when he went into the Tour off the back of a final-day victory in Rome at the Giro d’Italia, Cavendish has shown only sporadic signs of form this season, confined to smaller races. He won a stage during his first race of the season at the Tour of Colombia in February but had to wait another three months for a first victory on European roads at the Tour of Hongrie.

The Astana team is set to be built entirely around him. Veteran lead-out master Michael Mørkøv was signed exclusively to deliver him in the sprints, while Cees Bol and Davide Ballerini will sacrifice their own sprinting ambitions to form part of his lead-out train.

One rider who might be granted some freedom to ride for himself is Alexey Lutsenko . He showed great form by winning Il Giro d’Abruzzo before abandoning the Giro d’Italia and finishing seventh and eighth on GC in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He has two Tour de France GC top 10s, as well as a stage win in 2020, on his palmarès, so another top showing isn't out of the question.

Bahrain Victorious

• Team leaders: Pello Bilbao
• Objective: GC, stage wins
• Riders to watch: Santiago Buitrago, Matej Mohorič

What Bahrain Victorious lacks in a single stand-out GC contender, they make up for in strength in depth. Following Antonio Tiberi’s fifth place at the Giro d’Italia, they’re hoping to extend their run of top-six finishes on GC to a fifth consecutive Grand Tour and have several riders potentially capable of doing so.

Their best candidate is Pello Bilbao , based on his performance at the Tour last year and in stage races so far in 2024. He was sixth place last year and has been building nicely towards that level again this year with sixth-place finishes at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Itzulia Basque Country, plus third at the UAE Tour in between.

Santiago Buitrago is poised to make his Tour debut. He brings with him considerable expectations off the back of his stage wins and top-ten finish at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, respectively, as well as his impressive showing at Paris-Nice earlier this year.

It’s also hoped that Jack Haig can rediscover some form ahead of the race, while even veteran Wout Poels could post a high GC finish based on his recent third and sixth-place finishes at the Tour de Hongrie and Tour of the Alps, respectively.

Poels and Bilbao were two of the three different riders to win a stage at last year’s Tour, along with Matej Mohorič, who will again be using his nous and engine to target breakaways. The Slovenian has three Tour stage wins on his career palmarès and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him add another win here.

With Phil Bauhaus , a debutant last summer, also posing a threat in the bunch sprints, Bahrain Victorious has the resources to target a win on almost every stage.

• Team leaders: Guillaume Martin
• Riders to watch: Bryan Coquard, Ion Izagirre.

For the first time in many years, Cofidis can go into a Tour de France without being badgered about questions of whether this will be the year they at last manage to claim a stage win.

By triumphing on stage 2 of last year’s edition, Victor Lafay ended the team’s 15-year drought and then Ion Izagirre added another stage a week later.

Lafay has since left for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale but Izagirre remains and is set to ride, with stage wins on hilly and mountainous days again likely to be the target.

Guillaume Martin will ride his eighth consecutive Tour de France and will be the team’s leading GC hope. He’s placed eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th in past appearances, but has never won a stage, so he may prioritise trying to take one from a breakaway.

Bryan Coquard is another rider without a Tour stage win to his name despite many near misses, including a couple of fourth-place finishes last year. He’ll be the team’s man for the bunch sprints, especially on hillier days that weaken the specialists.

While these riders bring experience, 25-year-old Axel Zingle has form and potential. He’s been consistently in contention for multiple semi-Classics over the last few months and could win from a breakaway if he picks the right move.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale

• Team leader: Felix Gall
• Rider to watch: Sam Bennett, Benoît Cosnefroy

In the middle of an exceptional season, in which they have already racked up more victories than they managed in the last two seasons combined, expectations are high for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale as they head into the biggest race of the year.

Although the men who delivered stage wins (Valentin Paret-Peintre and Andrea Vendrame) and fourth overall (Ben O’Connor) at the Giro d’Italia will sit this one out as they rest and recover, the core of the other names who have made 2024 such a success are set to be present.

Benoît Cosnefroy has been the team’s biggest contributor with seven of their 23 wins (as of the end of May) and will target the hilly stages, while Dorion Godon will be a candidate in reduced bunch sprints, having won two sprint finishes at the Tour de Romandie in late April.

In the pure flat finishes, Sam Bennett will still be their main candidate, having recently shown signs of returning to form with a haul of wins and GC at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.

Felix Gall might have had a quieter season to date, but he'll still be the team’s main man for the mountains and their GC candidate.  He finished eighth overall last year after breaking through with a series of good performances in the spring, while he'll also be hoping to replicate his breakaway stage win at Courchevel.

DSM-Firmenich PostNL

• Team leader: Fabio Jakobsen, Romain Bardet
• Rider to watch: Warren Barguil

For the Tour de France, DSM-Firmenich PostNL are making the unusual move of deploying the same two leaders as they did at the Giro d’Italia.

In the bunch sprints, Fabio Jakobsen will again line up as he continues to rediscover his mojo. The Dutchman still only has one win to his name (at the Tour of Turkey) since signing for the team this year, and he failed to get involved in the Giro bunch sprints before abandoning during the second week. However, the team still retains faith that he can reach the level that saw him win a stage on his Tour debut two years ago.

Romain Bardet fared better at the Giro than Jakobsen, finishing ninth overall while coming close to a stage win on Bocca della Selva. Though he has made the top 10 in all but two of the eight Tours he has finished throughout his career, his excursions in Italy may mean he targets stage wins this time instead.

With 11 wins to their name – including just one WorldTour race and only three outside the Tour of Turkey – DSM need some big results. That means that another French climber, Warren Barguil , will likely be given the freedom to attack and get into breakaways.

EF Education-EasyPost

• Team leader: Richard Carapaz
• Rider to watch: Neilson Powless, Ben Healy

Last season was the first in EF Education-Easy Post ’s 16-year history that they did not place a rider in the top 10 of any of the Grand Tours. That run continued at the Giro d’Italia last month, where they aggressively targeted stage wins rather than GC via constant attacks, and were eventually rewarded in the final week with success from Georg Steinhauser in the Dolomites.

Nevertheless, they intend to strive to finish as high as possible at the Tour with Richard Carapaz as their leader. The 2021 podium finisher and 2019 Giro champion was signed in 2023 to do precisely that but he endured an under-par season last year and is only just showing signs of some form recently, with a stage win and seventh overall at the Tour de Romandie. 

With Carapaz’s form still uncertain, there ought to be plenty of scope for the rest of the line-up to chase their own personal ambitions. Neilson Powless , for instance, could either chase GC as he did in 2023 (when he finished 12th), or stage wins and the polka-dot jersey as he did last year.

Irish puncheur Ben Healy is set to make his Tour debut, and if his Giro debut from last year and performances in the Classics are anything to go by, we can expect him to attack at every opportunity.

Alberto Bettiol ’s form during the spring suggests he could add a Tour stage win to the one he managed at the 2021 Giro, while Marijn van den Berg has also earned a spot on the team thanks to his impressive early season performances.

Groupama-FDJ

• Team leader: David Gaudu
• Rider to watch: Stefan Küng

A new dawn awaits Groupama-FDJ as they embark upon the first Tour de France of the post-Thibaut Pinot era. Before retiring at the end of last year, Pinot had been the fulcrum of the team, appearing for them in all but two of the last 12 editions — sometimes with great success, other times with great heartbreak.

David Gaudu will seek to fill the void left by Pinot, as he has for several years now. Fourth overall in 2022 remains his highest finish at any Grand Tour, and though a repeat of that looks ambitious given his stuttering form this year, he’s still dreaming of a podium finish.

If Gaudu doesn’t have the legs to mount a serious GC challenge, targeting stage wins may be the team’s optimum approach, and they have plenty of riders capable of delivering on that front.

Rising star Lenny Martinez misses the race in favour of the Vuelta a España, but 21-year-old Romain Grégoire is set to make his Tour debut on the back of some very impressive results this year, including a stage win at Itzulia Basque Country

Valentin Madouas has become a recognisable face from recent Tours without quite winning a stage, though he certainly has the talent to do so. Stefan Küng will, as ever, be a candidate for both the time trials as well as select breakaways.

Ineos Grenadiers

• Team leaders: Carlos Rodríguez
• Objective: GC
• Rider to watch: Tom Pidcock, Egan Bernal

Last year was only the second time in the last decade that Ineos Grenadiers failed to put a rider on the GC podium at the Tour de France. Even since their run of yellow jersey-winning Tours came to an end in 2020, up until then they had still managed to crack the podium through Richard Carapaz (in 2021) and Geraint Thomas (in 2022), but last year their highest finisher, Carlos Rodríguez , finished further down in fifth place.

Still, that result means Rodríguez is the obvious choice to lead the team’s 2024 GC bid, and the 23-year-old has bolstered his status with overall victory at the Tour de Romandie and second place behind Juan Ayuso at Itzulia Basque Country.

Also in the squad are other, more wildcard options for GC. Geraint Thomas would usually be a dependable candidate, but it’s unclear how fresh he will be, having dug deep to seal third place at the Giro d’Italia , while Tom Pidcock has stated that he intends to concentrate on the GC rather than stage wins, despite failing to make the top ten last year.

And what of Egan Bernal ? The 2019 champion has for the first time since his horror crash two and a half years ago shown form approaching his best, with third overall at Volta a Catalunya and top tens at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie, but it remains to be seen if he can manage a sustained GC bid over three weeks.

Michał Kwiatkowski and Laurens De Plus will be on hand to help the aforementioned trio achieve their GC goals, even if the Belgian could harbour ambitions of his own after racing to an unexpected and impressive fifth overall at the Critérium du Daupihiné. 

Intermarché-Wanty

• Team leader: Biniam Girmay, Louis Meintjes
• Rider to watch: Georg Zimmermann

Biniam Girmay returns to the Tour de France hoping for a positive turn in fortunes. So far his season has been blighted by interruptions, with promising form in the early spring classics halted by a crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, and another crash spelling the end of his Giro d’Italia one day after finishing third in Fossano.

He’s since returned to winning ways with victory at the Circuit Franco-Belge , and looks on course to arrive at the Tour in form. As Intermarché-Wanty ’s star, the onus is on the Eritrean to make an impact and he has the chance to make history as the first-ever Black African to win a stage of the Tour de France. His consistency and versatility also make him a candidate for the green jersey.

Like Girmay, who failed to show his best self at last year’s Tour, Louis Meintjes will be hoping to return to the form that saw him finish seventh overall in 2022 rather than crash out last year.

Meintjes will be the team’s GC leader, but the rest of the line-up will have the freedom to get into break and chase stage wins, much as Georg Zimmermann (who was second on stage 10) did last year. Rouleurs like Laurenz Rex and Hugo Page might fancy their chances of winning a stage this way, too.

Israel-Premier Tech

• Team leader: Stephen Williams
• Rider to watch: Derek Gee, Pascal Ackermann

Israel-Premier Tech 's high ambitions from 2021, when they gambled on signing Chris Froome in the hope that he could recover from his horror crash two years earlier and revive his Tour-winning form of old, have since been significantly tempered.

Now no longer a WorldTour team, they've instead depended upon a wildcard to earn entry into the Tour de France, and their hopes are limited to chasing stage wins rather than mixing it up in the battle for the yellow jersey.

Froome himself is still fighting for selection. He’s eager to avoid a repeat of last year when he was left out of the Tour line-up, but his hopes of proving himself worthy were compromised when a fractured wrist sustained during Tirreno-Adriatico forced him to miss almost three months of racing.

His compatriot Stephen Williams is enjoying a terrific season, winning both La Flèche Wallonne and the Tour Down Under. He'll therefore be a top contender for stage wins in the hilly terrain.

The team should have a presence in the sprints, where Tour debutant Pascal Ackermann aims to add to his Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España stage wins and complete the Grand Tour clean sweep.

The rest of the line-up will be made up of stage hunters such as Dylan Teuns (who won here in both 2019 and 2021), and Derek Gee . The Canadian, who last year burst onto the scene with a series of breakaway second places at the Giro d'Italia, makes his Tour debut in the form of his life after scoring a stage win and third overall at the Critérium du Dauphné .

Jayco-AlUla

• Team leader: Simon Yates, Dylan Groenewegen
• Riders to watch: Michael Matthews

For a second successive season, Jayco-AlUla leader Simon Yates has foregone his usual Giro d’Italia participation in order to concentrate more committedly on the Tour de France.

Last year, this approach turned out to be a success, as he came to the Tour with some of the best legs of his career, eventually finishing fourth overall, and only missing out on a podium finish by 87 seconds to his brother Adam. His build-up to this year’s Tour isn’t so encouraging, however, having not shown much form since winning the AlUla Tour in the winter.

Jayco-AlUla aren’t putting all their eggs in the single basket of Yates’ GC bid. Dylan Groenewegen will be led out in the sprints by the likes of Luka Mezgec to see if he can add to his five Tour career stage wins, having come close last year with a second and third-place finish at Moulins and Paris, respectively.

On days too hilly for Groenewegen, Michael Matthews will step up, and may also try to get into some breakaways as he did to win a stage in 2022. He looked in fantastic form this spring, placing second at Milan-San Remo and, before being relegated for deviating from his line, third at the Tour of Flanders.

• Team leader: Mads Pedersen, Tao Geoghegan Hart
• Rider to watch: Giulio Ciccone

As a team boasting a diverse range of talent, Lidl-Trek could feasibly compete for all three of the major jerseys.

For the yellow jersey, they have Tao Geoghegan Hart . He’s only done the Tour de France once in his career and is eager to target GC here while still in his prime years. Victory might seem implausible, but that was also the case when he triumphed at the Giro d’Italia in 2020.

Mads Pedersen finished a distant second to Jasper Philipsen in the points classification last year, though he did score his second stage win in as many years. He's shown the kind of excellent form throughout this year to suggest he could bridge that gap, as well as add to his stage win tally.

As for the king of the mountains, Giulio Ciccone won that classification last year and will now be present to potentially defend that title after saddle sore surgery forced him to skip the Giro d’Italia.

Lidl-Trek might even have had a prime candidate for the white jersey if Matias Skjelmose had opted to ride, but he plans to skip the Tour and save himself for a Vuelta a España overall bid instead.

Lotto-Dstny

• Team leader : Arnaud De Lie
• Rider to watch: Maxim Van Gils

Compared to other teams, Lotto-Dstny have a laser-focussed approach when it comes to the Tour de France. Not only will it be their first Grand Tour of the season, having opted out of the Giro d’Italia, but they have also narrow down their ambitions to focus exclusively on stage wins, having not placed a rider in the top 10 for 14 years.

They haven’t had success on these terms recently, though, with no stage win to their name since Caleb Ewan’s victories in the sprints during the 2020 edition. The Australian has led the team for the past five Tours, bringing much success initially with multiple stage wins in 2019 and 2020, but nothing in the three editions since then.

He’s now left the team for Jayco-AlUla, and taking his place as Lotto’s leader will be Arnaud De Lie . Much is hoped from the 22-year-old debutant based on his rapid rise over the past two years, and he'll be especially threatening on hillier days where the pure sprinters will struggle.

However, the Tour will be a big step up from the level of competition he’s used to, and he’s only recently r eturned to form after suffering from Lyme disease during the spring.

De Lie might be the most hyped name, but another young Belgian, Maxim Van Gils , has been the team’s best performer so far this season. He finished second on the stage to Grand Colombier last year and has since established himself as one of the very best puncheurs in the world following podium finishes at Strade Bianche and La Flèche Wallonne, and a fourth place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

2023 super-combativity winner Victor Campanaerts is also set to ride again, though his season to date has been a quiet one.

• Team leader: Enric Mas
• Rider to watch: Rémi Cavagna

2024 has so far been another difficult season for Movistar , with Pelayo Sánchez’s stage victory at the Giro d’Italia their only win at WorldTour level all year.

That doesn’t bode well for their prospects at the Tour de France, where they have, in recent years, laboured to reach the levels of the past. They’ve now gone two successive Tours without placing a rider in the top 10, having done so in eight of the nine previous editions.

If any of their roster is to break that duck, it’ll be Enric Mas . The Spaniard has generally been one of the most dependable GC riders of his generation, making the top six in six of his last eight Grand Tour appearances.

However, he has been forced to abandon both of his last two Tours de France, with his participation last summer ending on the first day following a crash.

So far, Mas has enjoyed a solid season without causing too much of a stir, finishing fifth overall at Volta a Catalunya and sixth at the Tour de Romandie. Considering that he normally ups his game for the Grand Tours, that’s encouraging.

New signing Rémi Cavagna is a dependable name in the time trials, breakaways and in helping team leaders on the flat, though the Frenchman hasn't scored a WorldTour win of his own since 2021. Returning star Nairo Quintana won't make the race, meanwhile, after breaking his hand in a crash at the Tour de Suisse.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

• Team leaders: Primož Roglič
• Riders to watch: Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov

For the 2024 season, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe signed Primož Roglič with the primary objective of winning the Tour de France.

The team might never before have made the podium at any previous edition in their 10-year history, but Roglič has the calibre to challenge for yellow, as well as the desire, having moved from Visma-Lease a Bike for that specific purpose.

The Slovenian has left it to the last minute to show the kind of form he'll need to challenge for the yellow jersey, with his Critérium du Dauphiné victory his best showing of 2024 so far. The week-long warm-up race marked his first race since the heavy crash suffered by him, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard at Itzulia Basque Country.

His two stage wins at the late summit finishes at Le Collet d'Allevard and Samöens 1600 were his first since the opening day at Itzulia, though a shaky final stage showing – where he shed almost a minute to Matteo Jorgenson and only held onto yellow by eight seconds – could provoke some cause for concern. 

Roglič’s presence means last year’s leader Jai Hindley — who enjoyed a day in the yellow jersey after winning stage five in Laruns before back pain contributed to a slip down to seventh on GC — will be demoted to the role of super-domestique.

While Hindley’s form has tailed away since his impressive third-place finish at Tirreno-Adriatico, Aleksandr Vlasov might believe he has the results to justify potential co-leadership status. With a second place at Tour de Romandie, sixth at Volta a Catalunya and fifth at Paris-Nice, he has been among the team's top performers this year. At the Dauphiné, he proved a reliable and strong deputy for Roglič.

Elsewhere, the rest of the team is geared exclusively towards targeting the yellow jersey, with Champs-Elysées-winning sprinter Jordi Meeus missing out on selection as the team looks to domestiques Danny van Poppel , Nico Denz , Marco Haller , Matteo Sobrero , and Bob Jungels .

Soudal-QuickStep

• Team leader: Remco Evenepoel
• Rider to watch: Mikel Landa, Ilan Van Wilder

In a drastic change of approach, Soudal-QuickStep have abandoned their usual Tour de France strategy of targeting bunch sprints and stage wins, and instead are going all in on Remco Evenepoel ’s push for GC.

This is set to be Evenepoel’s debut Tour, and it’s a hugely anticipated one, given the already enormous star profile he’s built for himself through many superb performances and major results including two Liège–Bastogne–Liège victories, the world title in 2022, and the GC at the Vuelta a España that same year.

His build-up has been compromised after a crash and fractured collarbone at Itzulia Basque Country stalled the momentum that had already seen him win Volta ao Algarve and finish second at Paris-Nice, but the plan remains the same.

His first race back, the Critérium du Dauphiné, saw him score a dominant time trial win, though he faded hard in the closing three mountain stages, losing 2:58 to Primož Roglič. That will be a major cause for concern heading into July.

As part of the team building around Evenepoel, Mikel Landa has been signed up as a super-domestique. The Spaniard has performed this role in the past – at Sky to help Chris Froome win the 2017 Tour de France, and at Movistar for Richard Carapaz’s 2019 Giro d’Italia triumph. Second at Volta a Catalunya and 10th at the Dauphiné suggests he has the legs to do something similar this year, too

Landa will be joined by Evenepoel’s familiar right-hand man, Ilan Van Wilder . The Belgian has ridden in support of Evenepoel many times, most notably during his triumphant Vuelta a España effort two years ago and should be in solid form, too, having placed fourth at the Tour de Romandie.

The team’s focus on GC means there will be no room for in-form sprinter Tim Merlier, despite his success at the Giro d’Italia, nor even home favourite Julian Alaphilippe, as the remaining spots instead go to domestiques including Yves Lampaert , Casper Pedersen , Louis Vervaeke and Gianni Moscon .

TotalEnergies

• Team leader: Mathieu Burgaudeau
• Rider to watch: Steff Cras

When TotalEnergies signed Peter Sagan for the 2022 season, they hoped the Slovakian would be the star name to make them protagonists at the Tour de France. His first edition for them was typically consistent, finishing in the top six of five different stages, but lacking the edge of his heyday; by the following year his powers had seriously waned, and he only made the top ten once.

Sagan now having retired, the team must embark on a new direction. They’ve struggled at the Tour in recent years, and haven’t won a stage since Lilian Calmejane in 2017.

It will be hard for them to break that duck this year. Of the four non-WorldTour entries, they probably have the weakest roster, as reflected by the fact that they’d only won three races this season as of the beginning of June.

Consequently, they’re strategy will be to buy daily tickets in the lottery that is getting into the breakaway. Mathieu Burgaudeau is a particular specialist at this, having finished second and third on stages of last year’s race, and placed second in the King of the Mountains classification at this year’s Paris-Nice riding similarly aggressively.

The likes of Pierre Latour, Anthony Turgis, Geoffrey Soupe and Alexis Vuillermoz all provide experienced options for TotalEnergies to potentially select. And though the team don’t tend to target GC anymore, Stef Cras ’ 11th place finish at the Vuelta a España last year suggests he could become their first rider to crack the top ten since Pierre Rolland in 2015 — although his participation remains up in the air due to his involvement in the horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country.

UAE Team Emirates

• Team leaders: Tadej Pogačar
• Rider to watch: Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso

Phase one of UAE Team Emirates ’ great ambition to win the Giro/Tour double this year with Tadej Pogačar was a success, with the Slovenian waltzing to an enormous victory at the first Grand Tour . Now, it’s time for the hard part.

Pogačar won the Giro at a canter, almost 10 minutes clear of second place as he won a staggering six stages without ever appearing to have to stretch himself. But at the Tour, he’ll be up against a much stronger field of GC candidates, none of whom have the accumulated fatigue of having already completed a Grand Tour this season – even if Evenepoel, Roglič, and Vingegaard are all making comebacks from that brutal Itzulia crash.

UAE Team Emirates provided ample support to him at the Giro, with Rafał Majka and Vegard Stake Laengen impressing in particular, but the team is set to ring in the changes with an all-new line-up at the Tour.

On paper, it’s a much stronger group of riders. In Adam Yates , they have the man who finished third last summer, even if his form this year is in more doubt having performed only in patches since winning the UAE Tour in February. Juan Ayuso provides another potential GC option, making his Tour debut on the back of a podium finish at the Vuelta a España and overall victory at Itzulia Basque Country earlier this year. 

More climbing firepower will come from João Almeida , another rider who would slot in as a GC leader at most of the other teams in the peloton. Elsewhere, Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler bolster the climbing line-up along with Tim Wellens and Nils Politt , the latter pairing set to feature in the engine room during flatter stages.

The team will be hoping Ayuso, Sivakov, Wellens, and Politt recover well from a mass spill at the Critérium du Dauphiné, with Ayuso forced out of the race with pain in both hips as a result.

Uno-X Mobility

• Team leader: Alexander Kristoff
• Riders to watch: Andreas Leknessund, Magnus Cort

After making a successful Tour de France debut last year, Uno-X Mobility have been invited back by ASO as a wild card entry again.

Last year, they impressed by being active in the breakaways, with Tobias Halland Johannessen enjoying particular success with three top-six finishes. He’s set to return this year and on the back of some good form, too, having finished sixth at La Flèche Wallonne during the spring.

This time, they’ll have more strings to their bow. In new signing Andreas Leknessund , they have a rider capable of challenging for GC, even if he hasn’t yet shown the form this season that saw him finish eighth overall at the Giro d’Italia last year. And Magnus Cort brings considerable experience as a two-time former stage winner at the Tour, and will be dangerous from an intermediate stage break or reduced bunch sprint.

They will also again have Alexander Kristoff for the bunch sprints, who, though poised to turn 37 during the Tour, has been winning regularly this past month or so and could have it in him to add to his four career Tour stage wins. 

But they are also sure to be one of the main presences in the breakaways, with Jonas Abrahamsen posing a particular threat, having recently won the Brussels Cycling Classic that way.

Visma-Lease a Bike

• Team leader: Jonas Vingegaard
• Rider to watch: Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert

As the Tour approaches, Visma-Lease a Bike are still sweating on the fitness of Jonas Vingegaard . The defending champion’s participation was plunged into doubt when he crashed out of Itzulia Basque Country in April and hasn’t raced since. He has recently returned to training at high altitude, though his exact racing level won't become apparent before the Tour.

Given the severity of that fall, the fact he has a genuine chance of returning in time feels miraculous, but doing so with the form to win the yellow jersey again will be an even bigger ask.

Prior to that crash, Vingegaard had started the season in intimidatingly good form, triumphing at both Tirreno-Adriatico and O Gran Camiño while claiming five stage wins in total, and would surely be the overwhelming favourite for yellow were it not for his fitness and form doubts. 

Should the Dane fail to recover in time, it might be up to Sepp Kuss to fill his boots. The peerless climbing super-domestique proved himself as a Grand Tour GC rider by winning the Vuelta a España last year, though he hasn’t shown anything like that form so far this year. On top of that, he abandoned the Critérium du Dauphiné before the final day of racing as he wasn't feeling 100% .

Like Vingegaard, Wout van Aert , too, is a doubt as he tries to recover in time from the injuries that ruled him out of both the Giro d’Italia and the major spring Classics, though he has returned to racing at the Tour of Norway.

He hopes to join other stalwarts of the previous yellow jersey-winning campaigns Tiesj Benoot , Dylan van Baarle and Christophe Laporte . Matteo Jorgenson will make for a very useful addition to the line-up, bringing a diverse range of talents that has this year seen him win Paris-Nice and Dwars door Vlaanderen and score a surprising second overall at the Dauphiné.

• International edition
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Tour de France 2023: Jonas Vingegaard to win as Pogacar claims stage 20 – as it happened

Despite Thibaut Pinot’s heroics, Tadej Pogacar won the stage while Jonas Vingegaard wrapped up victory barring accident or incident in tomorrow’s final stage

• Read Jeremy Whittle’s stage 20 report
• 22 Jul 2023 Pogacar takes stage while Vingegaard seals win
• 22 Jul 2023 The top five on General Classification
• 22 Jul 2023 The top five on stage 20
• 22 Jul 2023 Tadej Pogacar wins stage 20!
• 22 Jul 2023 Thibaut Pinot is dropped ...
• 22 Jul 2023 Tadej Pogacar attacks!
• 22 Jul 2023 Giulio Ciccone is King of the Mountains
• 22 Jul 2023 Carlos Rodriguez crashes!
• 22 Jul 2023 They're off and racing on stage 20 ...
• 22 Jul 2023 The stage 20 roll-out is under way
• 22 Jul 2023 Now that's what I call humility ...
• 22 Jul 2023 Who's wearing what jersey?
• 22 Jul 2023 Mohoric wins while Vingegaard faces more question
• 22 Jul 2023 Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering (133.5km)

Pogacar takes stage while Vingegaard seals win

Stage 20 report: Tadej Pogacar won the final mountain stage of the 2023 Tour de France to Le Markstein, as Jonas Vingegaard sealed back-to-back wins in the French race, barring accident or illness between now and the end of tomorrow’s stage in Paris.

More from Tadej Pogacar: “Asked what his worst memory of this year’s Tour will be, he laughs. “Probably when [his teammate] Marc Soler kept looking back at me on the Col de la Loze with his scary eyes.”

Tadej Pogacar speaks: “Today I finally feel like myself again and it was just really good from the start to the finish to feel good again after many days suffering,” he says. “To pull if off in the finish line, I am super, super happy.”

Upon being asked if he might like another week added to the Tour he laughs and says “No, let’s go home.” He goes on to thank Adam Yates for his lead-out for the final sprint.

The top five on General Classification

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 79hr 16min 38sec

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +7min 29sec

Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) +10min 56sec

Simon Yates (Jayco-Ulula) +12min 23sec

Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +12min 57sec

The top five on stage 20

Tadaj Pogacar (UAE EMirates) 3hr 27min 18sec

Felix Gall (AG2R-Citreon)

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla))

Adam Yates (UAE Emirates)

Tadej Pogacar wins stage 20!

Vingegaard launchers an attack with 300m to go but Pogacar pulls clear of the man in the yellow jersey and wins by several bike-lengths. Behind him in the yellow jersey, Vingegaard rolls over the line and will be be confirmed a worthy winner of the Tour de France in Paris tomorrow barring serious illness or an accident.

1km to go: You’d fancy Pogacar to win the stage from here but it’s no certainty ...

2km to go: Adam Yates is riding for Pogacar at the front of the lead quintet.

3km to go: Simon and Adam Yates catch up with our lead trio. Four of the top five on GC are also in the top five of this stage. Simon Yates takes over at the front. Barguil and Pinot are 35 seconds back. Rafal Majka, Carlos Rodriguez, Jai Hindley and a few others are 48 seconds back.

6km to go: Gall and Vingegaard are deep in conversation with Pogacar right behind them. Vingegaard keeps peeking over his shoulder to see what the Slovenian is up to. “Do you think he does that when he goes to bed at night?” asks Robbie McEwen on Eurosport. “Behind the door, under the bed … where’s Tadej?”

7km to go: Gall leads the front three over the top of the final climb of this year’s Tour. Vingegaard and Pogacar are keeping tabs on each other while the Yates brothers are just 14 seconds behind. Could one of them nick the stage? Cofidis rider Victor Lafay has abandoned.

9km to go: Our lead trio, Pogacar, Gall and Pogacar, peddle onwards and upwards, with the AG2R-Citreon rider leading the way. Behind them, a gendarme on a motorbike is doing his utmost to control the exuberant crowd with blasts of his siren and an occasional shove.

10km to go: Gall is leading our front trio up the climb, when you could be forgiven for thinking he’d tuck in behind Vingegaard and Pogacar and let them do the donkey work at the front. Adam and Simon Yates are about to pass Pinot, Barguil and Pidcock. Simon Yates has moved up to fourth from fifth on the virtual GC leaderboard. Tom Pidcock is now trying to keep Carlos Rodriguez, fourth overall on GC, in touch with the Yates brothers.

Thibaut Pinot is dropped ...

11km to go: The dream is dead but let the record show that Thibaut Pinot went down swinging haymakers. He’s been dropped along with Pidcock and Barguil. Felix Gall, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar lead the stage.

12km to go: With four kilometres to the top of the climb, we have a lead group of six: Pinot, Gall, Pidcock, Pogacar, Vingegaard and Barguil. The Yates brothers are 20 seconds behind them.

13km to go: Pidcock and Barguil catch Pinot, with Vingegaard, Pogacar and Gall looming in the rear-view mirror.

Tadej Pogacar attacks!

The Slovenian attacks off the front of the yellow jersey group and Jonas Vingegaard latches on to his wheel. They’re joined by Felix Gall.

13km to go: Onwards and upwards goes Pinot, with Tom Pidcock and Warguil just 12 seconds behind him. More worryingly, the yellow jersey group is on the hunt and the gap is down to a minute.

15km to go: Should he make it to the top first, Pinot’s work won’t be finished. There are another 8.2km of knobbly up-and-down to negotiate before the finish line.

17km to go: Pinot puts another 10 seconds into the yellow jersey group on the descent with the final climb of this year’s Tour looming. It’s the brutish category one Col du Platzerwasel: 1,193m high, 7.1km in length and with an average gradient of 8.4%.

“It’s a series of really steep step-ups with gradients in the red zone and gradients in the black zone,” says Robbie McEwen on Eurosport. Pinot hits the climb with an advantage of 1min 10sec over the yellow jersey group.

20km to go: Wearing the same Groupama-FDJ colours as Pinot, David Gaudu crashes on the descent but remounts and continues. Sepp Kuss has lost eight minutes and looks a certainty to exit the top 10 on GC.

21km to go: “It could be his last time around here and it’s Thibaut’s Turbo Time!” writes Bill Preston. “He’s getting a proper stomp on and making a real show of thrilling heroics. A win would make his year, and maybe he won’t retire. I hope he doesn’t.”

24km to go: Jumbo Visma are at the front of the yellow jersey group, with Wilco Kelderman leading the way and Jonas Vingegaard tucked in behind him.

27km to go: Allez Thibaut! Riding on his home roads and fuelled by fan fervour, Pinot maintains his 90-second lead as he crests the top of the Petit Ballon. There are thousands of fans cheering him on as he begins the treacherous descent. How must he be feeling?

28km to go: Pinot has a 20 second lead over Tom Pidcock and Warren Barguil, and a lead of 1min 20sec over the yellow jersey group, who are about to swallow up Giulio Ciccone. Pinot is two kilometres from the top of the climb and a massive, rapturous crowd are showering him with encouragement and … well, love. It’s quite an emotional sight.

29km to go: The yellow jersey group has been obliterated on this climb, while Pinot has a 14-second gap over Tom Pidcock. The French crowd are absolutely loving the sight of their homeboy Pinot in first place on this stage and the rider is approaching the corner named in his honour that is wedged with his fans. The fans are 20 people deep in places on the roadside but everyone is behaving impeccably.

30km to go: Thibaut Pinot strikes out on his own, leaving his fellow escapee in his wake as he continues toi make his way up the mountain. He may not get the fairytale win he hopes for but if it doesn’t happen for him, this warrior will certainly make sure he is carried out on his shield. “I don’t think there’ll be any cadeaux on this stage,” says Sean Kelly on Eurosport. ‘Cadeaux’ being the French word for ‘gifts’.

32km to go: With more than six kilometres of the final climb to go, Jonas Vingegaard is getting isolated in the yellow jersey group as, one by one, his Jumbo-Visma teammates buckle under the pressure being applied by Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Emirates team. They seem desperate to win today’s stage. The gap to the Thibaut quintet is now under a minute.

32km to go: Back in the yellow jersey group, UAE Emirates rider Marc Soler takes up position at the front and is joined by his teammate Rafal Majka. The gap is 1min 27sec.

33km to go: With 8.7km to go up the latest climb, the front group has splintered as Thibaut piles on the pressure. Tom Pidcock, Warren Barguil, Giulio Ciccone and Valentin Madouas are still with him. Madouas is a teammate of Pinot’s.

35km to go: The next climb is the Petit Ballon, which doesn’t look particularly petit from where I’m sitting. It’s 9.3km in length, plateaus at 1,163m and has an average gradient of 8%.

The lead group have a lead of 1min 19sec over the yellow jersey group, while the stragglers in today’s green jersey grupetto are 9min 50sec off the pace. At the roadside, the crowds are out in force to support their local hero Thibaut Pinot, who is among the 10 leaders. There are thousands out to cheer him on at a certain section of the course.

50km to go: “I’ve been thinking about the scepticism surrounding Vingegaard’s dominance and I do wonder whether he’s just head and shoulders above a relatively (and I do mean ‘relatively’) weak group of GC contenders this year,” writes Paul Weir.

“There’s no Froome any more, nor Nibali, Thomas, Quintana, Valverde, Dumoulin or Roglic. Pogacar’s build up was hindered by injury, and Bernal is still a long way short of where he was in 2019.

“Among the rest of the peloton only three other previous podium finishers started the tour: Carapaz and Bardet have abandoned and Uran is over three and a half hours down. Rodriguez and Hindley are racing their first Tour de France and the Yates brothers’ best results here came in 2016 (Adam) and 2017 (Simon): neither were expected to seriously challenge the top two.

“No-one really knew how badly affected Pogacar would be by his injury and it took until the third week for him to fall away. How much of a surprise are the time gaps from Vingegaard to everyone else, really? None of that takes away from what, as you say, has been a brilliantly entertaining race.”

I wouldn’t really disagree with any of that and am more than happy to give Vingegaard the benefit of the doubt for now, but I believe that in terms of average speeds, this has been the fifth fastest Tour de France in the race’s history.

51km to go: Following his crash earlier today, Sepp Kuss has lost four minutes on the yellow jersey group and already dropped a place in the “virtual” GC. Through no fault of his own, his chances of staying in the top 10 are not looking good with back-to-back category one climbs ahoy. Let’s hope he at least gets to finish the race as the American has had a wonderful Tour working on behalf of Jonas Vingegaard.

Giulio Ciccone is King of the Mountains

Resplendent in his polka-dot helmet, shirt, shorts, gloves and socks, the Italian crests the fourth climb of the day and guarantees that he’ll be presented with the King of the Mountains award in Paris tomorrow evening as long as he finishes the race.

He punches the air in delight as he becomes the first Italian to win that particular shirt since Claudio “El Diablo” Chiapucci in 1992. Chapeau!

56km to go: Krists Neilands is passed by a Tour moto and draws an imaginary cross in the air as he glances into the camera. He’s done.

57km to go: The riders are tackling the category three Col de la Schlucht, which is 1,139m high, 4.3km of length and has an average gradient of 5.4%.

60km to go: With their eye on a stage win, wannabe Pinot party-poopers UAE Emirates are doing the donkey work at the front of the yellow jersey group. The gap is only 1min 04sec, far less than Pinot would like.

63km to go: We have a group of 10 riders at the front of the race, Thibaut Pinot among them. He couldn’t? Could he? Fingers and toes crossed for what would be a real fairytale ending to his career.

68km to go: Giulio Ciccone is first over the top again, taking another five KOM points. If he can repeat the feat at the next climb, he is guaranteed to keep the King of the Mountains jersey. He owes his teammates Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose a big drink for the fine job they did today, helping him keep the jersey with a minimum of amount of fuss or stress.

69km to go: With the gradient at 18% on this short, sharp climb, the Ciccone group is joined by the great Thibaut Pinot, who would be an incredibly popular winner of today’s stage. The yellow jersey group is a minute back.

70km to go: Evidently suffering from the injuries he suffered in his crash, Sepp Kuss is in trouble and has been dropped. His place in the top 10 is at risk but he has over six minutes on Guillaume Martin, who is 11th on GC. “On Peacock, they are saying that Kuss went down and Rodriguez went over him,” writes Joe Pearson.

71km to go: Next up is the category two Col de Grosse Pierre and Giulio Ciccone can all but guarantee himself the polka-dot jersey if he is first over the top. He will absolutely assure himself of the iconic shirt at close of play tomorrow in Paris if he is first over the top of both it and the category three climb that follows.

76km to go: According to Eurosport, Felix Gall said this morning that his priority is to protect his place in the top 10 on General Classification rather than trying to beat Ciccone to the polka-dot jersey, a comment which must have been music to the Italian’s ears. Mind you, Gall was there or thereabouts on the first climb so he could have been bluffing, only to run out of energy since.

77km to go: Ciccone takes the points with an uncontested ride over the top of the Col de la Croix des Moinats.

78km to go: The road is narrow, somewhere between one and two cars wide, and the gap from the leaders to the yellow jersey group is 33 seconds. There are several riders on the road between the two groups. Ciccone looks set fair to take the points at the top of this climb too, to increase his advantage over Felix Gall in the KOM classification to 16 points.

79km to go: The word from the Ineos Grenadiers team car is that Carlos Roriguez is suffering no serious ill-effects following his crash. His many wounds are superficial, it seems, which is good news for him.

• Tour de France 2023
• Tour de France

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The Tour de France will start from Barcelona in 2026

By the associated press | posted - june 18, 2024 at 5:55 a.m..

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

PARIS — The 2026 edition of the Tour de France will start from the Spanish city of Barcelona. The host city of the 1992 Olympic Games has previously hosted stages of cycling's biggest race, but never its start. The 113th edition of three-week event will kick off on July 4, 2026. It will feature two stages in the Catalonia region and a third that will start there and finish in France. This year's race sets off from the Italian city of Florence. In 2025, riders will start their journey on French soil, from the northern city of Lille.

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Tour de France   Who will win the white jersey of the 2024 Tour de France?

• Thread starter Netserk
• Start date Yesterday at 4:52 PM
• Professional Road Racing

Who will win the white jersey of the 2024 Tour de France?

Remco evenepoel, carlos rodriguez, matteo jorgenson, thomas pidcock, santiago buitrago.

• Total voters 40
• This poll will close: Jun 29, 2024 .

• Yesterday at 4:52 PM

• Yesterday at 4:56 PM

If he’s in shape, Evenepoel should win it  

• Yesterday at 5:02 PM

Jorgenson wins it.  

• Yesterday at 5:17 PM

That could be an exciting competition. And it's possible to go down to the inner dynamic in the teams. Ayuso is my favorite to win it.  

• Yesterday at 8:30 PM

Ayuso and Rodriguez 5+ min above the rest but Rodriguez should take it easily if Ayuso has to do any work.  

• Yesterday at 8:43 PM

Remco wants to be on the podium in Nice so ...  

Rechtschreibfehler

• Yesterday at 9:03 PM

This one is hard. I go with Remco more as a wish than out of conviction. But noone on the list would get a vote of actual confidence by me atm.  

GenericBoonenFan

• Yesterday at 9:15 PM

Evenepoel should win it, if he doesn't win this or atleast 2 stages his Tour is a failure.  

dercuforever

• Yesterday at 9:21 PM

I went with Evenepoel, I trust him to reach a better level than vuelta 2022, and he will need it to beat Rodriguez, Jorgenson and Ayuso.  

• Yesterday at 9:23 PM

Could be any of the first 4 in the poll but think Rodriquez should get it. Ayuso and Jorgensen could have a worse chance from having to work for Pogacar and Vingegaard. Evenepoel if he is in form is a strong bet but it could turn into last years Vuelta, especially if he actually is trying to be in peak shape for Olympics. Rodriquez might have Bernal end up the leader but he finished third last year will have a good team.  

Armchair cyclist

• Yesterday at 9:24 PM

peterfin said: Remco wants to be on the podium in Nice so ... Click to expand...

Zoetemelk-fan

• Yesterday at 9:26 PM

High mountains will drop Evenepoel short of the specialists. This one is for Carlos Rodriguez.  

• Yesterday at 10:22 PM

Remco would have to race 3 weeks for a potential 7th place in the GC and have zero opportunity for stage hunting. No way he ends up in white unless he's on the podium in Nice.  

• Yesterday at 10:40 PM

Pretty sure Carlito Rodriguez will be the best out of these 4 riders, but I could potentially see anyone out of them win it. Pidders, Buitrago etc. not so much  

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The Complete Guide to Every Tour de France Winner Through History

A rider-by-rider list of champions, from Maurice Garin in 1903 to Jonas Vingegaard in 2022.

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We’ve got you covered with this complete list of every rider who has ever won an overall Tour de France title.

To learn more about the stories behind these athletes and their victories, Bill and Carol McGann’s two-volume The Story of the Tour de France and Les Woodland’s The Unknown Tour de Franc e are two of the best English-language resources out there.

Maurice Garin

Country: France Team: La Française Year(s): 1903

A chimney sweep-turned-champion, Garin led the inaugural Tour de France from start to finish, winning by almost three hours over the second-place rider. He earned the equivalent of about $40,000 for his efforts, money he later used to buy his own gas station.

Henri Cornet

Country: France Team: Conte Year(s): 1904

Cornet was declared the winner of the 1904 Tour after the first four finishers (including Garin) were disqualified for various forms of cheating. Only 19 at the time, Cornet remains the youngest winner in Tour history.

Louis Trousselier

Country: France Team: Peugeot–Wolber Year(s): 1905

Trousselier had to go on leave from the French army to compete in the 1905 Tour, so he made sure he invested his time wisely, winning three stages on his way to the overall victory. The night before winning the final stage, “Trou-Trou” spent all night drinking and gambling, losing the money he was set to win. He returned to the army the day after being crowned champion.

René Pottier

Country: France Team: Peugeot–Wolber Year(s): 1906

One year after becoming the first man to abandon the Tour while leading it, Pottier got his revenge by winning five stages and the overall title. Sadly, he hanged himself in his team clubhouse the following January after learning that his wife had had an affair while he competed in the race.

Lucien Petit-Breton

Country: France Team: Peugeot–Wolber Year(s): 1907, 1908

The Tour’s first two-time winner, Petit-Breton’s name is actually Lucien Mazan. Trying to keep his occupation a secret from his father—who didn’t want him to become a cyclist—Mazan raced under a pseudonym. In earning the second of his two Tour victories, he won five stages and never finished outside the top four. He was killed while serving as a driver for the French army in World War I.

François Faber

Country: Luxembourg Team: Alcyon–Dunlop Year(s): 1909

The first foreigner to win the Tour de France, Faber was incredibly large by contemporary standards. Nicknamed the “Giant of Colombe” after the Parisian suburb in which he lived, Faber measured six feet tall and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was shot in the back and killed while trying to carry a wounded comrade across no-man’s-land during a battle in WWI.

Octave Lapize

Country: France Team: Alcyon–Dunlop Year(s): 1910

To win his only Tour de France, Lapize had to overcome both his teammate Faber, the defending champion, and the Tour’s first visit to the Pyrenees. Luckily, Lapize was a much better climber than Faber, so the high mountains played to his strengths. He is perhaps most famous for shouting, “You are assassins!” at Tour organizers while climbing the Tourmalet. While serving as a fighter pilot in WWI, he was shot down and killed over Verdun.

Gustave Garrigou

Country: France Team: Alcyon–Dunlop Year(s): 1911

Despite complaints from racers, Tour organizers considered the Pyreneean stages such a success that they added the Alps in 1911. Faber again lost to a teammate, the climber Garrigou, who needed a bodyguard and disguise to finish the race after accusations that he poisoned a fellow competitor. He was later found innocent.

Odile Defraye

Country: Belgium Team: Alcyon–Dunlop Year(s): 1912

The first Belgian to win the Tour de France, Defraye rode the Tour six times and only finished once (in the same year that he won).

Philippe Thys

Country: Belgium Teams: Peugeot–Wolber, La Sportive Year(s): 1913, 1914, 1920

The Tour’s first three-time winner, Thys was the last rider to win before the start of WWI, and one of only a few prior champions to survive the conflict and continue his career.

Firmin Lambot

Country: Belgium Teams: La Sportive, Peugeot-Wolber Year(s): 1919, 1922

When the Tour started again after the war, Lambot continued Belgium’s run of success, taking the lead just two stages from the finish after Eugène Christophe—for the second time in his career—had his Tour ruined by a broken fork. Lambot won his second title at age 36, making him the oldest winner to date.

Léon Scieur

Country: Belgium Team: La Sportive Year(s): 1921

Discovered by Lambot, who hailed from the same town in Belgium, Scieur was nicknamed “the Locomotive” in the press for the way he relentlessly consolidated his lead. His wheel broke on the penultimate day and he carried it more than 300K on his back to show officials that he was justified in taking a replacement (rules at the time limited outside support for riders).

Henri Pélissier

Country: France Team: Automoto–Hutchinson Year(s): 1923

The oldest of three brothers, all of whom were cyclists, Pélissier finished only two of the eight Tours he started, placing second in 1914 and finally winning in 1923. Talented but ill-tempered, he dropped out mostly by choice. His most famous DNF came in 1920, when rather than accept a two-minute penalty for throwing away a flat tire, he abandoned the race in protest.

Ottavio Bottecchia

Country: Italy Team: Automoto Year(s): 1924, 1925

In 1924, Bottecchia became Italy’s first Tour de France champion and the first rider to wear the yellow jersey from start to finish. His initial win was made easier thanks to the departure of the Pélissier brothers on Stage 3. Discovered to be wearing two jerseys at a time, then a violation of the rules, Henri, his brother, and another teammate abandoned—you guessed it—in protest.

Lucien Buysse

Country: Belgium Team: Automoto–Hutchinson Year(s): 1926

Buysse rode selflessly for Bottecchia in 1925 and was rewarded with a chance to win the Tour for himself in 1926. Tragically, the Belgian received news that his daughter had died early in the race, but his family convinced him to carry on to victory.

Nicolas Frantz

Country: Luxembourg Team: Alcyon–Dunlop Year(s): 1927, 1928

Fourth in 1925 and second in 1926, Frantz set the foundation for his first Tour victory by winning Stage 11, a mountainous day that tackled the Pyrenean “Circle of Death,” a route with four challenging climbs including the Col d’Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet. He led the 1928 Tour from start to finish, becoming only the fifth rider (at the time) to win the overall twice.

Maurice De Waele

Country: Belgium Team: Alcyon–Dunlop Year(s): 1929

Second in 1927 and third in 1928, De Waele overcame several flat tires—riders were then required to change their own flats—and illness to win in 1929. He wasn’t a popular champion, which caused organizer Henri Desgrange to remark, “A corpse has won my race!”

André Leducq

Country: France Teams: Alcyon–Dunlop, France Year(s): 1930, 1932

The year 1930 brought a change to the Tour: National and regional teams, instead of sponsored trade teams, would now compete. This shifted the power back to France, with Leducq winning two of the decade’s first five Tours (all of which went to the French).

Antonin Magne

Country: France Team: France Year(s): 1931, 1934

Third behind Leducq in 1930, Magne took advantage of new three-minute time bonuses given to stage winners—as well as a mysterious letter tipping him off to the tactics of a competitor—to win in 1931, his first of two victories.

Georges Speicher

Country: France Team: France Year(s): 1933

Historians consider the French team at the 1933 Tour to be one of the strongest collections of pre-war riders ever assembled. Speicher was joined on the start line by former winners Leducq and Magne, as well as future winner Roger Lapébie.

Since getting hooked on pro cycling while watching Lance Armstrong win the 1993 U.S. Pro Championship in Philadelphia, longtime Bicycling contributor Whit Yost has raced on Belgian cobbles, helped build a European pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux as an assistant director sportif. These days, he lives with his wife and son in Pennsylvania, spending his days serving as an assistant middle school principal and his nights playing Dungeons & Dragons.

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I could have starred alongside Premier League icons at Euro 2024 – but instead I’m ready to win the Tour de France

• Kealan Hughes , Digital Sports Reporter
• Published : 14:34, 18 Jun 2024
• Updated : 14:34, 18 Jun 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

REMCO EVENEPOEL could have lined up for Belgium at Euro 2024 but is instead preparing to win the Tour de France.

The 24-year-old has never taken part in cycling 's grandest race before, yet is one of the favourites for this year's competition.

He is set to brush shoulders alongside previous winners Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard , but could have been playing with some of his former team-mates in Germany .

Evenepoel was a talented young player and spent time in the academies of Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven before quitting to focus on cycling.

He also represented Belgium across different youth groups, captaining the Under-16 side.

Evenepoel impressed from an early age with his incredible fitness levels a particular stand out characteristic, but what shone most was his professionalism and mentality.

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He played alongside Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga at Anderlecht, who believes Evenepoel's fitness regime as a teenager may have served his cycling career well.

Lokonga told The Athletic : “He was one year below me but sometimes the 1999 and 2000 players trained together, and so he trained with me.

“It’s crazy what he’s done. I know that when he was young, when we had to run up and down, he was already one of the best so that maybe helped with the distances you ride when you are a cyclist.”

Evenepoel was registering stress test results comparable to that of a triathlete when he was in the U10s, with one former coach likening his "incredible endurance" to a moped.

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The 2022 Vuelta a Espana winner himself said his engine was a big factor in his football ability, saying: “My style of play was a bit similar to how I ride a bike.

“I had a big engine and tried to cover every blade of grass.”

Evenepoel was a prolific winner from early on in his cycling career, becoming road race world champion at the age of 22 before winning the world time trial a year later.

His professionalism has been exemplary and it is a trait the Belgian picked up as a teenager, earning him the role of captain with the national team.

Belgium U16s coach Bob Browaeys told The Athletic: “I spoke to him often in that role.

“And I was always puzzled. He was so professional at such a young age; just 15, talking about his preparations for games, for his careers. He was special. Uncommon.

“He was at the highest level, I never had a player with such a high-performance mindset. That was unbelievable.”

He even became a right-hand man to Anderlecht coach Stephane Stassin, and had a big influence over his other team-mates.

Stassin recalled in an interview with Cycling Weekly: “In the older age groups, you’re the right hand of the coach but that’s not always easy with the youth teams because they’re so young.

“Remco, however, was the exception: he was effectively the right hand of the coach and he talked to his team-mates. When I asked him to do something, sometimes he would say that he had already talked with his team-mates and arranged what was needed.”

Evenepoel began his football career as a midfielder but lacked tactical nous, so was moved to left-back shortly before he quit altogether.

He once played alongside Manchester City and Belgium star Jeremy Doku as well as RB Leipzig defender Lois Openda, but as his peers overtook him technically Evenepoel found himself out of favour, before giving up football for good.

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He told The Lanterne Rouge cycling podcast: “I was captain of the national team, then they put me on the bench and I started to ask myself questions: ‘Is it worth continuing?’.

“Then, I wasn’t even on the bench anymore. I just wasn’t in the top 15 players. Then I really started to hate the sport.”

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I could have starred alongside Premier League icons at Euro 2024 – but instead I’m ready to win the Tour de France

• Kealan Hughes , Digital Sports Reporter
• Published : 9:34 ET, Jun 18 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

REMCO EVENEPOEL could have lined up for Belgium at Euro 2024 but is instead preparing to win the Tour de France.

The 24-year-old has never taken part in cycling 's grandest race before, yet is one of the favourites for this year's competition.

He is set to brush shoulders alongside previous winners Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard , but could have been playing with some of his former team-mates in Germany .

Evenepoel was a talented young player and spent time in the academies of Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven before quitting to focus on cycling.

He also represented Belgium across different youth groups, captaining the Under-16 side.

Evenepoel impressed from an early age with his incredible fitness levels a particular stand out characteristic, but what shone most was his professionalism and mentality.

He played alongside Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga at Anderlecht, who believes Evenepoel's fitness regime as a teenager may have served his cycling career well.

Lokonga told The Athletic : “He was one year below me but sometimes the 1999 and 2000 players trained together, and so he trained with me.

“It’s crazy what he’s done. I know that when he was young, when we had to run up and down, he was already one of the best so that maybe helped with the distances you ride when you are a cyclist.”

Evenepoel was registering stress test results comparable to that of a triathlete when he was in the U10s, with one former coach likening his "incredible endurance" to a moped.

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The 2022 Vuelta a Espana winner himself said his engine was a big factor in his football ability, saying: “My style of play was a bit similar to how I ride a bike.

“I had a big engine and tried to cover every blade of grass.”

Evenepoel was a prolific winner from early on in his cycling career, becoming road race world champion at the age of 22 before winning the world time trial a year later.

His professionalism has been exemplary and it is a trait the Belgian picked up as a teenager, earning him the role of captain with the national team.

Belgium U16s coach Bob Browaeys told The Athletic: “I spoke to him often in that role.

“And I was always puzzled. He was so professional at such a young age; just 15, talking about his preparations for games, for his careers. He was special. Uncommon.

“He was at the highest level, I never had a player with such a high-performance mindset. That was unbelievable.”

He even became a right-hand man to Anderlecht coach Stephane Stassin, and had a big influence over his other team-mates.

Stassin recalled in an interview with Cycling Weekly: “In the older age groups, you’re the right hand of the coach but that’s not always easy with the youth teams because they’re so young.

“Remco, however, was the exception: he was effectively the right hand of the coach and he talked to his team-mates. When I asked him to do something, sometimes he would say that he had already talked with his team-mates and arranged what was needed.”

Evenepoel began his football career as a midfielder but lacked tactical nous, so was moved to left-back shortly before he quit altogether.

He once played alongside Manchester City and Belgium star Jeremy Doku as well as RB Leipzig defender Lois Openda, but as his peers overtook him technically Evenepoel found himself out of favour, before giving up football for good.

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He told The Lanterne Rouge cycling podcast: “I was captain of the national team, then they put me on the bench and I started to ask myself questions: ‘Is it worth continuing?’.

“Then, I wasn’t even on the bench anymore. I just wasn’t in the top 15 players. Then I really started to hate the sport.”

• Tour de France