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• 1 VINGEGAARD Jonas
• 2 BENOOT Tiesj
• 3 KELDERMAN Wilco
• 4 KUSS Sepp
• 5 LAPORTE Christophe
• 6 VAN AERT Wout (DNS #18)
• 7 VAN BAARLE Dylan
• 8 VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan

• 11 POGAČAR Tadej *
• 12 BJERG Mikkel *
• 14 GROßSCHARTNER Felix
• 15 LAENGEN Vegard Stake
• 16 MAJKA Rafał
• 17 SOLER Marc
• 18 TRENTIN Matteo
• 19 YATES Adam

• 21 BERNAL Egan
• 22 CASTROVIEJO Jonathan
• 23 FRAILE Omar
• 24 KWIATKOWSKI Michał
• 25 MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe (DNS #15)
• 26 PIDCOCK Thomas *
• 27 RODRÍGUEZ Carlos *
• 28 TURNER Ben * (DNF #13)

• 31 GAUDU David
• 32 GENIETS Kevin
• 33 KÜNG Stefan
• 34 LE GAC Olivier
• 35 MADOUAS Valentin
• 36 PACHER Quentin
• 37 PINOT Thibaut
• 38 VAN DEN BERG Lars *

• 41 CARAPAZ Richard (DNS #2)
• 42 AMADOR Andrey
• 43 BETTIOL Alberto
• 44 CHAVES Esteban (DNF #14)
• 45 CORT Magnus
• 46 POWLESS Neilson
• 47 SHAW James (DNF #14)
• 48 URÁN Rigoberto

• 51 ALAPHILIPPE Julian
• 52 ASGREEN Kasper
• 53 CAVAGNA Rémi
• 54 DECLERCQ Tim
• 55 DEVENYNS Dries
• 56 JAKOBSEN Fabio (DNS #12)
• 57 LAMPAERT Yves
• 58 MØRKØV Michael

• 62 LANDA Mikel
• 63 ARNDT Nikias
• 64 BAUHAUS Phil (DNF #17)
• 65 BILBAO Pello
• 66 HAIG Jack
• 67 MOHORIČ Matej
• 68 POELS Wout
• 69 WRIGHT Fred *

• 71 HINDLEY Jai
• 72 BUCHMANN Emanuel
• 73 HALLER Marco
• 74 JUNGELS Bob
• 75 KONRAD Patrick
• 76 MEEUS Jordi *
• 77 POLITT Nils
• 78 VAN POPPEL Danny

• 81 CICCONE Giulio
• 82 GALLOPIN Tony
• 83 SKJELMOSE Mattias *
• 84 KIRSCH Alex
• 85 LÓPEZ Juan Pedro
• 86 PEDERSEN Mads
• 87 SIMMONS Quinn * (DNS #9)
• 88 STUYVEN Jasper

• 91 O'CONNOR Ben
• 92 BERTHET Clément
• 93 COSNEFROY Benoît
• 94 DEWULF Stan
• 95 GALL Felix *
• 96 NAESEN Oliver
• 97 PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien
• 98 PETERS Nans

• 101 VAN DER POEL Mathieu
• 102 DILLIER Silvan
• 103 GOGL Michael
• 104 HERMANS Quinten
• 105 KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
• 106 PHILIPSEN Jasper *
• 107 RICKAERT Jonas
• 108 SINKELDAM Ramon (DNF #14)

• 111 GIRMAY Biniam *
• 112 CALMEJANE Lilian
• 113 COSTA Rui
• 114 MEINTJES Louis (DNF #14)
• 115 PETIT Adrien
• 116 SMITH Dion
• 117 TEUNISSEN Mike
• 118 ZIMMERMANN Georg

• 121 MARTIN Guillaume
• 122 COQUARD Bryan
• 123 GESCHKE Simon (DNF #18)
• 124 IZAGIRRE Ion
• 125 LAFAY Victor (DNF #20)
• 126 PEREZ Anthony (DNS #18)
• 127 RENARD Alexis * (DNS #17)
• 128 ZINGLE Axel *

• 131 MAS Enric (DNF #1)
• 132 GUERREIRO Ruben (DNF #14)
• 133 ARANBURU Alex
• 134 IZAGIRRE Gorka
• 135 JORGENSON Matteo * (DNS #16)
• 136 MÜHLBERGER Gregor
• 137 OLIVEIRA Nelson
• 138 PEDRERO Antonio (DNF #14)

• 141 BARDET Romain (DNF #14)
• 142 DEGENKOLB John
• 143 DINHAM Matthew *
• 144 EDMONDSON Alex
• 145 EEKHOFF Nils *
• 146 HAMILTON Chris
• 147 VERMAERKE Kevin *
• 148 WELSFORD Sam

• 151 WOODS Michael
• 152 BOIVIN Guillaume
• 153 CLARKE Simon
• 154 HOULE Hugo
• 155 NEILANDS Krists
• 156 SCHULTZ Nick
• 157 STRONG Corbin *
• 158 TEUNS Dylan

• 161 YATES Simon
• 162 CRADDOCK Lawson
• 163 DURBRIDGE Luke
• 164 GROENEWEGEN Dylan
• 165 HARPER Chris
• 166 JUUL-JENSEN Christopher
• 167 MEZGEC Luka
• 168 REINDERS Elmar

• 171 BARGUIL Warren
• 172 BIERMANS Jenthe
• 173 CHAMPOUSSIN Clément *
• 174 DELAPLACE Anthony
• 175 GUGLIELMI Simon
• 176 LOUVEL Matis *
• 177 MOZZATO Luca *
• 178 PICHON Laurent

• 181 EWAN Caleb (DNF #13)
• 182 CAMPENAERTS Victor
• 183 DE BUYST Jasper
• 184 EENKHOORN Pascal
• 185 FRISON Frederik
• 186 GUARNIERI Jacopo (DNS #5)
• 187 VAN GILS Maxim *
• 188 VERMEERSCH Florian *

• 191 CAVENDISH Mark (DNF #8)
• 192 BOL Cees
• 193 DE LA CRUZ David (DNF #12)
• 194 FEDOROV Yevgeniy *
• 195 LUTSENKO Alexey
• 196 MOSCON Gianni
• 197 SÁNCHEZ Luis León (DNS #5)
• 198 TEJADA Harold

• 201 KRISTOFF Alexander
• 202 ABRAHAMSEN Jonas
• 203 CHARMIG Anthon *
• 204 JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland *
• 205 TILLER Rasmus
• 206 TRÆEN Torstein
• 207 WÆRENSKJOLD Søren *
• 208 GREGAARD Jonas

• 211 SAGAN Peter
• 212 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
• 213 BURGAUDEAU Mathieu *
• 214 CRAS Steff (DNF #8)
• 215 FERRON Valentin *
• 216 LATOUR Pierre
• 217 OSS Daniel
• 218 TURGIS Anthony
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Tour de France 2023: full team-by-team guide

Our in-depth look at every team, the main riders to watch and the cast of characters racing through France this summer

• Stage-by-stage guide to this year’s Tour de France

Ag2R-Citroën

Veteran French Tour battlers notorious for wearing brown shorts. Their Australian climber Ben O’Connor had a nightmare in 2022, ripping a muscle in a crash, but O’Connor is back on form this season so they need a repeat of his 2021 feats, with Paret-Peintre and Cosnefroy likely to target hilly stages.

Team Stan Dewulf, Clément Berthet, Felix Gall, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Ben O’Connor, Benoît Cosnefroy, Oliver Naesen, Nans Peters

Main man Ben O’Connor – Aussie mountain man still out to prove 2021’s fourth overall was not a fluke

Alpecin-Deceuninck

From a relatively small cyclo-cross squad this cannily managed Dutch team has grown into a force to be reckoned with, mainly due to the presence of Mathieu van der Poel, the most charismatic racer in the bunch, but also because the team has recruited wisely around him. At the Tour they focus on Jasper Philipsen for the sprints and perhaps the green points jersey, with VdP targeting everything bar the high mountains; he will be a favourite on stage one’s short steep hills. Van der Poel took a long rest after his Classics campaign which seems to have paid off given his form in late June.

Team Silvain Dillier, Michael Gogl, Søren Kragh Andersen, Mathieu van der Poel, Quinten Hermans, Jasper Philipsen, Jonas Rickaert, Ramon Sinkeldam

Main man Mathieu van der Poel – flying this year, with two major Classic wins and a dominant display in the Tour of Belgium: expect fireworks.

Arkea-Samsic

This Breton-centred squad don’t have enough firepower to thrive in cycling’s most competitive milieu. Leader Warren Barguil was the future once but now looks like just another plucky contender. They will put riders in the daily daring moves but it’s hard to foresee a great deal more.

Team Warren Barguil, Clément Champoussin, Simone Guglielmi, Anthony Delaplace, Luca Mozzato, Jenthe Biermans, Matîs Louvel, Laurent Pichon

Main man Warren Barguil. “Wawa” was King of the Mountains and double stage winner in 2017, but there’s only so long you can live off past glories.

Astana Qazaqstan

Kakakhstan’s finest have changed tack by hiring Mark Cavendish; a stage win for the Manxman is the obvious target but there’s not a lot of sprint support here apart from Cees Bol, with Moscon for the grunt work beforehand. To hedge their bets, Federov and Lutsenko will target mountain stages.

Team Mark Cavendish, Aleksei Lutsenko, Cees Bol, David de la Cruz, Yevgeniy Federov, Luis Leon Sanchez, Gianni Moscon, Harold Tejada

Main man Mark Cavendish – the greatest sprinter of all needs one Tour stage win for the absolute record but it won’t be simple given the dearth of sprint stages.

Bahrain Victorious

Likely to be scarred mentally by the shocking death of Gino Mäder in the Tour of Switzerland, but if that tragedy brings them together, most of the riders look to be coming to form and they have a raft of chances to be “victorious” with new British champion Wright, Poels, Bilbao and Mohoric.

Team Niklas Arndt, Phil Bauhaus, Jack Haig, Pello Bilbao, Fred Wright, Mikel Landa, Matej Mohoric, Wout Poels

Main man Mikel Landa – the Basque climber is a cult figure due to his enigmatic, tragic mien; he could make the top five or fall apart. That’s “Landismo”.

Bora-Hansgrohe

Multiple opportunities for Germany’s finest, who pulled an excellently crafted Giro d’Italia win out of the bag last year with Australian climber Jai Hindley – quite the progression since their humble beginnings as team NetApp more than 10 years ago. Once again there is no place for the sprinter Sam Bennett, who has not ridden the Tour since winning two stages and the points prize in 2020. Around Hindley there’s plenty of climbing strength with Konrad, Buchman and Higuita plus a 2022 stage winner in Jungels, and a sprinter who can look after himself in Meeus.

Team Emanuel Buchman, Marco Haller, Jai Hindley, Bob Jungels, Patrick Konrad, Nils Politt, Jordi Meeus, Danny van Poppel, plus one to be named by Friday 30 June

Main man Jai Hindley. Fourth in the recent Criterium du Dauphiné bodes well but can he step up into cycling’s most hostile environment?

A team of options and caveats. Zingle, Martin, Lafay, Izaguirre and Geschke can hope for an opportunistic stage win, while Coquard is competitive in a small group finish. But they will struggle to rival the heavyweights so will probably end up with the French fallback: the daily suicide break.

Team Bryan Coquard, Simon Geschke, Ion Izaguirre, Victor Lafay, Guillaume Martin, Anthony Perez, Alexis Renard, Axel Zingle

Main man: Guillaume Martin – a cerebral climber who has written a book on philosophy; he could scrape into the top 10 overall but that looks like his limit.

DSM-Firmenich

This squad doesn’t have the biggest budget but it has a knack of landing key wins when it matters. They split neatly into a climbing half around the evergreen Romain Bardet, and Degenkolb, Edmondson and Eeckhoff in the sprint half in support of Sam Welsford – one of the surprises of this season.

Team Nils Eeckhoff, John Degenkolb, Kevin Vermaerke, Alex Edmondson, Sam Welsford, Matthew Dinham, Chris Hamilton, Romain Bardet.

Main man Romain Bardet. No longer the force he was when he finished second in the 2016 Tour but still capable of a solid top 10 overall.

EF Education-Easypost

The American team that loves to act the kooky underdogs but the facts belie this. They had a great Tour in 2022 thanks to Magnus Cort’s stage win; this year they had notched up 20 race wins by late June. The Olympic champion Carapaz, Bettiol, Uran and Powless could all land a stage.

Team Richard Carapaz, Rigoberto Uran, Neilson Powless, Alberto Bettiol, Esteban Chaves, Magnus Cort, James Shaw, Andrey Amador

Main man Magnus Cort – behind the (sponsored) fighter pilot moustache is a ruthless stage hunter chasing his 10th Grand Tour stage win.

Groupama-FDJ

In their 27th Tour, as usual it’s going to be fly or flop, with a bit more pressure after leader David Gaudu’s spat with sprinter Arnaud Démare sidelined this proven winner. Much loved Thibaut Pinot starts his final Tour; expect tears aplenty, hopefully on the Champs Elysées rather than before.

Team David Gaudu, Kevin Geniets, Stefan Küng, Olivier Le Gac, Valentin Madouas, Quentin Pacher, Thibaut Pinot, Lars Van den Berg

Main man David Gaudu – is France’s best hope for a podium finish but can he bear the weight of a nation?

Ineos Grenadiers

Once upon a time, the squad reputed to be the richest in cycling were the ones to beat in the Tour, but they have lost direction since Chris Froome’s departure and Egan Bernal’s horrific crash in 2022, and are now scrabbling to keep up with Jumbo and UAE. That’s reflected in a victory haul this season of around half that of the Big Two. A lot hangs on Tom Pidcock, winner at l’Alpe d’Huez last year; with Bernal struggling to return to his best, this line-up prompts a mild chin stroke rather than a sense of shock and awe.

Team Dani Martínez, Tom Pidcock, Michal Kwiatkowski, Jonathan Castroviejo, Carlos Rodriguez, Egan Bernal, Omar Fraile, Ben Turner

Main man Tom Pidcock. Super talented and a terrifyingly good bike handler, the 23-year-old Yorkshireman needs to build on a great 2022 race.

Intermarché-Circus-Wanty

Seamless progress for the Walloon team since their Tour debut in 2018. No Belgians in their squad which won’t go down well at home, but they have a real stage win hope in Girmay, a potential top 10 finisher in Meintjes and wildcards such as Calmejane, Costa and Teunissen.

Team Lilian Calmejane, Rui Costa, Biniam Girmay, Louis Meintjes, Adrien Petit, Dion Smith, Mike Teunissen, Georg Zimmerman.

Main man Biniam Girmay – after landing a sprint stage of the Giro last year, the Eritrean is a good bet to become the first black African Tour stage winner.

Israel-PremierTech

With only five wins this year, they need to buck that trend with climber Woods, the punchy Teuns, sprinter Strong or all-rounder Clarke. They will have to box clever, because none of these is the very best at their speciality. No place for Chris Froome after his poor start to 2023.

Team Guillaume Boivin, Simon Clarke, Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands, Nick Schultz, Corbin Strong, Dylan Teuns, Michael Woods

Main man Michael Woods – 36 years old and a four-minute miler in the past, the Canadian is a decent outside bet on any steep uphill finish.

Jayco-AlUla

All in for sprinter Groenewegen and climber Yates. Yates has had a lean 2023, but he’s notched up 10 Grand Tour stages since 2018 and will have plenty of chances in a very hard Tour. Harper and Craddock support him in the mountains; Mezgec will deliver Groenewegen in the sprints.

Lawson Craddock, Luke Durbridge, Dylan Groenewegen, Chris Harper, Chris Juul-Jensen, Luka Mezgec, Elmar Reinders, Simon Yates

Main man Dylan Groenewegen. Looking for his sixth career Tour stage win, the Dutchman has had a strong season with half a dozen wins to his name already.

Jumbo-Visma

One of the two “superteams” in the race; there are times when Jumbo seem to win when, how and where they want. Here it’s all in for Vingegaard with Küss, Van Baarle and Kelderman his mountain support crew. The biggest asset is Wout van Aert, the most powerful all-rounder in cycling, who could probably hope to win half a dozen stages if he was the team leader. What’s disconcerting is that Jumbo put out a strong squad to win this year’s Giro with Primoz Roglic, and they can afford to leave all of them out of the Tour including the Slovene.

Team Wilco Kelderman, Dylan van Baarle, Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot, Christopher Laporte, Nathan van Hooydonck, Sep Küss, Jonas Vingegaard

Main man Jonas Vingegaard – wraith-like Dane who had the climbing legs to break Tadej Pogacar when it mattered last year, but the second Tour win never comes easy

There’s plenty of value for money here. It’s all about stage wins. The 2019 world champion Mads Pedersen is the best bet, but Skjelmose took the recent Tour of Switzerland while Ciccone landed stages in Catalonia and the Dauphiné. They boast three newly crowned national champions in Skjelmose, Kirsch and Simmons.

Giulio Ciccone, Tony Gallopin, Alex Kirsch, Juan Pedro Lopez, Mads Pedersen, Quinn Simmons, Mattias Skjelmose, Jesper Stuyven

Main man Mads Pedersen – he has stage wins at the Giro and Paris-Nice to his name this year, and will have a good chance on the hillier days at the Tour

Lotto-Dstny

Relegated to the second division last season, Belgium’s oldest team put most of their eggs in a basket labelled Caleb Ewan. Most of the team will be dedicated to ensuring he is in the right place at sprint finishes; strongmen Vermeersch and Campenaerts may be let off the leash on the non-sprint days.

Team Caleb Ewan, Jasper de Buyst, Jacopo Guarnieri, Florian Vermeersch, Frederik Frison, Victor Campenaerts, Pascal Eenkhorn, Maxim van Gils

Main man Caleb Ewan – five Tour stages to his name so far, one more would make Lotto’s Tour.

There’s a mid-table look to cycling’s oldest team, a far cry from when Miguel Indurain won five Tours in a row. Mas can target the podium, and Jorgensen is one of the most exciting prospects in the sport, but the fact he’s rumoured to be moving on in 2024 speaks volumes.

Team Alex Aranburu, Ruben Guerreiro, Gorka Izaguirre, Matteo Jorgensen, Enric Mas, Gregor Mühlberger, Neilson Oliveira, Antonio Pedrero

Main man Enric Mas – often the bridesmaid never the bride, the Spaniard is one of the big group targeting third place behind the Big Two while aiming for better if they falter.

Soudal-Quickstep

Belgian winning machine have converted themselves to a Grand Tour team led by Remco Evenepoel, who sits this one out. Here it’s about fidgety Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe and sprinter Fabio Jakobsen. “Juju” is under pressure from manager Patrick Lefevère and needs to find his former magic touch, while Jakobsen needs to at least repeat his stage win of last year; his five victories this year suggest that’s on the cards with the support of top lead-out man Mørkøv. Asgreen, Lampaert and Cavagna will support Alaphilippe in the hills and go in the breaks when he’s having a recovery day.

Team Julian Alaphilippe, Yves Lampaert, Tim Decelercq, Dries Devenyns, Fabio Jakobsen, Kasper Asgreen, Michael Mørkøv, Remi Cavagna

Main man Julian Alaphilippe – double world champion endured a torrid 2022 but has won twice this year and will be a favourite for stage one.

TotalEnergies

Once a reservoir of developing French talent, now a home for stars past their sell-by dates such as Boasson-Hagen, Oss and Sagan, while French riders Turgis and Latour are no longer cutting edge. Between them they will deliver various near misses, while a stage win would be a miracle.

Team Edvald Boasson-Hagen, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Steff Cras, Valentin Ferron, Pierre Latour, Daniel Oss, Peter Sagan, Anthony Turgis

Main man Peter Sagan. Once a mega star, the multiple world champion, Tour stage winner and record points winner is now on his farewell Tour.

UAE Team Emirates

Cycling’s other “super team”, with a wealth of strong men to rival Jumbo-Visma in support of double Tour winner Tadej Pogacar, who had taken on another dimension this year with his wins in the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold and Flèche Wallonne before his untimely crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Behind “Pog”, Adam Yates has hit form in the Critérium du Dauphiné and won the Tour de Romandie back in May, so should prove a decent understudy. After illness ripped through their ranks in last year’s Tour, arguably contributing to Pogacar’s defeat to Vingegaard, every cough, sniffle and minor headache will be viewed with suspicion.

Team Mikkel Bjerg, Felix Grossschartner, Vejgard Stake Langen, Rafal Majka, Tadej Pogacar, Marc Soler, Matteo Trentin, Adam Yates

Main man Tadej Pogacar – cycling’s biggest winner is targeting a third Tour; wins in his national road and time trial titles suggests the form has returned after a hiatus to nurse a broken wrist.

Invited to their first Tour, the Norwegian squad have a solid reputation for developing new talent and making the most of their resources. They bring a promising line-up fronted by veteran sprinter Kristoff, climbers Johanneson and Traeen, a strong all rounder in Waerenschold, plus the gritty Rasmus Tiller at the helm.

Team Jonas Abrahamsen, Torsten Traeen, Søren Waerenschold, Anton Charmig, Jonas Gregaard, Rasmus Tiller, Tobias Halland Johannesen, Alexander Kristoff

Main man Alexander Kristoff – is long in the tooth but could still snag a stage win; in a team of Tour debutants his experience will be crucial.

Changes can be made until Friday 30 June. Team line-ups correct at time of publication

• Tour de France 2023
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Yates Brothers Lead Britain’s Hopes at 2024 Tour de France

Twin brothers expected to lead the nation's hopes again.

The Tour de France has been won by riders from Great Britain on six occasions split between three individuals.

Chris Froome has been the most successful British cyclist, having won the competition four times between 2013 and 2017. Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas also won a single edition of the event on either side of Froome’s domination.

Since Thomas won in 2018, Britain has endured a five-year winless drought in the Tour de France. This is unlikely to change heading into the 2024 competition.

However, several impressive cyclists from Britain have the potential to position themselves amongst the frontrunners this year. With Tom Pidock an uncertainty after injury earlier this year, here’s a look at the next leading British riders that will head to France in June.

Adam Yates Adam Yates is, without doubt, Britain’s greatest hope in the headline event of the year due to his vast experience on the tour.

He will enter the Tour de France for the eighth time this year and is regarded as one of the top five competitors. In  online betting , he is offered at 17/1 to achieve Tour De France glory, which suggests he will at least be involved near the front of the pack.

Fans can better understand the odds this year through Paddy Power’s  bet calculator , which includes all bet types and formats.

Yates ⚔️ Yates #TDF2023 | @AdamYates7 🏆 pic.twitter.com/a7Tznt8FKC — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 1, 2023

This year Yates will compete for a second-straight place on the podium, and Jonas Vingegaard’s injury will have boosted his chances. He  finished third  behind the Dane and Tadej Pogacar in 2023, and this time around, he may have ambitions of ending the British Tour de France drought.

Simon Yates While Adam Yates is by far Britain’s greatest hope at the Tour de France, his twin brother Simon Yates still represents one of the nation’s top riders set to travel across the channel.

He is offered at odds of 50/1 to win the competition, suggesting he cannot plausibly dream of the ultimate success like his brother can.

Simon Yates reflects on “unbelievable” achievement @lavuelta & “an astonishing year for British cycling”. Credits national system, lottery funding, pro team. Says “there will always be doubters” re doping in cycling but adds “it’s a completely different sport to those years ago” pic.twitter.com/QPj5F5ZJRw — David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) September 17, 2018

The lower-ranked Yates brother has  winning experience  on the Grand Tour from the Vuelta a Espana back in 2018, and last year finished in fourth place on the French leg of the tour. However, his form in 2024 has suggested he is not prepared to compete at the front of the Tour de France.

Yates finished 57th in the Vuelta a Catalunya in March and only broke into the top 20 in one of the stages. He is far from his best at present, which means that at the biggest event of the year, he should simply be aiming to finish the entire tour with a respectable ranking.

Ultimately, Britain’s hopes will be pinned on the Yates brothers this year. Adam has a serious chance of impacting the front of the competition, while Simon will be aiming to secure the third top-10 Tour De France finish of his career.

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Tour de France

Fueling the tour de france: inside a grand tour rider’s gut-buster diet, we speak to worldtour chefs and nutritionists to reveal the mega-carb menus that power the race for the yellow jersey..

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

What does it take to fuel three weeks of racing the Tour de France ?

Mountains of rice, fistfuls of energy gels, and plates pitifully short of vegetables, that’s what it takes.

The 21 stages of this year’s Tour de France could see riders like Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard pedal through up 80,000 calories-worth of work.

• From altitude camp to taper, how riders train for the Tour de France
• Why running, psychology sessions, and food apps are part of the peloton’s Tour de France preparation

Add to that the metabolic demands of breathing, digesting, and the rest of the body’s basic functions, and riders are constantly chasing for a break-even level of energy.

The only way to keep on keel?

Mammoth menus and a fast-flowing stream of carbs.

“These guys look skinny, and they’re tiny when you see them for real. But they sure know how to eat. They have huge appetites,” EF Education-EasyPost nutritionist Will Girling told Velo .

‘Riders eat a lot of rice … like, kilos of it’

When they’re not pedaling or sleeping, riders are probably eating – and it’s most likely to be carbohydrates on their plate.

Carbs are the endurance kings of macronutrients, with basic staples like rice, pasta, potatoes, and bread the jewels in their crown.

They’re the energy-giving fuels that power bunch sprints and drive mountaintop victories.

And in the modern pro peloton, rice is increasingly becoming the carbohydrate of choice.

“Riders eat a lot of rice … like, kilos of it. It’s sort of boring, but it works,” Trek-Segafredo chef Bram Lippens told Velo . “We add sauces like tomato or pesto to keep it interesting, but it is essentially still just rice!”

A rider is never far from their next meal when at a grand tour.

Around three hours before a stage, riders will scarf down a breakfast banquet of rice, eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, and toast.

When riding through stages that can burn as many as 5,000 calories, legs are kept turning via carb-laden drinks, energy gels, bars, and team-made rice cakes. The demands of modern racing require riders to eat as often as three to four times per hour in what is an open pipeline of fuel.

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And once a stage is done, a carb-based snack and recovery shake act as a mere stopover before another gut-busting meal in the evening.

The nighttime feast makes for a starchy double-serve that both boosts recovery from the day’s stage and refuels for the rigors to come.

“The night before a big race or stage we keep it simple with maybe chicken and rice, or salmon and rice,” Girling said. “It’s nearly always white rice we serve, because it’s so easy to consume and it’s low fiber.”

The rice-rich diet of the modern Tour de France rider defies the belief that the peloton pedals on pasta.

“Rice is more energy dense than pasta. So for the same volume, you got more carbohydrate from rice. Plus it’s gluten-free. So theoretically it’s more digestible than pasta,” Jayco-AlUla nutritionist Laura Martinelli told Velo .

“Pasta is OK if it’s the correct type and cooked properly, and we don’t stop riders from eating it. But if I had to recommend one or the other I’d 100 percent always say rice.”

High energy, locally sourced

The entourage of any pro team has expanded exponentially in recent decades.

In-house nutritionists and chefs like Martinelli, Girling, and Lippens are now as common as the soigneurs, mechanics, and masseuses that have long had their seats in a grand tour team bus.

Jayco-AlUla staffer Martinelli oversees the diets of Tour-bound riders like Simon Yates, Dylan Groenegen, and U.S. all-rounder Lawson Craddock.

One of Martinelli’s daily on-race functions is to plan out what each individual needs to eat, based on the demands of the stage to come. Bodyweights and expected expenditures make part of a series of calculations that ensure riders match the huge energy output of the Tour de France with a similarly staggering caloric input.

For a relatively straightforward sprint stage like this year’s seventh stage into Bordeaux, Martinelli’s riders would be tasked with taking down around five grams of carbohydrate per kilo of bodyweight.

For the kingmaker mountain stages through the Pyrénées and the Alps, that multiplies up to almost beyond-belief bucketloads of carb. On the Tour’s toughest days, a rider like Craddock might force down up to 18 grams of carbs per kilo of his mass.

At around 69 kilograms (152 pounds), the Texan would be facing more than 1,200 grams of carbohydrate over the course of a day’s meals, shakes, and on-bike nutrition.

For context, that’s the equivalent of around four kilos of prepared white rice or a similar amount of white pasta.

“Toward the final week when there are more big days in the mountains and riders are getting more tired, eating so much can become more difficult,” Martinelli said.

“We try to make things easier by preparing energy-dense food and minimizing the total volume. So we choose the most carb-rich sources we have and use carb drinks and smoothies. When a rider is fatigued, they typically find it easier to drink than to eat.”

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Professional chefs like Trek-Segafredo’s Lippens work out of kitchen trucks or hotel facilities to prepare menus that would be worthy of a five-star restaurant.

Meat, fish, and vegetables freshly sourced from local shops and markets come together with a deep traveling storecupboard to create meals that are about a lot more than just fuel.

“When they’re eating so much, we need to maximize the flavors we serve and keep it quite varied. But it needs to be simple at the same time,” Lippens said. “Some things like the carbs, we have to serve. But we try to change the sauces, chicken, salmon, whatever as much as we can or riders will lose interest.”

The question of ‘watts per kilo’

A healthy racer who’s following an appropriate meal plan should have both the fuel to recover from the past stages, and the energy to power the days to come, all the while keeping a steady bodyweight.

Riders check their weight on a daily basis and report back to staffers to ensure they’re on a level.

Although the watts-per-kilo equation is crucial for climbing speed, lost mass comes at the risk of muscle wastage or hormonal malfunction.

As with sports like running and gymnastics, body mass is a big metric in the pro peloton. And in an environment where disordered behaviors could easily become commonplace, teams use weigh-ins to ensure riders aren’t toying with long-term health problems.

“We always would prefer they eat a little more than a little less, within reason,” Martinelli said.

Intriguingly, some riders finish a three-week race like the Tour de France heavier than they started.

Younger riders or grand tour rookies might mistakenly over-fuel for fear of getting dropped. Others report water retention resulting from long days of travel or the impact of glycogen storage.

“A bigger rider can gain two to three kilos in water weight, very quickly,” Martinelli said. “We can manage that by changing the distribution of when in the day they eat carbohydrates. That should manage their insulin response and prevent more fluids. But it’s difficult to get perfect.”

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Carbohydrate isn’t the only thing carefully monitored in the Tour de France diet.

Protein intake is supercharged to help maintain muscle mass and to speed post-race recovery; healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, and nuts are a must-have due to their contribution to hormonal health and vitamin absorption.

There is one food group that does take a hit however.

Fiber is drastically reduced on hard mountain stages or days expected to be particularly intense, such as this Tour’s climb-filled grand départ .

The so-called “low G.I. protocol” ensures riders take the next day’s start line with empty stomachs and low water weight.

“Before all hard and heavy races, they skip salads and almost all the raw fruits and vegetables,” chef Lippens said. “I may put out a few veggies, like just one or two pieces of broccoli. They basically eat like teenagers.”

The booze, burgers, and brownies of balance

However, the daily diet of a Tour de France racer isn’t all carefully calculated carbohydrate quantities and the leanest cuts of meat.

Staffers appreciate the need for balance.

Desserts like brownies, cheesecakes, and fruit tarts are served daily, and the night before a rest day will see teams allow riders to let off some nutritional steam. Barbecues, or homemade pizzas, burgers, or lasagna are cited as the most-frequent pre-rest-day treats served to the multinational peloton.

And, of course, victories are celebrated with something a little more appetizing than another carb drink or high-vitamin shake.

“We’re lucky at Jayco-AlUla,” Martinelli said. “Our owner [Jerry Ryan] owns amazing wineries in Australia, so we always have good wine with us.

“We mainly have red, but sometimes white. The guys only get one glass, but it’s better to have one very good glass rather than a whole bottle of a bad one. The occasional glass – that’s recovery for the mind!”

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FAQs of the Tour de France: How lean? How much power? How do they pee mid-stage? All that and more explained

Ever wondered why riders have such veiny legs? Do riders share rooms? How does a 60km ride count as a rest day? We take a look at the burning questions and those you never thought to ask

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The 2023 edition of the Tour de France is now underway - and if you’ve been following the racing action, there’s probably quite a fair few points that might have piqued your curiosity. That is to be fully expected - a lot is left going on behind the scenes that the cameras aren’t capturing.

Google's autocorrect can provide us with a wealth of information around the general public's deepest thoughts about the pros. For instance, it seems there are enough people desperately searching for ‘how do cyclists pee whilst racing the Tour de France?’ that the search engine is serving up this suggestion for everyone. 

Naturally, we couldn’t leave them hanging, and our answer to how exactly cyclists do pee during top level races can be found here. There’s an almost dizzying array of other questions, too, which we'll get fully stuck into here.

We will take a look at Tour de France performance trends and, continuing past the finish line, we’ll also reveal what the riders get up to in their team buses and talk more about how the pros deal with the hotel-to-hotel life that makes up the three weeks of a Grand Tour.

Why are Tour de France cyclist’s legs so veiny?

We’ve all got veins in our legs quite near to the skin surface, but they are hidden by a layer of fat just under the skin. 

Tour de France cyclist's legs appear to be uber-veiny for two main reasons: firstly, they have much less body fat than ‘ordinary’ people, and secondly, their veins and arteries have adapted to carry more blood around their bodies. The cardiovascular adaptations are numerous, but a large increase in vein and artery diameter is one of them. You can read more about the science behind why Tour de France rider’s legs are so veiny here.

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What do Tour de France riders do on their rest days?

They ride, and not just a little amble around the streets. Most will be on their bikes for two hours and some even more. 

In the early days of Team Sky, Russell Downing found out why after the first rest day of his Grand Tour debut in the 2011 Giro d’Italia: “It was a hard race, the weather was bad and by the first rest day I was really tired. The others asked if I was going with them, but it was cold and raining and I said I’d go on the turbo in the hotel basement instead. I did that for about 45 minutes, just very easy, then went back upstairs to lie down. Next day I was nailed for the whole stage, just hanging on. I was okay the day after, but I’d learnt my lesson and rode with the boys on the next rest day. If you don’t ride reasonably hard on the rest day , your body thinks you’ve stopped and switches off ready for deep recovery. You’ve got to keep it firing for the whole three weeks.” 

What is a soigneur in cycling and what are their duties during the Tour de France?

Soigneur is the French word for ‘carer’, and basically soigneurs care for riders. They prepare them for each stage, looking after them at the finish and back the hotel, with massage and rehab therapies. And they care in other ways too. 

Dirk Nachtergaele, a Belgian pro team soigneur for over 40 years says: “A soigneur is also like a priest. We are the one who riders can confide in, confident that anything they tell us goes no further. They can complain about another rider, the sports director even; they can talk about problems at home – anything. They know we will not tell anyone what they said. That role as confidante is as necessary in a team as being a skilled therapist.”   

How light and lean are the Tour de France climbers?

Double Tour de France stage winner, the recently retired Irish pro rider Dan Martin was a climbing specialist. His racing weight was 62kg, which is light for his 5ft 9in height, but some shorter climbers weigh under 60kg. However, being super-light is no longer the preserve of the pure climbing specialists. Defending Tour champion Pogacar is the same height as Martin and only slightly heavier at around 66kg, while 2019 winner Egan Bernal , also 5ft 9in, is a true featherweight at just 60kg. 

The riders mentioned start the Tour de France with body fat percentages well below 10 per cent, but nutritionists are careful not to allow ‘cutting’ to go too far. 

In fact, it can be better to offload a little muscle, as Dr Rob Child, a performance biochemist who worked with several World Tour teams, explains: “It’s sometimes worth losing a bit of muscle to reduce weight because very low body fat has health implications. Tour de France performance is governed by the cardiovascular system, not by the maximum force applied to the pedals. Pro riders don’t need huge amounts of muscle to pedal at 400 watts for 20 or 30 minutes, and that’s often the key to performing well overall in the Tour. They need a highly developed cardiovascular system, not big muscles.” 

Why do Tour de France riders drink Coca-Cola?

Most team nutritionists would rather the riders didn’t drink coca cola, and some teams even forbid it.

That said, there’s also always one small can of coke in the musettes Trek-Segafredo gives its riders. Drinking a regular fizzy drink such as a cold can of coke after a stage is good for morale – and preserving positivity in a brutal three-week race is vital.

Of course, the most important nutritional consideration for riders is getting enough calories to meet the extreme demands of the race. If you’re wondering how they achieve that, here we look into what exactly goes into fuelling the riders of the Tour de France .

What do Tour de France riders do to recover between stages?

The standard of hotels used by the Tour has improved a lot in recent years, so that helps with sleep and recovery . Even so, teams provide further ‘home comforts’ by carrying all their own bedding, including mattresses and pillows. They also have their own washing machines in the team buses and equipment trucks. Everything is done to promote good sleeping habits and hygiene. 

Riders generally do room-share, partly through tradition but also because it’s good to have company. Pairings are decided diplomatically, though.

Why and how do riders warm up before each stage?

The ‘why’ is explained by double Tour stage winner Steve Cummings: “There are two races in every stage: the first is to get a breakaway established, and the second is to win the stage. If I saw a stage that suited me, one where a break might stay away and give me a chance to win, I’d focus on the first hour to 90 minutes, nothing else. Typically it was attack after attack right from the start, then a huge effort to get the break established. You had to be fully warmed up for that.” 

As to the ‘how’, a Tour warm-up is usually done on a turbo trainer, allowing the whole team to warm-up in one compact space, everyone controlling their effort. Ineos-Grenadiers’s deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth says: “The idea is to prepare the rider’s energy systems for a fast start. They ride steady but progressively harder for at least 20 minutes, then do five minutes of capacity work to open everything up. After that they pedal easily and try to stay loose.”

How much do riders have to eat to meet energy demands?

Riders can burn twice or even three times their usual calorie requirement during a hard day at the Tour. Nigel Mitchell, a nutritional consultant who worked extensively with WorldTour cycling teams, says: “At a Grand Tour, riders can burn more than 5,000kcal on a single stage, depending on the terrain, and that means consuming a huge amount, both off the bike at meal times and on it during the race, in the form of energy drinks, bars and gels.” To put 5,000kcal into perspective, it is roughly equivalent to four large McDonald’s BigMac meals. 

What do the riders eat after each stage?

 Does each rider have their own bespoke meals? Who does the cooking?  

Three questions, but they are related and so are the answers, which come from a former Tour de France rider, UAE Team Emirates former sports director and current race analyst Allan Peiper. The man who oversaw Tadej Pogačar’s first Tour de France win in 2020 told us: “Each rider has a bespoke meal plan based on any needs flagged up by team doctors and physiologists, and on any personal physiological quirks such as intolerances or allergies. The medics talk with nutritionists, and the nutritionists tailor meals to meet specific needs. Each team also has its own chef who works with the nutritionist to prepare tailor-made meals.” 

How heavy are the heaviest riders in the race, and how do they get over the mountains inside the time cut?

There are very few riders of over 80kg in the Tour de France nowadays. The limiter when climbing mountains is power-to-weight ratio, and if a rider is too bulky they cannot overcome the disadvantage, no matter how mighty their power output. The heaviest Tour de France rider since 2000 was the Swede Magnus Backstedt, who says: “I had to be the lightest I could be for the Tour, which was around 90kg, and as fit as I could be. But at my weight, every hill is steep, and the mountains were a real challenge. On mountain stages, I’d hang on to the peloton for as long as possible, then look for a good grupetto – that’s what we call the groups of non-climbers who ride together to get inside the time limits. Once in a grupetto with experienced riders, it was just a case of digging deep, sometimes very deep, and hanging on.” 

Grit and stubbornness get heavier riders up the mountains, but they have an advantage to deploy on the other side, going down. Tour stage winner Sean Yates was a tall, well-built rider, and he says: “You have to get good at descending if you are bigger. You can’t regain all the time you lost going up, but you can get some of it back by really going for it on the descents.”

What’s the relationship between rider age and Tour de France performance?

It used to be that riders developed into Tour contenders gradually over many years. Those youngsters who did take part would be expected to help the team and gain experience, and possibly even drop out after the first week. That’s all changed. Tadej Pogačar was just 21 when he first won in 2020, and Egan Bernal was 22 when he won in 2019. Pogačar’s coach Inigo San Millan has this to say about his rider’s prodigious ability: “He has extraordinary physiological characteristics, and the correct mental attributes, so he was already good enough to win at 21.” 

Until Bernal’s win three years ago, it was thought that riders reached their peak in terms of physiology, psychology and skill at around 26 or 27. According to Allan Peiper: “This may still be true, we just don’t know what the young winners we have now will be like when they are 27 or 28. Will they still be winning, or will the next generation have surpassed them?” At the other end of the scale, the oldest Tour winner of modern times was Cadel Evans in 2011, at the age of 34.  

What do the riders’ musettes contain?

Nothing very surprising, just a re-supply of the gels, drinks and energy bars. Musettes were more interesting in times gone by, when they contained cakes and tarts for energy, small ham and cheese baguettes for protein, and all manner of delights. The food was individually wrapped and packed by the soigneurs. The first female soigneur Shelley Verses, who worked for US team 7-Eleven in the 1980s, used to wrap her riders’ food in pages from Playboy magazine. “It was good for their morale,” she commented. 

Do Tour de France riders drink alcohol during the three weeks?

Yes, but not much. Stage wins might be celebrated with a glass of champagne, and sometimes a small glass of red wine is taken with the evening meal, but that’s as far as it goes. Teams have tried total bans on alcohol, but most allow small amounts to protect morale. 

All rather sensible – not like Tour riders from previous eras. In the early days of the race, riders drank wine and beer during stages because it was less of a threat to health than the contents of some of the primitive water supplies. Right up to the 1960s, some riders enjoyed a mid-Tour tipple or two. One of the most notorious stories is about the 1964 Andorran rest day when race leader Jacques Anquetil went to a party and indulged to such an extent he was hungover the next day and almost lost the race. 

How do Tour de France riders stay hydrated through sweltering long stages?

Nigel Mitchell tells us: “I get riders to start drinking as soon as they wake. I mix water with a little fruit juice in a big bottle, because that makes it more interesting than plain water, and I ask them to finish it before breakfast. They drink fruit juice with breakfast for the electrolytes, and another bottle of diluted fruit juice travelling to the stage start.

“During the stage, they drink from two bottles on the bike, one plain water and one energy drink, and they keep getting fresh bottles from the team car or support motorbikes. They get more fluid in a protein shake after the stage, and an electrolyte drink if it’s been hot. I also provide rice cakes, which contain quite a lot of moisture from the water absorbed by the rice during cooking. 

“Even then, we still check on hydration by checking the rider’s weight each morning. If they are well hydrated, they will stay at pretty much the same weight throughout the Tour.” 

What’s the role of the bottle-carrying domestiques in the Tour de France?

The cycling community uses a lot of French words, with domestiques being one of them. Transporting bottles from the team car to team-mates in the peloton is just one of many duties carried out by domestiques. 

This supply chain is overseen by the sports directors, as Allan Peiper explains: “The sports directors have real-time information in the team cars on each rider’s performance metrics. They can tell if anyone is having a bad day, and they won’t ask that rider to drop back to the team car and pick up bottles, because it could just push them further into the red.” 

Each team has several domestiques and their role, although complicated in execution, is straightforward in mission. It’s to put the team’s leader (or leaders) in the best position to challenge for victory.

That could involve riding at the front to control the peloton’s pace, leading riders who’ve punctured back to the action, chasing when a breakaway needs to be brought back, leading out sprinters at the end of stages, setting the pace in the mountains, and many other jobs. They even perform a very unglamorous function in comfort stops.

Find definitions of the French cycling terms you hear during the Tour de France , such as domestiques, over here.

In terms of FTP and watts per kilo, what does it take to be a GC contender at the Tour de France?

In 2020 the power meter supplier to Team UAE Emirates, Stages, released the following information on Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar’s performance metrics from Stage Nine, a mountainous stage in the Pyrenees: 

Time: 3:58:16 

Average power: 301W (4.5W/kg) 

Normalised power: 351W (5.4W/kg) 

Peak 5min power: 473W (7.2W/kg) 

Peak 20min power: 429W (6.5W/kg) 

To put these figures in context, good amateur racers (i.e. cat two) are capable of five-minute power in the region of 4-5W/kg and 20-minute power of 3.5-4.1W/kg. Even for committed amateurs who train hard, a huge gulf in performance separates them from the likes of Pogačar. 

Do Tour de France riders use dietary supplements. If so, which ones?

They need lots of protein to help recover, so they drink recovery drinks and eat protein bars to augment the protein they get from food. They sometimes consume vitamin and mineral supplements too. Dr Rob Child says: “I try to meet a rider’s needs through well-cooked, nutritious foods, but I always know what their nutritional state is in detail. We take regular blood tests, and I can use supplements to make good any deficiencies.”  

Do riders pee during the Tour de France?

If the race pace isn’t too high, riders can stop by the side of the road, having picked a place where nobody can see – which can be difficult. Peeing on the move is a skill Tour de France pros must have in their toolbox. It’s tricky, as it’s impossible to pedal while peeing, so it’s up to the poor domestique to ride alongside and with a hand on the back to maintain forward momentum. 

And here’s how difficult peeing can be…In 1965 British pro Vin Denson rode the 1965 Bordeaux-Paris, a 365-mile single day race, in support of the race winner Jacques Anquetil. As he approached Paris late in the afternoon, Denson realised he hadn’t peed since the start at 2.30am, and he was bursting. He stopped at the side of the road, but found he couldn’t pee at all, even though his bladder was full. Desperate, he shouted to the stationary team car and his soigneur got out, poured a flask of hot coffee down the front of Denson’s shorts, and Denson recalled: “I went like a fountain – it was glorious!”

This full version of this article was published in the print edition of Cycling Weekly.  Subscribe online  and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week. 

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Chris has written thousands of articles for magazines, newspapers and websites throughout the world. He’s written 25 books about all aspects of cycling in multiple editions and translations into at least 25

different languages. He’s currently building his own publishing business with Cycling Legends Books, Cycling Legends Events, cyclinglegends.co.uk , and the Cycling Legends Podcast 

'It's nice to finally be able to ride like normal again,' says two-time Tour champion

By Tom Davidson Published 7 May 24

Demi Vollering's bike at the Vuelta Femenina appeared to be shod with an update on the Roval Rapide hoops

By Michelle Arthurs-Brennan Published 7 May 24

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2024 Giro d’Italia Riders to Watch

From an overwhelming favorite to two young Americans, here are 13 riders to watch at this year’s Giro d’Italia.

This year’s race has an interesting start list. It’s headlined by one overwhelming favorite, several riders hoping to join him on the podium, lots of sprinters, a couple of veteran stage hunters looking to pad their resumes, and two young Americans making their grand tour debuts.

Here’s a look at thirteen riders to watch at the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a more overwhelming grand tour favorite than Pogačar. The 25-year-old has never raced the Giro, but that won’t stop him from most likely winning it.

The two-time Tour de France champion has had a perfect season so far, mixing specific race targets with training camps so that he’s ready and fresh. So far the plan has worked like a charm: the Slovenian has raced just ten times this season, but has an incredible seven wins—including victories in Strade Bianche , the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (where he won four of the race’s seven stages), and Liège-Bastogne-Liège—and he’s only finished lower than third twice .

With a strong team of proven grand tour domestiques, including several of his favorite Tour de France lieutenants, and a course that suits all of his strengths—including a very Pog-friendly Grande Partenza (what Italians call the Giro’s opening weekend)—the only question we have is: How soon will he put the race out of reach?

Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers)

Thomas was one day away from winning last year’s Giro d’Italia, an impressive feat for a 36-year-old who’s still a grand tour contender despite racing against guys more than a decade younger than he is. But despite last year’s defeat, he’s returning this year to try and finally win a race that’s been eluding him since most of his biggest rivals were juniors.

Defeating Pogačar will be tough, but the course—especially its two time trials—plays to Thomas’ strengths, and he has a deep and talented team supporting him. Our gut says that second overall is the best he can hope for, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned this season it’s that bad luck can strike anyone at any time. Should something happen to Pog (we’re not wishing for that to happen), the soon-to-be 38-year-old will immediately become the race favorite.

And in case you’re wondering, if he wins, he’ll be the second-oldest grand tour champion in cycling history.

Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike)

This young Belgian made (hard-to-pronounce) headlines last December when it was prematurely announced that he was breaking his contract with BORA-hansgrohe (who had recently signed Primoz Roglič away from Jumbo-Visma) to join the Dutch superteam (now called Visma-Lease a Bike).

Uijtdebroeks, who just turned 21, was the winner of the Tour de l‘Avenir in 2022 and is widely considered to be a future grand tour contender. And without Belgium’s Wout van Aert , who’s skipping the Giro due to injuries he sustained in a crash at a race in Belgium a few weeks ago, Uijtdebroeks becomes the focus of the team’s Giro GC plans. A podium finish and the white jersey as the Giro’s Best Young Rider are well within his reach. Securing both would rub some salt in the wounds created by his not-so-smooth transfer.

Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale),

The Australian has had a rough time since finishing fourth overall and winning a stage at the 2021 Tour de France —mainly due to crashes. So now he’s heading back to the Giro, where he cut his teeth as a grand tour rider and even won a mountain stage in 2020.

His 2024 season has been great so far: he won his first race of the year, then finished second at the UAE Tour, fifth at Tirreno-Adriatico, and second at the recent Tour of the Alps, an important pre-Giro stage race. A podium finish and stage victory are well within reach for the 28-year-old, results that would rebuild his confidence and rejuvenate his career.

Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

A former Tour de France podium finisher, Bardet has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance since leaving his former French team for the Dutch Team dsm-firmenich PostNL squad. This move gave him his first chance to race the Giro in 2021 where he finished seventh.

After finishing second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, the 33-year-old is in form and motivated. We wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up challenging for a spot on the final podium, but we suspect he’ll be more of a stage hunter. The Giro is the only grand tour in which he hasn’t won a stage, and he would certainly love to complete a hat trick of grand tour stage victories before retiring.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step)

Alaphilippe was once one of the three or four most exciting riders in the sport—a swashbuckling opportunist who was always a threat in one-day Monuments and grand tour stages. But a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022 left him with a broken shoulder, two broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. He hasn’t been the same since.

After another tough spring, the 31-year-old is now riding his first Giro in the hopes of getting back to his winning ways (he hasn’t won anything since last June). And time is of the essence: the Frenchman’s contract with Soudal-Quick Step is up at the end of the season , and he’s rumored to be negotiating with a couple of French squads (with Quick Step still open to the possibility of keeping him). A stage win or two would help drive up the asking price for a guy who was once one of the most sought-after riders in the world.

Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech)

The Canadian finally got his first Tour de France stage victory last year when he won the first stage to finish atop the Puy de Dôme in 35 years. Now he’s heading to the Giro in the hopes of scoring a complete set of grand tour stage wins. His team is filled with stage hunters and opportunists, so he’ll certainly have several chances to play his hand. The 37-year-old former world-class distance runner will likely be targeting some of the Giro’s longer mountain stages and, therefore, won’t be worried about losing time during the first week (and in the time trials) so that the GC contenders leave him alone to chase stages in the second and third week.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

Quintana won the Giro in 2014, a year after bursting onto the scene with a podium finish at the 2013 Tour de France . But the 34-year-old hasn’t raced since finishing sixth overall in the 2022 Tour and then having his results disqualified after testing positive for tramadol, a painkiller that’s banned by the UCI (but not banned by WADA). He’s now back in the WorldTour with Movistar, the team with whom he recorded best results. But his return has not been a popular one , and it will be interesting to see how he’s treated by riders and fans. He says he’s racing for stage wins (not the General Classification) and would justify Movistar’s risky investment if he gets one.

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)

Milan was one of the biggest surprises of last year’s Giro. Racing for Bahrain-Victorious, the Italian won a stage and the ciclamino jersey as the winner of the Giro’s Points Classification. He then signed with Lidl-Trek, where one would assume he’s getting more money and more opportunities to ride for himself. Now he’s heading back to his home grand tour and hoping to build on last year’s success—albeit against much tougher competition. Multiple stage wins and another ciclamino jersey are good goals for the 23-year-old, and he has a team filled with fast finishers to help him.

Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

Jakobsen transferred to DSM this past off-season after several years with Soudal-Quick Step, where he blossomed from an up-and-comer into a proven grand tour field sprinter (despite a horrible crash in the 2020 Tour of Poland that put him in a medically-induced coma).

But in 2024 Quick-Step is all-in on Remco Evenepoel’s GC chances at the Tour de France , and there wasn’t room on the Tour squad for both a sprinter and a GC contender, so Jakobsen left. So far, the 27-year-old has won just one race this year, but a couple of victories at the Giro would certainly make his new team happy and cement his place on their roster for the Tour.

Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla)

Ewan started his career with Orica-GreenEdge, winning stages in all three grand tours before accepting a lucrative offer from Lotto-Soudal (now Lotto-Dstny) prior to the 2019 season. But after a bitter divorce ended the Australian’s five-year tenure with the Belgian team, he’s now back home, with Jayco AlUla, the current iteration of the Orica program with which he cut his teeth. His season hasn’t been the greatest so far—he’s won just two races. But assuming he’s recovered from the health issues that ruined his spring, he’s primed to get back on track with a stage win or two.

Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) and Luke Lamperti (Soudal-Quick Step)

This year’s Giro will mark the grand tour debut for Sheffield and Lamperti, two young Americans who have turned lots of heads so far in their careers. Despite being just 22 years old, Sheffield is a third-year pro who’s already won some important races. Now, he gets a shot at his first grand tour, where he’ll be a contender in the Giro’s two individual time trials.

Lamperti is a rookie at Soudal-Quick Step, and while he hasn’t won his first race–yet–he’s proven himself to be a fast finisher and a valuable teammate. At the Giro, his first goal will be helping Belgium’s Tim Merlier win a few stages, but we won’t be surprised to see the 21-year-old win one of the race’s trickier uphill sprint finishes.

.css-1t6om3g:before{width:1.75rem;height:1.75rem;margin:0 0.625rem -0.125rem 0;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-background-size:1.25rem;background-size:1.25rem;background-color:#F8D811;color:#000;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-position:center;background-position:center;}.loaded .css-1t6om3g:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/bicycling/static/images/chevron-design-element.c42d609.svg);} 2024 Giro d'Italia

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• Giro d'Italia

The 5 Colombians who will do battle at the Tour de France 2023

Five Colombian riders are preparing to face the challenge of the Tour de France 2023, one of the most prestigious cycling races in the world: Rigoberto Urán , Egan Bernal , Esteban Chaves , Daniel Martínez and Harold Tejada . With the participation of 22 teams and a total of 176 cyclists, these Colombians will seek to leave the name of their country high and fight for the top positions in the general classification.

RIGOBERTO URÁN

Urán heads the list of Colombians competing in the Grande Boucle. At 36, Urán has been confirmed as the "co-leader" of the EF Education team, under the shadow of Richard Carapaz. This will be his tenth appearance in the Tour de France, an impressive achievement in his career. Urán has achieved outstanding performances in previous editions, taking second place in 2017, seventh in 2019, eighth in 2020 and 10th in 2021. He has also competed in 2009, 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2022, demonstrating his experience and skills in competition.

Final startlist Tour de France with BIB | Vingegaard, Pogacar, Cavendish, Van der Poel, Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Bernal, Pidcock, Sagan and Girmay

EGAN BERNAL

Egan Bernal, rider of the INEOS team, will also be present at the Tour for the fourth time. The British team has confirmed Bernal as leader, confident in his talent and recent level of performance. Bernal will be looking to repeat his 2019 feat, when he was crowned Tour de France champion. In 2018 he finished 15th and in 2020 he had to drop out due to injury, but he returns with determination and the hope of returning to the top of the podium.

ESTEBAN CHAVES

Esteban Chaves, the Colombian road champion, will be present in his fourth participation in the Tour de France. The Bogota-born cyclist has managed to stay in competition in previous editions, finishing 62nd in 2017, 23rd in 2020 and 13th in 2021. Chaves will be looking to improve his performance and contribute to his team's success in this edition.

ANALYSIS | Rating Tour de France 2023 teams

DANIEL MARTÍNEZ

Daniel Martinez, one of the protagonists of Egan Bernal's 2021 Giro d'Italia title, will also be present at the Tour. This will be his fourth appearance in the French race, having placed 36th overall in 2018, 28th in 2020 and 29th in 2022. Martinez has proven to be a solid and reliable rider, capable of providing important support to his team.

HAROLD TEJADA

Harold Tejada, a 26-year-old cyclist from Huila, will be one of the novelties in the Tour de France 2023. After an outstanding performance at the Tour de Suisse, the Astana team has decided to include him in its line-up for the Grande Boucle. This will be Tejada's second Tour appearance, having placed 45th on his debut in 2020. His presence in the team shows Colombia's emerging talent in cycling and its ability to face the most demanding challenges.

PREVIEW | Tour de France 2023 - Key stages, how the Pogacar vs Vingegaard battle will unfold and the star-studded peloton

Colombian cyclists will have the opportunity to prove their worth at the 2023 Tour de France, competing against the world's best riders on a challenging and mountainous course. Cycling fans will be watching the performances of Rigoberto Urán, Egan Bernal, Esteban Chaves, Daniel Felipe Martínez and Harold Tejada, hoping to see these talented Colombian riders making their mark in the most important race on the cycling calendar.

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Wed 08 May 2024

Tour champion Vingegaard still hopes to be in 'top shape' for this year's race after bad crash

P ARIS (AP) — Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, just a month after a bad crash that left him several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

And the Danish rider is still hoping to compete at this year's Tour, which starts in seven weeks.

“I feel good, it’s improving day by day,” Vingegaard said in a video released by his team, Visma–Lease a Bike. “I still have some things to recover from, but it’s going better and better. Of course I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France. We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go, but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”

Vingegaard was hospitalized in Spain last month following the crash that involved other top riders during a chaotic Tour of the Basque Country. He also sustained a broken collarbone and a pulmonary contusion during the accident, which came less than three months before the start of the Tour de France on June 29.

He was back in the saddle on Tuesday.

“This is the first time back on the bike for me riding outside, and it's really nice to finally be able to ride like normal again,” Vingegaard said in the video, standing by his bicycle. “Finally to be able to ride on the road is really amazing and I'm really looking forward to taking the next steps."

Before the crash, Vingegaard had been considered one of the top favorites at the Tour again alongside his rival Tadej Pogacar, who is aiming for a Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double this year.

Vingegaard was hardly moving when he was put into an ambulance wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace after the crash with less than 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) remaining in the stage. The pileup also took out Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, along with several other riders, many of whom needed hospital treatment.

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Tour champion jonas vingegaard still hopes to be in ‘top shape’ for this year’s race after bad crash.

• Associated Press

CAGLI - MONTE PETRANO, ITALY - MARCH 09: Stage winner Jonas Vingegaard Hansen of Denmark and Team Visma-Lease A Bike - Blue Leader Jersey attacks in the final climb Monte Petrano (1091m) during the 59th Tirreno-Adriatico 2024, Stage 6 a 180km stage from Sassoferrato to Cagli - Monte Petrano 1091m / #UCIWT / on March 09, 2024 in Cagli - Monte Petrano, Italy. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Tim de Waele/Getty Images

PARIS — Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, just a month after a bad crash that left him several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

And the Danish rider is still hoping to compete at this year’s Tour, which starts in seven weeks.

“I feel good, it’s improving day by day,” Vingegaard said in a video released by his team, Visma–Lease a Bike. “I still have some things to recover from, but it’s going better and better. Of course I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France. We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go, but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”

Vingegaard was hospitalized in Spain last month following the crash that involved other top riders during a chaotic Tour of the Basque Country. He also sustained a broken collarbone and a pulmonary contusion during the accident, which came less than three months before the start of the Tour de France on June 29.

He was back in the saddle on Tuesday.

“This is the first time back on the bike for me riding outside, and it’s really nice to finally be able to ride like normal again,” Vingegaard said in the video, standing by his bicycle. “Finally to be able to ride on the road is really amazing and I’m really looking forward to taking the next steps.”

Before the crash, Vingegaard had been considered one of the top favorites at the Tour again alongside his rival Tadej Pogacar, who is aiming for a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double this year.

Vingegaard was hardly moving when he was put into an ambulance wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace after the crash with less than 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) remaining in the stage. The pileup also took out Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, along with several other riders, many of whom needed hospital treatment.

• Giro d'Italia stage 5 Live - Will Jonathan Milan win again?

Tour de France abandons: the full list of riders who have left the race

More departures in third week as Van Aert joins a list already including Carapaz, Jakobsen, Ewan, Mas, Cavendish and Bardet

Any bike race is never just about the winners, and for the Tour de France that's particularly pertinent. Each year every top rider taking part tries to be in their very best condition for cycling’s high point of the stage racing season. But abandons, from illness or injury or poor condition, inevitably form part of each day’s narrative.

The early days of the race saw GC contenders leave the race through crashes and injuries as Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz abandoned. Then sprinters including Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and Fabio Jakobsen headed home in the second week before stage 14 also took a heavy toll with many riders coming down in a big crash near the start of the stage. Then as the third week started, the list continued to expand, with more injury withdrawals and the climbs also taking a toll.

Here’s a full breakdown of the contenders who’ve abandoned this year’s Tour to date, updated each day through the race.

Enric Mas (Movistar) DNF

The first abandon of the 2023 Tour de France . He crashed on the descent of the cat.3 Alto de Vivero late on stage 1, breaking his right shoulder blade with cuts and abrasions. Twice fifth in the Tour, last year Mas also had to abandon the race with COVID-19. The 28-year-old is expected to race in the 2023 Vuelta a España, where he’s finished second overall three times, in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) DNS The second abandon of the 2023 Tour de France , after crashing alongside Enric Mas . Carapaz continued but crossed the line over 15 minutes down on winner Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). 

A former Giro d’Italia winner and Tour de France and Vuelta a España podium finisher, the Ecuadorian could barely walk at the finish and was later diagnosed to have slightly fractured his left kneecap.

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Carapaz, 30, was a DNS on stage 2.

Thank you champion for making us dream. We will miss you. Rest up. We will see you soon. 💕Gracias campeón por hacer nos soñar. Te echaremos de menos. Que descanses bien. Nos vemos pronto. 💕 pic.twitter.com/bRpmVsB8OU July 2, 2023

Luis Léon Sánchez (Astana-Qazaqstan) DNS

It was a crash marred finale on stage 4 and while Luis Léon Sánchez was officially marked down as a finisher, the writing was on the wall when the rider was transported to hospital following the fall with 1km to go. His Astana-Qazaqstan team then confirmed in a statement later that evening that he wouldn’t start stage 5 as he had broken his left collarbone. “Tomorrow he goes home to Spain where he will undergo an operation,” added the team. 

The departure of the experienced Sánchez, who was riding his 12th Tour de France, will be a loss to Mark Cavendish as he chases his 35th career stage win at the Tour de France . However, he isn’t the only sprinter who is grappling with a depletion of his support squad because of stage 4’s tumbles.

Jacopo Guarnieri (Lotto-Dstny) DNS  

Caleb Ewan was already feeling the absence of Jasper De Buyst after his key lead-out man crashed on the second stage, and while De Buyst is still in the race he has needed some recovery time so wasn’t able to slot into his lead-out role in the stage 3 and 4 sprints. That made Jacopo Guarnieri more crucial than ever, however he hit the road hard in a crash at 1.8km to go that also included Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep), who was left battered, bruised and with a bike in three pieces but able to continue.

Guarnieri was, like Sánchez, marked as a finisher on the stage 4 results as the crash came in the final stages of the race but just like his Spanish rival the rider was left with race ending injuries that means he will not start stage 5.

“Apart from a fractured collarbone, Jacopo has also incurred three minor rib fractures and lots of abrasions," said Lotto-Dstny in a statement.

It’s a blow for the team's sprint hopes though fortunately Ewan, who came third in stage 3 and second in stage 4, is adept at surfing the wheels of his rivals.

We'll miss you at the #TDF2023, @jacopoguarnieri 😥 pic.twitter.com/KbgrYnX8T7 July 4, 2023

Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) DNF

Mark Cavendish's quest for his 35th Tour de France stage win was one of the key narratives in the 2023 Tour de France. A focal point of international coverage, and tipped as the subject of Netflix's next series of the Tour of France: Unchained.

Cavendish's untimely departure from the race came on stage 8 when a clash of wheels saw a handful of riders go down. Of all of those who crashed, Cavendish was visibly the most hurt of the group - clutching his collarbone.

He was loaded into an ambulance, and his departure from the Tour was confirmed by race organisers and his team minutes later, accompanied by images of a dejected Cavendish sitting in an ambulance seat.

Astana Qazaqstan later confirmed his departure on social media and then confirmation of his injuries including a fractured right collarbone.

It marks the end of a stunning career at the Tour de France, equalling Eddy Merckx's record of the most stage wins at the race.

Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) DNF

With headlines so focussed on Mark Cavendish, it could have been easy to miss that Steff Cras was also forced to abandon the race on account of a crash.

Cras went down alongside Simon Yates, in a crash that led to the Jayco-AlUla rider losing 47 seconds in the general classification . The crash took place just within the final 5km, with broadcast images showing Cras' bike at the roadside and the young Belgian rider unable to remount and continue.

Cras, too, had been in contention in the general classification order, albeit for a top-10 position rather than the podium. He was TotalEnergies' highest-placed rider in the general classification at 13th overall.

TotalEnergies confirmed his abandonment on Twitter and confirmed that he suffers from multiple bruises on his elbow and hip, but did not sustain any fractures.

🇫🇷 RACE: @LeTour @markcavendish crashed 60 km from finish with Pello Bilbao and was forced to abandon. He left the race in the ambulance. Updates will follow as soon as there is more news#TDF2023 #AstanaQazaqstanTeam July 8, 2023

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) DNS

US national road race champion Quinn Simmons departed from the Tour de France briefly before the start of stage 9.

“Since his heavy crash on stage 5 Quinn’s condition has not improved as we had hoped,” a statement from Lidl-Trek read on Sunday morning. “He still feels stiffness and fatigue so we have decided to stop him to focus on his recovery."

Simmons was set to ride in support of Mads Pedersen on the Tour’s sprint stages, helping deliver Pedersen to victory on stage 8 , while protecting Lidl-Trek’s GC ambitions with Mattias Skjelmose and Giulio Ciccone. 

However, with Skjelmose being Lidl-Trek’s highest-placed GC contender in 19th place at a margin of 8:47 to the yellow jersey, Simmons would likely have been given a free lease to pursue individual stage wins on the Tour’s more hilly stages.

Having stated ahead of the race, “If I leave without a stage win then the Tour is a disappointment for me personally," the departure so early in the race is no doubt a big disappointment for the US rider.

Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) DNS

European Champion Fabio Jakobsen abandoned the Tour de France on the morning of stage 12 after initially crashing at high speed on stage 4. 

Jakobsen soldiered on and fought against the time cut on numerous occasions to try to recover and refind his form, however, he withdrew after being unable to challenge in any of the subsequent bunch sprints.

“Due to my stage four crash, and after discussions with the team, we decided it’s better for me to stop my Tour de France journey here," Jakobsen said in the team's press release. "At this point it seems impossible for me to get to Paris, as I am not recovering, and my body is not healing from the crash.”

Jakobsen was the team's main focus alongside Julian Alaphilippe and the duo were meant to challenge for stage wins, but after 11 days of racing the Belgian side had no success and may miss out on a stage win for the first time since 2012 with their sprinter out of the race.

He is also set to leave the team in 2024 , making this his last appearance at the Tour for Soudal-QuickStep and with his win tally at only one stage from 2022, he'll certainly want more once he returns to the Tour with a new team.

David de la Cruz (Astana) DNF

After a heavy crash midway through stage 12, the Astana team were down to five as David de la Cruz was forced out of the race due to multiple injuries.

The Spaniard was transported to the hospital of Roanne where exams found no fractures. However, he had contusions on his right elbow, right shoulder and left hip as well as multiple skin abrasions all over the body. The elbow wounds were bad enough to require stitches.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) DNF The Australian ended his struggles on stage 13 of the Tour de France, dropping out of the race before having to fight his way to the top of the Grand Colombier.

The 29--year-old had already struggled through on a particularly aggressively-raced stage 12 and had to fight to make the time cut with only teammate Jasper De Buyst for company.

Then on stage 13 he was seen clutching his stomach as he labored behind the peloton, with Ewan finally pulling the plug with 20km to go on the stage. He left the race with two top-three finishes on stages 3 and 4, with Ewan finding his way to the podium steps despite key leadout riders being hit by early race injuries.

Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) DNF The British rider making his Tour debut was also distanced on stage 13 and then abandoned after being ill on Friday morning.  

A series of crashes on the Alpine stage to Morzine saw the 2023 Tour suffer its biggest day of losses yet. In the early kilometres of the stage, a mass pile-up in the peloton saw the race start neutralised and a pause for 29 minutes, with around 20 riders hitting the deck and then a crash on the descent off the day's first climb took a further toll.

Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) DNF

Part of the opening crash Pedrero was stretchered away from the race with a later medical report from the team saying he had fractured three ribs and his right posterior arch. "He has been discharged from the hospital and will receive follow-up from the team's medical services" said Movistar in a medical report.

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) DNF

Before the stage Meintjes was 13th overall, but with the early crash his team lost their GC leader and hopes of a top ten overall. The South African rider was hit from behind and fell, breaking his collarbone. As a result all Intermarché-Circus-Wanty's focus will now turn to chasing a stage win.

Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) DNF The Colombian rider soldiered on after the restart but with an injury to his sternoclavicular joint, stopped shortly after due to his injuries. “This [race] is the dream. And today the dream hurts,” Chaves, who came fifth on stage 10, said in a team statement. Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich) DNF

The French GC leader who was in 12th at the start of the stage and already hadn't been having the best of weeks, suffering from a bronchial infection earlier. Then things got far worse on stage 14 when he fell on a fast, sweeping descent off the opening climb of the day, the third-category Col de Saxel. The rider was forced to abandon with what Team dsm-firmenich later confirmed was multiple skin abrasions on his hip and shoulder and a concussion.

James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) DNF 

The 27 year old's impressive Tour de France debut was also cut short on the descent of Col de Saxel, with a concussion as a result of the crash. The team said CT scans and X-rays showed no sign of further injuries. EF Education-EasyPost is now down three riders, given Chaves was caught up in the crash at the start and Richard Carapaz did not start stage 2 after the opening stage crash.

Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) DNF

The second Movistar abandon on stage 14, Guerreiro, leaves the team as one of the most depleted in the peloton alongside EF Education-Easypost. Given they already had the early departure of the team's GC leader Enric Mas, just five riders now remain for the Spanish squad.

Ramon Sinkeldam (Alpecin-Deceuninck) DNF The climbs also took another toll on stage 14 with Sinkeldam isolated after losing touch with grupetto early. "I am very disappointed that at this moment I don't have the level to survive the mountain stages. This was not how I wanted to leave the Tour," said Sinkledam in a Twitter post from Alpecin-Deceuninck .

Dani Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) DNS

Following evaluation by the team doctor after stage 14, the Colombian was a non-starter on stage 15 and put into the UCI concussion protocol with the team saying "symptoms of concussion were detected".

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), DNS

Movistar’s difficult Tour de France has continued into the third week of the race as the team announced Tuesday morning that Matteo Jorgenson would be a DNS for stage 16 after tearing his thigh muscle.

Alexis Renard (Cofidis), DNS

Alexis Renard (Cofidis) had a tough time trial on stage 16, crashing on the treacherous opening corner of the course, where a handful of others also went down in the opening hours of the time trial. 

While Renard managed to finish the stage, Vingegaard's blistering performance pushed him one second outside of the time cut.

Whether he would have been allowed to proceed given the small margin wasn't clear, but a broken elbow from his fall sadly meant that the Frenchman's Tour was over. 

The team confirmed the abandon on social media , "Unfortunately, Alexis Renard will not start again tomorrow. Following his fall at the start of the stage, our Breton rider suffered a fractured right elbow."

Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), DNF

As Phil Bauhaus' climb savvy teammates were pushing the pace up in the break on the brutal queen stage, he was slipping out the back on a course and day that left even Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) suffering . Ultimately the rider abandoned, adding another casualty to the climbs from the ranks of the sprinters. “It’s hard to take, I tried my best, and I really put effort to make the time cuts over the past few stages," said Bauhaus in a media statement. "Today I was empty, it was full gas from the start, and I was alone. I tried, but as the time gap widened, catching the grupetto and making the time cut would be impossible.

"It’s sad not to make it to Paris, celebrate this with my teammates, and finish the Tour de France as a rider. It’s been a crazy Tour and full gas from the start on nearly every stage. I can leave knowing I tried my best to give everything, and today was just a step too far."

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), DNS Jumbo-Visma lost the valuable Wout van Aert from the squad on stage 18. The rider walked away without finding that tenth Tour de France stage victory of his career, but still with four podiums and his team leader Jonas Vingegaard well ensconced in the yellow jersey. The Belgian left the race due to the imminent arrival of his second child.

Simon Geschke (Cofidis)

German Simon Geschke was the last man to finish stage 17 after struggling with a stomach bug. He came to the line with the broom wagon on his tail, 44:56 behind stage winner Felix Gall in Courchevel.

It was no surprise that when Geschke lost touch with the peloton with 73km remaining on stage 18, he pulled over to climb into the team car. 

🇫🇷 #TDF2023 @WoutvanAert has left the Tour de France to be with his wife Sarah who will give birth to their second child soon. More in the interview recorded yesterday morning. 🎥 pic.twitter.com/WWA7uoCVz4 July 20, 2023

Victor Lafay (Cofidis)

Victor Lafay, who gave Cofidis their first win at the Tour since 2008 on stage 2 , was forced to abandon on the penultimate stage due to injuries following a crash.

According to his team, the Frenchman has superficial abrasions all over his body. He received sutures to his face, right elbow and left knee, and also suffers from a mild concussion.

Des nouvelles de @victorlafay 🤕Suite à sa chute, Victor a des abrasions superficielles sur tout le corps. Il a des sutures au visage, au coude droit et au genou gauche. Victor souffre également d'une commotion cérébrale légère.Bon rétablissement champion 💪📷 Piet De Moor pic.twitter.com/J4Dn9Fm7fQ July 22, 2023

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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Cycling-Vingegaard back on bike outside, hopeful for Tour defence

(Reuters) – Denmark’s twice Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back riding outside for the first time since his crash last month, and is hopeful of defending his title, the Team Visma-Lease a Bike rider said on Tuesday.

Vingegaard won the last two editions of the Tour de France, but his participation was in doubt after suffering a broken collarbone and several broken ribs during the Tour of the Basque Country.

“This is the first time back on the bike for me, riding outside, and it’s really nice to be able to ride like normal again,” Vingegaard said in a video on social media platform X.

“Of course, I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France, we don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go, but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”

The Tour de France begins on June 29 in Florence, Italy, and ends on July 21 in Nice.

(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)

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