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How does a Tour de France team work?

From the domestiques to the massage therapists, every Tour de France team is made up of a million moving parts, any one of which could derail months of work.

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It takes much more than one supremely talented skinny man to win the Tour de France . That man matters, certainly, but Chris Froome would probably not be a four-time overall yellow jersey winner if he also didn’t have the best, most well-funded team in the sport surrounding him. (Maybe two or three times in that case — give or take a salbutamol inhaler).

It’s easy to lose sight of the importance of teammates in cycling. The Tour goes out of its way to make itself seem like an individual competition, giving the race leader a bright yellow jersey that can be seen from helicopters and propping him up on a podium after each stage to wave flowers and a plush lion at the cameras.

But don’t fooled. Cycling is about much more than pure physical effort. Yellow jersey contenders need teammates to make sure they use their energy as efficiently as possible while climbing some of the biggest mountains in the world. And in perhaps no other sport are the support staff — the team directors, soigneurs, mechanics, and chefs — so critically important to the mission, too.

Every Tour de France team is an intricate machine that could collapse if any part of it fails.

Teams are made up of eight riders who do everything together

Race, eat, recover, and repeat, for 21 stages and nearly 2,100 miles over 23 days. It should be noted that not all riders are the same. There are 22 teams in the Tour de France, each organized under a sponsor. The sponsors tend to be banks, energy companies, and bicycle companies.

Here’s a brief explanation of the most common types of riders you will see on the road.

The yellow jersey contender: The competition for the yellow jersey is based on the leader of the general classification, which ranks all 176 riders by time. The riders on top of the general classification at the end of the Tour tend to be strong climbers and time trialists, because mountain and time trial stages usually create the biggest time gaps. Teams can have multiple yellow jersey contenders — like Movistar this year with Nairo Quintana, Mikel Landa, and Alejandro Valverde — or one clear boss — like Team Sky and four-time Tour winner Chris Froome.

Teams like Sky are rigidly mechanical and deadly. They come into the Tour with a plan and follow it to the letter. Teams like Movistar function much more loosely, seemingly making up the gameplan on the fly.

The domestique: A domestique is essentially a helper rider, someone who sacrifices his chances to climb up the general classification or win a stage so that a teammate can succeed. Domestiques will often gather water bottles from team cars to pass out among teammates, or ride in front of a team leader to cut the wind for him, or even give up his bicycle if the team leader suffers a mechanical problem.

Depending on the type of stage, anyone — including the yellow jersey contender — could act as a domestique. For example, on a flat stage when there isn’t much time to gain, a pure climber might do domestique duties so that sprinters who are capable of winning the stage can focus on riding their fastest. When the terrain gets bumpier, those roles reverse.

The sprinter: Many casual fans understand the importance of the yellow jersey, but nearly as prestigious among riders is the green jersey, which is awarded to the rider who earns the most points from stage wins and intermediate sprints. These riders tend to be the fastest riders in terms of pure speed, because the biggest chunk of Tour de France stages take place on relatively flat land.

Other important types of riders include the puncheur — all-around riders who are best at courses that are not too steep, and not too flat — and the time trial specialist — also a good all-around rider and valuable domestique , but particularly well-suited for riding alone against the clock. The best yellow jersey contenders — Chris Froome, particularly — are often great time trialists.

Again, the important thing to note is that, at certain points during the Tour, any of these riders could act as a domestique . Everyone has to make sacrifices for the good of the team.

The key to any tactic on the road is drafting

Every move is based the fact that it is much easier to ride behind someone than in front of someone. Scientists don’t quite agree on the extent, but the effect of sitting on another rider’s wheel is a 27 percent to 50 percent reduction in wind drag . That’s why when you watch the Tour de France, you’ll often see the best riders sitting third or fourth wheel within a line of seven of their teammates.

The long leadout trains are most easily seen on the flat stages, when teams will work hard to move their sprinters to the front of the peloton — the big bunch of 100-plus riders sticking close together — and keep his legs fresh before he bursts forward to challenge for the stage victory. Teamwork is perhaps most critical in the mountains, however. When Team Sky takes to the Alps, expect to see riders like Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, and Wout Poels near Chris Froome at all times, doing as much work as they can for their team leader for as long as their legs will hold out.

Riders like Thomas are often called superdomestiques for being yellow jersey-caliber riders who nonetheless are willing to sacrifice for a team leader.

Having a teammate or two on difficult climbs is often what makes a great rider a champion. For the last several years, for example, Thomas has acted essentially as Froome’s guard dog. Whenever a rival would try to attack by accelerating from Froome up a steep slope, Thomas would chase and take Froome with him on his wheel, keeping the attacks at bay while insuring that Froome doesn’t have to expend more energy than necessary.

A great team can also go to the front of the peloton and drive the pace relentlessly high, snuffing out any idea of an attack before it begins. Not only is Sky ridiculously talented top to bottom, it is also incredibly well coordinated, sharing the energy load as equitably as possible and driving all of their rivals mad.

But no team can be great without proper support staff

In 2014, I spoke to a member of BMC Racing’s staff , and this is what the team brought to support its nine riders:

Minimum 17 staff: four soigneurs , four mechanics, a general manager, two race directors; a cook, a press officer, a hospitality manager, a technical director, a doctor and a photographer. 10 vehicles: one truck, one bus, one sprinter, one van and six cars. 27 road bikes, 18 time trial bikes and 80 pairs of wheels. 2,000 bottles 400 musettes 1,000 energy bars 1,500 gel packs The kit per each rider, which includes the following: four bibs, four short sleeve jerseys, two long sleeve thermal jerseys, two short sleeve thermal jerseys, three knee/leg/arm warmers, two wind vests, two rain jackets, five pairs of socks, two helmets, two aero helmets, 10 cycling caps, three pairs of gloves

Just like a domestique rider is expected to do everything for the team leader, a soigneur is someone who takes care of all the little things behind the scenes. Technically, soigneurs are massage therapists, but they will also pack the day’s musettes — bags that contain food, water, and energy drinks — that riders will grab as they ride through designated portions of every stage. If a rider misses a feed zone, his body could give out at a critical juncture of the race.

Then there are the mechanics. They get up early to make sure every rider’s bike is properly tuned, and pack the roofs of their support vehicles so that if an important riders suffers a mechanical problem, his replacement ride will be the most easily accessible. The mechanics can often salvage a bad day. On Stage 9 of this year’s Tour, for example, Frenchman Romain Bardet suffered three punctured tires on the cobblestones, and yet was able to minimize his time lost because AG2R La Mondiale’s mechanics were quick to give him a new wheel when he needed it.

Communication among everyone is critical during each stage

A system of radios makes everything go:

Race radio: A one-way feed run by Tour de France organizers. Team cars are stuck behind cyclists with limited visibility, so they rely on race radio to relay information about which riders have been involved in crashes or are pulling away from the peloton. Race radio gives clearance to team cars to break procession order and speed ahead to aid their riders. Car-to-car radio: A channel open to only the two team cars on the course. Amidst so much chaos, the two race directors must be in constant contact, communicating who will help which riders, and whether to pull over and swap rider-specific equipment based on which rider is in which part of the peloton. Car-to-rider radio: A channel that puts race directors directly in the ears of team riders. This communication line has been open since the mid-90s, though some want to abolish it, claiming that it has eliminated spontaneity during stages in favor of robotic coordination and tactics. Riders like it, however, and teams insist that the radio is used almost entirely for communicating times and potential hazards ahead, and that little collusion takes place.

Each team has two cars. All of the cars follow the peloton according to the team rankings, from best to worst, meaning that currently the top-ranked team, Quick-Step Floors, has the No. 1 and No. 23 cars in the procession, and the worst-ranked team, Cofidis, has the No. 22 and No. 44 cars.

Positioning is important, because any car near the front will be able to get to a down rider much more quickly. The positioning of the vehicles also incentivizes teams to get into breakaways. If a domestique pulls far enough ahead of the peloton, a team car is given a go-ahead to break procession order and drive up near its rider. Doing so might help the team’s yellow jersey hopeful later if he has a problem or desperately needs a water bottle as the breakaway is roped in and the vehicle is asked to rejoin the procession.

From the chefs dedicated to giving riders the perfect mix of simple carbs, proteins, and probiotics to recover from yet another grueling stage, to the communications director who keeps the atmosphere loose on the team bus for three stress-packed weeks, a Tour de France team is made up of dozens of moving parts, any of which could be the difference between success and failure.

If everything goes right, all that’s left for anyone to do is hope that the top guy doesn’t screw it all up

That’s the point of it all, really: to eliminate all possible complications until all that’s left is hope that your meal ticket — your one amazing rider who you’ve dedicated months of preparation for — can win the whole thing on his own, with, say, an incredible solo effort up to La Pierre-St. Martin , or a strangling performance on the cobblestones of Northern France .

And if that meal ticket bonks, or worse, crashes out of the Tour yet again , then all that effort will, cruelly, have been for naught.

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Don’t Let the Yellow Jersey Fool You — The Tour de France Is Won by a Team

Teams of the Tour de France

All of the nearly 200 riders who compete in the Tour de France ride as part of teams. Some of the most recognizable teams in the race include UAE Team Emirates , Jumbo-Visma , Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl , Movistar , EF Education-EasyPost , BikeExchange-Jayco , Alpecin-Deceuninck , and Arkea-Samsic , among others.

Each team fields eight riders who offer a variety of skill sets and specialties they hope will allow them to win stages and the coveted jerseys of the tour by the race’s end. Most teams come to the tour with only a couple of riders who stand a chance of winning the tour outright or even winning a single stage.

The rest of the group works to put their race leaders in a position to accomplish goals throughout the tour, whether through stage wins, points accumulation in sprints or climbs, or leading the general classification (based on the overall cumulative time across the entire race). These riders are known as domestiques.

Domestiques

Domestiques are the workhorses of the team. They do the hard work of leading out riders ahead of sprints, riding at the front of a pack to create slipstreams, or gathering water and food for other riders in feed zones so they can focus on keeping pace with the peloton (main group).

More often than not, riders who have no intention of winning the tour perform these duties, but that is not always the case. Even team leaders share the burden of supporting others at times.

Because the tour’s 21 stages include a variety of terrain that favors riders of different specialties from day to day, even top riders can relegate themselves to a support role during stages in which they don’t have anything to gain by putting in the maximum effort.

A good example of this came in Stage 9 of the 2022 edition of the tour. Wout van Aert , who rides from Jumbo-Visma, fought hard to catch a breakaway ahead of an intermediate sprint to claim 20 points that solidified his hold on the green jersey. After he finished that sprint, which came on a mountain stage, he returned to a car to grab water bottles for the rest of his team, who were positioned well behind him in the peloton.

Because van Aert had no interest in winning mountain points, nor did the men competing for the green jersey, he could take a breather and support the climbers hoping to rack up their own points or win the stage.

Key Roles in the Tour de France

Riders who support race leaders face tremendous challenges. They often ride at the front of the pack, bearing the full brunt of any winds hitting the peloton, and struggling to hold a pace that will favor their riders and hinder others.

During sprint stages, lead-out men and women ride directly in front of sprinters to create a slipstream from which sprinters can explode at the final moment to win a stage. Sprints are notoriously dangerous, so lead-out riders risk a lot to give another rider glory.

During climbs, support riders can move into a breakaway to force other riders to forge ahead at an elevated pace to keep up and eventually catch them. This prevents competitors from being able to rest when they may need to take it easy. Likewise, support riders can refuse to work with other teams who need to catch a breakaway to protect their own riders who have moved ahead.

Aside from tactics, domestiques also can offer material support to their race leaders in the form of bicycle parts, or even their entire bike should a leader suffer a mechanical issue with no team support vehicle nearby. And should a team leader need to drop back for any reason, the domestiques will pace them in their draft back to the peloton.

It can seem a bit unfair that most cyclists work for the benefit of a few, but only a handful of riders have what it takes to win the Tour de France, or even a single stage.

Without their teammates, even those riders wouldn’t stand a chance.

Tadej Pogacar in the 2022 Tour de France

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Mark Wilson is a freelance journalist for GearJunkie and BikeRumor. Mark has been writing about cycling, climbing, outdoor events and gear for more than a year. Before that, he spent more than a decade as a journalist at major daily newspapers in Texas covering crime, public safety and local government. Mark spent every free moment during that time carving up singletrack and gravel, or climbing with friends and family in Texas, Colorado and Mexico. Based in Texas, Mark is always looking for new trails, crags and gear to help navigate the outdoors. As a new dad, he is particularly interested in learning how to share his love of the outdoors with his son.

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What it's like to ride in a support car at the Tour de France

By Andy Mitten

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“It’s like hunting sharks. You know they’re there but you can’t usually see them.” The words of Tom, a mechanic in the Shimano neutral car at the start of the second stage of the 2022 Tour de France from outside Copenhagen for 125 miles (think London to Birmingham) across the flats of Denmark and then the 12-mile Great Belt bridge.

GQ has been invited along inside the car, with the driver Nico Verhoeven, a former professional cyclist who won the first stage of the Tour de France he ever raced. We leave from Roskilde, where Dua Lipa and other A-listers are performing in a major music festival. Residents have dressed in yellow in honour of the iconic jersey and hold impromptu parties. The mood is festival.

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The job of the Shimano service car is to keep riders safe, deal with breakdowns and get them back in the race as soon as possible. There are five bikes on the roof, ultra-light carbon machines with £1800 wheels, that can be pulled down in a few seconds ready for a cyclist to mount. The car will travel in front of the peloton, in among the cyclists or behind it.

“Anything can happen,” explains Verhoeven, who has to watch out for enthusiastic spectators lining the streets for the entire route. “In a football match, for example, you know there’s a game that’s going to last 90 minutes with teams featuring 11 players and be played on a pitch. With cycling, there are more variables. Then add in hundreds of thousands of people standing so close to the action.”

He’s worried that there will be an incident between a fan and a rider, a team support car or one of the many motorbikes that make up the caravan which follows the tour, but he’s calm. Yet when he says the riders are “nervous today” he’s forming that opinion on the style in which they ride. There are so many external factors: the wind is strong in parts, the race is now in a new country, riders are jostling for position, yet we might not even see a single Tour de France cyclist in a country where cycling is big. By 2025, Copenhagen aims for 50 per cent of all trips to work and education to be done by bike.

Denmark has paid the Tour a reported €10 million to stage the first three days. It drew some criticism, yet it acts as a giant advert for a country. Or county, as was the case in Yorkshire in 2014. Those in cycling circles still talk about the vast crowds that day. Overhead, three helicopters film, capturing the peloton’s twists, turns and changing shapes, like starlings before dusk.

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We set off ahead of the race: four hours of smiley happy people by the roadside. Young and old, they all cheer as we whizz past. Workplaces stop to watch the tour pass: firemen stand proudly outside their station, there are eccentrics dressed in naked suits and mankinis. Pensioners stand up from their chairs and smile. Danish flags proliferate in the sun, football shirts too, but there are even flags of sponsors unknown in the British market: E.Leclerc (a French hypermarket chain), French LCL (Credit Lyonnais, a French bank), Krys (French opticians). Team sponsors Cofidis (French money lenders), Quick Step (floors), Groupama (French insurance) and Movistar (Spanish telecoms).

Then there are the flag-waving soft power sponsors: Astana Qazaqstan, Bahrain Victorious, Israel-Premier Tech and the UAE Team Emirates, whose Tadej Pogacar, the 23-year-old Slovenian, is a favourite for a third consecutive tour.

While a Dane wins the first sprint of the day amid tight country lanes and 90-degree turns, no rider has his name marked more along the road than Briton Chris Froome . The four-time winner, 37, is 6 ft 1 inch and weighs just 69 kilos. These physically primed athletes need to be so light for the mountain stages. Froome is popular judging by road markings, while anther Chris, the Dane Chris Anker Sorensen who was killed last year while cycling, is remembered with a huge “Chris Always in our hearts, Never to be forgotten” flag with Denmark flags around it.

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Four cyclists break and, for the first time, we see actual cyclists from the car. These are the sharks we know the crowds have come to see, who’ve been lurking behind. “What’s the logic in breaking away so early in the race?” we ask.

“Publicity,” comes the reply. “They’re a small French team (B&B Hotels-KTM). If they can stay at the front and be the focus for millions.”

The two B&B drivers are dropped themselves. It happens so quickly it’s like they’ve pushed the reverse button on an escalator. We pass the two dropped riders and they scowl at us. They know they’re to be swallowed back up by the peloton. Verhoeven tells us all about each one (their ages, best wins), his encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport apparent. While all the time he has to drive at speed along tiny roads. We listen to the race radio, in French and English.

“Adam Yates puncture.”

Two minutes later.

“Adam Yates is back in the pack.” Yates, 29, from Bury, Greater Manchester, finished fourth in the 2016 tour as British riders enjoyed their greatest ever decade in the race.

Bradley Wiggins, the first British Tour de France winner in 2012 when he won GQ ’s lifetime achievement award , speeds past on the back of a motorbike, working for a TV channel. Denmark flags fly from cranes, flags saying “Vive Le Tour – Love from the Danish Farmers”.

For a few sparse kilometres, there are fewer fans. We screech to a stop and have 30 seconds to take a pee and stretch legs. Riders do the same or pee while on the bike.

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“There’s a crosswind when we turn south,” observes Verhoeven, as he zips up. “The peloton will be nervous when we turn because of the crosswind. When the peloton is stressed they go fast. Today there’s a lot of stress. Nobody wants to be dropped.

The vast bridge comes into view.

“Now in the Peloton they’re nervous, pressing together. And it’s impossible to ride where you want because of fans.”

“Chris Froome has stopped,” comes over the radio. But he’s soon back up. This is not the place for any health and safety officer, but the accessibility makes it what it is – there are no barriers to entry, no tickets needed. Anybody can watch the tour – and they do. It’s a wonderful outdoor occasion amid pretty towns and fields of poppies and corn. And the vast bridge, where there’s a crash involving several riders. All get-up and finish.

Two hundred metres from the finish, the car takes a sharp right off the course. Job done. We jump out and crouch behind a Gendarme with Escort Presidentielle on his helmet. The French Gendarmerie escort the entire tour, including outside France.

The riders sprint past at 70kms per hour, a bunch finish where one of the sprinters will pounce from the group, timing his maximum effort to cross the finish line first. Mark Cavendish, the greatest sprinter of all time, would have been the favourite in these circumstances, but he was left at home, to much dismay in the cycling world since Cavendish is only one stage win away from surpassing Eddy Merckx’s 34-stage win on the tour record.

The man who replaced him, young Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, vindicated his own selection after a life-threatening crash. It didn’t make him any less brave as he bumps shoulders with a fellow rider 200 metres from the line. They look like they should crash but the high-speed collision is part of being a sprinter. They pounce.

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Geraint Thomas in the peloton

Ten minutes later, GQ speaks to 2018 tour winner Geraint Thomas as he winds down on a bike by the Ineos Grenadiers team bus, reducing the lactic acid which builds up in the big sprints at the end of the stage.

“Normally those stages can be really stressful but it was OK today,” says the rider from Cardiff, with 11 previous Tours to his name. Not bad for someone who used to run home from school to watch the tour.

“The wind was in a direction where it wasn’t too dangerous so that settled everyone down a little bit. A cross wind on the bridge could have split the race, but we had a headwind and it didn’t affect the race at all. But it was still super nervous with the threat of crashes. I was just happy to get through unscathed.”

The crowds?

“It was incredible. Every time the tour leaves France it gets bigger. It’s rare for those places to have the tour, it was the same in London in 2007, and Yorkshire in 2014. It was similar here today, super noisy. You could hardly stop for a wee because people were lining the route, all 200k. It’s just that some of them get a little too close. They forget we use the whole road or they’re standing on the hard shoulder or have a pram. It was a bit dodgy at times, but luckily there were no incidents.”

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Thomas, 36, isn’t the favourite, but he’s strong and experienced in a team which is the same.

“I want to take any opportunities which arise and try and win,” he says. “I haven’t really put a position on it for the overall, it’s just about being in the best shape I can be in and helping the boys or taking any opportunities that I can.”

He climbs off the bike and the bus will take him to a nearby hotel. That’s different to some mountain stages where the riders have to cycle back down the mountain, or to a major transfer stage. On Monday, the whole circus had to get from Sonderberg in Denmark to Dunkirk for Tuesday fourth stage to Calais.

And then the sunburned circus moves on with the first of the mountain stages looming on Friday.

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Communication in the Tour de France: How Does It Work?

When you have 22 teams of eight riders each, as in this year’s Tour de France, as well as team vehicles, support vehicles from the Tour de France organizers, the ASO, as well as press motorcycles on the road, and the riders are riding kilometers apart, especially on mountain stages, a perfectly functioning communication system is essential to the success of the race. Team directors must be able to communicate with each of their riders, to inform them of their positions in the stage, of the strategy, which often changes during a stage, of each rider’s role in carrying out that strategy, of any obstacles or dangerous patches that may lie ahead and of the time gap between the team leader and his rivals. In addition, riders must be able to alert their racing teams on their physical condition, if they need refreshment and, especially, if they are hurt or their bike has broken down.

The process of setting up a flawless communication system for each team begins several days before the start of the Tour when of the race jury consults with each team to establish its individual and unique team radio frequency for its onboard radio system. That ensures that other teams are unable to listen in on team communications and that there is no accidental radio interference.

When riding a stage, most of the riders are equipped with an onboard radio that weighs about 200 grams. In addition, team cars, which are often stuck behind their cyclists, need to be informed if one of their riders has crashed and where and if they are pulling away from the peloton in a breakaway or are riding alone. The race radio gives permission to these vehicles to break out of the procession order and speed up to catch up to the rider who needs assistance. Cars are not allowed to break out of the procession order – which is determined by team standings in the race – unless they are given clearance to do so. This clearance is usually given if a rider is in a breakaway with a lead of at least 1 minute over the peloton or a rider has crashed or is otherwise in need of medical assistance. Coming to the aid of a rider is less of a problem in the plains when the peloton is usually racing over multilane roads. However, it becomes quite difficult during mountain stages, when roads are often narrow and sinuous.

There is also a radio channel that connects only the two cars serving each team. This enables the team directors to establish who will help which riders and whether to stop and swap rider-specific equipment, a decision that usually depends on a rider’s position in the peloton.

When this communication system works flawlessly, you will see a domestique or a support rider drop out of the peloton to collect water bottles and other refreshments from a team car, a rider with a punctured tire being given a new bike just seconds after he dismounted and a rider on a breakaway being handed a water bottle with 30 kilometers remaining on the stage.

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"I always [used to] give my opinions about a lot of things, I'm not like, a politician or anything but a certain amount of people are following me [now on social media] and I can share my ideas with them which are usually quite simple and positive."

The Italian suggests maybe it's easier for him, being a domestique rather than a leader, to share his personal opinions on social issues but that he would happily suffer the consequences if supporting something like LGBTQ+ rights cost him contracts or sponsorship in cycling.

"I mean, for a pro in my position I'm not a leader. So yeah I wouldn't say because I'm expressing these feelings that I may lose something or I don't know," he explained.

"I'm more free because I've never felt that kind of pressure but for sure, and I don't think it is the case but, if I lose any contract possibility or whatever, because of this, then I cannot be anything different."

Estimates on the proportion of UK and US people who are gay or bisexual range from about three to seven per cent, as reported in a recent Cycling Weekly investigation into the absence of openly LGBTQ+ riders in the professional ranks.

Those estimates suggest there should be between five and 12 LGBTQ+ riders currently riding the Tour de France. Of all 978 riders in WorldTour squads, the chances that they are all straight is one in ten trillion.

"The whole peloton, the whole cycling family, will have to face it when somebody will feels comfortable enough to declare [they are LGBTQ+]," Guarnieri says of how the more homophobic elements of the sport will have to catch up quickly when the first pro rider decides to come out. "And I'm pretty sure once the door will be open then it's going to be much easier for eveyone else.

"The person who does will have me backing them up," Guarnieri adds. "Once you open the door then you can never close it again. So it will happen sooner or later. I read like a couple of days ago about the NFL guy, that's good. I mean people think things like yeah, this job is too hard for a homosexual person. It's kind of funny, I don't think it has anything to do with sexuality. If a guy from NFL can do that I think a cyclist can too."

Whether the peloton has become more accepting of LGBTQ+ people depends on the specific group, Guarnieri says.

"I was seeing this way more when I was surrounded by Italians, that doesn't mean that Italians are that way. I don't know, maybe when you're with with people from the same country as you then you feel like you can share these kind of jokes. Since, I joined Katusha, which was really international, and now with Groupama-FDJ, a more French team but getting more international, I don't feel like they do these kind of jokes, especially sexist," he says.

As for the differences between the male and female peloton, the latter further ahead in the fact that it has a number of openly LGBTQ+ athletes, Guarnieri says the sexist jokes are "more of a male thing" and so he would assume that this reflect "the same problems come from a similar mindset".

Guarnieri then turns the spotlight on himself and his own experiences, that when you're young you can be stupid, making jokes to maybe just fit in with what everyone else is saying before you grow up and think "I was a f****** moron," he says.

Since reaching the WorldTour, he's become much more introspective on who he is as a person, and he says, how he behaves as someone who is male.

"I was thinking like, 'yeah I'm good', but then also I think sometimes I'm not good either. It's good like to put yourself under criticism to get better because you can always do mistakes. You can always get better."

Guarnieri is 33, his remaining years in the professional peloton are numbered.

"Also, I'm a rouleur, I'm not the most exposed guy in the pro peloton," he continues at the end of our phone call but he wants to talk about Tao Geoghegan Hart.

"Tao, strong guy, winning races, at least, more races than me. He is exposing himself to this kind of topic and I was paying attention because there are not many pro riders doing it, but it's doing a lot. I'm pretty sure we're gonna have way more guys like him and it's good because I'm not gonna continue for so many years."

So, to the younger generation. Tao Geoghegan Hart said before the start of the race that he doesn't know why more riders haven't followed him in speaking out on issues, although says it's not responsible for him to wonder why this could be, but that his generation, in particular, are seeing the good they can achieve from their social media followings.

"Amongst the professional sporting community you're seeing a generation with a greater level of social awareness, or perhaps just the platform that they have to create change or spread messages that they believe in that will bring positivity in not just their sport, which is often about entertainment. I think people see they can deliver much more than just inspiring the next generation in sport," Geoghegan Hart said.

"When I look around the likes of Dina Asher-Smith or Marcus Rashford who are engaged with the local areas they were brought up in, that resonates the most.

"I think there’s a lot of strength to be taken from that and it is perspective to take from that as sportspeople, to do what we do and in my case have the very tiny ability and power.

"But you still have that chance so why wouldn’t you take it?"

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Hi. I'm Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.

Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).

I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.

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Happy as a Tour de France rider on the Champs-Élysées

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Arc de Triomphe et patrouille de France pour l’arrivée du Tour de France sur les Champs-Elysées.

Reading time: 0 min Published on 6 March 2024, updated on 15 April 2024

The final sprint of the Tour de France always takes place on Paris’ famous avenue. On 28 July, as it has every year since 1975, the last stage of the famous cycling race will end on the Champs-Élysées. We’ll give you the lowdown.

With 3,400 kilometres for the legs to tackle and some 403,000 pedal strokes over three weeks, taking part in the Tour de France is no easy task.

Between Rambouillet and Paris on 28 July, in view of the conclusion of the 21st and final stage of the Grand Boucle, the peloton will give it all they’ve got. Before parading in the capital, the riders will have sweated to climb the 30 passes of the 2019 race, rising in their saddles to pick up momentum and clenching their teeth in the vertiginous descents.

The Champs-Élysées in all its majesty

From Champagne to Provence, from the Pyrenees to the Alps, from Alsace to Occitanie, the riders will have been so focused on their performance that they won’t have soaked up much of the photogenic landscapes of France, broadcast across 100 TV channels.

But by the end of the efforts, what a reward: the majestic Champs-Élysées, with the blue-white-red wake of the famous Patrouille de France fly-past. Nobody else has such a claim on the famous avenue except the French football team, winner of the World Cup in 2018.

Heureux comme un coureur du Tour de France à l’arrivée sur les Champs-Elysées.

Standing on the podium at the bottom of the famous Parisian avenue, with the setting sun at the Arc de Triomphe and Grande Arche de la Défense as a backdrop, the winner of the Tour will have – like all his fellow riders – accomplished the Parisian ritual.

Established in 1975, this involves riding up and down the Champs-Élysées eight times, totalling 1,910 legendary metres separating the obelisk of the Place de la Concorde from the star of the Place Charles-de-Gaulle.

A ride beside the Louvre Pyramid, which celebrates its 30th anniversary

Seen from above, the spectacle of the peloton winding like a long ribbon decorated around the Arc de Triomphe is magical. From the pavements lining the route of this final sprint, the enthusiasm of the public pushes the riders on through the Quai des Tuileries, Place des Pyramides and Rue de Rivoli.

Voir cette publication sur Instagram The Yellow Jersey, a dream for everyone! Le Maillot Jaune, un rêve pour chacun ! #TDF2019 Une publication partagée par Tour de France™ (@letourdefrance) le 17 Mai 2019 à 3 :13 PDT

As a bonus this year, the riders will pass in front of the Louvre Pyramid as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. Will they take a look as they go past? Not sure. Almost lying on their handlebars, they traditionally take this last stage at a crazy pace, overlooking the cobblestones and prestigious landmarks around. Louis Vuitton, Guerlain, Ladurée and even, recently, the Galeries Lafayette, make up the exclusive backdrop of the peloton’s arrival on the Champs-Élysées.

Among the live support or behind your TV screen, it’s you who will enjoy all these beauties... happy as a spectator of the Tour!

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Geraint Thomas pictured in a park next to his home in Monaco late last year

‘It’s not like I lost it’: Geraint Thomas on the Giro, crashes and a last Olympic hurrah

The British rider talks about doubling up in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, and why cycling can do more in terms of safety

G eraint Thomas heads to the start of 2024’s first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia, determined to avenge the bitter tears of a year ago when he lost the race to Primoz Roglic in a dramatic final time trial . “It was a tough and challenging moment, but for me it wasn’t like I had a bad day or did anything drastically wrong,” he says.

“Roglic had a flyer and he deserved to win it. It’s not like I lost it – he won it. It was hard. You lead the Giro for half the race and then you lose by 15 seconds on the final day: it’s a tough one. But then as [the psychologist] Steve Peters would always say: ‘Life’s not fair. Get on with it.’”

Thomas has decided to race in the Giro, which starts in Turin next Saturday, and the Tour de France this summer. “I wanted to go back to the Giro after last year and the Tour is the Tour. In the back of my mind, I’d always thought: ‘Sod it, why don’t I just try to do both …?’”

Also in the back of his mind is one final hurrah in the Olympic Games . “I’d love to do one more Olympics, but I don’t want to go and just get another tracksuit,” he says. “I want to be good enough to be in with a shout of a medal. I’ve got four tracksuits already – I don’t need another one.”

First, though, comes the Giro and the prospect of trying to derail the seemingly unstoppable Tadej Pogacar , the dominant force this spring. “Pogacar is the massive favourite, but stranger things have happened,” Thomas says. “It’s three weeks – it’s different to any other race. Anyone can have a bad day.”

So can the wily seasoned pro derail the Pogacar express? “Possibly,” he replies, “but I’m not one to play mind games. I’ll be doing my thing – try to stay consistent, good and strong all the way through. He’s a racer and he just loves winning. When he retires he’s going to be one of the greatest of all time.”

Speaking as he puts the final touches to his pre-Giro race preparation at the Tour of the Alps, the Welsh rider, like most of his peers, has race safety on his mind after a series of bad crashes sidelined big names such as Jonas Vingegaard – the Tour de France winner in the past two years – Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Roglic.

“Everyone’s talking about this now because big-name riders have crashed, but it’s been happening for years,” he says. “Racing’s got that danger element already, but I feel like it could do so much more to increase safety. There’s road furniture, traffic calming, kerbs sticking out, all that kind of stuff. That adds an element of danger as well. When you’re in it, if I thought about it, I’d be at the back [of the peloton]. You wouldn’t be racing, you couldn’t do it.”

Geraint Thomas (centre) rides the Tour of the Alps.

Thomas’s words prove prophetic. Only 48 hours later during the Tour of the Alps, the Australian rider Chris Harper crashed on a fast descent and slewed head first into an unprotected lamp-post. Fortunately the 29-year-old escaped with only superficial wounds and a concussion. “Ninety per cent of the guys won’t know the roads [in this race],” Thomas says. “You’re going down these descents, flying down them. If this was a new sport, there’s no way it would be allowed.’”

Thomas fully supports the public statement made by the Ineos Grenadiers owner, Jim Ratcliffe, who in mid-April issued a public plea for a ramping up of cycling’s safety protocols. “Cyclists are always going to push things to the limit as they are elite sportsmen,” Ratcliffe said, before urging David Lappartient, the president of the world governing body, the UCI, to “ensure the safety of the sport”.

Lappartient’s recent comments, that “50% of the crashes” are down to what he called the “attitude” of the riders do not sit well with Thomas, even if he acknowledges that some riders take risks he wouldn’t. “I think Lappartient needs to focus more on the 50% he can affect,” Thomas says. “I agree with what he says, but it just doesn’t make sense to me even saying it. That means 50% is still down to him and organisers to do everything they can.”

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Ratcliffe, meanwhile, may have big plans for Manchester United but Thomas says that another Tour de France victory is also on his mind. “Jim really wants to win the Tour,” he says. “Fair play – that is the ultimate and that’s what we’re trying to do. It might take a couple of years, but I still believe that this team can get back there.”

Thomas, a longstanding Arsenal fan, said he and Ratcliffe exchanged messages after the billionaire’s majority acquisition of United became a reality. “When the deal went through, he messaged me on Christmas Eve and said: ‘United’s happening.’ I was like: ‘Ah sweet – I hope you come a strong second to Arsenal.’ He just replied: ‘Ouch.’”

Thomas’s old team principal Sir David Brailsford, although dedicating much of his time to Ratcliffe’s Manchester project, remains in contact. “I get the impression he still massively misses the team,” Thomas says. “It’s his baby really – he started it.

“He’s still really passionate about the sport. He gives me a ring every now and then. He’s still involved but just has a lot of other things going on. It is kind of strange when you see Dave on Sky Sports sat next to Sir Alex Ferguson. But he loves it. He loves a big challenge. He goes all in.”

Geraint Thomas
The Observer
Giro d'Italia

Who are the North Americans racing in the Tour de France?

Kuss, Woods, Simmons and Powless amongst five US and three Canadian riders in the peloton

Three US riders in the 2023 Tour de France (L to R): Neilson Powless, Sepp Kuss and Quinn Simmons

The Tour de France has long been the domain of European riders, and the peloton of 176 is still largely made up of riders from across the continent. Eight North American riders will take the start line across six teams at this year’s Tour. They all have Grand Tour experience, and a few have even put their names in the record books or at least earned an asterisk for special efforts.

While they all share a similarity with the main task at hand for each team - support the team’s GC leader - each is capable of going for glory with a stage victory should an opportunity arise across the three weeks. The last North American to win a stage at the Tour was Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech), who captured an emotional victory in Foix. A North American name is absent from the contenders' list to carry the maillot jaune, per nominations of the veterans by the teams, but anything can happen like Neilson Powless’ (EF Education-EasyPost) near take of the race lead on stage 5 last year.

Three of the US crew will also be in contention for the best young rider classification, but even that remains a tall order since Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has monopolised that distinction for the past three years and remains eligible. Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) finished fourth in the young rider category last year, and he'll compete against Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich). The last North American rider to win the white jersey as the best young rider was Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) in 2012, while Andrew Talansky (Garmin Sharp) finished second the next year.

Cyclingnews profiles the eight North Americans who will be on the start line when the race kicks off in Bilbao, Spain, on Saturday.

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)

It will be Tour de France number four for Powless, the first tribally-recognised Native North American to take on the French Grand Tour. The EF Education-EasyPost rider made the break four times during the three weeks and fought for the stage win on two of the most prestigious stage finishes, settling for fourth at Arenberg and L'Alpe d'Huez.

“He rode more kilometres than anyone in the breaks last year, I think, and we hope he takes the next step this year,” team CEO Jonathan Vaughers said about the lone US rider on the US-based squad.

That next step could be a stage win or even grabbing the yellow jersey on a climbing stage, which he almost accomplished last year. Powless lay four seconds off the yellow jersey at one point on stage 5, but Tadej Pogačar sprinted to the victory and took bonus seconds at the line to keep the 25-year-old at bay. Powless did go on to finish in Paris in 13th on GC, the best result in seven years for any North American.

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“Obviously, if I could win a stage, that would be incredible. That would be my Tour made if that happens, but if we have Richie [Carapaz] or Rigo [Uran] up in GC and we can get someone on the podium, that would be incredible as well,” said Powless, who won the GC at this year’ five-stage Etoile de Bessèges.

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma)

Sepp Kuss slaying himself for Primoz Roglic in the 2023 Giro d'Italia

Hailing from the small city of Durango in the Colorado Rocky mountains is Sepp Kuss, who comes into this year’s Tour having ridden 10 Grand Tours, this being his fourth Tour de France.

Kuss has proven himself across the highest terrain, capped by a stage 15 win to Andorra la Vella in the 2021 Tour. He kept busy at last year’s Tour, doing mega turns in the Alps and Pyrenees on behalf of Jumbo-Visma teammate and eventual winner Jonas Vingegaard. Through all the battling to help Vingegaard to victory, Kuss found himself finish 18th on the GC.

He’s a top lieutenant now for any climbing day, and this year’s Tour provides a record seventy climbs across the 21 stages, so there’s plenty of opportunities to suffer and succeed.

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team)

Movistar Teams American rider Matteo Jorgenson R GroupamaFDJ teams Swiss rider Stefan Kung C and Ineos Grenadiers teams Italian rider Filippo Ganna R cycle in a breakaway during the 13th stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France cycling race 1926 km between Le Bourg dOisans in the French Alps and SaintEtienne in central France on July 15 2022 Photo by Thomas SAMSON AFP Photo by THOMAS SAMSONAFP via Getty Images

Jorgenson returns with Spanish squad Movistar for his second Tour de France, with the squad set for a hectic start on home soil on the first three stages. Jorgenson emerged as a breakaway staple during the race last year, getting out front three times and finishing in the top five on each stage, including on the Megève summit finish, where he was within 10 seconds away from his first Grand Tour victory.

While his role is still to support GC contender, Enric Mas, Jorgenson has new confidence that could push him onto the podium on a stage, most likely one that showcases his climbing ability. Celebrating his 24th birthday during stage 1 in Bilbao, the rider from Idaho captured his first overall GC title at Tour of Oman in February. He rode a strong Paris-Nice and then finished second overall, plus a best young rider crown, at Tour de Romandie.

He’s poised to prove himself at this year’s Tour and move up from his 21st overall placing in 2022.

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek)

BILBAO, SPAIN - JUNE 29: Quinn Simmons of The United States and Team Trek-Segafredo during the team presentation of the 110th Tour de France 2023 at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao / #UCIWT / on June 29, 2023 in Bilbao, Spain. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Another rider from the small town of Durango is Quinn Simmons, the new US Pro road race national champion who loves to be aggressive. In his first Tour in 2022, he charged ahead in five different stage breaks during the race, getting up the road five times, and by stage 19, he was rewarded as the most combative rider. While Colorado rider did not get on the podium, he helped teammate Mads Pedersen to a breakaway victory on stage 13, a rolling day in the Alps from Bourg d’Oisans to Saint-Etienne, Trek-Segafredo’s only victory in the Tour that year.

Wearing his new Lidl-Trek kit with the blue and white US stars on the shoulders and red stripes on the lower chest, Simmons will support team GC leader Mattias Skjelmose and look to create sparks on climbing days and any opportunities from a breakaway. He demonstrated his ability to climb at his first Grand Tour in 2021, taking third on stage 19 at the Vuelta.

Kevin Vermaerke (Team dsm-firmenich)

When Team dsm-firmenich takes the start at the Grand Départ in Bilbao, US rider Kevin Vermaerke will return for his second Tour de France in support of Frenchman Romain Bardet.

Vermaerke, just 22 years old, was named to the team as one of three riders who can pound out the kilometres across the mountainous terrain spread across all three weeks, and improve Bardet’s 2022 finish from sixth overall. If anything, Vermaerke would like to make it to Paris for his second Tour, as he crashed hard on stage 8 last year and had to abandon with a broken left collarbone.

The young California climber is in his fourth season at the WorldTour level and looking for his first big win at the top level. This season he has helped Bardet to a fifth-place GC finish at Tour de Suisse and seventh overall at Paris-Nice.

Lawson Craddock (Jayco-AlUla)

The 31-year-old Texan made his Grand Tour debut in the 2014 Vuelta a España in his first year on the WorldTour level riding for Giant-Shimano, and two years later arrived at the Tour de France. It was at the Vuelta in 2021 and 2022 that he carried the stars-and-stripes jersey to a pair of top 10 stage finishes as US Pro time trial national champion.

While there is just one time trial at this year’s Tour on stage 16, Craddock has proven his versatility in stage racing over the past 12 seasons. He had a podium on stage 11 at the 2019 Vuelta and a fifth on a rolling course into Bilbao on stage 5 last year. Jayco AlUla will count on Craddock to support Simon Yates when the road begins to climb, be it in the opening, familiar terrain of the Basque Country or in the final week in the Alps.

Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech)

SAINTGIRONS FRANCE JUNE 18 Michael Woods of Canada and Team Israel Premier Tech Red Leader Jersey competes during the 47th La Route DOccitanieLa Depeche Du Midi 2023 Stage 4 a 1647km stage from SaintGaudens to SaintGirons on June 18 2023 in SaintGirons France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images

Michael Woods has already shown great form in France this season, winning La Route d’Occitanie for a second time. He also confirmed he is still one of the top climbers in the peloton with a second place at CIC-Mont Ventoux.

The veteran Canadian on the team, now 36, helped Houle to his stage 16 victory at the Tour last year and finished on the podium in third after having struggled through the early part of the Tour following a crash. He lines up for his fourth Tour as a co-leader on Israel-Premier Tech alongside Dylan Teuns.

“I’m really excited for this year’s Tour de France. The course suits me quite well, especially the opening stages in the Basque Country. This is an area I’ve had a lot of success in, with my two Vuelta a España stage wins both taking place there. I really enjoy racing in this area,” Woods said, saying his ambition was to win a stage, which would be his first at the Tour de France.

Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech)

Hugo Houle became a Canadian rock star at last year’s Tour de France, riding to a solo victory on stage 16 and becoming the first Canadian to win a Tour stage since Steve Bauer’s monumental ride in 1988. He also was part of a three-rider breakaway on stage 13 and finished on the podium, third in the sprint to Saint-Etienne. When he arrived in Paris, he was 24th overall.

Israel-Premier Tech came away with two stage wins last year in the Tour, the second notched on stage 5 across the Arenberg cobbles by Simon Clarke. The team has said it looks for stage wins again this year, and a versatile rider like Houle has chances on any undulating terrain. LIke Woods, Houle is a veteran at 32 years of age and rides to support his compatriot in any GC hopes.

Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech)

Guillaume Boivin brings a fast finish for his third consecutive appearance in the French Grand Tour. The 34-year-old from Montreal will primarily serve as a lead-out for New Zealand sprinter Corbin Strong, who makes his Grand Tour debut. However, Boivin, now in his 14th season, is very capable of fighting for a stage win himself.

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Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).

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La Vuelta Femenina 2024: Route, How to Watch, and Favorites

Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma, and Gaia Realini will battle for the red jersey on the challenging eight-stage tour across Spain.

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As of this Sunday, April 29, we’re officially in Grand Tour season, as the eight-stage Vuelta Femenina kicks off with a 16-kilometer team time trial in Valencia, Spain.

Last year’s race covered just over 740 kilometers over the course of its seven stages. It was won by Movistar’s Annemiek van Vleuten , who, with the win, became the first woman to win all three of the major women’s stage races (the Vuelta, along with the Tour de France Femmes, and the Giro Donne). She beat SD Worx’s Demi Vollering but just nine seconds. Trek-Segafredo’s Gaia Realini rounded out the podium in third.

But van Vleuten retired after last season, meaning there’s no chance for a repeat winner. And given the variety of winners we’ve seen in the women’s peloton this spring, this race is truly up for grabs.

This year’s race adds a stage, making it eight in total. All of them stick exclusively to Spain’s northwest and northcentral regions.

It kicks off with what should be a blistering team time trial over 16 lake-flat kilometers. From there, the second stage will take riders from Buñol to Moncofa over 118 hilly kilometers, including just one Category 3 climb. As that climb comes 40 kilometers from the finish, expect a bunch sprint.

The third stage is a 131-kilometer medium mountain stage that will take riders from Lucena to Teruel and feature another Category 3 ascent. Stage four covers 142 kilometers from Molina de Aragón to Zaragoza and is mostly downhill from start to finish.

The 113 kilometers of stage 5 are where the peloton first gets into proper mountains, with a pair of category 2 climbs—one of which provides the day’s summit finish—on the menu. Stage 6 is the opposite of stage 4, taking riders on a daylong gradual uphill from Tarazona to Laguna Negra, ending with a category 1 summit finish that very well could determine the race’s overall winner.

Stage 7 could be the last chance for the sprinters to leave their mark. However, the final 500 meters of the day’s 126 kilometers ramp up to 10%, so look for a punchier rider to take the win there.

The Vuelta Feminina will end with an 89-kilometer ride from Distrito Telefónca to ValdesquíMadrid. The ride features a pair of category-1 climbs, the last of which leads to the race’s final finish line.

Complete information on each stage can be found here .

How to Watch

The Vuelta Feminina will be broadcast in the US via Peacock , which costs $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. In Canada, the race will be broadcast via FloSports , which costs $12.50 per month or $150 per year.

Live Stream Schedule - All times Eastern (EDT) 04/28 - Stage 1 Valencia > Valencia - 9:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. 04/29 - Stage 2 Buñol > Moncófar - 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 04/30 - Stage 3 Lucena del Cid > Teruel - 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 05/01 - Stage 4 Molina de Aragón > Zaragoza - 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 05/02 - Stage 5 Huesca > Jaca - 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 05/03 - Stage 6 Tarazona > Vinuesa - 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. 05/04 - Stage 7 San Esteban de Gormaz > Sigüenza - 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. 05/05 - Stage 8 Distrito Telefónica. Madrid > Valdesquí - 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

Riders to Watch

While the final roster for the race is yet to be final, several confirmed names promise another competitive edition. Among the riders targeting the general classification are Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion Demi Vollering of SD Worx-Protime, Gaia Realini of Lidl-Trek, who graced the podium last year, and the consistently impressive Kasia Niewiadoma of SD Worx-Protime. With the absence of retired defending champion Anemiek Van Vleuten and Vollering showing signs of wavering form this season, the battle for the coveted red jersey appears wide open.

Other riders to watch are the 2024 Tour of Flanders champion Elisa Longo Borghini of Lidl-Trek, Canyon//SRAM’s Ricarda Bauernfeind , and Mavi García of Liv Alula Jayco.

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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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“No other rider could be second in the Tour de France with what happened to him last year" - Mauro Gianetti lauds Tadej Pogacar as 'strongest rider in the world'

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Tour de france stage 9: the gravel is strong with this one, a day on the white roads will test riders and machines alike..

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Stage 9 — Sunday, July 7 Troyes-Troyes Distance: 199km (124 miles) Profile: Gravel stage

Stage 9: A day on the white roads will test rider and machines alike

Fans of Strade Bianche will have much to cheer about on this stage, with no less than 14 gravel sectors and four climbs awaiting the riders.

Starting and finishing in Troyes, the route will afford the riders just over 45km of normal roads before the first of those dirt road stretches. The first two are followed by 25km of standard surfaces before a cluster of six sectors crop up within 55km.

They will soften up the field considerably, and may well see crashes and mechanicals, with the remaining sectors playing out inside the final 34km.

Opinions of riders are very mixed about the stage, with a number of them questioning the logic of including gravel roads on a stage of the Tour. The sceptics include team bosses Richard Plugge (Visma Lease a Bike) and Patrick Lefevere (Soudal Quick-Step), while 2024 Strade Bianche winner Tadej Pogačar has said the inclusion of gravel is ‘pretty risky.’

Still, the stage will certainly be a dramatic one, which is what race organizers ASO are aiming for. Riders will likely empty the tank, knowing that the first rest day follows the stage.

The view of Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme: “The Tour’s first week concludes with a new feature: white roads, which are already an emblematic feature of Strade Bianche and Paris-Tours.

“The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift made the first passage across Champagne’s gravel roads close to Troyes in 2022. There will be 14 sectors, including six in the final part of the stage, extending to 32km in total, each sector pitching the riders onto the gravel and into the dust.”

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How does a Tour de France team work?

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Teams are made up of eight riders who do everything together

The key to any tactic on the road is drafting

But no team can be great without proper support staff

Communication among everyone is critical during each stage

If everything goes right, all that’s left for anyone to do is hope that the top guy doesn’t screw it all up

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