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Les légendes by TDF Club See all

Legende - départ belfort 2019, legends - moirans 2016, legende - tarbes-tourmalet 2019, legende - championnat du monde sallanches 1980, legends - finish saint-gervais 1990, legends - finish saint gervais 2016.

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

Tour de France Winners List

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

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

General Classification Winners

* footnotes

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

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Jonas Vingegaard Wins Tour de France, Completing His Sudden Ascent to Top

Vingegaard, 25, won cycling’s most prestigious race on his second attempt, setting up a new rivalry with the two-time champion he dethroned, Tadej Pogacar.

By Juliet Macur

PARIS — Head down and legs churning, Jonas Vingegaard crossed the finish line of the penultimate stage of the Tour de France on Saturday and cupped his hand over his mouth, as if to stifle a gasp. He had done what he had come to do, and his astonishing accomplishment was sinking in.

In only his second Tour de France, and only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Vingegaard, a 25-year-old Danish rider, had sealed his victory in cycling’s most prestigious race.

His victory became official on Sunday, when the race concluded with its traditional celebratory ride into Paris. But the Tour had been effectively over for days, and when Vingegaard finished second in Saturday’s time trial to his Jumbo-Visma teammate, Wout van Aert of Belgium, his effort on the 25-mile course was enough to leave him with such a large lead in the overall standings — 3 minutes 34 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer — that the final stage brought almost no drama at all.

Vingegaard steered clear of danger on the final laps in Paris, crossing — safely — alongside his teammates well behind the peloton. His winning time was 79 hours 33 minutes 20 seconds.

“We made a plan and we followed it 100 percent,” he said on the podium afterward . “And thanks to everyone in the team, behind the team. It has been really incredible journey for us and now we finally did it.”

After about three full weeks of the Tour, Vingegaard, as he had on Saturday, immediately sought out his partner and toddler daughter in the area past the finish line and gave them a long, sweaty hug.

While Vingegaard had pedaled up and down all the endless hills and unforgiving mountains, and across all the flat roads past fields of flowers and farms, he had wanted to win for them. During every day of searing heat that at times rose above 100 degrees, melting pavement and sidelining some riders with heat exhaustion, he said, he had steeled himself for them.

And, in the end, Vingegaard, who grew up in a small fishing town in northern Denmark, won what was arguably one of the most grueling Tours in history.

Tadej Pogacar, the Slovene rider looking for his third straight Tour win, finished second overall, 2:43 behind Vingegaard, after fighting Vingegaard for the lead until the race’s final days. Geraint Thomas of Britain, the 2018 Tour winner, was third, 7:22 off the pace. Every other rider was at least 13 minutes behind Vingegaard.

“I think the battle between me and Jonas was really something special,” Pogacar, 23, said Saturday, acknowledging the eventual outcome. He offered Sunday’s only hint of a surprise: a late sprint into the lead on Sunday’s final lap, though he was immediately reeled back into the lead group.

“It’s going to be an interesting couple of years ahead for us,” Pogacar said of his nascent rivalry with Vingegaard. “He’s stepped up from last year, he’s taken control of things from the beginning, and he’s proved he’s a strong rider.”

Going into this Tour, Pogacar most likely expected Vingegaard to be his greatest rival after Vingegaard’s improbable second-place finish last year.

In 2021, Jumbo-Visma’s top rider, Primoz Roglic, had dropped out of the Tour after a crash and Vingegaard took it upon himself to show what he could do . His performance was breathtaking — and unexpected. On the daunting Mont Ventoux, he left Pogacar behind to record one of the fastest times ever for that legendary climb.

Vingegaard’s entire career has been nothing short of a fairy tale played out on two wheels and on fast forward.

Six months before joining Jumbo-Visma in 2019, he was working part-time in a Danish factory where he gutted, cleaned and packed fish into ice-filled boxes. Before that, he worked at a fish auction. He credits those days of waking at 4 a.m. and all that hard manual labor in the shivering cold with helping him get to where he is now, at the top of the cycling world.

His Jumbo-Visma team, especially van Aert, was at his side all the way.

Van Aert had his own remarkable race, spending every day of the Tour except the first in the green jersey, which is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points for stage finishes and in midrace sprint sections. But his biggest achievement over the past three weeks might have been his support of Vingegaard.

Van Aert was there for Vingegaard when his teammate needed him the most on the grueling Hautacam climb that turned out to be the deciding stage in the overall competition. He took off on a breakaway and mercilessly dictated a fast pace, challenging the notion, at 6-foot-3, that light, smaller riders like Vingegaard and Pogacar are naturally the best climbers.

Pogacar, who was battling Vingegaard for the overall lead, couldn’t keep up. As Vingegaard and van Aert kept climbing, Pogacar faded, looking like a car with a sputtering engine as the Jumbo-Visma teammates powered ahead.

The Jumbo-Visma team had won six of the Tour’s 20 stages entering Sunday’s finale. After Saturday’s stage, though, Vingegaard faced questions about his fairy-tale career. One reporter asked him about his rapid rise in the sport, and about how he could have finished 22nd in the 2019 Danish national time trial and then go on to nearly win Saturday’s time trial after three weeks of the Tour.

If Vingegaard was familiar at all with Tour history, or Danish racing history, it was possible that he expected the question. The only other Dane to win the Tour was Bjarne Riis in 1996, and a decade later Riis admitted that he had doped to win the race. Many past winners, though none recently, have either been caught doping or have admitted to doing so.

No, Vingegaard said, he did not go fast because he had doped. It happened because he and his team improved his aerodynamics by toiling in the wind tunnel and adjusting his body position and bike.

“We’re totally clean,” he said in his news conference, broadening his denial to include his entire team. “Every one of us. I can say that to every one of you. No one of us is taking anything illegal.”

High-altitude training camps and attention to detail — in food, in equipment, in preparation — were behind Jumbo-Visma’s rise, he said. “That’s why you have to trust,” he said.

Vingegaard appears to take sportsmanship seriously. On one descent during Stage 18, Pogacar crashed on a section of gravel as he and Vingegaard zoomed down a hill nearly side by side. But instead of taking advantage of Pogacar’s fall, Vingegaard waited for him down the road, allowing his rival to catch up .

After coming back together, Pogacar reached out in an expression of gratitude and the two clenched hands in a moment that will be replayed for years as an example of the good side of sports.

But only one of them was invited to climb atop the podium in Paris and celebrate on the Champs-Élysées. Only one got to pose for photos and family memories that will last a lifetime. And only one will be celebrated in his home country this summer as the king of cycling.

A series of ceremonies honoring Vingegaard already has been scheduled in Copenhagen, the city that hosted the start of this year’s Tour — the kickoff to Vingegaard’s ride to victory.

Who Won the 2021 Tour de France?

Your stage-by-stage guide to the winners of the 2021 Tour.

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Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took home the yellow jersey as the overall winner of the 2021 Tour de France. The 22-year-old finished safely in the peloton at the end of Stage 21 on Sunday in Paris, successfully defending his title in last year’s race. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) finished second and third on the Tour’s General Classification and joined Pogačar on the final podium.

Here’s a look at how every stage of the Tour this year unfolded.

Stage 21 Winner - Wout van Aert

Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won the stage on the Champs-Élysées, his third of this year’s Tour de France. Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second and Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) was third.

Pogačar dominated the Tour in a manner we haven’t seen in years, taking the yellow jersey on Stage 9 and defending it all the way to Paris. Along the way, he won three stages including Stage 5’s individual time trial and back-to-back to summit finishes in the Pyrenees (Stages 17 and 18).

For the second year in a row he also won the white jersey as the Tour’s Best Young Rider and the polka dot jersey as the Tour’s King of the Mountains. No rider has won three jerseys since Eddy Merckx won the yellow, green, and polka dot jerseys in his debut Tour de France way back in 1969. (The white jersey wasn’t awarded back in 1969, but Merckx would have won that too.) Now Pogačar’s done it twice.

For only the second time in his career, Cavendish took the green jersey as the winner of the Tour’s Points Classification. The 36-year-old wasn’t even supposed to be racing but came to the Tour as a last-minute call-up and won four stages, bringing his career tally to 34. With Cavendish now tied with Merckx for the most stage wins in Tour de France history, look for the first field sprint of next year’s Tour to be one of the most anticipated races of the year.

What About Next Year?

So far, all we know about the 2022 Tour de France is that it begins on Friday, July 1 in Denmark, with a short individual time trial in Copenhagen. And while anything can happen between now and then, given the way he crushed this year’s competition, it’s hard to see anyone defeating Pogačar in 2022. The 22-year-old was easily the Tour’s most complete rider—against the clock and in the mountains, no one could challenge him.

The most popular rider on next year’s starting line might be this year’s biggest surprise: Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard. Riding in his debut Tour de France, the 24-year-old came to the Tour to support team leader Primož Roglič, but took over leadership of the team himself after the Slovenian abandoned the Tour before Stage 9. Roglič should be back and ready to challenge again in 2022, but now he might have a co-leader to contend with as well. Having two cards to play could actually help Jumbo-Visma in its bid to defeat Pogačar, and in Vingegaard, they seem to have discovered a legit GC contender.

Speaking of having more than one card to play, INEOS-Grenadiers came to the Tour with—depending who you asked—two to four riders capable of winning the overall title. That plan blew up quickly, ultimately leaving Richard Carapaz (who’s now the first Ecuadorian to finish on the Tour de France podium ) as the team’s only GC contender. A former winner of the Giro d’Italia , Carapaz raced aggressively and was one of the Tour’s best climbers, but his inability to time-trial will always be his major Achilles heel. Perhaps 2022 will see the return of Colombia’s Egan Bernal, who won the 2019 Tour de France for INEOS, but abandoned last year’s Tour with a bad back. Winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia , Bernal’s another prodigiously talented climber—and a mediocre time trialist—and the prospect of Bernal and Carapaz racing side by side in the mountains is tantalizing. But having the Tour’s strongest team doesn’t matter much if you don’t have the Tour’s strongest rider, and if Pogačar rides like he did this year, there might be little anyone can do.

And Pogačar shows no signs of letting up any time soon: he’s heading directly from Paris to Tokyo for Saturday’s Olympic road race and then plans to start the Tour of Spain in mid-August. If he wins that too, expect those who question the integrity of his performances to continue asking uncomfortable questions —especially if the investigation launched against the Bahrain-Victorious team late in this year’s Tour gains traction.

But for now, we await October’s announcement of the 2022 Tour route—and all of the fantastic races still to come during the second half of the 2021 season, beginning with next weekend’s Olympic road races.

Stage 20 Winner - Wout van Aert

Who’s Winning the Tour?

Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma showed again that he’s the most versatile rider in the pro peloton with a convincing win in the final time trial over Deceuninck-Quick Step's Kasper Asgreen. As expected, Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) had zero trouble defending his comfortable lead, taking it (relatively) easy and conceding almost no time to his rivals.

Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard ably held off Richard Carapaz (Ineos) for the second podium spot; Vingegaard finished third on the day, adding over a minute and half to his cushion. Second overall is a huge result for Vingegaard, who is just 24 years old and came to the Tour to support team leader Primoz Roglič, who had to drop out due to crash injuries. There were no changes to the top 10 overall.

Who’s Really Winning the Tour?

Pogačar will also enter Paris on Sunday as the leader in the KOM and Best Young Rider competitions. It’s the second year he’s taken all three classifications, a feat no rider has accomplished (Eddy Merckx swept the yellow, green and polka-dot jersey standings in his first Tour, in 1969, and would have been the Best Young Rider as well; the classification didn’t start until 1975).

All of that has led to questions about whether we’re at the dawn of the “Pogaczar” era, when he will dominate the Tour for the next many editions. He swatted those suggestions away, saying that there are a number of current young pros and riders who will enter the ranks in the next few years who will challenge him, but it’s a worthwhile question: who can beat him? Right now, there’s no easy answer.

Stage 19 Winner - Matej Mohoric

On a day that looked like a sprint finish on paper, the pack was instead entirely content to let a breakaway duke it out for the stage win and take an “active rest day” ahead of Stage 20’s individual time trial. It took a bit for the right mix of riders to emerge, but once it did, the gap quickly went out to over 10 minutes, and it was clear there would be no chase.

Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) attacked the break with 25km to go and soloed to the win in Libourne. Yellow-jersey wearer Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) enjoyed a quiet and mostly uneventful day ahead of the time trial and has two days to go to seal his almost-assured victory.

Few teams have had a Tour that’s been as up-and-down as Bahrain-Victorious. They lost their likely GC rider, Jack Haig, to an early stage crash, then rebounded to win two consecutive stages in the Alps. Then, just two days ago, French police searched their hotel rooms in a doping investigation . On the heels of that, Mohorič, who’s been one of the strongest breakaway riders this Tour, emerged with a solo stage win sealed with a provocative victory salute: a finger held to his lips followed by a zipping motion.

That gesture has a problematic history in the sport; Lance Armstrong used it in 2004 after chasing down Filippo Simeoni , who had accused Armstrong’s longtime coach, Michele Ferrari, of doping riders (including Simeoni). Mohorič was nine when that happened, so it can be excused some historical ignorance. But even in context of his own team’s last few days in the race, it was a poor decision.

For his part, Pogačar and his UAE team were only too happy to let the break fight it out and ride an easy pace to the finish to save some energy for Saturday’s time trial. With a lead of almost six minutes, Pogačar could likely afford even a spectacularly bad day on the bike (which we don’t expect) and still win.

Another rider who won without having to do much is Deceuninck –Quick-Step’s Mark Cavendish. With breakaway riders taking most of the intermediate sprint points and all of them at the finish, he stands 35 points clear of Michael Matthews in the green jersey standings. There are no points in the time trial, and a maximum of 70 on offer for the final stage in Paris. Cavendish will no doubt try for a fifth Tour stage win and the outright record for most stage wins ever at the race, but even if he’s just close to Matthews, he’s guaranteed green as long as he stays upright.

Stage 18 Winner - Tadej Pogacar

Who’s Winning the Tour de France?

In a repeat of Wednesday’s stage result, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won Thursday’s Stage 18 to remain the leader of the 2021 Tour de France. The Slovenian went on the attack to defend his already-insurmountable lead, launching his first acceleration 3km from the top of the day’s final climb, and then attacking again inside the final kilometer to win his second stage of the Tour.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) again finished second and third on the day, but were gapped by Pogačar in the run-in to the finish in Luz Ardiden and lost two seconds on the Tour’s General Classification. They now sit 5:45 and 5:51 behind the yellow jersey.

As long as he stays upright between now and Sunday, Pogačar will win the 2021 Tour de France.

Who’s Really Winning the Tour de France?

The last two days illustrated the cruelty of the Tour de France, as Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo)—who entered Wednesday’s stage in second-place overall but couldn’t hang with the leaders on the final climb of Stage 17—continued to implode. Dropped by the group of GC contenders about 3km from the summit of the Tourmalet, Uran lost 9 minutes by the stage finish. In two days, the Colombian has gone from second to tenth overall.

So with three days left to race, it’s safe to say that Pogačar will take home the yellow jersey as the winner of the Tour’s General Classification as well as the white jersey as the Tour’s Best Young Rider. Now, thanks to winning his second summit finish in a row, the Slovenian will also win the polka-dot jersey as the Tour’s King of the Mountains. That means for two years running, the Slovenian will leave the Tour with three jerseys—an impressive achievement.

Early in the stage, Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) led the peloton through the Intermediate Sprint in Pouzac, extending his lead in the Tour’s green jersey competition by two points. Cavendish, who finished the stage within the time limit, has an advantage of 38 points over Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) heading into the Tour’s final three stages, two of which we expect to end in field sprints.

With lots of points left to be won, this competition is still too close to call, making it the race’s most interesting storyline as we head into the Tour’s final weekend.

Stage 17 Winner - Tadej Pogacar

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won Stage 17 atop the Hors Categorie Col du Portet, extending his already sizeable lead in the 2021 Tour de France. Clearly eager to win a stage while wearing the yellow jersey, the Slovenian dropped his two breakaway companions 100 meters from the finish line.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) finished second and third on the day, and in doing so moved up to second and third overall, 5:39 and 5:43 behind Pogačar on the Tour’s General Classification.

Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates squad rode a fantastic stage, especially Poland’s Rafal Majka, who paced the yellow jersey halfway up the final climb, dropping several of the riders left in the leading group before pulling-off about 8.4km from the summit. At that point, Pogačar launched the first of a series of accelerations, pulling away with Vingegaard and Carapaz to fight for the stage win.

Carapaz tried to win the stage for himself with an acceleration 1.4km from the summit, but Pogačar easily covered the move, biding his time before launching his own stage-winning attack right before the finish line.

By winning the stage, Pogačar also took maximum points in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition, which means that for the second year in a row, the Slovenian could take home three jerseys: yellow for winning the Tour, white for being the Tour’s Best Young Rider, and polka dot for winning the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition. Dutch rider Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) leads the competition, but could have his hands full if Pogačar has another day like he did on Stage 17.

With only four stages left—including the largely ceremonial final stage to Paris—it’s safe to say that Tadej Pogačar will win the 2021 Tour de France. Only a sudden illness, a crash, or some other unexpected mishap could keep the Slovenian from defending his victory in last year’s Tour.

Thursday brings the Tour’s final day in the mountains with a short stage featuring the Col du Tourmalet and a summit finish in Luz Ardiden. But with more than five minutes over the riders chasing him on the Tour’s General Classification, the Tour is Pogačar’s to lose.

Stage 17 also seems to have determined the two riders who will join Pogačar on the Tour’s final podium in Paris, with Vingegaard and Carapaz proving to be the Tour’s two strongest riders not named “Tadej Pogačar.”

In that sense, Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) was the day’s biggest loser. The 34-year-old started the day second overall, but was unable to follow Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Carapaz when they surged ahead midway up the final climb. Uran ultimately lost 1:49 on the day, falling to fourth in the overall standings , and most likely, he lost his chances of a podium finish in Paris.

And good news for fans of Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step): the peloton stayed together until the base of the day’s first categorized climb, which means the British rider had an easier time finishing the stage within the time limit. He did lose one point to Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) in the Tour’s green jersey competition at the Intermediate Sprint in Luchon, but Cav’s YOLO Tour de France continues, with two more chances (on Friday and Sunday) for the Manx Missile to break the record for the most stage wins in Tour history. Only one more day in the mountains stands between Cavendish and his two shots at making history.

Stage 16 Winner - Patrick Konrad

Austria’s Patrick Konrad (BORA-hansgrohe) took a rainy win in Saint Gaudens on Stage 16 of the 2021 Tour de France. Also awarded the prize for being the day’s Most Aggressive Rider, the 29-year-old Austrian national champion dropped his breakaway companions on the Col de Portet-Aspet and went on alone to take the most important victory of career. Italy’s Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) finished second and Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) finished third.

Despite finishing in a small group 14 minutes behind Konrad, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) held onto the yellow jersey as the leader of the Tour’s General Classification. Ahead of back-to-back summit finishes in the high Pyrenees, the Slovenian leads Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) by 5:18 and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) by 5:32. Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) sits fourth at 5:33.

It was an intense start to the day; cold temperatures and a peloton that couldn’t quite figure out how it wanted the race made it hard for a breakaway to escape. But once it did, the break’s advantage over the group, containing the yellow jersey, began to balloon.

The peloton got a spark on the final climb of the day, the Category 4 Côte d’Aspret-Sarrat, when Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) pulled an elite group of the Tour’s top GC contenders away from the bunch. In the end, the top of the classification remained unchanged, but the move provided a preview of the aggressive racing we can expect to see over the next two days.

The 2021 Tour de France will likely be decided on one of the next two stages as back-to-back summit finishes will give the riders chasing Pogačar two more opportunities to try and chip away at the Slovenian’s substantial lead. It will take a Herculean effort, as Pogačar has shown few signs of weakness so far, but with Hors Categorie climbs like the Col du Portet (Stage 17) and the Col du Tourmalet (Stage 18) on tap, the stage is set for riders and teams hoping to launch a long-range assault on the yellow jersey and his weakening team.

While the Tour’s General Classification remained largely unchanged, Stage 16 did see some movement in the race for the green jersey as the winner of the Tour’s Points Classification. Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) has led the competition since winning Stage 4, but Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) has been steadily getting closer to Cavendish’s lead. By taking fourth at the Intermediate Sprint in Vic d’Oust and finishing third on the stage, Matthews added 35 points to his tally and now sits just 37 points behind Cavendish.

Expect the Australian to go on the attack in search of more points at the Intermediate Sprints on Stages 17 and 18, possibly catching Cavendish ahead of Friday’s Stage 19—which we expect to end in a field sprint. This is one competition that’s far from over.

Stage 15 Winner - Sepp Kuss

After more than two weeks of racing, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wears the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France after Stage 15. The 22-year-old successfully defended his lead on Stage 15, a tough stage through the Pyrenees and into Andorra.

Pogačar’s team was forced to set the pace from the beginning of Stage 15, sitting on the front all day after a group of 32 riders went up the road. Filled with stage hunters, polka dot jersey contenders, and teammates of several of the riders chasing Pogačar, the move forced UAE Team Emirates to sit on the front of the bunch, riding tempo on a day that saw high temperatures and even higher altitude. As a result, Pogačar found himself isolated in the finale, outnumbered by teams like INEOS, Jumbo-Visma, and EF Education-Nippo.

The stage came down to the final climb of the day, the Category 1 Col de Beixalis (6.4km at 8.5%), won by American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) after spending all day in the breakaway. The 26-year-old Kuss followed the initial accelerations on the steep lower slopes of the climb before finally launching an attack of his own; riding solo over the top of the climb, he led Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by only 20 seconds. But the former mountain biker from Durango, Colorado maintained his lead down the climb’s technical descent, riding solo into Andorra la Vieille to take the biggest win of his career. Valverde finished second and the Netherland’s Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) took third.

While Kuss was riding away to win the stage, riders took turns attacking from the yellow jersey group further down the col with Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers), Australia’s Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën Team), Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) each making attacks to try and crack Pogačar. But the Slovenian covered every acceleration, easily defending the yellow jersey.

Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates team continues to look weaker and weaker as the Tour progresses. The team chose not to place a rider in the day’s big breakaway today, a tactical mistake as the Slovenian found himself completely isolated at the top of the Port d'Envalira, the day’s penultimate climb. INEOS, on the other hand, put Dylan van Baarle and Jonathan Castroviejo in the breakaway and both dropped back at the summit to wait for Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz in the GC group, giving Carapaz three teammates to help him through the final hour of racing.

But in the end, it didn’t matter much, as Pogačar had no problems defending the yellow jersey on his own. Attacked by each of the riders chasing him, the Slovenian remained calm, covering each acceleration and even taking a few digs of his own as if to remind everyone, “This is my Tour de France.” And he might be right.

Pogačar enters the Tour’s second Rest Day leading Uran by 5:18 and Vingegaard by 5:32, with Carapaz in fourth at 5:33. At some point soon, these three riders will start attacking one another in a bid to stand beside Pogačar on the final podium in Paris. This will benefit the Slovenian, as he can sit back and watch his closest competitors try and eliminate one another, following their moves in defense of his yellow jersey.

What About the Tour’s Other Classifications?

Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) survived another tough day in the mountains and wears the green jersey as the leader of the Tour’s Points Classification. Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) is second, 72 points behind Cavendish. Assuming Cavendish makes it through the rest of the Pyrenees, he should win the second green jersey of his career.

Poels did enough on Stage 15 to take back the polka dot jersey as the leader of the Tour’s King of the Mountains classification. He leads Canada’s Mike Woods (Isreal Start-Up Nations) by 8 points and Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) by 10. With three more days in the mountains, this competition is far from over.

And as he’s only 22 years old, Pogačar leads the Tour’s Best Young Rider competition. But Vingegaard, who’s currently second in the classification, wears the white jersey since even Pogačar can’t wear two jerseys at once.

Stage 14 Winner - Bauke Mollema

After several days of trying, Trek-Segafredo finally broke through with a win on Stage 14, as Bauke Mollema joined the day’s main breakaway and then attacked with more than 40km to go and soloed to the finish. Overall leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) had a fairly quiet day in the main pack, content to let the break fight it out ahead of Sunday’s crucial stage in the Pyrenees. Thanks to his ride in the break, Guillaume Martin of Cofidis jumped up seven spots on the overall and is in second place now ahead of EF Education-Nippo’s Rigoberto Uran.

With just seven stages left after today, chances for success are rapidly dwindling for teams that haven’t yet won a stage or led a major jersey competition. The action on Stage 14 was furious from the start, with numerous riders trying and failing to establish a breakaway. The successful move didn’t get established until almost halfway into the stage when a series of attacks led to a group of 14 riders out front.

Over the climbs and descents, cooperation was a bit ragged, with a few accelerations (and a crash by Rusty Woods), until Mollema decided he’d had enough and launched clear with 43km to go. It was a bold move, with expected headwinds late in the race, but Mollema paced his effort perfectly and was never in jeopardy of being caught. Trek-Segafredo becomes the eighth team (out of 23 in the race) to win a stage of this year’s Tour; Deceuninck-Quick Step leads with five victories, four by Mark Cavendish.

It was a largely uneventful day for overall race leader Pogačar. None of the riders in the break were serious threats to his lead, and even Martin’s presence and rise up the overall classification could theoretically work in Pogačar's favor in the Pyrenees.

With the 2nd-7th spots on overall time separated by just 2:26, riders may start to think about defending or attacking for podium spots as much as to unseat Pogačar. Guillaume’s addition to the mix, in second overall now, means one more rival for riders to mark, and even if Pogačar is isolated, he could play riders’ ambitions against each other to force them to chase if one attacks.

Stage 13 Winner - Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish is unstoppable right now. You know the story: the winningest sprinter in Tour history even before this year, his career was almost in the dumpster last fall before he signed a minimum contract with his old team, Deceuninck-Quick Step for one last shot. His revival has been nothing short of spectacular; he’s won almost a third of this year’s Tour stages so far and leads the green jersey standings by more than 100 points over the next-best rider. His biggest threat isn't another rider; it’s getting over the Pyrenees to make it to Paris.

And he seems to be able to win no matter the circumstances: with a perfect leadout like Stage 10, or surfing wheels. Today, his DQS team was in control until a big crash at 62km to go brought down almost two dozen riders, including DQS workhorse Tim DeClerq (he was the last rider to finish). Without his steady tempo at the front, that forced the team to use up World Champion Julian Alaphilippe early, and the team wasn’t able to control the race. In a risky move, it eased up in the final 10km to save its energy for the final.

With under a kilometer to go, Cavendish was a little too far back, but managed somehow to leapfrog Nacer Bouhanni and regain the wheel of his trusted leadout man, Michael Mørkøv, in time for the final burst. Mørkøv, the best in the sport at his job, was so effective he finished second. Alpecin-Fenix’s Jasper Philipsen was third; it’s the fifth time he’s been on the stage podium this Tour, but hasn’t broken through yet for a win.

In the overall standings, Pogačar and his UAE-Emirates team took advantage of a day when DQS did most of the work. While he was briefly without teammates in the final, nervous 25km where there were crosswinds, he had little trouble keeping himself in a good position. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) round out the podium.

The crash, however, knocked three more riders out of the race: Simon Yates and Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange) and Lotto-Soudal’s Roger Kluge were forced out with injuries. There are 151 riders left; that’s more dropouts already than either of the last two Tours had at the finish in Paris.

Stage 12 Winner - Nils Politt

Despite finishing almost 16 minutes behind Germany’s Nils Politt (BORA-Hansgrohe), the Stage 12 winner, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remained the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France. The 22-year-old finished safely in the peloton at the end of Stage 12 in Nîmes and still leads Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) by 5:18 and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) by 5:32 on the Tour’s General Classification.

On a day most expected to end in a field sprint, the breakaway survived as the peloton, tired from Wednesday’s double-dose of Mont Ventoux, was content to let a group of out-of-contention rouleurs ride away to a large advantage. Winds played a role in the action: crosswinds during the first hour helped the breakaway escape and more crosswinds in the final hour gave the break’s strongest riders an opportunity to leave their colleagues behind.

In the end, Germany’s Nils Politt (BORA-hansgrohe) took the stage victory. A former runner-up in Paris-Roubaix, the 27-year-old attacked his two companions with about 11km to go, riding away to take the first grand tour stage victory of his career. And the win couldn’t have come at a better time as earlier in the day his teammate, Peter Sagan, abandoned the Tour to prepare for the Olympics. Spain’s Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Australia’s Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal) held on behind Politt to finish second and third, 31 seconds later.

The Tour’s General Classification remained unchanged after Stage 12, but with none of the sprinters’ teams willing to take responsibility for chasing down the breakaway, Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates teammates were forced to spend all day on the front.

With several hard days in the Pyrenees still to come, stages like this can have an accumulative effect on the team defending the yellow jersey, forcing them to burn matches (as the saying goes) on a day when other other teams can sit back and recover. If Pogačar has indeed peaked a bit too soon, he’ll need the support of his team to protect his advantage. Stages like Thursday’s might make that task more challenging.

Stage 11 Winner - Wout van Aert

After two trips up and down Mont Ventoux, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remained the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France. But it wasn’t easy as the Slovenian was dropped by Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 2km from the top of the second ascent of the mountain. Pogačar, Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo), and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) were able to catch the young Dane on the descent to the stage finish in Malaucène, but for the first time in this year’s Tour, Pogačar looked vulnerable—at least for a moment.

Up the road, Belgium’s Wout van Aert made it a banner day for Jumbo-Visma, winning the stage after attacking the remnants of the day’s big breakaway on the lower slopes of the second ascent of Ventoux. Unable to stay with van Aert, Trek-Segafredo teammates Kenny Elissonde and Bauke Mollema finished second and third.

Pogačar still has a commanding lead in the Tour’s General Classification: 5:18 over Uran and 5:32 over Vingegaard. But midway through the three-week race, we can’t help but wonder if his efforts during the Tour’s first “week” (Stages 1 through 9) are starting to catch up to him. Has he peaked too soon? And if he has, does his team have the strength to protect his advantage?

The three riders with the best chances of challenging him have emerged—Uran, Vingegaard, and Carapaz—but they’ll need to work together (for now) to try and crack Pogačar and his teammates before worrying about their own results. There are plenty of opportunities for them to get the job done in the Pyrenees, but without a concerted, strategic effort, it might not happen.

Speaking of opportunities, INEOS might have missed one today. The team controlled the stage as if it were defending the yellow jersey, essentially giving Pogačar and his team a free ride throughout much of the day. Had they forced UAE Team Emirates to set the pace would Pogačar have cracked sooner? And would INEOS have had more riders left at the end to help make it happen? We’ll never know, but if this Tour gets closer before it ends on July 18th, the British superteam might look back on today and wonder “What if?”

Stage 10 Winner - Mark Cavendish

Who’s Winning the Tour ?

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remained the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France after finishing safely in the leading peloton at the end of Stage 10 in Valence. The 22-year-old still leads Australia’s Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen) by 2:01 and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) by 5:18.

Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) won the stage, putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance by his team. The 33rd stage victory of his career, Cavendish now sits one win away from tying Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 , and two away from ... well, we don’t want to jinx it.

The final hour of racing was intense, with Quick Step driving the pace. At one point, the peloton broke into echelons on the windswept run-in to finish, briefly distancing Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), but the Tour’s main favorites came back together before the finish. The final sprint was a masterclass in how to lead-out a field sprint, with Quick Step—and Cavendish—taking everyone to school. Belgians Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second and third.

Of the riders chasing Pogačar (or more realistically, seeking to join him on the Tour’s final podium), Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo), Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) were the quickest to pounce when Pogačar began to struggle in the crosswinds near the end of the stage. Vingegaard was particularly aggressive, riding alongside van Aert to try and force a selection. The Dane is one of the best time trialists of the GC contenders, and looks like a good bet—at this point—to land on the podium.

Carapaz put in another aggressive ride, but again for no pay-off. He was also isolated for a bit in the crosswinds, leading us to wonder how long it will be before his wasted efforts come back to bite him.

Tomorrow’s stage climbs Mont Ventoux twice and should give us a better idea as to the riders with the best chances of either challenging Pogačar—or finishing beside him in Paris.

Stage 9 Winner - Ben O’Connor

Who’s Winning the Tour

It was another day of steady rain for the Tour de France, and riders regularly called up their team cars for deliveries of dry, warm clothing. The initial breakaway was massive, but quickly settled into several groups on the road with an ever-changing mix of leaders going off the front and being re-caught, only for others to counterattack. The winning move emerged when O’Connor joined Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and EF-Nippo’s Sergio Higuita on the penultimate climb, the Cormet de Roselend. He was gapped on the descent, but re-caught the pair and went solo with 17km to go for his first-ever Tour stage (he also won a Giro d’Italia stage two years ago).

With such a large group, Pogačar’s UAE team struggled to keep the time gap in check, and at several points in the race, O’Connor, who started the day in 14th overall, was far enough ahead to be “virtual yellow jersey.” But on the final climb to Tignes, the Ineos Grenadiers team drilled it, partly to keep the gap down and prevent O’Connor from taking yellow, which keeps the pressure on UAE to defend. Pogačar, however, countered with his own late attack, and took another 32 seconds on his challengers.

O’Connor is in second overall, 2:01 down to Pogačar. He’s a solid climber, but has never finished higher than 20th in any of his four Grand Tours so far. Among Pogačar’s more likely possible challengers, there's a lot of work to do. Uran is 5:18 behind, with Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz (Ineos) in 4th and 5th at 5:32. Pogačar enters Monday’s rest day with a massive advantage and is clearly the best rider in the race.

Who’s Not Winning the Tour

As expected, Primož Roglič did not start the stage. After losing major time the previous two days, it was clear that Jumbo’s leader wasn’t recovering from his injuries, making the smart choice to withdraw and heal, perhaps in time for the Olympic road race in a few weeks, and this fall’s Vuelta a España. The team will put its efforts behind Vingegaard for the podium and breakaways; American Sepp Kuss has factored in the break two days in a row, and will likely stay on the offensive in the Pyrenees.

Stage 8 Winner - Dylan Teuns

In the end, Pogačar efforts weren’t enough to net him the stage victory—that honor went to Belgium’s Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious)—but it didn’t matter; with two weeks left to race, the Tour is clearly Pogačar’s to lose. He leads Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) by 1:48 and Kazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) by 4:38.

In addition to winning the stage, Bahrain-Victorious also took control of the Tour’s King of the Mountains classification, with Dutchman Wout Poels earning enough points over the day’s five categorized climbs to pull on the polka dot jersey as the leader of the competition.

Who’s Not Winning the Tour?

Um, anyone not named Tadej Pogačar? Seriously, with one attack Pogačar put minutes into his closest rivals, taking the yellow jersey in a style that calls to mind some of the greatest Tour riders in the sport’s history. But has he done too much too soon?

The short answer is: we’ll see. His team isn’t the strongest in the race, but with Pogačar enjoying the form of his life and holding a big lead, they don’t have to be. Better yet is the fact that many of the riders behind Pogačar on the Tour’s General Classification would be thrilled to finish second or third overall, which means they could give-up on chasing down the Slovenian and instead start worrying more about beating one another. Doing so would essentially concede the Tour to Pogačar, making life much easier for the Slovenian and his teammates.

One rider who’s fallen completely out of contention is Welshman Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers). Dropped on the final climb near the end of Stage 7, the 2018 Tour champion was able to rejoin the main group of GC contenders before the finish in Le Creusot. But today he was dropped early and lost over 30 minutes. He finished the stage beside one of the Tour’s other pre-race favorites, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) who has also seen his chances of winning the Tour disappear. Both riders will now be asked to support their teammates, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers), who sit fifth and sixth overall and both have a shot at finishing on the Tour’s final podium in Paris

Stage 7 Winner - Matej Mohoric

Mohorič is often overshadowed by his more-famous Slovenian compatriots, Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič, but today he took center stage with a perfect ride on a long and arduous stage. With his victory, Mohorič joins the club of riders who have won a stage in all three Grand Tours. For his part, Pogačar survived admirably and still leads all of his rivals, but with yellow jersey van der Poel up the road in the break, it fell to Pog’s UAE-Emirates team to do most of the work chasing. Since there are a few question marks about the team’s overall strength, that’s earlier than they’d like to have been forced into action. Elsewhere, Ineos’ Richard Carapaz showed that he’s going to race aggressively. His late-race attack was hauled back right at the line, but expect more from him.

The biggest story was Jumbo-Visma’s Roglič cracking on a late climb and falling down the standings. With the large breakaway (more than 25 riders), the pace was hot from the start. And the course’s length—249.1km—likely made things harder; strange things happen to riders when races go past 220km, especially after a hard week of racing.

But Roglič was clearly not recovering enough from his early-race crash injuries. His ride today, where he lost almost four minutes to his rivals, only underscores that his collapse would have happened sooner or later anyway. Tellingly, when he was dropped on the steep Signal d’Uchon climb, no teammates waited for him, which suggests Jumbo strongly suspected this was a possibility. They’ll likely put their efforts behind 24-year-old Jonas Vingegaard now.

Finally, it’s worth a look at one of the other jersey competitions: Points. Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) has won two stages already in his remarkable comeback from several tough years, but it’s clear he wants more. He jumped in the break and took top points (20) at the intermediate sprint. He now leads the green jersey standings by a large margin, with 168 points to van der Poel’s 103 (van der Poel’s teammate, Jasper Philipsen, is one point back in third). Van der Poel himself didn’t really contest the intermediate sprint and is unlikely to make it to Paris. His main objective this season is the Olympic mountain bike race in just a few weeks, and he’ll need some rest. For all his 32 stage wins at the Tour, Cav has taken green in Paris just once, in 2011. He’d love to add another to the trophy cabinet. If he does, it will be a fantastic achievement. Despite his apparent run of form, it’s worth remembering that he wasn’t even supposed to be here, and his training this year was not designed around doing a three-week race, much less the Tour on a few days’ notice.

Stage 6 Winner - Mark Cavendish

Cav’s victory gives him 32 Tour stage wins, just two shy of Eddy Merckx’s overall record, which has stood for 45 years. It’s also Cavendish’s 50th stage win in a Grand Tour. It’s a remarkable comeback for the Manx Missile, who hadn’t won a Tour stage since 2016, and until this season, hadn’t won any races since 2018. Given that Cav wasn’t even slated to be on DQS’s Tour roster until he replaced Sam Bennett, who had a knee injury in early June, it’s even more impressive. Despite inevitable questions about his march on Merckx’s record (a line of inquiry which Cav has made clear he does not appreciate), he’s sprinting with remarkable confidence, dare we say joy. Van der Poel will spend a fifth day in the yellow jersey on Friday, and despite a long and challenging stage on Friday, he is a good bet to hold it until Saturday, the race’s first real mountain stage. Pogačar, the presumptive favorite for the overall, appreciated an uneventful day largely free of crashes and will look forward to Alpecin-Fenix’s defense of yellow for another day, limiting the work his UAE team will have to do.

Through five stages, not a single breakaway has survived to the finish yet. That’s not surprising: breakaways are often caught, and flatter sprint stages, with small moves of less than five riders, have the lowest success rate of any breakaway situation at the Tour. Stage 7 may see that streak finally broken, with a long, 249km day with several tough climbs near the end. But it may not be the early break that succeeds as much as a later move on those ascents.

Stage 5 Winner - Tadej Pogačar

Van der Poel doesn’t have a strong time trial resume, and today’s stage was both the longest TT he’s ever done and under the biggest spotlight. But he rose to the occasion with solid pacing throughout, hovering between 2nd and 5th at every time check. While his overall lead over Pogačar dwindled to just eight seconds, simply staying in yellow another day is a massive accomplishment for a rider whose main objective this year is actually in a few weeks at the Tokyo Olympics, where he’ll race the mountain bike event.

No one had a better day than Pogačar, who was fastest at every intermediate time check and gained time—often a lot—on all his challengers. The soonest Pogačar is likely to take yellow is Friday’s unusually long stage, but barring a crash or some major mishap, it’s almost a sure thing he’ll be in the race lead this weekend when the race goes into the Alps.

Elsewhere, contenders have to be asking themselves where are the cracks in Pogačar’s armor. His closest real rival on time is EF Education-Nippo’s Rigoberto Uran, who is almost a minute and a half behind before the mountains even start, and Pogačar is one of the best climbers in the world. INEOS’s Richard Carapaz and last year’s runner-up, Primož Roglič of Jumbo-Visma, are around 1:40 back, and things get more grim from there; there are only five more GC hopefuls within three minutes of Pog on the overall classification. Some of them, like Roglic and INEOS's Geraint Thomas, are dealing with injuries from crashes in the opening stages. There are two possibilities for the coming weeks: Pogačar didn’t lead last year’s Tour until the final day, so he never had to defend yellow, and his team is a question mark in terms of strength. And, Pog is clearly flying right now, but there are more than two weeks left to race. If his form peaked too early, rivals may be able to gain back time late in the race as he fades.

Stage 4 Winner - Mark Cavendish

But it almost didn’t happen. One day after Lotto-Soudal lost sprinter Caleb Ewan to a broken collarbone, Van Moer did his best to win the team a stage. On his first grand tour, the 23-year-old spent all day on the attack with France’s Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis), then left his companion inside the final 10km to go solo. Underestimated by the chasing peloton, the Belgian held on until about 200 meters to go, when the hungry sprinters finally overtook him.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) finished safely within the leading peloton, holding onto the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the Tour. French puncheur Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) sits in second place, only 8 seconds behind the Dutchman; Ecuador’s Richard Capapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) and Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) stand in third and fourth, just 31 seconds behind.

Stage 5 brings the first of two individual time trials in this year’s Tour de France, a 27km ride from Changé to Laval that should shuffle the Tour’s General Classification. We’ve never seen van der Poel target a time trial before, so it remains to be seen how he’ll fare in terms of defending the yellow jersey. Maybe the yellow jersey will serve as additional inspiration, but with proven time trialists like Alaphilippe and van Aert, and a long rolling course, they’re both good bets to dethrone the Dutchman.

We’ll also be closely watching Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers). Heading into the Tour, Stage 5 was expected to offer the two favorites a chance to distance themselves from the Tour’s other GC contenders. Still, given the injuries they’ve sustained in crashes during the opening stages, they may not be able to take full advantage of their abilities

Stage 3 Winner - Tim Merlier

While his superstar teammate overshadows him, Merlier is a solid sprinter who’s having a career year (like van der Poel, he’s also a top cyclocross racer during the winter season). His Stage 3 win is his second in a Grand Tour after a victory in May’s Giro d’Italia. Not bad for a guy who’d never raced a Grand Tour until this year.

Merlier's victory—and Philipsen’s second-place finish—underscores that Alpecin-Fenix, not Deceuninck-Quick Step, is the top sprint team at this year’s Tour. DQS would be a top rival, but they were in disarray today. Their lead sprinter, Sam Bennett, is home with a knee injury while manager Patrick Lefevere starts needless feuds with him in the press. And Mark Cavendish, who could be the feel-good story of the race if he wins a stage in his return to the sport’s biggest stage, was well off after getting caught up and delayed by the late-stage crashes. Elsewhere, Ewan, another major rival, is now out with a broken collarbone. Van der Poel still leads the overall, eight seconds clear of DQS’s Julian Alaphilippe, who is at the top of the points standings after his fifth-place finish. INEOS Grenadiers’ Richard Carapaz was the only GC rider to finish in the front group. He jumps to third overall.

The chaotic nature of the opening stages has seen various riders pinball around in the overall standings. Carapaz is a perfect example: he lost 13 seconds on the uphill finish of Stage 1, but today bounced back with his savvy (and lucky) ride. Bora-Hansgrohe’s Wilco Kelderman managed to stay upright, and defending champion Tadej Pogačar lost minimal time after being delayed by a late crash.

Outside of Carapaz, it’s been a dismal opening few stages for INEOS, with crashes for several riders. Thomas fell hard today, less than 40km into the stage, and reportedly suffered a separated shoulder that was reset on site by the team doctor. There’s no word yet on how severe the injury is. Still, it will almost certainly be painfully difficult for Thomas to hold his aerodynamic tuck in Wednesday’s crucial time trial stage, where he’d typically be among the favorites. Jumbo-Visma hasn’t been any luckier, with multiple riders caught in crashes. Team leader Primoz Roglič fell hard with 18km to go today. His team swiftly organized a chase, but they’d no sooner gotten back to the leading group before another crash delayed them. He finished 1:21 down today, but at least X-rays showed no fractures.

Stage 2 Winner - Mathieu van der Poel

Who’s winning the Tour?

It was clear that van der Poel was targeting the stage and the yellow jersey. He launched his first attack on the first of two ascents of the Mûr, taking eight bonus seconds for being the first over the top. Easing back into the bunch, he recovered on the downhill run-in to the final climb to the finish line, then covered attacks by Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) before going off on his own with an acceleration no one could follow.

As he crossed the finish line, he pointed to the sky to honor his deceased grandfather, Raymond Poulidor. One of the Tour’s most beloved heroes, “Pou-Pou,” never had the honor of wearing the yellow jersey despite finishing on the Tour’s final podium eight times. The 10-second time bonus that van der Poel took for winning the stage was enough to put him in yellow though, as France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) finished fourth on the day, eight seconds back. Van der Poel now leads the Tour by eight seconds over the Frenchman; Pogačar sits third, 13 seconds down.

Who’s really winning the Tour?

We’re only two days into the race, but it’s clear that last year’s top two finishers, Slovenians Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), aren’t wasting any time. Both riders scored bonus seconds behind van der Poel on the day’s first climb of the Mûr de Bretagne, and the duo pulled away from the rest of the leading group to score more bonus seconds at the finish. If this keeps up, we could be headed for a Tour even closer than last year’s, when Pogačar overtook Roglič in the final time trial to win the Tour.

The Tour’s other top GC contenders are expected to come from INEOS Grenadiers, whose four-headed GC-monster became a 2-headed GC-monster in yesterday’s crashes. Both Richie Porte and Tao Geoghegan Hart lost lots of time, leaving the team to ride for Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz. Carapaz was the best finisher today; the Ecuadorian finished in the leading group of contenders, 8 seconds behind van der Poel. Thomas lost a bit of time, leading in the next group another 15 seconds down. He should recoup the time lost to his teammate in Wednesday’s individual time trial, but it will remain interesting to see how the hierarchy within the team continues to evolve over the course of the Tour’s first week.

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

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Tadej pogacar wins 2021 tour de france as van aert takes final stage.

Tour de France stage 21 - As  it happened

Wout van Aert ( Jumbo-Visma ) sprinted to the prestigious stage 21 victory in Paris to win the final stage of the 2021 Tour de France . The finish straight on the Champs-Élysées was 700 metres in length, 400 metres longer than in previous years, but that did not afford chasers enough real estate to catch Van Aert, who surged to the front of the peloton with under 250 metres remaining and took his third stage win of the three-week Grand Tour.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second, less than a wheel length from the line, to get his third second-place finish at the Tour. Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) finished third, but held on to the green jersey as the overall points classification victor, beating Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) by 56 points.

UAE Team Emirates rode into Paris with Tadej Pogačar wearing the maillot jaune and safely escorted him to the final podium to claim three classifications – overall, mountains and best young rider.

For the first time since 2012, only two riders finished within 10 minutes of the yellow jersey - Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) finished second, 5:20 off the winning mark, and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) placed third, another 1:43 back.

Bahrain Victorious won the team competition by 19 minutes ahead of EF Education-Nippo, and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels p/b KTM) claimed the super-combativity award after an aggressive three weeks of racing.

Stage 21 started in Chatou with a gentle pace set by UAE Team Emirates, sporting new jerseys emblazoned with yellow bands to celebrate Pogačar’s second consecutive Tour win. The final 52km of the stage took place over the eight laps of the Champs Élysées, and while sprinters looked for glory in the stage win, Pogačar and his teammates eased across the finish to celebrate a job well done.

News and features

• Mark Cavendish misses out on breaking Eddy Merckx's record for the most Tour de France stage wins
• Tour de France: Standings at the 2021 race
• O'Connor: I hope to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey one day
• Mark Donovan completes first Tour de France weeks after family tragedy
• Richard Carapaz: I did everything I could to get a good result in the Tour de France
• Kelderman falls short in battle for Tour de France fourth
• Geraint Thomas: I had dark moments in what was mentally my toughest Tour de France
• Kwiatkowski says Ineos reverted to old-school Sky tactics in Tour de France
• New Factor 'Hanzo' time trial bike ridden by Chris Froome at the Tour de France
• Not a typical domestique: Vingegaard set for podium at debut Tour de France
• Tour de France: Mohoric aims ‘silence’ victory gesture at team doubters
• Tadej Pogacar says there is nothing illegal about his bike at Tour de France
• Mohoric says 'I felt like a criminal' after zipping lips in Tour de France stage win
• Anti-doping agency and French police communicating over Bahrain Victorious Tour de France raid
• Woods and López leave Tour de France with Tokyo Olympics in mind
• De Gendt’s Tour de France circle complete after stage 18
• Tour de France spectator saved from fall into ravine by Gilbert, Froome
• Ben O’Connor: I’m still going to be exactly the same bloke after this Tour de France
• Rigoberto Urán's Tour de France GC challenge collapses on final Pyrenean stage
• Mas falls short of Tour de France stage victory on 'the Spanish mountain'
• No gifts as Tadej Pogacar puts a seal on Tour de France at Luz Ardiden
• Vingegaard: Tour de France has been a big, big learning process for me
• Tour de France podium in view for Carapaz after final mountain stage
• Tour de France: Mark Cavendish survives Luz Ardiden with two chances to beat Merckx's record
• Rigoberto Uran cracks and loses chance of Tour de France podium
• Tour de France: Which GC riders lost time at Luz Ardiden
• Tour de France: I knew Carapaz was bluffing, says Pogacar
• Tour de France: Which GC riders lost time on the Col du Portet
• Pogacar doubles down on overall lead with win on 'hardest stage' of Tour de France
• Vingegaard: Second at the Tour de France is really amazing for me
• Majka: Now nobody can say Pogacar doesn't have a strong team at Tour de France
• Ben O'Connor: If I can keep fifth place at the Tour de France, that would be insane
• Kelderman makes gains in Tour de France GC despite crash on stage 17 descent
• Mark Cavendish survives time cut on hardest Tour de France stage so far
• Gaudu working his way up Tour de France hierarchy in final week
• Steven Kruijswijk abandons Tour de France, leaving Jumbo-Visma with four riders
• Nibali: Racing hard at Tour de France has helped me peak for Tokyo Olympics
• Wright makes his first breakaway of Tour de France to support teammate Colbrelli
• Van Aert sparks late skirmish for Tour de France GC favourites on stage 16
• Tour de France: Going long pays off for Konrad in Saint-Gaudens
• Michael Matthews closes in on Mark Cavendish in Tour de France green jersey race
• Chris Froome: If Pogacar stays on his bike this Tour de France is over
• Tour de France stage 16: Riders stop after cold downhill neutral start
• Tour de France stage 15 analysis: a team sport for individuals
• Pogacar broadens his lead on Tour’s first full day of Pyrenean racing
• Sepp Kuss ends 10-year-drought on American Tour de France stage wins
• Jonas Vingegaard: I'm growing into team leader role at Tour de France
• Guillaume Martin: When you have given everything, you can’t be disappointed
• Tour de France: Ineos vow to fight on despite Pogacar's continued dominance
• Tour de France: Which GC riders lost time on stage 15 in the mountains
• Nacer Bouhanni abandons the Tour de France
• Kelderman expecting 'different racing' in Tour de France's third week
• Tao Geoghegan Hart's Tour de France debut 'far from ideal'
• Mollema chooses his moment wisely at Tour de France
• Konrad: Mollema made smart move on twisty roads to net Tour de France victory
• Tour de France: Carapaz convinced Pyrenean stages will be 'very favourable'
• Tour de France: Vingegaard wears tag of challenger lightly ahead of Andorra test
• Woods 'proud' to lead Tour de France’s King of Mountains ranking
• Tadej Pogacar: Everybody in the top-10 is dangerous at the Tour de France
• Tour de France: Guillaume Martin climbs to second overall thanks to clever day in the break
• Tour de France: Michael Woods crashes in the breakaway but takes polka-dot jersey
• Kragh Andersen and Barguil abandon the Tour de France after stage 13 crash
• Lefevere: Mark Cavendish is the same rider as before but less stressed
• 1959 Tour de France winner Bahamontes warns Pogacar 'there's a long way to go yet'
• Mark Cavendish: I don't think I can ever be compared with the great Eddy Merckx
• Tour de France leader Pogacar congratulates Cavendish on 34th stage win
• Mark Cavendish: It’s another win on the Tour de France and what I’ve dreamed of as a kid
• Simon Yates abandons Tour de France after crash on stage 13 descent
• Tour de France: 3km crash rule extended to 4.5km mark on stage 13
• Vingegaard: We had to change our mindset at the Tour de France after losing Roglic
• Richard Carapaz: The Tour de France isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon
• Tour de France leader Pogacar warns he could attack again in the Pyrenees
• Breakaway denies Cavendish a chance to equal Tour de France stage record in Nîmes
• Politt seizes chance offered by Sagan's early Tour de France exit
• Alaphilippe rolls the dice in another Tour de France attack but misses out again
• Peter Sagan abandons the Tour de France
• Tour de France history made on Mont Ventoux with double ascent - Gallery
• Rowe on Tour de France: I hit the wall, guys who I'd normally out-climb were leaving me for dead
• O'Connor battles through 'hardest in-race moment' to stay in Tour de France top five
• Urán moves up to second in Tour de France after steady Mont Ventoux ride
• Tour de France: Wout van Aert claims 'best victory ever' over Mont Ventoux
• Mark Cavendish beats Tour de France time cut on Mont Ventoux as Rowe misses out
• Tour de France: Which GC riders lost time on the Mont Ventoux stage
• Tour de France: All the riders who have abandoned on the Mont Ventoux stage
• Tadej Pogacar: I push good watts, that's why I'm first at the Tour de France
• Michael Matthews: Mark Cavendish is just too fast these days
• UAE Team Emirates: No room to relax as Tour de France far from decided
• Woods draws up battle plans for Tour de France mountains jersey
• Van Aert: Everyone wants to be on the QuickStep train at the Tour de France
• Mark Cavendish questions BikeExchange tactics after third Tour de France stage win
• Nic Dlamini misses Tour de France time cut by 40 minutes but fights to reach Tignes
• Carapaz: Pogacar is in a different race to us at the Tour de France now
• Ben O'Connor: Tadej Pogacar is the next level above me at the Tour de France
• Pogacar attacks in Tignes to keep O'Connor out of Tour de France yellow jersey
• Ben O'Connor: Winning a Tour de France stage will make your heart stop
• Tour de France: Which GC riders lost time on stage 9 summit finish at Tignes
• Thomas undecided about continuing Tour de France despite Tignes fightback
• Cavendish beats time cut at Tour de France as Démare, Coquard miss out
• Mathieu van der Poel abandons Tour de France to focus on Tokyo Olympic Games
• Primoz Roglic abandons Tour de France
• Mathieu van der Poel’s dream week in Tour de France yellow ends in Alps
• Jumbo-Visma rewrite Tour de France game plan after Roglic loses 35 minutes in the Alps
• Tour de France: Teuns continues Bahrain Victorious’ remarkable run at Le Grand-Bornand
• Tadej Pogacar: I haven't killed the Tour de France, there's still a long way to go
• Woods 'comes apart' in sight of Tour de France breakaway win
• Ineos Grenadiers boss Brailsford says 'expect the unexpected' at Tour de France
• Tour de France: Which GC riders lost time on the first day in the Alps
• Pogacar: I could be my own biggest rival at the Tour de France
• Geraint Thomas' Tour de France challenge ends in the Alps
• Van Aert joins forces with Van der Poel in pursuit of Tour de France yellow
• Dan Martin: My Tour de France has been boring so far but my race starts in the Alps
• Tour de France: Geraint Thomas dropped but digs deep to survive stage 7
• Primoz Roglic’s Tour de France hopes fade on stage 7
• Tour de France leader Van der Poel rejects idea of becoming a future GC contender
• Tour de France prize money: The teams and riders ranked
• Philipsen: There's no shame in being beaten by Cavendish
• Vincenzo Nibali stuck between rock and hard place with Tour de France break aspirations
• Consistent Bouhanni takes another sprint podium at Tour de France
• Cavendish says Châteauroux Tour de France win 'means as much as 13 years ago'
• Mørkøv: It’s the Cavendish at the Tour de France we know from 10 years ago
• Peter Sagan: I'm still in the hunt for the green jersey at the Tour de France
• Van Aert: I still believe in a stage victory at the Tour de France
• 'Don’t say the name!' Mark Cavendish plays it cool as Merckx’s Tour de France record edges closer
• Eisel: Mark Cavendish’s 2008 Châteauroux Tour de France stage win changed everything
• Which GC riders lost time on stage 5 time trial at the 2021 Tour de France
• Tadej Pogacar lands major blow in Tour de France with time trial victory
• Tour de France: Alaphilippe comes up short in quest for yellow jersey in time trial
• Primoz Roglic: I will definitely keep fighting at the Tour de France
• Mathieu van der Poel: I knew I had the watts somewhere, it was just a matter of position
• Geraint Thomas struggles through Tour de France time trial
• Tour de France: Mark Cavendish has proved he is one of the best sprinters in the world says Alaphilippe
• Mark Cavendish: I didn't think I'd get to come back to the Tour de France
• Geraint Thomas: The Tour de France doctor popped my shoulder back in and it was instant relief
• Tour de France peloton to stage go-slow in protest of crash-filled stage 3 route
• Tour de France: Heavily bandaged Roglic shows off his wounds ahead of stage 4
• Merlier celebrates stage 3 Tour de France victory but rules out green jersey
• Tour de France leader Van der Poel: I knew there was going to be trouble
• Tadej Pogacar loses 26 seconds in Tour de France crash but keeps GC ambitions alive
• Which GC riders lost time on stage 3 of the 2021 Tour de France
• Riders criticise crash-marred stage 3 final at the Tour de France
• Madiot makes impassioned plea for cycling to change after chaotic, crash-filled Tour de France finale
• Ewan abandons Tour de France after sustaining broken collarbone in stage 3 crash
• Primoz Roglic vows to fight on at Tour de France
• Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan among crash victims on stage 3
• Tour de France: Primoz Roglic crashes with team boss stating his leader was 'bumped and sent flying'
• Van der Poel gets custom Canyon with poignant message at Tour de France
• Thomas suffers dislocated shoulder and Gesink abandons after Tour de France crash
• Tour de France: Police use Facebook in search for spectator that triggered crash
• Tadej Pogacar: I'm pleased with how my Tour de France is looking
• Chris Froome in battle for Tour de France survival after crash injuries
• Van der Poel takes Tour de France yellow jersey in honour of grandfather Poulidor
• Tour de France: Geraint Thomas drops 10 places in general classification
• Tour de France: Gamble pays off for emotional Mathieu van der Poel with historic win and yellow jersey
• Tony Martin: The Tour de France is not a circus
• AG2R Citroen to get up and fight at Tour de France after crashes hit hard
• Chris Froome will start stage 2 despite crash injuries
• Tour de France organisers aim to sue spectator who caused mass stage 1 crash
• Tour de France crashes make an immediate impact on Ineos Grenadiers leadership strategy
• Rough Tour de France start for Movistar as Soler abandons, López loses time
• 21 riders injured in Tour de France opening stage crashes
• Concern for teammates overshadows Tadej Pogacar's start at Tour de France
• Matthews outshines Tour de France sprint rivals with second behind Alaphilippe
• Alaphilippe 'raced like there was no tomorrow' for Tour de France lead
• Tour de France: Jumbo-Visma left counting the cost after devastating crash on stage 1
• Which GC riders lost time on stage 1 of the 2021 Tour de France
• Chris Froome crashes on stage 1 of Tour de France
• Tour de France: Spectator causes mass crash on stage 1 with Roglic taken down

The build-up

Here at Cyclingnews we've been counting down the days until the 2021 Tour de France, with a series of special features to build up to the Grand Départ on Saturday June 26. 

• Tour de France 2021: The essential race guide
• Tour de France bikes: who's riding what in 2021
• Form ranking: Tour de France 2021 contenders, pre-race
• Philippa York: I struggle to see Chris Froome as a Tour de France road captain
• Tour de France snubs: The 9 most controversial rider non-selections
• Out of Pinot's shadow and into the glare: David Gaudu takes aim at the Tour de France
• Tadej Pogacar: A life-changing moment captured in a photograph
• Analysing Ineos Grenadiers' 2021 Tour de France team
• Analysing Jumbo-Visma's 2021 Tour de France squad
• Tour de France 2021: 5 key stages
• Brandon McNulty: The Tour de France call-up
• Alberto Contador: Blowing the Tour de France apart

The 2021 Tour de France will start in Brest in Brittany , on Saturday, June 26 having originally been scheduled for a Grand Départ in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The opening two stages to Landerneau and Mûr-de-Bretagne will provide a chance for the puncheurs, versatile sprinters and climbers to take the maillot jaune early on before the sprinters get two chances to win as the race heads east across the centre of France.

An early GC showdown will come on stage 5 with the 27.2-kilometre time trial from Changé to Laval Espace Mayenne before the road racing resumes with two stages that take the peloton to the Alps.

Stage 8 to Le Grand Bornard will see the first major climbing of the Tour, with three first-category climbs – including the Col de la Colombière – in the second part of the 150.8-kilometre stage. The following day to the 21-kilometre long summit finish at Tignes is just as tough, revisiting the Critérium du Dauphiné one-two of the Col du Pré and Cormet de Roselend.

Tignes also hosts the first rest day on July 5, ahead of a sprint stage in Valence and stage 11's visit to Mont Ventoux, which will be tackled twice before a descent straight to the finish in Malaucène.

Nîmes and Carcassonne offer up two more sprint chances on the following days before a nailed-on breakaway stage in the hills to Quillan take the peloton to the Pyrenees.

There, stage 15 to Andorra brings with it three first-category tests, including the Souvenir Henri Desgrange as the race hits 2,408 metres at Port d'Envalira. A rest day in the microstate. A tough stage to Saint-Gaudens follows but all minds will be on the final two mountain stages.

Stage 17 takes the riders over the Col de Peyresourde and Col de Val Louron-Azet before the HC-rated summit finish at 2,215 metres at the Col du Portet. Stage 18 provides two more HC tests in the Col du Tourmalet and the summit finish at Luz Ardiden, the last chance for climbers to make their mark.

A penultimate sprint stage follows, taking the peloton to Libourne, where stage 20 brings the GC finale in the shape of a 30.8-kilometre time trial to Saint-Emilion. If the Tour hasn't already been decided, then it certainly will be here.

As ever, the grand finale and the crowning of the Tour de France champion comes in Paris on the Champs-Élysées following a 108.4-kilometre ride from Chatou on July 18.

Check out the full details of the 2021 Tour de France route here.

The contenders

Once again, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) will be the main favourites for the title. The two are among the strongest climbers in the peloton and are also world-leading time trialists, which could prove decisive with two tests against the clock lying in wait for the riders.

The pair have enjoyed stellar starts to 2020, with Pogačar taking wins at the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, while Roglič took three wins at PAris-Nice and the overall at Itzulia Basque Country.

The main challenge to the Slovenian duo should come from Ineos Grenadiers, who are led by 2018 winner Geraint Thomas and 2019 Giro d'Italia champion Richard Carapaz . The Welshman recently finished third at the Critérium du Dauphiné and looks best placed to challenge in both the mountains and time trials, while Carapaz is arguably the stronger climber.

Movistar's triumvirate will this year be headed up by new signing Miguel Ángel López , alongside Enric Mas and Alejandro Valverde. The Colombian looked in dominant form at the Mont Ventoux Dénivéle Challenge in June and will hope to improve on his sixth place in 2020.

His compatriot Nairo Quintana is a three-time podium finisher at the Tour and once again leads out Arkéa-Samsic. He won the Vuelta Asturias earlier this year but was off form at the Dauphiné.

Another Colombian to watch is EF Education-Nippo's Rigoberto Urán , who finished second in 2017 and has taken two top 10s since. His teammate and countryman Sergio Higuita could end up the team leader this year.

Elsewhere, look out for Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), and Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange). They're all likely to be in the top 10 GC battle, though fighting for the very top spots looks a little tougher.

Finally, the battle for sprint victories and the green jersey looks wide open, with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) facing challenges from Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious), Tim Merlier and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Cees Bol (Team DSM), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), and more.

Bikes and tech

As the world's biggest bike race, the publicity and global reach that the Tour de France achieves is a sponsor's dream. As a result, the Tour de France is always a hotbed of tech, with new releases and custom colourways unveiled almost daily as brands work to capture the attention of onlookers. 

What's more, with the hard-fought battle for the yellow jersey, teams will do everything within their power to eke out marginal gains with innovative inventions and mechanical hacks. Most of the time this comes directly from their contracted sponsors, but occasionally teams will look further afield, breaking contracts in the pursuit of free speed. 

Here are the tech talking points we've seen so far:

• Tour de France bikes : who's riding what in 2021
• Oakley launches 2021 Tour de France collection
• Lapierre launches new Xelius SL ahead of the Tour de France
• Trek-Segafredo bikes given all-new colour schemes ahead of the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia Donne
• Pinarello launches new Dogma F in preparation for the Tour de France
• Michael Matthews gets a custom Bianchi Oltre XR4 for Tour de France
• Why are Jumbo Visma using blue tyres at the Tour de France?
• Ineos Grenadiers switch to sponsor-incorrect Princeton Carbonworks wheels at Tour de France
• Tour de France tech: All the tech and trends from the 2021 race
• Is Canyon's broken Aeroad handlebar now fixed? Van der Poel's Tour de France bike suggests it is
• Tour de France winning bikes : Which brand has won the most Tours in history?
• Julian Alaphilippe's S-Works Tarmac SL7 at the Tour de France
• Radical new sunglasses for Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France
• Tour de France gallery: 40 years of time trial technology
• Mark Cavendish's Tour de France stage-winning S-Works Tarmac SL7
• 10-hour journey delivers sponsor-incorrect wheels for Van der Poel's Tour de France time trial
• Alpecin-Fenix go all-in with sponsor-incorrect tech as Van der Poel fights to keep yellow
• Kasper Asgreen to ride the Specialized Aethos in Tour de France mountain stages
• Tour de France helmets : Who's wearing what?
• Tour de France power analysis: Ben O'Connor's Stage 9 win in Tignes
• Spotted: Jumbo Visma on yet more non-sponsor wheels at the Tour de France

Race history

Pogačar is the reigning champion, having overhauled his Slovenian compatriot Roglič in the final time trial at last year's race. The 21-year-old became the race's second-youngest winner after Firmin Labot back in 1904.

Pogačar broke a Ineos/Sky stranglehold on the race, with the British team having won seven of the previous eight Tours de France with Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and four-time winner Chris Froome. Vincenzo Nibali, then riding for Astana, was the other man to break the British squad's dominance with a win in 2014.

The Tour wins record is currently held by four men, with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain all on five titles.

2020 was also the year which saw the rare occasion of Sagan getting beaten in the battle for the green jersey. He lost out to Bennett after a race-long battle, but still holds the all-time green jersey rankings with seven wins in nine participations. Erik Zabel's six jerseys lie second, ahead of Sean Kelly's four.

Pogačar is the reigning mountain classification champion, too, having won the yellow, polka dot and white jerseys in 2020. He broke a three-year French stranglehold on the jersey after wins for Romain Bardet, Julian Alaphilippe and Warren Barguil.

Richard Virenque holds the record for polka dot jersey wins at seven, and it won't be beaten anytime soon as Rafał Majka is the only current rider to have won more than one king of the mountains title, with two.

Read on for a list of the riders with the most wins of the Tour de France, the most stage wins, as well as the major jerseys (active riders in bold ).

Most Tour de France wins

• 5 – Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain
• 4 –  Chris Froome
• 3 – Phiilippe Thys, Louison Bobet, Greg LeMond
• 2 – Lucien Petit-Breton, Firmin Lambot, Ottavio Bottecchia, Nicolas Frantz, André Leducq, Antonin Magne, Sylvère Maes, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Bernard Thévenet, Laurent Fignon, Alberto Contador
• 1 – Vincenzo Nibali , Geraint Thomas , Egan Bernal , Tadej Pogačar

Most Tour de France stage wins

• 34 – Eddy Merckx
• 30 – Mark Cavendish
• 28 – Bernard Hinault
• 25 – André Leducq
• 22 – André Darrigade
• 20 – Nicolas Frantz
• 19 – François Faber
• 17 – Jean Alavoine
• 16 – Jacques Anquetiil, René Le Grevès, Charles Pélissiier –
• 12 – Peter Sagan
• 11 – André Greipel
• 7 – Chris Froome
• 6 – Vincenzo Nibali

Most Tour de France green jersey wins

• 7 –  Peter Sagan
• 6 – Erik Zabel
• 4 – Sean Kelly
• 3 – Jan Janssen, Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Robbie McEwen
• 2 – Stan Ockers, Jean Graczyk, André Darrigade, Laurent Jalabert, Thor Hushovd
• 1 – Mark Cavendish , Michael Matthews , Sam Bennett

Most Tour de France polka dot jersey wins

• 7 – Richard Virenque
• 6 – Federico Bahamontes, Lucien Van Impe
• 3 – Julio Jiménez
• 2 – Felicien Vervaecke, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Charly Gaul, Imerio Massignan, Eddy Merckx, Luis Herrera, Claudio Chiappucci, Laurent Jalabert, Michael Rasmussen, Rafał Majka
• 1 – Nairo Quintana , Chris Froome , Warren Barguil , Julian Alaphilippe , Romain Bardet , Tadej Pogačar

• Tour de France 2021 map
• Tour de France 2021: The Essential Race Guide
• Tour de France past winners

• Rest Day 1 2021-07-05

• Rest Day 2 2021-07-12

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The wife of Chris Froome , a four-time Tour de France winner and former Team GB cyclist, has labelled Muslims “a drain on society” in a shocking social media outburst.

The cyclist’s wife and agent, Michelle Froome, deleted her X/Twitter account after using the platform to launch the hateful tirade against the group in light of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza .

Froome said she was “sick of sitting idly by quietly supporting Israel while the Hamas propaganda takes over social media.”

The mother-of-two, who married her husband in 2014, was seemingly inspired to speak out after the situation impacted her own life when pro-Palestinian activists called for “more protests than ever” against her husband’s team, Israel-Premier Tech.

These protests were called to take place at two of cycling’s biggest events, the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France.

“Enough is enough,” she wrote.

“The silent majority needs to stand up and be heard. We don’t want your religion, we don’t want your beliefs. It is not compatible with modern civilisation.

“‘Women’s rights matter! Gay rights matter! Trans rights matter! Hamas doesn’t support any of those. Take the blindfolds off and see the reality of the hatred they are spreading. There are no innocent Gazans.”

Froome then claimed that Muslim people were attempting to “take over” the countries they have settled in and encouraged people to “stop pandering to the political correctness.”

She wrote: “Muslims are no longer the minority they claim to be. They are here to take over. The UK, France, they are happy to claim the benefits but will not integrate into those communities. They will continue to TAKE what suits them. They are a drain on modern society.

“It’s time people stop pandering to the political correctness. It’s all a facade. They burned babies alive. They deserve no remorse what so ever. This is just the beginning. WAKE UP.”

But depsite the personal connection she has to the conflict, Mrs Froome insisted that she was not speaking out because of cycling but her children.

“If anyone is surprised that I have strong opinions they clearly haven’t been around cycling long enough. I have been quiet but I will not be quiet anymore,” she declared.

“This is not about cycling it is about the world my children are being raised in. More parents need to be concerned about this.”

Froome’s post was met with outrage on the platform.

One Twitter (X) user wrote: “This is just pure racism from Michelle Froome.”

“What a nasty piece of work Michelle Froome is,” added a second. “And completely ridiculous anyway from a woman and her husband who moved to Monaco thirteen years ago.”

A third wrote: “The racism and Islamophobia from #MichelleFroome is deeply offensive. Making disgusting generalisations about all Muslims. I sincerely hope this is condemned and removed.”

Cycling Weekly reports that Chris’s team, despite its name, has no direct connection to Israel, but it is linked through its co-owners, Sylvan Adams and Ron Baron, who are both Israeli.

Ron founded the team with the aim of seeing the first Israeli rider take part in the Tour De France.

The Independent has reached out to Michelle and Chris Froome for comment.

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