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UAE Team Emirates announce squad for Tour de France

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Will be going in search of a third consecutive title

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UAE Team Emirates have unveiled the team heading into the Tour de France (1-21 July) which gets underway on Friday.

The team heads into the 21 stages led by the winner of the previous two editions of the race, Tadej Pogacar, with a mix of climbers and flat-terrain experts to support the Slovenian.

The 23-year-old will face challenges along the 3,328km course which begins in Copenhagen with a 13km time-trial before approaching the Alps via a cobbled stage through Arenberg and onto the Pyrenees before the surviving riders make it to the Champs Elysees in Paris for the ceremonial finish.

Team Manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Spa) will lead the squad alongside Sports Directors Andrej Hauptman (Slo), Simone Pedrazzini (Swi) and Marco Marcato (Ita). The team is comprised of 8 riders:

– Tadej Pogacar (Slo)

– Rafal Majka (Pol)

– Brandon McNulty (USA)

– Marc Soler (Spa)

– Matteo Trentin (Ita)

– Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor)

– George Bennett (NZ)

– Mikkel Bjerg (Den)

Tadej Pogacar said, ”It’s already my third time coming to the Tour and I’m really excited about it. We’ve worked really hard all year as a team to prepare for this and we hope we can give everyone watching 3 weeks of exciting racing. This year so far has been a positive one for the team and we are hoping to continue that here at the Tour. We know it won’t be easy and we’ll have many challenges but that is part of the magic of the Tour.”

Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Team Manager) said, “Every year the challenge to win the Tour gets harder, all we can do is prepare as best we can and trust our team to produce their best as a group. Our ambition is to win the overall title with Pogačar and we have built a strong team around him. Last year we had a great group and the base of the team is similar to last years with a few strong additions in key areas. We have studied the route and it’s far from an easy parcours. Also the level of our competitors is really high, but we are confident and know that a big result is well within the capabilities of Tadej and the team.”

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Adam Yates: UAE Team Emirates' Tour de France team will be a bit of a challenge

British climber discusses the plethora of climbing options at their disposal in France, whilst affirming his own position and reflecting on the best season of his career to date

George Poole

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© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Adam Yates celebrates winning stage 1 of the 2023 Tour de France with teammates Tadej Pogačar (left) and Rafał Majka (centre)

Following Visma-Lease a Bike 's tradition of announcing their preliminary Tour de France squad many months in advance, UAE Team Emirates unveiled their eight-man line-up at the squad's December training camp in Altea, Spain, earlier this week. Amongst its number is the third-placed finisher from this year's Tour de France, Adam Yates , who gave his initial reaction to the news in discussion with GCN .

"I think it will be good, I mean I think it will be a bit of a challenge," Yates said. "Last year, we had almost like the perfect team in a way, with the big guys, the medium guys and the climbers. So, next year will be a little bit different with a lot more climbers, but we'll see."

As Yates refers to, UAE Team Emirates' line-up is certainly weighted towards its flotilla of climbing talent, with rouleurs Tim Wellens and Nils Politt joined by no less than six riders whose most favourable terrain is the mountains: Yates, Tadej Pogačar , Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler, Juan Ayuso and João Almeida.

UAE Team Emirates provisional Tour de France team

Tadej Pogacar

Joao Almeida

Pavel Sivakov

Nils Politt

Tim Wellens

This goes against the grain of usual Tour de France-winning squads, who compliment their lightweight mountain goats with a handy selection of riders who are at their best when the road does not go uphill.

For example, in Jumbo-Visma's team to support Jonas Vingegaard 's winning ride this year, the Dutch squad paired climbers Sepp Kuss and Wilco Kelderman with strong heavyweights such as Dylan van Baarle, Nathan van Hooydonck and Tiesj Benoot. For UAE Team Emirates, a lot will be expected of Wellens and Politt should the team have to control the peloton for days on end, a task that would be wasted on the likes of Sivakov.

In addition, eyebrows were raised at the calibre of those climbers named in support of Pogačar, with Ayuso, Almeida and Sivakov arguably strong enough to warrant Grand Tour leadership at Grand Tour level for many of the other WorldTeams.

This is not a question of what is fair and unfair, but more so a question mark over how UAE Team Emirates will balance the ambitions and expectations of so many would-be contenders. Ayuso and Almeida are both Grand Tour podium finishers, but so too is Yates, and the 31-year-old does not see his role changing as a result of their inclusions.

"Last year was super nice, everyone knew their role," Yates said, acknowledging his position as the team's second-in-command. "So we all had a role, we all had a job and I think for me, my role doesn’t really change.

"So for me, my preparation and what I’ve been told I need to do doesn’t change. So for me, personally, nothing changes. But obviously, we have to deal with different riders and different riding styles for next year, but we’ll see."

Read more: Tadej Pogačar to race Tour de France, Olympics, and Worlds after Giro debut

It is no surprise to hear that Yates will likely be second-in-line at UAE Team Emirates in the Tour de France, after all, the Brit is in many ways the perfect teammate for Pogačar in his conquest to overcome Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard. One of the best climbers in the world in his own right, Yates is a selfless teammate who is as happy to put his team leader first as he is to grasp the opportunities he is afforded with both hands - or legs.

"The team we had last year was pretty much perfect in terms of the atmosphere and the personalities we had in the team. So it was super easy for us to get on," Yates said. "Even on the first stage, the race has barely begun and I've asked for an opportunity to try something, and everyone's agreed and everyone’s happy for me to try something.

"I rewarded them with a stage win and a few days in yellow, when you have that trust with the riders and the staff, you can do something special like this."

Adam Yates may have been the only one of the pair to pull on yellow this season, but there is never any doubt as to where Yates' loyalties lie when it comes to Tadej Pogačar

Time will tell whether or not UAE Team Emirates are able to capture the same team spirit in 2024 as delivered second and third in Paris this year, but whilst the personnel involved in their mount on yellow will change, there is one thing that remains exactly the same - Yates' unwavering confidence in team leader, Pogačar.

'We back Tadej Pogačar 100 per cent,' Yates says of Giro-Tour double

Next year will see Pogačar attempt to become the first rider since Marco Pantani to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same season, with the Slovenian ready to complete a lap of Italy before turning his attention to defeating reigning champion Vingegaard in France.

Tadej Pogačar to race the Giro d'Italia in 2024

Tadej pogačar: i never thought about skipping the tour de france.

The decision has seen many conclude that Pogačar's hopes of winning a third Tour de France title have suffered a blow, that if a fit and firing Pogačar can't get the better of the Dane in the Tour, then a Pogačar with Giro fatigue in his legs stands an even slimmer chance. But for Yates, there is no reason to question Pogačar's decision.

"For me, it’s no problem at all, I think if he wants to do that, then let him do it. He’s the best bike rider in the world for a reason, if he knows he can do Giro-Tour and still perform at the highest level, then we back him 100 per cent.

"There’s not many people that can win Flanders, Amstel, Lombardy and then go to the Tour and fight for GC. I don’t think there’s many riders in the history of the sport that can do that, so for me, he has to be the best bike rider in the world."

Read more: Jumbo-Visma still expect Tadej Pogačar to threaten at Tour de France

Where Pogačar fell short of his title bid at the Tour earlier this summer, Yates produced the best Grand Tour ride of his career to clinch the first overall podium of his career. Not only did Yates stand on the podium in Paris, but the man from Bury was able to win stage 1 and spend four days in the yellow jersey, an experience that Yates still struggles to truly put into words.

"As a kid you grow up and look up to the yellow jersey, so the mood is super nice and it was a really nice honour to wear. I also wore it for a few days in the Covid year in 2020, that was also a nice experience, but what can you say? You can’t really say anything can you?"

"It’s super nice and the nicest thing this time was that it was stage 1. It’s so chaotic and so messy, just to get through the stage without having an incident, a crash or something going wrong. Also being up there with Simon [Yates, his brother, who finished second on the day], it was really nice."

Yates happy to see consistency rewarded in 2023

Speaking to GCN from UAE Team Emirates' training camp on the Costa Blanca, Yates is in a noticeably chipper mood and more than happy to offer his time to the press pack who have gathered in the team's hotel. Why so cheery?

"Today, I was strong in training. We'll see tomorrow!" Yates joked.

Perhaps though, a contributing factor is the season that Yates has just enjoyed with his new teammates, having only joined UAE Team Emirates at the beginning of 2023. Hitting the ground running at the UAE Tour and performing with a consistency he has perhaps lacked in the past, has it been his best season to date?

"I think so," he answered. "My actual level has not gone that much higher, but it’s just that I’ve been really consistent throughout the year, which I've struggled with in the past. So for me, it's been a nice change not being sick and not being injured at key moments of the year, and that’s made a big difference this year."

Adam Yates has 23 pro victories to his name, the latest being the GP de Montréal in early September

The past few seasons for the Brit are perhaps indicative of the importance of fate being on a rider's side. For all the analysis of performances, watts per kilo and tactics, cycling is often a sport that comes down to chance.

After making a name for himself at GreenEdge as a youngster, Yates transferred to Ineos Grenadiers in 2021 and flourished, winning the Volta a Catalunya and finishing on the podium of Il Lombardia to round out the campaign.

But in his second and final season with Ineos, Yates suffered setback after setback, which came to a head with a bout of Covid just prior to the Tour de France. A reasonable ninth-place finish followed, but this year's podium finish at the Tour demonstrated the rider's true worth.

Per Yates' own conclusion, "nothing went wrong" for the Brit this season, offering him the opportunity to demonstrate his craft. Away from the Tour, Yates won the Tour de Romandie - adding to his burgeoning collection of stage race victories - finished second at the Critérium du Dauphiné and won the GP Montréal during a rich vein of late-season form.

A Grand Tour win is possible

Now 31 years of age, Yates is undoubtedly one of the best stage racers in the world and capable of picking off the odd big one-day victory, but the question remains: can he win a Grand Tour?

"With the level I have shown this year, it's possible," said Yates. But it's one thing saying it and one thing doing it. I know I have the level to do it, but it’s the circumstances, the parcours, how you ride as a team - all these little things make a big difference."

Next year will mark eight years since Adam Yates finished fourth at the Tour de France, but there remains much hope that the man from Bury can become Great Britain's latest Grand Tour winner

Cycling is a different sport from when Yates first burst onto the scene with a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Tour de France, indeed, it is vastly different from when Yates' brother Simon won the Vuelta a España in 2018. At 31, Yates is no fool and understands that the next few years will be make or break for his chances of winning a three-week stage race.

"Now these last few years all these young guys come straight from juniors and start winning, because they have a full nutrition plan and altitude camps when they’re 15 years old. My upbringing was a little bit different, I did my first altitude camp when I was second-year pro, and these guys are doing it when they’re juniors!

"I’m getting better every year, I just hope that next year I can go again one step higher and then the results hopefully will come."

Alongside the Tour de France and the Olympic Games, Yates may target the Vuelta a España in 2024, a race which could offer the 31-year-old an opportunity to be the outright leader for UAE Team Emirates.

Read more: Adam Yates, Vine, Sivakov, Almeida all eye up Vuelta a España as UAE Team Emirates place Grand Tour pawns

After having put tens of riders to the sword at this year's Tour, few could argue that Yates has what it takes to chase his own GC ambitions. But as grounded as ever, the former yellow jersey wearer is not a man to boast his own confidence. Instead, he likes to reserve his talking for out on the road and hopes that 2024 will afford him the same opportunity to do so.

"Hopefully next year, I have no bad luck. I don’t want no bad luck or good luck, I just want to be in the middle and neutral!"

UAE Team Emirates

• Nationality United Arab Emirates
• Founded 2017
• Team Principal Mauro Gianetti
• UCI Code UAD
• Bike Sponsor Colnago

• Team UAE Team Emirates
• Nationality United Kingdom
• UCI Wins 25
• Height 1.73m

• Nationality Slovenia
• UCI Wins 73
• Height 1.76m

• Nationality France
• UCI Wins 13
• Height 1.88m

Tour de France

• Dates 29 Jun - 21 Jul
• Race Length 3,492 kms
• Race Category Elite Men

One of the most iconic Italian bike brands, Colnago has supplied bikes to some of the best riders in the world, including Eddy Merckx and Tadej Pogačar.

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Based in the UK, George has been at GCN since 2021.

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The UAE Team Emirates has finalized its roster for 2024. Here is the complete lineup for the team

UAE Team Emirates is gearing up for the upcoming cycling season, featuring a roster of thirty cyclists. Colombian sprinter Álvaro Hodeg and New Zealand cyclist Michael Vink, who patiently awaited the team’s final decision, will finally have the opportunity to compete for the Middle Eastern team in 2024.

“The cohesion within our team, both among the riders and the staff members, is invaluable to us,” describes General Manager Mauro Gianetti in a press statement. “We believe it’s important for talented individuals to shine with us. As a team, it’s crucial for us to continue the success of the past years.”

Tadej Pogacar continues as the main leader

The team’s main man is, of course, Tadej Pogacar, the two-time Tour de France winner and the athlete who secured no less than 17 victories last season. However, the UAE Team Emirates has even more top athletes, including Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, João Almeida, Marc Hirschi, Tim Wellens, Marc Soler, Brandon McNulty, and Juan Sebastián Molano.

Check out the complete team for 2024:

Riders 2024:

• João Almeida (Portugal)
• Igor Arrieta (Spain)
• Juan Ayuso (Spain)
• Filippo Baroncini (Italy)
• Sjoerd Bax (Netherlands)
• Mikkel Bjerg (Denmark)
• Jan Christen (Switzerland)
• Alessandro Covi (Italy)
• Isaac Del Toro (Mexico)
• Finn Fisher-Black (New Zealand)
• Felix Großschartner (Germany)
• Marc Hirschi (Switzerland)
• Alvaro Hodeg (Colombia)
• Vegard Stake Laengen (Norway)
• Rafał Majka (Poland)
• Brandon McNulty (USA)
• Juan Sebastián Molano (Colombia)
• António Morgado (Portugal)
• Domen Novak (Slovenia)
• Ivo Oliveira (Portugal)
• Rui Oliveira (Portugal)
• Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia)
• Nils Politt (Germany)
• Pavel Sivakov (Russia)
• Marc Soler (Spain)
• Diego Ulissi (Italy)
• Jay Vine (Australia)
• Michael Vink (New Zealand)
• Tim Wellens (Belgium)
• Adam Yates (Great Britain)

Sports Directors:

• Fabio Baldato (Italy)
• Fabrizio Guidi (Italy)
• Andrej Hauptman (Slovenia)
• Tomas Gil (Venezuela)
• Marco Marcato (Italy)
• Marco Marzano (Italy)
• Manuele Mori (Italy)
• Simone Pedrazzini (Switzerland)
• Jan Polanc (Slovenia/Generation Z)
• Yousif Mirza (United Arab Emirates/Generation Z)

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UAE Team Emirates announces team for Tour de France - Tadej Pogacars lead the way

The UAE Team Emirates has announced their team for the Tour de France , which begins on Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tadej Pogacar will lead the team, supported by a mix of climbers and flat-terrain riders that are set to protect him.

Rafal Majka has shown his ability with stage victories in the Tour of Slovenia. He will lead the support crew with newcomers Marc Soler and George Bennett adding extra firepower for the mountains, alongside Brandon McNulty while Matteo Trentin brings depth and experience for the first week and assist Tadej with stage wins. Tadej Pogacar has won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, and he will do all in his power to continue his winning streak.

FINAL | Tour de France 2022 Team Index - Follow lineup announcement of every team

“It’s already my third time coming to the Tour and I’m really excited about it. We’ve worked really hard all year as a team to prepare for this and we hope we can give everyone watching 3 weeks of exciting racing. This year so far has been a positive one for the team and we are hoping to continue that here at the Tour," the Slovenian said. He just came off his home race the Tour of Slovenia where he won the overall classification, and will be looking to defend himself as the man to beat in France.

The lineup is concluded with two experienced rouleurs who will look to keep the 23-year old safe in the flat stages that should be very tense in the opening days with Vegard Stake Laengen and Mikkel Bjerg .

UAE Team Emirates for Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar, Rafal Majka, Brandon McNulty, Marc Soler, Matteo Trentin, Vegard Stake Laengen, George Bennett and Mikkel Bjerg.

"They've always been the toughest races" - Pogacar expects hard battle against Primoz Roglic at the Tour de France

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Tadej Pogacar leads UAE Team Emirates line-up for 2023 Tour de France

Slovenian supported by combination of climbers and flat-terrain experts in bid for third title in four years.

Tadej Pogacar is aiming to win his third Tour de France title in four years after winning the race in 2020 and 2021. EPA

Tadej Pogacar leads an experienced team for the 2023 Tour de France after UAE Team Emirates announced its eight-rider line-up for the race on Monday.

Pogacar, the two-time Tour de France champion, will aim to win the world's most prestigious road race for a third time in four years having been narrowly beaten last year by Team Jumbo-Visma's Jonas Vingegaard. The 2023 tour begins on Saturday in Bilbao, Spain.

The 24-year-old Slovenian will be supported by a combination of climbers and flat-terrain experts.

Assistance in the mountains will come from Polish rider Rafal Majka – winner of the tour's mountain classification in 2014 and 2016 – Britain's Adam Yates, who won the white jersey for best young rider in 2014 and has 11 grand tour stage victories to his name, 2022 Austrian national champion Felix Grossschartner, and Spain's Marc Soler.

UAE Team Emirates' best chances of success in the flat stages will likely come from Italian sprinter Matteo Trentin, who has won three stages at the Tour de France and is a former European Road Race champion. Denmark's Mikkel Bjerg and Norwegian Vegard Stake Laengen complete the line-up.

Sports manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez will lead the squad alongside sports directors Andrej Hauptman, Simone Pedrazzini, and Marco Marcato.

“The Tour is one of the biggest events in world sport and we’re very pleased and excited to be a part of it," Pogacar said. "As a team we have worked so hard to prepare and everything is where it needs to be, we have a very good group. There will be some serious competitors but that will always be the case in the biggest races. We are going there to put on a good show and of course with the aim of victory.”

Pogacar, the world's top-ranked road cyclist, is one of the leading favourites to win the 2023 Tour de France, which is expected to be a direct battle between the Slovenian and defending champion Vingegaard.

Pogacar has had a remarkably successful season so far, claiming 12 victories and making history along the way before sustaining a broken wrist during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April. He returned last week to collect wins 13 and 14 by completing the National Championships double, winning the time trial and road race .

The 2023 Tour de France will comprise 21 stages, starting with a 182km hill stage in Bilbao. There will be a total of eight flat stages, four hilly stages, eight mountain stages with four summit finishes (Cauterets-Cambasque, Puy de Dome, Grand Colombier and Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc), and one individual time trial. The 21st and final stage will conclude in Paris on July 23.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Tour de France 2023: full team-by-team guide

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

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

Ag2R-Citroën

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

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

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

Alpecin-Deceuninck

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

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

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

Arkea-Samsic

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

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

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

Astana Qazaqstan

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

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

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

Bahrain Victorious

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

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

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

Bora-Hansgrohe

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

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

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

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

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

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

DSM-Firmenich

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

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

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

EF Education-Easypost

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

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

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

Groupama-FDJ

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

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

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

Ineos Grenadiers

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

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

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

Intermarché-Circus-Wanty

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

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

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

Israel-PremierTech

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

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

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

Jayco-AlUla

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

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

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

Jumbo-Visma

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lotto-Dstny

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soudal-Quickstep

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

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

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

TotalEnergies

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

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

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

UAE Team Emirates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Tour de France 2023
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Tour de France 2023 team guide: Start list, star riders for Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates, Ineos and all 22 teams

Updated 30/06/2023 at 21:12 GMT

Our Tour de France 2023 preview series continues with a team guide looking at each of the 22 teams and weighing up their options, targets and best riders ahead of the 110th edition of the race. Felix Lowe also asks the important question on the tip of everyone’s tongues: what French thing would each of the participating teams be? Stream the 2023 Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+.

'It’s pretty nuts!' – Cavendish explains why the Tour de France is 'above the sport'

Pogacar and Vollering star in top 10 riders of 2023 - but who gets top spot?

01/01/2024 at 11:01

• Tour de France stage guide as Pogacar and Vingegaard chase yellow

UCI WorldTeams

Ag2r citroen.

• Ben O’Connor
• Oliver Naisen
• Benoit Cosnefroy
• Nans Peters
• Felix Gall*
• Aurelien Paret-Peintre
• Stan Dewulf
• Clement Berthet*

ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK

• Mathieu van der Poel
• Soren Kragh Andersen
• Quinten Hermans
• Michael Gogl
• Jonas Rickaert
• Jasper Philipsen*
• Ramon Sinkeldam
• Silvan Dillier

'I feel like a new person' - Van der Poel 'confident' going into 2023 Tour de France

ASTANA QAZAQSTAN

• Alexey Lutsenko
• Gianni Moscon
• Yevgeniy Fedorov*
• Mark Cavendish
• David de la Cruz
• Luis Leon Sanchez
• Harold Tejada

'It’s going to be a fairytale!' – Cavendish wins Stage 21 after help from Thomas

BAHRAIN-VICTORIOUS

• Mikel Landa
• Matej Mohoric
• Pello Bilbao
• Fred Wright*
• Nikias Arndt
• Phil Bauhaus

BORA-HANSGROHE

• Emanuel Buchmann
• Marco Haller
• Jai Hindley
• Bob Jungels
• Jordi Meeus*
• Patrick Konrad
• Nils Politt
• Danny van Poppel
• Guillaume Martin
• Anthony Perez
• Ion Izagirre
• Simon Geschke
• Bryan Coquard
• Alexis Renard*
• Axel Zingle*
• Victor Lafay

EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST

• Richard Carapaz
• Alberto Bettiol
• Rigoberto Uran
• Neilson Powless
• Esteban Chaves
• Magnus Cort
• Andrey Amador

GROUPAMA-FDJ

• David Gaudu
• Valentin Madouas
• Thibaut Pinot
• Lars van den Berg*
• Olivier Le Gac
• Stefan Kung
• Quentin Pacher
• Kevin Geniets

INEOS GRENADIERS

• Egan Bernal
• Michal Kwiatkowski
• Carlos Rodriguez*
• Daniel Martinez
• Thomas Pidcock*
• Jonathan Castroviejo
• Ben Turner*
• Omar Fraile

‘Heart in your mouth’ – Pidcock flies past rivals at terrifying speeds on descent

INTERMARCHE-CIRCUS-WANTY

• Louis Meintjes
• Georg Zimmermann
• Mike Teunissen
• Adrien Petit
• Biniam Girmay*
• Lilian Calmejane

JUMBO-VISMA

• Jonas Vingegaard
• Wilco Kelderman
• Wout van Aert
• Tiesj Benoot
• Dylan van Baarle
• Christophe Laporte
• Nathan van Hooydonck

So then... can Wout van Aert win yellow?

• Giulio Ciccone
• Tony Gallopin
• Mattias Skjelmose*
• Jasper Stuyven
• Juan Pedro Lopez
• Mads Pedersen
• Alex Kirsch
• Quinn Simmons*
• Matteo Jorgenson*
• Ruben Guerreiro
• Nelson Oliveira
• Gorka Izagirre
• Gregor Muhlberger
• Antonio Pedrero
• Alex Aranburu

SOUDAL QUICK-STEP

• Julian Alaphilippe
• Kasper Asgreen
• Yves Lampaert
• Remi Cavagna
• Tim Declercq
• Michael Morkov
• Fabio Jakobsen
• Dries Devenyns

TEAM ARKEA SAMSIC

• Warren Barguil
• Clement Champoussin*
• Anthony Delaplace
• Laurent Pichon
• Simon Guglielmi
• Jenthe Biermans
• Luca Mozzato*
• Matis Louvel*

TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH

• Romain Bardet
• John Degenkolb
• Matthew Dinham*
• Alexander Edmondson
• Nils Eekhoff*
• Chris Hamilton
• Kevin Vermaerke
• Sam Welsford

TEAM JAYCO ALULA

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

UAE TEAM EMIRATES

• Tadej Pogacar*
• Vegard Stake Laengen
• Felix Grossschartner
• Mikkel Bjerg*
• Rafal Majka
• Matteo Trentin

‘Wow’ – Vingegaard allows Pogacar to catch up after crash in ‘incredible’ gesture

UCI ProTeams

Israel-premier tech.

• Michael Woods
• Dylan Teuns
• Nick Schultz
• Krists Neilands
• Simon Clarke
• Guillaume Boivin
• Corbin Strong

LOTTO DSTNY

• Victor Campenaerts
• Jasper De Buyst
• Pascal Eenkhoorn
• Frederik Frison
• Jacopo Guarnieri
• Florian Vermeersch*
• Maxim van Gils*

TOTALENERGIES

• Peter Sagan
• Edvald Boasson Hagen
• Pierre Latour
• Anthony Turgis
• Mathieu Burgaudeau
• Valentin Ferron*

UNO-X PRO CYCLING TEAM

• Alexander Kristoff
• Torstein Traeen
• Soren Waerenskjold*
• Jonas Abrahamsen
• Anthon Charmig*
• Jonas Gregaard
• Tobias Johannessen
• Rasmus Tiller

Roglic: Tour de France not an obsession, but my responsibility to go for it

18/10/2023 at 12:09

discovery+ and Eurosport break streaming records for Tour de France coverage

27/07/2023 at 14:07

Vingegaard has 'little way to go' before Merckx comparisons – McEwen

25/07/2023 at 16:44

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UAE Team Emirates (WT)

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• POGAČAR Tadej
• ULISSI Diego
• MAJKA Rafał
• WELLENS Tim
• TRENTIN Matteo
• ACKERMANN Pascal
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• FISHER-BLACK Finn
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• UAE Team ADQ (WTW)
• UAE Team Emirates Gen Z (CT)
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• Team status: WT
• Abbreviation: UAD
• License country: United Arab Emirates
• Bike: Colnago

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Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024 - Analysing the contenders

L iège-Bastogne-Liège will close out the Ardennes Classics on Sunday, April 21, with the peloton vying for one last opportunity to win one of the prized one-day classics this spring.

It is the oldest of the Classics on the men's calendar, celebrating its 110th edition, and the fourth of five Monuments on offer after Alpecin-Deceuninck's Jasper Philipsen won Milan-San Remo and his teammate Mathieu van der Poel won both Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix .

Known as La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège closes out the Ardennes Classics with a last-man-standing war of attrition over 250km or more and 11 classified climbs in the rolling hills of eastern Belgium.

On the women's side, Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes is the youngest of the Ardennes Classics. Its inaugural edition in 2017 formed the triple alongside Amstel Gold Race, which held its first edition in 2001 (though it was on hiatus for 13 years between 2004 to 2016) and Flèche Wallonne since 1998. 

With no women's races offered at Milan-San Remo or Il Lombardia, Liège-Bastogne-Liège marks the third and final Monument of the season. Only one rider has won all three, with Lizzie Deignan winning the Tour of Flanders in 2016, Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2020 and Paris-Roubaix in 2021. 

This could change on Sunday if her teammate Elisa Longo Borghini or SD Worx-Protime's Lotte Kopecky triumphs in Liége.

Cyclingnews highlights the riders to watch in the men's and women's Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Tadej Pogačar crashed out of the 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, fracturing three bones in his scaphoid and disrupting his hopes and ambitions for the Tour de France. This year, the UAE Team Emirates leader is targeting a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double and is arguably in his best-ever form, even by his high standards.

While Mathieu van der Poel has dominated the cobbled Classics, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is far better suited to Pogačar, and it is difficult to see who can match his superb climbing skills and racing aggression.

Pogačar won the Doyenne of the Classics in 2021, and a second victory would give him a sixth Monument victory, equaling van der Poel's and confirming his readiness for the Giro d’Italia, which starts in just two weeks.  

Pogačar limited his racing before his busy summer of Grand Tours but has won often. He dominated Strade Bianche with an 80km solo attack on his season debut. He was ‘only’ third at Milan-San Remo behind Jasper Philipsen and Michael Matthews in the Via Roma sprint but then won four stages and the overall classification at the Volta a Catalunya.    

Pogačar has spent three weeks training at altitude at Sierra Nevada in the south of Spain. He avoided the cold and fatigue of the rain-soaked La Fleche Wallonne and so will arguably be the freshest rider on the start line in Liege on Sunday and perhaps the strongest at the finish after the hilly 254km race.      

Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime)

Demi Vollering's remarkable dominance of the Ardennes Classics last year saw her win all three events – making her the returning Liège-Bastogne-Liège champion – and become the second woman, after Anna van der Breggen in 2017, to win the triple crown. 

The team appears to have changed tactics for this year's Ardennes Classics in support of multiple riders during the week and play out their strategy on the road at each race. It was not a surprise then to see Lorena Wiebes sprinting for the win at Amstel Gold Race. Although she ended up with second place, after celebrating victory too soon in the sprint against Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Vollering finished 22nd.

Vollering was somewhat of a wildcard for SD Worx-Protime at the Ardennes Classics because at this point in the season last year, she had already secured two victories, and so far, she has yet to win a race, although she came close with 2nd at both Brabantse Pijl and a cold and wet La Flèche Wallonne.

Her slower start to the season could be the strategy, however, as she looks to the bigger goals at the Tour de France Femmes, possibly also the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

Sharing the leadership role among her teammates at the Ardennes Classics will certainly have taken the pressure off Vollering, but she still remains a favourite for Liège-Bastogne-Liège and will undoubtedly not want to leave the Ardennes Classics without a win.

The team also has World Champion Lotte Kopecky as a contender, especially knowing that she is in good form after her win at the recent Paris-Roubaix. She also played a key role at Flèche Wallonne, where she ended up finishing 15th on the Mur de Huy in her first attempt. Watch for both Vollering and Kopecky to play their cards for the win in Liège on Sunday.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

Mathieu van der Poel suddenly seemed human at the Amstel Gold Race after weeks of incredible Classics performances. After his historic double at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, it will be fascinating to see what he can do against Pogačar and the rest in a Monument where the cobbles are swapped for the cotes. 

It will also be a moment of sports science as we see if Van der Poel’s talents and power can handle the 11 classified climbs and 4,100 metres of vertical climbing of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.  

Van der Poel has tempered his chances of success, highlighting how he is now racing at a disadvantage compared to Pogačar and others, but he also has nothing to lose in his final race of the spring.

Van der Poel has spent the week in Spain, avoiding the spotlight and training in the sun. The cooler spring temperatures of Liège might be a bit of a shock on his return to Belgium, but he has a pedigree in the race and cannot be ignored. In 2020, when the Classics were held in September and October, van der Poel finished sixth, just 14 seconds down on winner Primož Roglič and Pogačar.

Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek)

Elisa Longo Bargain had high expectations coming into these Ardennes Classics, even opting to skip Paris-Roubaix so that she could focus on all three races. Her wins at the Tour of Flanders and Brabantse Pijl show that she is in top form this spring and has bounced back from a horrific 2023 season in which she suffered COVID-19, a skin infection and sepsis.

The Italian Champion has always been a contender for all three Ardennes Classics, and so far this year, she has finished fifth at the Amstel Gold Race and third at La Flèche Wallonne. She has one more chance of victory this Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

She has finished twice on the podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with a third in 2021 and a second last year, so she has the experience to be in the final for the win.

Lidl-Trek have shown dominance in tactics on the road, especially with her teammate Shirin van Anrooij. The two riders will be the two most-watched in the peloton, and if the race plays into their hands the way it did in Flanders, they could both end up on the podium again.

Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech)

The Welshman showed his talents by winning the Tour Down Under in January but earned his place in this Liège-Bastogne-Liège analysis thanks to his impressive victory at La Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday.

Williams looked resilient in the cold and rain of the Ardennes and then bravely attacked with three hundred metres to go to the finish. Many other riders have faded on the steep slopes of the Mur de Huy, but Williams had the strength and power to stay away. 

Those talents could be vital on the 11 categories climbs and numerous others that make Liège-Bastogne-Liège so hard.

Williams and his Israel-Premier Tech teammates can race without any pressure or expectation, putting the onus on UAE Team Emirates, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ineos Grenadiers. Michael Woods is absent due to a recent virus but Dylan Tuens is back to his best and will share leadership and ambitions with Willilams. They are a dangerous, underdog combination.  

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)

Kasia Niewiadoma, the reigning gravel World Champion, is always a contender for the Ardennes Classics. 

Five years after she secured the win at Amstel Gold Race in 2019, she launched up the Mur de Huy with a powerful attack to win Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. It was an inspiring performance, especially since she had stood on the podium in two previous editions but had never won before.

She came into these Ardennes Classics with new-found confidence after finishing second at the Tour of Flanders from a three-rider breakaway, and her victory in Huy will have added to her motivation ahead of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The last time she stood on the podium in Liège was in 2017, the first edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but she has been in the top 10 in four other editions.

Her winning performance on the Mur de Huy shows her strength on short and steep climbs, but it was her late-race breakaway performance at the Tour of Flanders that really made her a contender for the title in Liège.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)

Richard Carapaz has again endured a difficult spring, crashing hard at Tirreno-Adriatico and missing a month of racing. The Ecuadorian is a man of few words but a fighter who has overcome difficulty throughout his life and in his recent racing career to come back and win.  

Carapaz has only raced the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne but quickly impressed on the Mur de Huy and out in the terrible weather conditions. While other riders suffered and climbed off, Carapaz raced on and was upfront on the climb to the finish line. 

He suffered in the final metres, and other riders passed him before the finish, but it was a clear message that Carapaz was back and a dangerous contender for Sunday who should not be ignored.  

EF Education-Easypost have shown their strength as a team in virtually every classic but have obtained less than they deserved. Carapaz can count on a strong team that also includes co-leader Ben Healy, Mikkel Frølich Honoré and possibly a returning Neilson Powless after a knee injury wrecked his spring.  

Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

Juliette Labous is a dark horse contender, opting to skip the cobbled Classics in favour of the Ardennes Classics. 

She steadily improved across the first two events, finishing 19th at the Amstel Gold Race, where her teammate Pfeiffer Georgi finished fourth, and then she was seventh on the Mur de Huy at Flèche Wallonne.

The French talent typically focuses on the Ardennes Classics, where she can show her strengths on the challenging and hilly terrain, before turning her attention to the shorter summer stage races ahead of her bigger goal at the Tour de France Femmes.

Her best place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was eighth place in 2020, but it's a race where only the strongest survive the 10 ascents followed by a fast run-in to Liège, and we can anticipate Labous to be present in the final.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)

Tom Pidcock has endured a contrasting week of Ardennes racing, winning the Amstel Gold Race with a superb performance and sprint finish but then suffering in the cold and rain of La Fleche Wallonne . 

Yet he remains a favourite for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the forecasts of a mainly dry Sunday easing his suffering and disappointment and poking his natural pride.  

Pidcock’s multiple talents mean he can race cyclocross, mountain bikes, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de France.

While van der Poel is handicapped by his solid physique on the many cotes of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Pidcock is more of a climber and so will revel in the hills on Sunday.

He will not ride defensively and will surely join Pogačar if the Slovenian attacks early to create an open race and hurt van der Poel or anyone else. Pidcock and Pogačar could then go head to head and sprint for victory in Liege. That would be a thrilling end to one of the best Classics seasons for years. 

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio has been relatively quiet this spring campaign, finishing 17th at Strade Bianche and, more recently, 21st at Brabantse Pijl, but she has turned that around at the Ardennes Classics, finishing seventh at Amstel Gold Race and fifth at Flèche Wallonne.

For the first time in her career, she opted for a lengthy break and high-altitude training camp instead of competing at the cobbled Classics and perhaps will arrive fresher than her rivals as she contests the Ardennes Classics.

Her results so far seem to show an upward trajectory, and her form indicates that she is just starting to peak ahead of the late-spring stage races. 

Although she has never stood on the podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, she has finished four times in the top 10, including fourth place in 2018 and 2022. This means that she knows what it takes to make it to the final stages of the race in the lead group.

Honourable mentions

• Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
• Mattia Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)
• Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates)
• Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan)
• Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa - B&B Hotels)
• Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)  
• Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ)
• Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)
• Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek)
• Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ)
• Veronica Ewers (EF Education-Cannondale)
• Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck)

The Fastest Men and Women of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España

Not all sprinters are created equal. So, let’s delve into the tactical genius and prowess of the peloton’s best mad men and women.

Sprinters with something to prove

Women’s top sprinters.

But what about the green and purple jerseys , those awarded to the leaders and winners of the points classifications, often, though not always, noted sprinters?

These are men and women capable of making unfathomable watts, often after four, five, and sometimes six-plus hours of racing, who are held at bay all day, only to unleash their greatest skills for barely a few hundred meters. They’re often the ones who give us the biggest thrills and the narrowest victories (or defeats).

While we focus on the speed and raw power of sprinters, one thing that’s often overlooked is how well they race; how the best sprinters are often the most patient riders, waiting until the perfect moment to launch their attacks. Theirs is often a game of cat-and-mouse, a strategic battle as much as a power-based one. Given the blazing speed at which these riders can sprint, it’s easy to forget that they’re some of the savviest riders in the peloton.

So, who are they? Let’s take a deeper look at the riders going for those green jerseys and points competitions at the Giro d’Italia , Tour de France , and Vuelta a España this summer.

Men’s Top Sprinters

Jasper philipsen – alpecin-deceuninck.

The young Belgian, once derided as “Jasper the Disaster,” is the best sprinter in the world right now. Possessing the perfect combination of strength, racing know-how, and the patience required to win a bunch sprint, he has to be the favorite heading into any stage suited to sprinters. After a second-place finish at Roubaix , the reigning Tour de France green jersey will head into this year’s Grande Boucle as the heavy favorite to repeat.

Mads Pedersen – Lidl-Trek

Unlike most others on this list, Mads Pedersen is hardly a pure sprinter. Rather, the one-day specialist has shown that he’s most at home when launching attacks from a long way out. In fact, just a few weeks ago, he did something most people didn’t think was possible when he stayed with Mathieu van der Poel for some fifty kilometers in Ghent-Wevelgem , only to outsprint the Dutch superstar in the closing meters. There isn’t a team in the men’s peloton looking quite as strong as Lidl-Trek is right now, so expect Mads to compete for at least a few bunch sprint wins in his scheduled Tour and Vuelta appearances.

Tim Merlier – Soudal-Quick-Step

By the metric of the modern peloton, Tim Merlier is getting a bit long in the tooth. The 31-year-old from Flanders only has two Grand Tour stage wins to his name: one in the Giro and one in the Tour . But, as most of Merlier’s early career was focused on cyclocross racing, he very well could just be coming into his prime. In the last three seasons, Merlier has won the Belgian National Road Race and Brugge-De Panne, and, from 2022 to this year, three-peated in Nokere Koerse. Maybe, like a great sprinter does, he’s waiting until the perfect moment to launch.

Mark Cavendish – Astana Qazaqstan

In 2024, Cav is sitting on the precipice between these two categories. The Manx Missile was coaxed out of retirement not once but twice with the promise of nabbing Eddy Merckx’s longstanding record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. And while his early-season returns have been anything but stunning, we’re talking about the greatest sprinter of all time here. And so, for that very reason, we have to consider Cav, a two-time Tour de France green jersey winner, in the upper echelon here.

Dylan Groenewegen – Jayco AlUla

Groenewegen has five Tour de France stage wins. But four of them came before 2020 and one in 2022. Much of that drought likely has to do with the nine-month ban he received from the UCI after it was determined he caused the crash that put Fabio Jakobsen in an induced coma for two days. Still, Groenewegen has shown form early this season with a ninth-place finish in Ghent-Wevelgem and a few strong stages in Paris-Nice and the UAE Tour.

Kaden Groves – Alpecin-Deceuninck

Groves, the four-time Vuelta a España stage winner and reigning green jersey champion of that race, will likely contest again for several of that race’s sprint stages. Groves has shown a predilection for hilly stages that tend to thin the herd over the course of the day, stages that are becoming increasingly common in the modern Grand Tour.

Arnaud Démare – Arkéa–B&B Hotels

Though he didn’t get any last year, Arnaud Démare has won ten Grand Tour stages: eight in the Giro and two in the Tour . He’s also a two-time points champion in the Giro. And though his spring campaign has been nothing to write home about, he’s an expert at positioning when the bunch really starts charging. Given as much, he should have more than a few opportunities to outsprint the bunch in this summer’s Tour.

Fabio Jakobsen – dsm firmenich PostNL

Like a few others on this list, Jakobsen’s results don’t necessarily match his strength. Easily one of the fastest sprinters in the peloton, Jakobsen will definitely find his way to the bunch in this year’s Giro and Tour, where he’ll try to add to his palmarès, which already counts five Vuelta stage wins. Of course, he hasn’t gotten one of those since 2021, so you either think he’s washed or he’s due.

Dark Horses

Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) - Outside of Mark Cavendish, Sam Bennett is the most decorated racer on this list. His palmarès includes five stage wins at the Vuelta , three at the Giro , and two at the Tour . He was also the Tour’s 2020 green jersey. And though his last two seasons have been hardly spectacular, it’s easy to predict that Sam Bennett could be in the mix for stage wins, especially after he was left off AG2R’s Tour roster last year.

Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) - The man who was once a sure-fire bet to take a Grand Tour sprint stage—he’s won ten in his career—has fallen to the bottom of this pack simply because he hasn’t been able to nab a stage win since the 2021 Giro d’Italia . Of course, he’s still one of the strongest sprinters on Earth and always a threat to take a win, which, over the last three years, he’s been ever so close to. Despite his recent cold streak, Ewan is truly one of the riders you can never, ever count out.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) - After a historic stage win in the 2022 Giro d’Italia and a third-place finish behind Jasper Phillipsen and Mark Cavendish in stage 7 of last’s Tour de France, the Eritrean rider showed a lot of promise as a Grand Tour sprinter. Now confirmed for the Giro, we hope to see Girmay bring on the heat to the favorites.

Alberto Dainese (Tudor Pro Cycling) - While still early in his professional career, Dainese has already demonstrated his potential as a top-level sprinter and is definitely one to watch. In 2023, the Italian sprinter won two Giro stages and one Vuelta stage.

On the women’s side of the coin, there’s far less separation between the heavy favorites, the maybe-they-could, and the sprinters who might steal a stage here or there. And much of that has to do with the fact that there’s much more parity in general in the women’s WorldTour (which is why we should all be watching a lot more women’s races!). But there is still the cream of the crop and everyone else.

Lotte Kopecky – SD Worx-Protime

You could easily argue that Lotte Kopecky is the strongest bike racer in the world, regardless of gender. Her ability to sustain efforts and grind her opponents into dust behind her is matched only by the likes of Mathieu van der Poel . As she heads into this summer as the reigning Tour de France points champion, all eyes will be on the 28-year-old to rack up more stage wins.

Lorena Wiebes – SD Worx-Protime

It’s no secret that SD Worx is sitting on an embarrassment of riches right now. This is evidenced by the fact that Lotte Kopecky is racing on the same team as Lorena Wiebes , perhaps the strongest pure sprinter in the women’s peloton. The 25-year-old Dutchwoman has won Ronde van Drenthe four years in a row and just added to her palmarès with a Gent-Wevelgem victory last weekend. In a heads-up sprint, Wiebes is as tough as out there is.

Elisa Balsamo – Lidl-Trek

With wins at Brugge-De Panne and Trofeo Alfredo Binda and second-place finishes at Paris-Roubaix , Ronde van Drenthe, and Ghent-Wevelgem , the Italian one-day specialist is having a world-class spring campaign. She’s had a bit of success in stage races, nabbing a pair of wins at the 2022 Giro Donne and another pair at 2023’s Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. But at just 26 years old, Balsamo could be on the precipice of a breakout summer.

Charlotte Kool – dsm firmenich PostNL

At just 24 years old, Charlotte Kool seems to be hitting her prime. She won her first Grand Tour stage in last year’s Vuelta and was fighting for wins in Brugge-De Panne and Ghent-Wevelgem, where she finished second and fourth, respectively. She won the points classification in last year’s UAE Tour and should rack up plenty of points over the course of the summer.

Emma Norsgaard – Movistar

Though Norsgaard’s spring has been inauspicious at best, she’s always a tough out when it comes to sprints. With a pair of stage wins to her name (a Giro stage in 2021 and a Tour stage in 2023), she knows how to win from the bunch. She just needs to find her way to the front and put herself in a position to compete. If she can get there, there’s no doubt she’s got the legs.

Marianne Vos – Visma-Lease a Bike

So long as there’s a bike race, and so long as Marianne Vos is in that bike race, it’s just plain stupid to count her out. To list her palmarès would take all of the space this story has, so just accept the fact that she’s likely to be there at the end, whether the stage calls for a breakaway, a punchy climb, or a bunch sprint. And though she’s one of the women’s peloton’s elder stateswomen at age 36, with recent wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen , she’s still proving week after week that she can race with—and beat—the best.

Elisa Longo Borghini – Lidl-Trek

Between Mads Pedersen , Elisa Balsamo, and Longo Borghini, Lidl-Trek’s cup runneth over with one-day talent. But to win one-day races, you need to be able to create and sustain attacks, and there are few better in the women’s bunch at that than Longo Borghini. Hardly a pure sprinter, she’ll need to use her well-honed racing acumen if she’s going to take a stage win.

Chloé Dygert – Canyon//SRAM

Dygert is back. After suffering a training setback late last year, stemming from an injury sustained earlier in 2023, Dygert returned to the peloton with a sixth-place finish in Brugge-De Panne. And while she’s known more for her time-trialing acumen than her pure sprint ability, she can put down and sustain boatloads of power. If she and her teammates can put her in the right position, look for the American star to steal a stage here or there.

Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) - This is only Consonni’s second year at the WorldTour level, but she’s shown in recent times that she has the legs and the know-how to go elbow-to-elbow with the best of the bunch. Her best result is arguably a third-place finish in the points classification in this year’s UAE Tour. Look for her to steal a stage win or two (or three) as the summer progresses.

Rachele Barbieri (dsm firmenich PostNL) - For all of the success Rachele Barbieri has enjoyed on the track, she’s had little on the road. Her best finishes in major races are a pair of second-place finishes in stages in the Giro and UAE Tour and two fourth-place finishes in Tour stages. However, anyone who can make the kind of power Babieri is capable of making can and should not be counted out. Look for her to snag a sleeper win at some point this year.

Michael Venutolo-Mantovani is a writer and musician based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He loves road and track cycling, likes gravel riding, and can often be found trying to avoid crashing his mountain bike. 

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

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'The goal is to win the Tour de France' - Jai Hindley and new role with Primoz Roglic

Team sports director says Hindley is 'a champion in cycling', 'sometimes too nice' and talks about a different kind of season with a different kind of leader

Jai Hindley may have parked his personal ambitions at the Tour de France this season with the arrival of Primož Roglič at Bora-Hansgrohe, but team staff are confident the Australian will win one of cycling’s big three Grand Tours again.

Sports Director Enrico Gasparotto has followed Hindley’s rise at the squad , from helping to guide him to a seventh-place finish in a crash-marred Tour de France debut last season, to winning the Giro d’Italia in 2022 .

“Absolutely yes,” Gasparotto says. “Second in the Giro [in 2020], he won Giro, last year could have been way better than what it was, so if he doesn’t have accidents or problems in a big tour, for sure, he can do it again. When? Hopefully soon, and hopefully with Bora!”

Hindley is out of contract at the end of this year but instead of returning to the Giro or insisting on a more protected role, he has opted to line up at the Tour with an “open mind” in support of Roglič. The Grand Tours are the epitome of racing for Hindley, but he also has an eye to the Olympic Games in Paris this year and the World Championships in Switzerland.

“I would definitely love to do the Worlds, I think that would be a really cool race, and also the Olympics,” Hindley says.

“It’s not the easiest team to make, they don’t have the most spots and we’ve also got some really good guys who will also put their hand up, but in the end it’s a pretty unique race, I would say, the Olympics.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a big bunch sprint; I don’t think it’s going to be a reduced bunch sprint. I think it will be, like, a real dog fight, and small teams and a super long day. It’s going to be epic, and after the Tour, so for sure I will put my hand up for it.

“It’s not every day you get to do the Olympics and I’ve never done it, so I would definitely love to.”

Gasparotto admits he was surprised there were not any murmurs of disquiet from Hindley or teammate Aleksandr Vlasov when Roglič's transfer from Visma-Lease a Bike and his automatic Tour appointment was announced to the team late last year.

“I also expected some discussion or some arguments about it but there was really zero,” Gasparotto says.

If there were any gains to be made from the Tour last year, the 42-year-old believes it rests largely here, in leadership and direction. Hindley’s feedback that the squad should enter the Tour with one leader – as opposed to a GC contender and sprinter, as Bora-Hansgrohe did last season – has apparently been heeded, even if he doesn’t stand to be a direct beneficiary to it right now. The squad is all-in for Roglič. 

“Jai is a super nice person,” Gasparotto says. “He’s a champion in cycling but as a person he’s a really, nice, polite person. And sometimes what I told him to do is when he has the leadership of a team, he should be a little bit more, not hard with his teammates, but he should probably say what he wants in a straight way. Sometimes Jai is too nice!

“In the crucial moments… I see the position of a leader like a person who has to take the responsibility and also address directly to everybody the things that he wants, that has to be done in a way that he wants.

“Primož is that type of rider. They are champions, they want almost everything. He’s a proper winner, he goes to the race to win the race, he doesn’t go to the race to be second or third. He doesn’t like [minor places] and that’s probably why he’s with us now, he didn’t like to be the second choice in Jumbo [Visma-Lease a Bike], for example.

“This approach to the races is something important and something Jai, Aleks [Vlasov], all the other guys, can learn from him. And they see that. The possibility.”

In the leadup to and throughout his Tour debut, Hindley never publicly put a number on what would constitute success, keeping his cards close to his chest. It was a demarcation from the Giro the year before when I asked on the second rest day if it was his aim to become the first Australian to win the Grand Tour and he famously replied: “I’m not here to put socks on centipedes.”

Talking of the Tour this year, Hindley strikes a similar tone to last season. Asked in February if Bora could be the team to beat, considering its bolstered GC stock and Red Bull’s key sponsorship investment he was measured: “I don’t think the pressure will be on us to be honest. I think it will be a really good edition.”

Gasparotto is more straightforward on the exciting team’s aspirations, if not expectations.

“The goal is to win the Tour,” he says. “But, you know, having that as a goal, which is a super big goal and difficult one as well obviously, I do hope we can achieve it, but it’s still a long way.”

The focus is more on everyone being in top shape, Hindley preparing for the Tour much the same as he did last year when he was a team leader.

On paper, it appears to be a case of so far so good.

Hindley is slated to race the Tour de Romandie next week before taking on the Dauphiné again in June. He started his season with fifth at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and third at Tirreno-Adriatico, beaten only by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). 

He was 12th at Itzulia Basque Country, where he raced alongside Roglič for the first time. The Slovenian was leading the race – only his second race with Bora-Hansgrohe – before he abandoned on stage four due to a mass crash.

“They should be top form, top shape at the Tour and that’s something that has to work for Primož but the same for Jai,” says Gasparotto. “And then you never know what can happen in the Tour. Maybe we have to swap roles because something goes wrong. The most important thing is that the riders are in really good shape for it.”

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Where to watch La Flèche Wallonne free: Live stream the races anywhere

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Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the 86th edition of the men's race "La Fleche Wallonne." Photo by GOYVAERTS/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

The latest cycling race in the Ardennes Classics is here. Whether you're looking to watch the women's or the men's La Flèche Wallonne race, we've got you covered for all of your live streaming options today, including where to watch La Flèche Wallonne for free.

Both La Flèches Wallonne races take place on Wednesday, with the women starting before the men. The difficult race, which takes place in Belgium, is infamous for its final stretch on the Mur de Huy. The tricky climb is short but steep, making it a difficult sprint to manage. Tadej Pogacar and Demi Vollering won the respective men's and women's races last year. Pogacar won't compete in this year's race, but Vollering is expected to return.

Keep reading to find everything you need to know about La Flèche Wallonne races, including how to access free live streams via VPN . You'll want to keep hold of that VPN too, as you'll also be able to access free Tour de France live streams with it soon.

• See also: How to watch free MotoGP |  How to watch free F1 | Where to watch free Champions League

Where to watch La Flèche Wallonne in the US

The La Fléche Wallonne races live stream on  Peacock in the US. Monthly Peacock subscriptions start at $5.99. The men's race will also be screened on CNBC. Peacock is the US home to multiple Spring Classics races, including the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Peacock is a streaming service featuring NBCUniversal TV shows, movies, original series, live sports, and news programs. Prices start at just $5.99 a month on one-month deals, with further discounts available on annual plans.

Where to watch La Flèche Wallonne in the UK

Most major cycling races are available to stream through  Discovery+ in the UK. Subscriptions with live Eurosport start at £6.99 per month.

Where to watch La Flèche Wallonne in Australia

The races are available to live stream through SBS On Demand in Australia. This free option only requires account creation (using your email and date of birth). If you're looking for a free English-language live stream, this will be your best bet.

Where to watch La Flèche Wallonne in France

You can live stream both races in France via  France.TV . This is also a free option, and you only need to create an account (using your email, date of birth, and zip code) to gain access to the live-streaming services.

How to watch La Flèche Wallonne from anywhere

If you're not in France or Australia at the moment but you still want to access these free streaming options, you can try using a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are simple ways to change your device's virtual location to circumvent any geographical hurdles for websites and apps. They're also solid ways to boost your online privacy.  

Interested in trying out a VPN? Our go-to suggestion is ExpressVPN , a beginner-friendly option with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Take a look at our ExpressVPN review for more details, and keep reading to learn how to use a VPN.

With its consistent performance, reliable security, and expansive global streaming features, ExpressVPN is the best VPN out there, excelling in every spec and offering many advanced features that makes it exceptional. Better yet, you can save up to 49% and get an extra three months for free today.

How to watch La Flèche Wallonne with a VPN

• Sign up for a VPN if you don't already have one.
• Install it on the device you're planning to watch on.
• Turn it on and set it to a France or Australia location. 
• Create an account on France.TV or SBS On Demand .
• Navigate to the live races and enjoy.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

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Kippy Merrill

Explore ideas, tips guide and info Kippy Merrill

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