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The Tour de France 2024

A tour like never before.

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The Tour de France 2024

Le Tour 2024 - A GUIDE TO THE ROUTE

Tour de France 2024 -stage details  

• Tour de France

Tour de France coverage from Cycling Weekly, with up to date race results, rider profiles and news and reports.

The Tour de France 2024 begins on Saturday 29 June 2024 and marks the 111th edition of cycling's flagship race. In the first Grand Départ for Italy, the race starts in Florence and traces a path east across the country, before heading back west towards France and into the Alps. 

The race also tackles the Apennines, Massif Central and Pyrenees mountain ranges, and passes through Italy, San Marino, Monaco and France. This edition breaks from tradition, finishing not in Paris but in Nice, due to the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

The three-week event is the second in the trio of Grand Tours, coming after the Giro d'Italia and before the Vuelta a España .

Tour de France 2024: Overview

Tour de france 2024: the route.

One for the climbers, the 2024 Tour de France route incorporates four summit finishes, spans four mountain ranges, and features the hilliest opening stage in history. One of the most interesting and intriguing routes of recent years, sitting between the predominantly hilly week one and week three sits a flatter week two, and stage nine - with an abundance of white roads; 14 sectors in total. There's plenty for the sprinters as well as the general classification and climbing specialists, although there are going to be some tough mountains to get over to reach the sprint stages, and to finish the three weeks. For the first time in 35 years, a final day time trial means the yellow jersey won't be decided on the penultimate day. 

• Tour de France 2024 route: Two individual time trials, five summit finishes and gravel sectors
• Opinion: Is the 2024 Tour de France too hard?
• FAQs of the Tour de France: How lean? How much power? How do they pee mid-stage? All that and more explained

Tour de France 2024 route: Stage-by-stage

Tour de france 2024: the teams.

There will be 22 teams of eight riders at the 2024 Tour de France. This includes all 18 UCI WorldTour teams, as well as the two best-ranked UCI ProTeams, and two further squads invited by the organiser, ASO. 

Tour de France 2024: General classification riders

The general classification riders set to appear on the start line in Florence on June 29 are as of yet unconfirmed.

Reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard is extremely likely to be there to defend his title, and there should be no challenges from within the team since Primož Roglič's move to Bora-Hansgrohe. However, Roglič will be making his own bid for the win as the new team leader, with the route suiting him well. 

Following the route announcement in October, Tadej Pogačar said that the "end of the journey makes me smile", with the final 2 stages starting and finishing close to his home in Monaco. Pogačar is hoping to take back the top step in 2024 after two years of missing out on yellow to Vingegaard.

Remco Evenepol intends to make his Tour de France debut in 2024. Although he took a win in 2022 at the Vuelta, his performance in other Grand Tour races has been either inconsistent or blighted by illness. If he's to compete against the likes of Vingegaard and Pogačar, he'll have to up his game. It's not yet known who Ineos Grenadiers will hand the reins to, but, coming 5th overall and taking a stage win in his Tour debut in 2023 , Carlos Rogríguez seems a likely choice.

Tour de France 2024: Sprinters

It's going to be a tough year for the sprinters. Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck was one of the star men of last year's Tour de France, taking four stage wins and the green sprinter's jersey at the end of the three weeks. If the Belgian returns in 2024 then he will definitely be looking to defend his jersey.

Mads Pederson of Trek-Segafredo has won stages in all three Grand Tours and is likely to gain victory again in some of the harder sprint stages in 2024.

All eyes will be on Mark Cavendish in the 111th Tour de France after he postponed retirement to target the Tour win record, currently shared with Eddy Merckx, and gain his 35th win. He said, however, that he was "in shock" and that this was the "toughest course" he had ever seen , when it was revealed in October. 

Tour de France 2024: On TV

As you'd expect the Tour de France will be avialable to watch in a lot of places this July.

The race is expected to be live-streamed on GCN +, Discovery+ and Eurosport , as well as ITV4, in the UK and in Europe. Subscription costs are £6.99/month or $8.99/month, and £39.99 or $49.99 for a year.

A Flobikes  annual subscription will cost you $209.99 if you want to watch in Canada, while in the USA  NBC Sports  via Peacock Premium ($4.99 per month) will show the race. Australians can can watch the Tour for free on SBS on Demand.

And, of course, if you want to watch your local stream from anywhere in the world you'll need a VPN from a trusted company like ExpressVPN .

Tour de France: The jerseys

Much like every year in recent memory, the Tour de France jerseys and classifications are yellow for the overall leader, green for the leader in the points standings, polka-dot for the mountain classification, and white for the best young rider.

Along with the jersey prizes, there is an award for the most combative rider of each stage, with the winner wearing a red number on the following day. This is awarded each day, with a 'Super Combativity' award decided by a jury at the end of the race for the most active rider throughout the entire event.

There is also a team classification where the time of the first three riders from each team is put together to create a single time. This is then done in a similar way as the individual general classification.

In addition, there are plenty of bonus seconds up for grabs at the race. There are ten, six and four bonus seconds available at the end of each stage for the first three riders, as well as bonus sprints that are dotted throughout the race on key climbs to try and make the racing more entertaining for spectators.

Of course, there's also prize money up for grabs. For winning the 2023 edition of the race, Jonas Vingegaard collected €535,220 (£463,100), a sum which is customarily shared out among the team's riders and staff.

Tour de France past winners in the last 12 years

• 2012: Bradley Wiggins (GBr) 
• 2013: Chris Froome (GBr) 
• 2014: Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) 
• 2015: Chris Froome (GBr) 
• 2016: Chris Froome (GBr) 
• 2017: Chris Froome (GBr) 
• 2018: Geraint Thomas (GBr) 
• 2019: Egan Bernal (Col) 
• 2020: Tadej Pogačar (Slo) 
• 2021: Tadej Pogačar (Slo)  
• 2022: Jonas Vingegaard (Den)
• 2023: Jonas Vingegaard (Den)

Tour de France FAQ

How does the tour de france work.

The Tour de France is one of a trio of races that are three weeks long, known as the Grand Tours, alongside the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. The Tour is the best known and arguably the most prestigious.

It is the second of the three races in the calendar with the Giro taking place in May, the Tour usually in July, and the Vuelta in August and September.

The Tour, like all Grand Tours, takes on varying terrain with flat days for sprinters, hilly days for punchers and mountains for the climbers and GC riders, along with time trials, so that a winner of the race has to be able to perform on all types of road.

The main prize in the race, known as the general classification, is based on time with the overall leader wearing the yellow jersey. The race leader and eventual winner is the rider who has the lowest accumulated time over the 21 days of racing. Riders can win the Tour de France without winning a stage, as Chris Froome did in 2017. Time bonuses of 10, six, and four seconds are given to stage winners though, creating incentive for those general classification riders to chase individual victories and lower their overall time.

In 2020 it took race winner Tadej Pogačar 87 hours 20 minutes and 5 seconds to complete the race with the second-place rider overall 59 seconds slower. That continues all the way down to the last place rider, which was Roger Kluge (Lotto-Soudal) who finished 6 hours 7 minutes and 2 seconds behind.

The white best young rider's jersey is worked out in the same way but only riders under the age of 26 are eligible for the jersey.

The polka-dot mountains jersey and the green points jersey are based on a points system and not time. The only reason time would come into account would be if riders are tied on points, then it would go to who is the best placed in the general classification.

The team classification is based on the general classification times of the first three riders of a team on each stage. The time of those three riders is added up and put onto their team's time, creating a GC list much like in the individual classifications. The leading team gets to wear yellow numbers and helmets on each stage.

The final classification available is the combativity prize. This is decided by a race jury or, in more recent years, Twitter. This takes place just before the end of each stage and often goes to a rider from the breakaway who has put in a daring performance or attempted to liven up the stage by attacking. The winner of the combativity award gets to wear a special red race number on the following day's stage.

There is a final prize added to this with the Super Combativity prize being awarded on the podium in Paris. This is decided in a similar fashion to pick out the most aggressive, entertaining, and daring rider of the whole three weeks. Again, usually going to a rider who has featured regularly in the breakaway.

Stage winners do not wear anything special the day after apart from getting a small yellow jersey to stick on their number on their bike, this can be replaced if they win multiple stages.

Teams used to come to the race with nine riders but the UCI, cycling's governing body, decided that nine riders from each team was too dangerous and dropped it to eight, however more teams now take part.

How long is the Tour de France?

The Tour de France takes place over 23 days with 21 of them being race days. The riders get two days of resting; they usually fall on the second and third Monday of the race.

This year's race is 3,492km long, which is 2,170 miles, around the same distance from Washington DC to Las Vegas, or Helsinki to Lisbon. 

Road stages can range from anything around 100km to something approaching 250km, sometimes more. This year the shortest road stage is stage 20, from Nice to Col de la Couillole, with the longest being 229km on stage three in Italy, from Plaisance to Turin.

Road stages often take around four to five hours with the longer days sometimes nudging over seven hours.

Time trials are always much shorter. Team time trials have long since gone out of fashion in the world of road racing so individual time trials are the main focus these days. 

In 2024, the Tour has two individual time trials for the riders to tackle, the first on stage seven at 25km long from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin, and the second on the final stage from Monaco to Nice, at 34km long.

When does the Tour de France start?

The 2024 Tour de France starts on June 29 in Florence, Italy, with a road stage. There will be three full stages in Italy, before the fourth heads into France. The race finishes in Nice three weeks later.

The 2024 edition of the race runs from 29 June - 21 July, covering 21 stages. 

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Stage 21 of the Tour de France live - 07/23/2023

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Tour de France 2021 - Stages, schedule, route map and key dates in the battle for yellow jersey

Updated 28/06/2021 at 11:44 GMT

A balanced route that leans slightly towards the general classification rider with a strong time trial, the 2021 Tour de France route is an intriguing prospect. There are as many as eight potential stages for the sprinters, as well as some epic climbing days – including a trip into the Alps in the first week, plus a double-ascent of Mont Ventoux to contend with.

Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic celebrate at the end of stage 21 of the Tour de France 2020

Image credit: Getty Images

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Tour de France 2021 - results and standings

Tour de france 2021 - the route.

• 26 June, Stage 1: Brest - Landerneau (197.8km, hilly)
• 27 June, Stage 2: Perros-Guirec - Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan (183.5km, hilly)
• 28 June, Stage 3: Lorient - Pontivy (182.7km, flat)
• 29 June, Stage 4: Redon - Fougères (150.4km, flat)

30 June, Stage 5: Changé - Laval (27.2km, ITT)

• 1 July, Stage 6: Tours - Châteauroux (160.6km, flat)
• 2 July, Stage 7: Vierzon - Le Creusot (249.1km, hilly)
• 3 July, Stage 8: Oyonnax - Le Gran-Bornand (150.8km, mountains)

4 July, Stage 9: Cluses - Tignes (144.9km, mountains)

• 5 July, first rest day
• 6 July, Stage 10: Albertville - Valence (190.7km, flat)

7 July, Stage 11: Sorgues - Malaucène (198.9km, mountains)

8 july, stage 12: saint-paul-trois-châteaux - nîmes (159.4km, flat).

• 9 July, Stage 13: Nîmes - Carcassonne (219.9km, flat)
• 10 July, Stage 14: Carcassonne - Quillan (183.7km, hilly)

11 July, Stage 15: Céret - Andorra la Vella (191.3km, mountains)

• 12 July, second rest day
• 13 July, Stage 16: Pas de la Case - Saint-Gaudens (169km, mountains)

14 July, Stage 17: Muret - Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet (174.8km)

• 15 July, Stage 18: Pau - Luz-Ardiden (129.7km, mountains)
• 16 July, Stage 19: Mourenx - Libourne (207km, flat)

17 July, Stage 20: Libourne – Saint-Émilion (30.8km, ITT)

• 18 July, Stage 21: Chatou - Paris Champs-Élysées (112km, flat)

Tour de France 2021 - route map

The Tour de France route for 2021

Image credit: Eurosport

Tour de France 2021 - KEY stages

Stage 5 profile: Changé – Laval (ITT)

Stage 9 profile: Cluses - Tignes

Stage 11 profile: Sorgues - Malaucène

Stage 12 profile: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Nîmes

Stage 15 profile: Céret - Andorre-La-Vieille

Stage 17 profile: Muret - Col du Portet

Stage 20 profile: Libourne - Saint Emilion (ITT)

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Home Explore France Official Tourism Board Website

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The 5-minute essential guide to the Tour de France

Inspiration

Cycling Tourism Sporting Activities

Reading time: 0 min Published on 8 January 2024, updated on 18 April 2024

It is the biggest cycling race in the world: a national event that France cherishes almost as much as its Eiffel Tower and its 360 native cheeses! Every year in July, the Tour de France sets off on the roads of France and crosses some of its most beautiful landscapes. Here’s everything you should know in advance of the 2018 race…

‘La Grande Boucle’

In over a century of existence, the Tour has extended its distance and passed through the whole country. Almost 3,500 kilometers are now covered each year in the first three weeks of July, with 22 teams of 8 cyclists. The 176 competitors criss-cross the most beautiful roads of France in 23 days, over 21 stages. More than a third of France’s departments are passed through, on a route that changes each year.

A little tour to start

The first ever Tour de France took place in 1903. It had just six stages – Paris-Lyon, Lyon-Marseille, Marseille-Toulouse, Toulouse-Bordeaux, Bordeaux-Nantes and Nantes-Paris – and 60 cyclists at the start line. At the time, the brave cycled up to 18 hours at a stretch, by day and night, on roads and dirt tracks. By the end, they’d managed 2,300 kilometers. Must have had some tight calves!

Mountain events are often the most famous and hotly contested. Spectators watch in awe as the riders attack the passes and hit speeds of 100 km/h. In the Pyrenees and the Alps, the Galibier and Tourmalet ascents are legendary sections of the Tour, worthy of a very elegant polka dot jersey for the best climber…

The darling of the Tour

In terms of the number of victories per nation, France comes out on top, with 36 races won by a French cyclist. In second place is Belgium with 18 wins, and in third is Spain with 12. The darling of the Tour remains Eddy Merckx, holding the record of 111 days in the yellow jersey. This Belgian won 5 times the Great Loop as Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Michael Indurain.

‘Le maillot jaune’

The yellow jersey is worn by the race winner in the general classification (calculated by adding up the times from each individual stage). This tradition goes back to 1919. It has nothing to do with the July sunshine or the sunflower fields along the roads; it was simply the colour of the pages of newspaper L’Auto, which was creator and organiser of the competition at the time.

The Tour de France is the third major world sporting event after the Olympic Games and the World Cup, covered by 600 media and 2,000 journalists. The race is broadcast in 130 countries by 100 television channels over 6,300 hours, and is followed by 3.5 billion viewers.

The Champs-Élysées finish

Each year the Tour departs from a different city, whether in France or in a neighbouring country. Since 1975, the triumphal arrival of the cyclists has always taken place across a finish line on Paris’ Champs-Élysées. It’s a truly beautiful setting for the final sprint.

And the winner is…

Seen from the sky and filmed by helicopters or drones, the Tour route resembles a long ribbon winding its way through France’s stunning landscapes: the groves of Normandy, the peaks of the Alps, the shores of Brittany and the beaches of the Côte d’Azur. In 2017, it was the Izoard pass in Hautes-Alpes that was elected the most beautiful stage, at an altitude of 2,361 metres. Which one gets your vote?

Find out more on the official Tour de France site: https://www.letour.fr

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Results and Highlights From the 2021 Tour de France

Stage-by-stage updates, results, and highlights from this year’s race.

Read below for stage-by-stage updates, results, and highlights.

Tadej Pogačar won a second successive Tour de France on Sunday as Wout van Aert claimed the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

In 2020, Pogačar didn’t take the lead until Stage 20, but this year he stamped his authority in the first week and pulled on the yellow jersey beneath the Arc de Triomphe as the undisputed champion aged just 22.

“We did it,” he said with a huge smile that was absent after his exhausting time trial on Saturday when he effectively sealed this victory. “It’s never over until the last lap of the Champs-Élysées.”

Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard, of team Jumbo-Visma, was a surprising second in the general classification, while Ineos Grenadiers’s Richard Carapaz was third to follow his 2019 triumph on the Giro d’Italia.

Pogačar survived a litany of crashes as the Tour embarked from the nation’s western tip at the Atlantic port of Brest. The Slovenian then dominated his rivals in the first time trial as the race headed towards the Swiss and Italian border ski resorts, where he also held his own.

The UAE Team Emirates leader then produced a pair of joyful mountain victories in the Pyrénées to rubber stamp his status as the best rider in the Tour this year.

Pogačar also won the awards for best rider under-25 and the king of the mountains polka-dot jersey—a triple he also achieved in his debut last year.

On Sunday, Belgian rider van Aert of Jumbo-Visma stormed past Briton Mark Cavendish to take Stage 21, after also winning the Stage 20 time trial at Saint-Emilion and a mountain stage on Mont Ventoux.

“It’s incredible to win again today, it hasn’t sunk in,” he said, holding his baby on the podium.

“It’s a great send-off for Tokyo,” he said, before flying off to the Olympic Games on Monday where he will lead the Belgian team.

The 36-year-old Cavendish of Deceunick-QuickStep narrowly missed out on a fifth stage win—and a record 35th ever in the Tour de France. Jasper Philipsen was second for the day and Cavendish was third, punching his handlebars in frustration as he crossed the finish line.

However, that doesn’t take away from Cavendish’s four wins in the six stages that ended in a mass bunch sprint. It was enough for him to equal Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins in the Tour and secure him the green sprint points jersey.

The Bahrain Victorious outfit won the team award to end the Tour with a smile, after a police anti-doping raid on their hotel and team bus earlier this week.

Wout van Aert of team Jumbo-Visma won the Stage 20 time trial by a solid 21-second margin on Saturday, making it his second stage win this Tour.

Tadej Pogačar all but became champion of the 2021 Tour de France as the UAE Team Emirates rider protected his large overall lead in the time trial, ahead of the traditionally ceremonial final ride to Paris. Defending champion Pogačar’s solid ride means he need only cross the Champs-Élysées finish line with the peloton on Sunday’s 21st and final stage to retain the fabled yellow jersey as the overall winner.

Pogačar won three stages on the way to his dominant triumph in a manner reminiscent of former champions Alberto Contador and Chris Froome, who were strong in both the time trials and the mountains. He will also win the awards for best rider under-25 and the king of the mountains polka-dot jersey—a triple win that he also achieved on his debut last year.

“I can’t say which one is more beautiful. Last year everything was decided on the last individual time trial and the emotions were by far stronger. This time, I took the yellow jersey earlier. It has been totally different,” said the man who will ride into Paris in yellow.

The Monaco resident, who earns five million euros (5.9 million dollars) a year, appeared overcome as he climbed onto the podium for his three jerseys, with Briton Mark Cavendish also wearing a huge grin as he was awarded his green sprint jersey.

“I’m so happy it’s coming to an end,” said Pogačar, admitting he was wiped out. “What a demanding three weeks it has been.”

“I wasn’t so motivated last night and had to get myself going,” said Pogačar, who ended the day five minutes and 20 seconds ahead of the second place rider in the overall classification. “It was very hot and I was suffering a bit. But I’m super happy. It still was a super performance.”

The top three in the standings remained the same after the 30K course on a sizzling hot Saturday, as rowdy fans packed the roadsides all the way to the scenic Saint-Emilion vineyards.

Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard goes into the final day in second, while Ineos Grenadiers’s Richard Carapaz is in third.

“I’d have told anyone they were nuts,” Vingegaard said with a sparkle in his eye as he dove into a large bowl of pasta. “Tadej was so strong in the rainy stages, he won it there in the rain.”

“He’s not unbeatable”

A second place for Dutch team Jumbo-Visma is a triumph of sorts after their leader Primož Roglič crashed hard early in the race. Van Aert’s victory on Saturday also gave them three stages, even though only four of the eight-rider team have made it through to the final stage after a series of falls.

“I’m very proud of our performance. These three wins and a second place in the general [classification] is great,” said van Aert, who also won Stage 11, which climbed up Mont Ventoux twice, while American Sepp Kuss took Stage 15 in the Pyrénées.

“But if we want to win the Tour de France we need to stay on our bikes and finish the Tour with a full team,” va Aert said. “Tadej deserves his win, but I don’t believe he is unbeatable.”

Van Aert also sent out a warning to Cavendish, who is targeting an all time record of 35 stage wins with the Champs-Élysées sprint Sunday.

“I’ll be challenging [it] for sure. I won’t miss out. The Champs-Élysées sprint is a huge thing in the career of any rider,” said van Aert.

A third place overall finish for the British team Ineos Grenadiers , which took no stage wins, seems like the end of their era, after the 2020 failure was blamed on Egan Bernal’s bad back.

The British team went into this race with four co-leaders, hoping to win an eighth title in ten years, but experienced terrible luck as three suffered bad falls, leaving only Carapaz to soldier on—although they did win the Giro d’Italia in May with Bernal.

Bahrain Victorious’s Slovenian rider Matej Mohorič won stage 19 of the Tour de France on Friday, a day after his team hotel and bus were subjected to an anti-doping raid .

It was Mohorič’s second win this edition of the Tour. After he joined an early breakaway, he then broke clear for a solo win at Libourne, with the main peloton several minutes behind.

Overall leader Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates team led the peloton over the line 20 minutes and 49 seconds later, with no change in the overall top ten ahead of Saturday’s decisive 30K individual time trial.

Mohorič made a gesture at the finish line, running a finger across his lips horizontally as if he were closing a zipper , after the team’s third victory at this year’s race.

Mohorič said his gesture was meant as a message for people to be careful about jumping to conclusions after the raid, which has led to a preliminary enquiry that authorities said was to see “whether or not there has been acquisition, transport, or possession of banned substances.”

Mohorič faced the press calmly after celebrating on the podium.

“It was a sign to show all people to be mindful that we are making sacrifices with our work away from home and family and on training camps. We have a good level here and also had it in the past,” he said.

Raid has united the team

The 26-year-old former junior world champion was trying to remain positive after the police raid, although he admitted it was deeply upsetting at the time.

“If someone needs to go through my stuff and take my phone, well if this eventually proves my innocence then so much the better,” he said. “I felt weird about my integrity being questioned, but then I felt it was good for the integrity of a sport that has had big problems in the past.”

Mohorič said that he felt the raid had helped unite his team.

“We are so determined to show we have nothing to hide. We are here to focus on a bike race and show we are one of the best teams in the world,” he said.

The winner raced the 207K at an impressive average speed of 47.9kph (29.7mph), often riding into a headwind through the Bordeaux vineyards. Along with winning the stage, he also took the most combative rider award for the day.

Christophe Laporte of Cofidis was second at 58 seconds back and Casper Pedersen of DSM was third for the stage.

The 19th stage had been billed as the day Mark Cavendish would set a new record of 35 Tour de France stage wins, his fifth win this edition. But an early mass fall and lack of will from other teams to stop a breakaway allowed a large group to build up a big lead over the main pack. Cavendish was unperturbed by the day’s action.

“I still have Paris,” he said of Sunday’s sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées.

“And I still have the jersey,” he said as he stepped down from the awards ceremony in the sprint points leader’s green jersey.

The 36-year-old was a late inclusion on the Deceuninck-QuickStep team roster but has won four stages so far this year, with a fifth possible win on Sunday when the race ends in the French capital.

Cavendish was given a fright as a mass domino-effect pileup swept through the peloton shortly after leaving the start town Mourenx on Friday, but the Briton was unhurt.

Overall leader Tadej Pogačar again proved his dominance in the Tour de France as he won a second consecutive mountain stage in the Pyrénées on Thursday—and said, “It's a game for me.”

On a short final mountain stage of 130K, Pogačar out-rode his two closest rivals, Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz, just as he did on the previous day. The 2020 champion continued the most dominant run in recent Tour memory, by climbing onto the post-race podium four times—as stage winner, as best young rider, best climber, and as the runaway overall leader.

The peloton left Pau under a shadow Thursday, after an overnight anti-doping raid on the Bahrain-Victorious team at their hotel.

“It’s something strange, maybe just one more control to see nobody’s hiding anything,” said Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates. “We only found out in the morning, I don’t know what to think.”

But by the time an Ineos Grenadiers quartet of riders were leading the remnants of the pack up the final climb of this Tour de France, the focus was on the possible challenges to the leader on the road.

“It was full gas racing today, Ineos were pressing from deep,” the leader said of what was likely Carapaz’s last chance to unseat him.

“We had nothing to lose today, so we are happy,” said the Ecuadorian. “Our goal was to win the stage. I think we put up a good fight.”

With 3K left to go, Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Carapaz were left to cross swords in a pulsating uphill battle to a finish line above the clouds at the ski resort of Luz Ardiden, with hundreds of thousands of fans lining the roadside and cycling-loving French President Emmanuel Macron in the race director’s car at the head of the action.

The struggle was quickly settled. Pogačar raced ahead with ease over the last kilometer and slowed down to take a look over his shoulder as he crossed the line for his third stage win this Tour.

“I felt good and I’m really happy with the win. It’s a game for me, I’m enjoying playing it,” said the 22-year-old who has dominated in the mountains and in the all important time trials, just as Spaniard Alberto Contador and Briton Chris Froome did in their time.

Pogačar enjoying new era

But Pogačar was adamant he is not on the cusp of greatness.

“This is not the ‘Pogačar era,’ but for sure a new generation is here,” he said.

“It’s important to have fun and enjoy what you are doing. Some you win, some you lose, but always have fun, my coach says,” Pogačar said, smiling and looking relaxed. “Tomorrow I aim to enjoy every minute of the flat run,” he said of Friday’s stage.

He did admit to worrying about the final challenge, a 30K time trial. “You can lose six minutes over 30K like that,” he said.

Pogačar pulverised the opposition in the first time trial, which he won on Stage 5.

Pogačar leads the Danish rider Vingegaard by almost six minutes, with Carapaz right on the Jumbo-Visma man’s tail in third with three stages left: a flat run on Friday, Saturday’s time trial, and Sunday’s parade into Paris.

Vingegaard is on paper a better time trialist than Carapaz, but with only a few seconds between the pair, it is too early to call a top three.

Whatever happens in Paris, the events in Pau on Thursday night may take longer to run their course, after French police said the investigation was in its preliminary stages.

“A preliminary inquiry has been opened to see if there has been, or not, acquisition, transport, or possession of banned substances,” the Marseille-based police unit overseeing the matter told AFP.

Tadej Pogačar emerged above the clouds atop the Pyrénéen Col du Portet to extend his overall lead and win Stage 17 of the Tour de France on Wednesday, after an epic struggle with his two closest pursuers, Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz.

Ecuadorian Carapaz launched a blistering attack 1.5K from the 2,200-meter summit finish, but was agonizingly reeled in by the defending champion Pogačar , for whom this was an iconic career moment, winning a tough stage with the overall leader’s yellow jersey already on his back.

After pulverizing the field on the Stage 5 time trial, the Slovenian took his second victory this Tour to extend his lead over the Vingegaard to 5 minutes and 39 seconds. The discrete Carapaz climbed to third overall four seconds back, after Rigoberto Uran was dropped on the final climb. The Colombian slipped to fourth overall at 7 minutes and 17 seconds behind Pogačar.

“It was the most difficult stage of the Tour, and I dedicate this win to my team who worked so hard for me here,” said Pogačar.

“This Tour isn’t over until the last lap of the Champs-Élysées,” he said when asked if he believed the defense of his title was now sealed.

Storming Bastille Day

On the French national holiday of Bastille Day, there were almost as many Slovenian flags on the final climb as French flags, and a healthy smattering of Basque berets were being sported as well in the huge crowds that lined the slopes.

French fans had plenty to smile about as Groupama-FDJ’s home hope David Gaudu came in fourth at a finish line above the clouds in this remote corner of France. Up-and-coming climber Gaudu raced the stage with the French tricolour on his helmet.

Another French team, AG2R Citroën, saw their Australian podium hope Ben O’Connor consolidate fifth overall as he rounded out the day’s top five, having previously won the Alpine stage up to the Tignes ski resort.

AG2R Citroën boss Vincent Lavenu told AFP that the stage, with its 36K of steep climbing in the final section, was a “race for second place and that half the contenders will be dropped here.”

It proved true, but Ineos Grenadiers rider Carapaz, who looked to be struggling after the lead trio broke off, kept fighting with his late but fruitless burst.

Before Vingegaard attacked an elite clique on Mont Ventoux last week, he was relatively unknown. Since then, the painfully shy Jumbo-Visma rider from the remote Danish region of North Jutland has emerged as a serious podium contender. With his team down to four riders, he admitted that on Wednesday “the plan was just to follow.” He cemented his grip on second by surviving the climb up Col du Portet and said he was “relieved, happy and proud” and said that his family was at the finish line.

The leader had warm words for the man hot on his tail.

“He’s fantastic, a top class rider,” said Pogačar who, like Vingegaard, is racing his second Tour de France. “I like racing against him. He’s a super good guy and he could win a Tour de France soon.”

One last mountain-top finish awaits the riders Thursday before Saturday’s potentially decisive time trial and Sunday’s parade into Paris.

Austrian Patrick Konrad won a hilly Stage 16 of the Tour de France on Tuesday, after joining an early breakaway and then attacking solo from 38K out on a rainy ride through the Pyrénées.

Overall leader Tadej Pogačar and his general classification rivals rode the 169K course at a gentle pace and were trailing the 29-year-old Bora-Hansgrohe rider by some 14 minutes on an unseasonably cold day, with two major mountain stages coming up over the next two days.

An elite clique of 15 riders including all of the top 11 in the general classification broke off the front of the peloton just outside Saint-Gaudens—with Slovenian Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates, EF Education-Nippo rider Rigoberto Uran, and Ineos Grenadiers rider Richard Carapaz all finishing with the same time after a last-gasp burst of speed.

On an overcast day in the Pyrénées, the peloton embarked from Pas de la Casa in the Principality of Andorra, where the roads appeared even narrower with the wet, overhanging foliage.

Green jersey wearer Mark Cavendish and a ten-man grupetto of stragglers fell off the back, but made it home within the time cut.

Konrad had been close twice before this Tour de France, a factor that drove him to attack.

“It makes me really proud,” said the Austrian national road race champion on his first ever Tour de France stage win, after being chased over the final 30K by David Gaudu and Sonny Colbrelli. “I’ve been in three breaks already, and I had waited until too late. Today, I said to myself I am the guy, and I had the legs to bring it to the finish.”

Monster Pyrénéen climbs next

After Monday’s final rest day and Pogačar leading the others in the top five by more than five minutes, there was little appetite for a major attack. But there’s three potential chances to overturn the order, starting with two summit finishes Wednesday and Thursday, and Saturday’s individual time trial to Saint-Émilion likely to deliver the champion.

Pogačar got the backing of four-time Tour winner Chris Froome Tuesday morning. “If Pogačar can stay on the bike, then it’s over,” Froome said.

Pogacar seemed as relaxed as ever after the 16th stage.

“I like this weather, and I hope it’s like this tomorrow,” said the 22-year-old. “We are going to ride as hard as we can. It will be a big GC battle.”

The race began with the rare sight of the entire peloton shuddering to a halt and engaging in a mass shedding of cold weather clothes after a 20K neutralized downhill start.

British rider Mark Cavendish kept the green jersey and has two opportunities—on Friday and on the Champs-Élysées on Sunday—to beat Eddy Merckx’s all-time record , after his four stage wins so far saw the sprinter equal the tally of 34 set by the Belgian great 46 years ago.

The race for the polka-dot jersey will be tense as Wout Poels leads just ahead of Michael Woods of Canada and Nairo Quintana of Colombia.

American Sepp Kuss of the Jumbo Visma team won a grueling Stage 15, as the Tour de France entered the Pyrenees on Sunday. Defending champion Tadej Pogačar survived the torrid day in the saddle, with the Slovenian holding on to the overall lead despite constant pressure from a clique of Ineos riders.

Near the top of the last climb, Kuss skipped away from Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, who at 41 years old finished second, and Dutch rider Wout Poels, who pulled on the king of the mountains jersey after coming in third.

Many of the riders live in the tax haven principality of Andorra, and there was much talk ahead of the days racing of motivation to do well in front of families.

Kuss had been sent into the day’s long-haul attack with the aim of eventually dropping back and helping team leader Jonas Vingegaard, third overall.

“We had planned to help Jonas, but there were two of us so Steven [Kruijswijk] dropped back, so we got the stage and the team tactics right,” Kuss explained of the windy stage where the protection of a teammate can make all the difference.

“My girlfriend and my family were on the final climb cheering me on. I’m lost for words,” said climb specialist Kuss, whose family has roots in Slovenia.

“It was a hard day in the break, but I know this ride well from training and knew where I could get a break,” he said.

Pogacar said his family being there was also a boon.

“My family are here most days although I don’t always see them, but I did today,” he said, smiling. “When I see my mum it takes away the pain for a moment.”

Pogacar is perhaps the big winner on the day after he was isolated on the windy slopes of the third climb, but he kept his calm and, crucially, his pace as his closest rivals took turns to attack him.

Ineos have said they plan to grind him down in a bid to manoeuvre their own rider, Richard Carapaz, into contention for the yellow jersey.

The Ecuadorian currently lies fourth, five minutes and 33 seconds behind Pogačar. Colombian EF rider Rigoberto Uran is second at 5:18, while Denmark’s Vingegaard is third at 5:32.

“We’re doing everything for Richard now, I really hope we can get him on the podium,” said 2018 champion Geraint Thomas, who led a quartet of his teammates until he dropped off exhausted on the third climb.

But the 22-year-old champion scoffed at the Ineos tactics, despite watching his teammates drop off one by one.

“I didn’t feel scared because I was comfortable with Ineos’s placing,” said Pogačar.

“Sure, it’s looking like a really tough third week and today they made me work really hard,” he admitted.

While Monday is a well-deserved rest day, Sunday’s first Pyrenean stage was the first of four challenges in this secluded mountain range where the 2021 Tour is likely to be decided.

Dutchman Bauke Mollema won stage 14 of the Tour de France on a semi-mountainous run from the citadel at Carcassonne to the small town of Quillan at the foot of the Pyrenees on Saturday.

Overall leader Tadej Pogačar was under no threat, even if he finished some seven minutes adrift on what he called a boring stage. His UAE team raced at the front of the main peloton with INEOS keeping an ever-watchful eye on them.

Frenchman Guillaume Martin of Cofidis was the day’s other big winner as he moved into second overall, four minutes behind the 22-year-old defending champion.

“Anyone in the top ten is dangerous, if I have a bad day any of them can catch me,” Pogačar said. “Cycling is like that, one day you’re the strongest, another day you aren’t.”

Martin looked drawn when he spoke at the finish line in the overwhelming heat.

“I took a risk, but this is the Tour and you have to take risks,” said Martin, a former philosophy student and author of the novel Socrates on a Bike .

“It was really hard. I saw an opportunity and it took a great deal of energy,” said Martin. “I’ll need to get back on form for tomorrow, this is the Tour, today it payed off, but who knows.”

Stage 14 was a grueling affair, exposed to beating heat, along narrow, winding Pyrenean foot-hill roads dotted with patches of melting tarmac and featuring over 20km of steep inclines and around the same of narrow, winding descents.

One of these tricky descents ended Michael Woods' chances of winning the stage from the escape group as the Israel Start Up Nation rider took a bend too wide and fell heavily.

He climbed back on his bike to make a small piece of Tour de France history for his own nation as he took the lead in the climbing category.

“I’m the first Canadian to get the polka-dot jersey,” Woods said after he had overtaken Colombian Nairo Quintana in the points race.

As a wearying afternoon sun beat down on the exposed hills, the 2018 champion Geraint Thomas and world champion Julian Alaphilippe dropped off the back of the peloton with 20km to go and it became clear the overall leader's chasing group would not catch the escape.

“Some of the guys in the escape group were not working, so I went from 45km on my own,” explained the 34-year-old Mollema, after winning his second Tour de France stage. “I like racing in the heat and most of my wins have been solo.”

On Friday, Mark Cavendish matched Eddy Merckx’s 46-year-old record for Tour stage wins. But the Deceuninck rider was well behind the peloton starting at the first slopes and trailed in more than 25 minutes behind Mollema’s winning mark.

Cavendish remained in green with two more mountain stages to survive before he has two more chances to break the record. He could steal the race winner’s thunder when the Tour winds up on the Champs Élysées, where he has won four times, on July 18.

Mark Cavendish equaled the all-time tally of Tour de France stage wins when he sped over the finish line at Carcassonne on Friday for a landmark 34th victory in the race. It was Cavendish’s fourth win this Tour, tying the Belgian sprinter equal Eddy Merckx’s 46-year-old record of Tour de France stage wins.

Until Friday, Cavendish had steadfastly refused to hype the record due to his reverence for Merckx, who won the Tour de France five times.

“I can’t be compared to him,” said the Briton, who has two more flat stages in which to actually beat the record. “Eddy Merckx is the greatest rider of all time, and he will remain so.”

The feat is all the more remarkable considering Cavendish’s career looked compromised in December, teamless, without a Tour de France win in five years, and struggling to put a long bout of the tiring Epstein Barr virus behind him.

Team-less at the end of last season, Cavendish signed a short-term contract with Deceuninck – Quick-Step by maverick Belgian team boss Patrick Lefevere, a larger-than-life character Cavendish has always trusted and believed in.

Lefevere sent Cavendish to the level two Tour of Turkey in April and when he won four stages there, the foundation stone for a return to the top had been laid.

Tadej Pogačar retained the yellow jersey on Friday, and has a wide margin of five minutes to defend.

“I felt good on the day,” said the Slovenian, who was swift to praise the green jersey. “I watched him as a kid, sprinting like Rocketman, all respect to him.”

British Olympic hope Simon Yates pulled out of the Tour de France after a nasty mass-fall caused by gravel earlier on the stage.

Yates of BikeExchange looked dazed and badly grazed, and was one of the last men to remount and try and ride off his knock, but the British Olympic road-race hope was in too much difficulty and withdrew within 10 minutes of the accident.

Germany’s Nils Politt won Stage 12 of the Tour de France on Thursday, after early winds helped a breakaway build up a convincing lead over the main pack in the Rhone Valley and foil the best laid plans of the sprinters.

An escape group finished the short, flat stage to Nimes more than 15 minutes ahead of a resigned peloton, with the defending champion, UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogačar , retaining his five-minute overall lead over a group of rivals.

“I felt good on the bike today, and in the coming stages I won’t hold back if I see an opportunity,” the Slovenian warned.

Stage winner Politt attacked from within a reduced group of 12 powerful riders who had defied the wind for a dominant solo victory.

“Directly after the start was the wind and it turned into a Tour de France win, it’s unbelievable,” said Politt, who rides for the Bora-Hansgrohe team.

“I attacked and opened up a gap from the other guys in the escape. This is my passion, and this is the biggest thing,” he said referring to the stage win.

It was a sweet end to the day for Bora-Hansgrohe after a sore knee brought a premature end to the race for the team’s seven-time green jersey winner Peter Sagan, with only 157 riders taking to the starting line in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateau on Thursday. It was the first time the Slovak has failed to finish the 21-day, 3000K haul, but his absence freed up Politt.

“Peter not being in the race allowed me to go for it, it could be a moment that changes my life,” said Politt, who came second the last time the grueling Paris-Roubaix was run.

Mock sprint from stone-faced Cavendish

The escape hampered an ideal scenario for the Mark Cavendish comeback roller-coaster. While Cavendish himself refuses to talk about equaling Eddy Merckx’s 35-year-old all-time record of 34 Tour de France stage wins, it appeared to be a feasible scenario ahead of the stage. When the peloton rolled into the red-roofed town of Nimes, the “Manx Missile” made a statement of intent by racing to the head of the main pack in a mock sprint, which he easily won.

After a five-year barren patch in the Tour de France, Cavendish is in a full blown Indian Summer following his last-minute call up to the Deceuninck-QuickStep roster at 36 years of age. The Isle of Man rider has seized his chance with three stage wins for a cumulative tally of 33, leaving him just a single stage short of Merckx’s record.

Due to what organizers called “favourable winds,” the start was delayed by 15 minutes, and as soon as it did get going a northern wind blustering down the vineyard-filled Rhone Valley caused immediate breaks in the peloton.

Cavendish stayed in the first group, looking relaxed as Stage 12 rolled through the magnificent Cevennes National Park—taking in the gorges of the Ardeche with its stone arch, the Pont d'Arc, and ending close to the Roman arena in Nimes, on what was billed as the 2021 Tour’s prettiest stage.

Wild crowds cheered Wout van Aert to a frantic Stage 11 win in the Tour de France on Wednesday, after a double ascent of Mont Ventoux —the first in Tour history within a single stage.

UAE Team Emirates leader Tadej Pogačar retained the overall lead by more than five minutes over his pursuers after a long, daredevil descent to the finish line with EF Education-Nippo’s Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Ineos Grenadiers’s Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.

Jumbo-Visma’s van Aert crossed the summit of “the Giant of Provence” alone in his Belgian champion’s jersey on an incredibly hot day and was greeted after his expert descent by a group of fans at the finish line.

“There’s loads of Belgians here,” said an exultant van Aert, who played to the crowds by bending his ear to their acclamation.

On this iconic climb, where Tom Simpson died in 1967 and where Eddy Merckx, Marco Pantani, and Chris Froome climbed to memorable wins, van Aert’s effort was magnificent, and he rode with a free spirit now that his team leader Primož Roglič is out injured.

“It’s my best victory ever,” said van Aert, who finally reaped his reward, after his combative riding helped light the Tour fuse on the opening stages.

Behind him, his teammate Jonas Vingegaard climbed into the top three overall, crossing the line in the small group that included Pogačar, one min and 38 seconds after van Aert. Pogačar leads Uran by 5 minutes and 18 seconds, Dane Vingegaard is in third 14 seconds further back and a second ahead of Carapaz, while Australian Ben O’Connor is fifth. Colombian Nairo Quintana kept the polka-dot climber’s points jersey while Mark Cavendish came home seven minutes inside the time cut to hold on to the green sprinter’s jersey.

“Anything is possible”

Vingegaard dropped Pogačar after a struggle over the final 3K of the last ascent, only for the Slovenian’s group to catch up on the 25K descent.

“I couldn’t follow him, the heat, Ineos, there was a lot going on,” said a cool and relaxed looking Pogačar at the finish line, where he immediately went to see the stage winner. “We had some nice words for each other, I just wanted to say ‘great ride mate.’”

With a vehicle ban on Ventoux, police searched the vast crowds ascending on foot for alcohol and handed out bin bags after 40 tonnes of rubbish were left behind last time the Tour climbed the mountain.

The peloton pulled out of the pretty Provence town of Sorgues to the summer sound of chirruping cicadas, with the mercury rising to over 30 degrees Celsius and the multicoloured peloton shimmering in the southern French sunshine.

By the time the lead group emerged above the clouds on bleak Ventoux, the peloton was scattered all the way down the 21K, one-hour climb. The leaders cut stark figures as they struggled for dominance across the lunar landscape.

Pogačar resisted concerted pressure from Ineos Grenadiers to lead an elite quartet across the line, but only after a wobble on the upper reaches of the second Ventoux slog.

After his dash to the finish, van Aert celebrated with sheer joy, his arms raised straight up in the air and standing high on his pedals.

“If you believe in it, anything is possible. Now, I’ll be helping Jonas in the overall and hopefully trying to win more stages,” said van Aert, who has promised to go shoulder-to-shoulder with Cavendish.

Thursday’s Stage 12 is a flat run to Nimes, where Cavendish will equal Merckx’s all-time Tour de France stage win tally of 34 if he claims a fourth victory in this year’s race.

Mark Cavendish won his third stage in the 2021 Tour de France on Tuesday, moving to within one of Eddy Merckx’s all time record of 34 stage wins, but said he is motivated more by inspiring people to overcome difficulties.

At the end of a flat run from Albertville to Valence, 36-year-old Briton Cavendish edged Belgians Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen to the line with his 33rd stage win in the world’s greatest bike race, while also keeping a firm grip on the sprint points green jersey.

Cavendish was a surprise late inclusion on Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Tour roster and had seized the opportunity, ending a five-year barren patch in the race with wins on Stages 4, 6, and now 10. The 2009 world champion, known as the Manx Missile, was teamless in December before being taken in by former mentor Patrick Lefevere on the Belgian team, where he has finally put behind him the after effects of the tiring Epstein-Barr virus .

“I’ve been blown away by the love and support from around the world,” a beaming Cavendish said. “People can be inspired by some kind of comeback if you think things are over, if anyone can use that to get inspired, that is the greatest joy for me.”

Cavendish cut a much lighter character when interviewed, after coming across prickly on his previous two triumphs here.

“I didn’t do anything today, they just delivered me, it was phenomenal again,” he said, after hitting 63.5kph (almost 40mph) on the home stretch.

Cavendish refuses to discuss the Merckx stage milestone; the Belgian won the last of his Tour stages in 1975. The former Team Sky rider is described by Tour director Christian Prudhomme as the greatest sprinter ever on the Grand Boucle, but will never win the race outright. On Sunday, he scraped over the line just inside the time cut on a major mountain stage and described this feat as perhaps his greatest victory.

“My boss has been talking about me winning a fifth stage on the Champs Elysees,” he said, a feat that would see him surpass the long-standing Merckx’s tally. “But I’m just taking it one day at a time, and I’ll keep trying to win stages.”

Pogačar ready to go full gas

The 22-year-old defending champion Tadej Pogačar retained the yellow jersey for the overall lead after keeping a low profile ahead of Wednesday’s monster double climb of Mont Ventoux , with its barren, lunar upper reaches.

“Yeah, I didn’t get too involved today, I need to get ready to go full-gas on Mont Ventoux,” said the overall leader. “There’s no point me risking everything going for a stage win.”

“I crashed the first day on the Tour, and I’ve crashed six times this year, so that’s my main stress on these flat stages, keeping out of trouble,” Pogačar continued.

Stage 10 embarked from the 1992 Winter Olympics host city of Albertville and took the peloton through the magnificent Rhone Valley, where the 165 survivors from the original 184 starters appeared relaxed after their rest day, all of them having tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday.

The race ended minutes before a heavy rainstorm lashed the finish line in Valence, halfway between Lyon and Marseille, that had been on an ‘orange alert’ in France for bad weather. A crosswind prelude to the storm picked up 30K out of Valence, known for its Crozes Hermitage wines, wafting the pungent scent of the lavender fields across the open plains outside the arrival town in the Drome region.

Australian climber Ben O’Connor soared to a high-altitude stage win in the Tour de France on Sunday, on a cold, rainy day that culminated in a 21K climb to Tignes.

UAE Team Emirates controlled the main contenders and their leader, the 22-year-old defending champion Tadej Pogačar, again hurt his rivals and strengthened his hold on the Tour lead, while the Citroën AG2R rider O’Connor hauled himself into second in the overall standings.

O’Connor skipped up the 21K final climb to Tignes, leaving the other members of his breakaway group, including Colombian pair Nairo Quintana and Sergio Higuita, trailing in his wake.

“It’s mind-blowing, it can make your heart stop and it definitely did that to mine,” said a visibly thrilled O’Connor, who dedicated the win to his happy Citroën AG2R team, family, girlfriend and mates back in Australia.

The temperature was in single digits Celsius and rain fell most of the day.

“Conditions were atrocious,” O’Connor said, and riders looked frozen to the bone at the finish line, many trembling with cold.

Pogačar once again showed he is currently the strongest of the overall contenders as he dropped Ineos Grenadiers riders Geraint Thomas and Richie Carapaz with 4K to go, gaining another 30 seconds in his title defence.

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar soared into the Tour de France overall lead on Saturday on an Alpine stage won by Belgian Dylan Teuns, as British outfit Ineos Grenadiers’s hopes were again battered.

UAE Team Emirates’s Slovenian leader Pogačar finished fourth, around a minute behind Teuns, but took another three minutes out of his most credible rival Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz of Ineos.

Overnight leader Mathieu van der Poel went into a trademark “all or nothing at all” meltdown and looks set to drop out of the Tour as promised and jet off to Tokyo to contest the mountain bike gold medal.

At one point, a wind-blown umbrella flew across Van der Poel’s path, but the Dutch Tour rookie swerved brilliantly to avoid it, keeping his Olympic dream alive even as he let go of the yellow jersey.

Pogačar, who stunned his rivals with a Stage 5 time trial win, was again head and shoulders above the rest of the field. He attacked from the group of contenders a full 30K out after his sports director said ahead of the race, “the Tour de France starts here.”

With 13 stages remaining, Pogačar leads the Tour by one min and 48 seconds ahead of Belgian Wout Van Aert, who is Jumbo-Visma’s main hope, after Primož Roglič’s crash several days ago and subsequent decline in form.

The 22-year-old Pogačar will wear the yellow jersey for only the second time on Sunday. He took control of the 2020 Tour on the penultimate day, but rather than bide his time on this raucous edition, he has seized control early.

Teuns, a 29-year-old Belgian, who also won a stage of the 2019 Tour de France on the storied Planche des Belles Fille climb, dedicated his win to his grandmother—his grandfather passed away just two days before the start of the Tour.

“I hope she’s not suffering too much by being alone,” said Teuns, who was only 12 seconds ahead of Pogačar at the summit of the final climb.

“I didn’t know he was so close, there was so much noise up there,” said Teuns, who rode recklessly on the descent to open a larger lead on the gifted descender Pogačar.

Have fun up there

Before Van der Poel dropped off the pace on the second climb, he drew alongside Pogačar and the two chatted for a few moments.

“He wished me well and said he hoped I got the jersey today,” Pogačar said.

When Pogačar put the hammer down, as they say in cycling, only Carapaz was able to follow, but not for long.

“Attack is the best defence,” Pogačar said. “I haven’t won the Tour de France yet,” he said, looking ahead to Sunday’s stage with it’s summit finish at Tignes.

“Tomorrow we have a super, super hard stage, we may have to defend there,” he said, looking pale and cold after his long day in the rain.

Teuns’s Bahrain Victorious team had a second reason to be cheerful as Wout Poels took the King of the Mountains polka-dot jersey.

The 150K course, which culminated with the ascent and descent of a classic Tour climb, the Col de la Colombiere with a 7.5K climb at an 8.5 percent average gradient, was the first of eight mountain stages. There were large weekend crowds in the Upper Savoy region known for Evian water, melted-cheese dishes, and the Chamonix ski resort.

Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič won Stage 7 of the Tour de France on Friday, as Mathieu van der Poel kept the yellow jersey, after leading a breakaway on an epic 249K run from Vierzon to Le Creusot.

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar limited his losses and remains a force to be reckoned with, while Ineos’s best-placed rider Richard Carapaz wasted energy with a doomed late breakaway before being caught on the line as the British team continue to suffer.

A mass attack after 50K of the longest stage in 21 years stunned race favourite Pogačar, as over 20 riders got away after a 15K struggle to contain them wilted. The large escape group, all working hard to maximize the damage, soon opened up a seven-minute lead, leaving a sense of confusion in the teams left behind including UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers. It was to produce an unexpected day of drama to round off an eventful first week.

Ahead of two tough mountain stages in the Alps, the rookie Van der Poel, who took the overall lead on Stage 2, is a defendable 3 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of fifth-placed Pogačar.

“It was just a brutal day, I haven’t witnessed this often on the bike, or even watching a race on television,” said Van der Poel, who insists the Tokyo Olympics is his chief aim.

“I just wanted to protect the jersey and followed my rivals in the attack,” he said in reference to Jumbo-Visma’s Wout Van Aert, who is now second overall at just 30 seconds back after the pair came home with six other riders, a minute and 40 seconds after the winner.

Brutal shock

Pogačar admitted after the race that he felt the effects of his individual time trial win on Wednesday, saying he had not refused to chase and thanking his team, even if they lost three minutes on Van der Poel.

“I knew it was going to be hard when they attacked in crosswind, but I’m super proud of the team. I can’t be the strongest every day,” said the 22-year-old.

His countryman, stage winner Mohorič, climbed to fourth in the overall standings and claimed the King of the Mountains polka-dot jersey.

“It hasn’t sunk in,” said a visibly thrilled Mohorič. “This completes my set as I won at the Giro and the Vuelta.”

“But this is something else, this is the biggest race in the world,” he continued.

Another Slovenian, Primož Roglič, had the biggest loss of the day and was dropped with 15K to go. The 2020 runner-up fell badly on Stage 3 and now appears to be out of the running after losing 3 minutes and 50 seconds on Pogačar and Carapaz.

With its hills, forests, and sheer length, Stage 7 had the feel of an Ardennes one-day classic, and Belgium’s Wout Van Aert and Van der Poel of the Netherlands were key protagonists in forcing a hesitant peloton into a dramatic charge for the line.

Mark Cavendish continued his astonishing return to form by following the escape in the crosswind, as he often did in days of old, to win an intermediate sprint and take another 20 points in the chase for the green jersey before dropping back to the peloton.

The Mark Cavendish comeback gathered pace Thursday as he won his second stage in three days with a triumph on a day for pure sprinters along a 1.7K home straight at Chateauroux.

After a barren five-year spell at the Tour, the win on Stage 6 took Cavendish’s tally at the world’s greatest bike race to 32 stage wins, just two short of Belgian great Eddy Merckx’s all-time record of 34.

“Please don’t ask me that question,” Cavendish said at the line when asked about the record.

Nobody else dared, but the rider himself broached the subject.

“You can’t look at this as ‘there’s no two without three,’ let’s just take it one day at a time,” he explained.

On a pancake-flat sixth stage run over a scenic 160K run through the Loire Valley, Dutch rookie Mathieu van der Poel kept hold of the yellow jersey in a race that, for the first time this edition, passed off without any major incident.

Less of a shock

The stage finished in the actor Gerard Depardieu’s hometown, a city Cavendish knows well after two previous stage victories in 2008 and 2011 on a finale that suits out-and-out sprinting, and on Thursday he once again produced a deadly last-second pounce for the line.

“When I knew there was a finish here it didn’t make me feel romantic as such but, there’s this massive old school Tour de France sprint finish. Here, Paris, and Bordeaux are the big sprint towns,” he said.

Two days ago, Cavendish shook his head in disbelief after winning Stage 4, but he was all grace and smiles after launching his 70km/h (43.5mph) finish after a sign from world champion teammate Julian Alaphilippe.

“It was less of a shock today than Tuesday’s win, we knew we could do it now, but it means just as much as that win,” said the 36-year-old, who keeps the green jersey for best sprinter.

Story of the Tour

The man known as the Manx Missile dismissed any suggestion that the quality of sprinters remaining operational was diminished due to the crashes that marred the opening stages.

“I’m sorry about my friend Caleb Ewan, it would have been an honor to sprint against him,” he said of the Australian who won three stages in 2019, but crashed out on Stage 3 this year.

“But look at the speed today. When I won here in 2011, 52km/h was standard, now it’s 54 or 55 km/h,” he said. “There’s an incredible group of sprinters here.”

Cavendish was teamless in December, but his old mentor Patrick Lefevere took him in at Deceuninck Quick-Step, with a sponsor providing the salary. In his old Belgian hunting grounds, Cavendish regained his smile after recovering from the Epstein Barr virus, an energy-sapping illness.

Against all expectations, when he was sent to the Tour of Turkey in April he won four stages, and another one in the Tour of Belgium in June. Stunning everyone, Lefevere then selected him ahead of Irish sprinter Sam Bennett for the Tour roster.

“What a story this is, something you couldn’t make up. It’s incredible,” a glowing Lefevere said at the finish line.

Race favorite and defending champion Tadej Pogačar said he had enjoyed the incident-free stage after winning the time trial Wednesday.

“It was fast but I felt good racing here,” he said of the fast-paced run alongside vast wheat fields and through vaunted vineyards.

“Tomorrow might be tricky, tough with that punchy finish,” Pogačar warned.

Friday’s stage is the longest on the Tour at almost 250K and features a finish hard to call: either a shake up of the peloton or perhaps another chance for Cavendish to take a further step towards Merckx’s record.

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar fired out a defiant warning to would-be Tour de France title contenders by storming the individual time trial on Wednesday, while Mathieu van der Poel clung on to the overall lead after Stage 5.

Van der Poel kept hold of his yellow jersey by just eight seconds while Ineos pair Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz lost more than a minute on Slovenia’s ever-improving Pogačar, who is now second in the overall standings.

Ahead of the 27.2K time trial, Pogačar described the stage as critical to his chances of defending the title he won in 2020 and the manner in which he raced Wednesday backed up that statement.

Pogačar won last year’s Tour de France by overturning compatriot Primož Roglic’s comfortable lead in a time trial on the penultimate day, and here he appeared to do at least as well as that fateful day on the feted La Planche des Belles Filles slopes where he clinched the Tour on his rookie appearance.

“It couldn’t really have gone any better today,” said the 22-year-old UAE rider. “With so many fans along the route it was really emotional and I rate this as one of my best days in the saddle.”

“I have changed my riding position, it’s less aerodynamic but allows me a stronger push,” added Pogačar after timing 32 minutes exactly over the 27.2K course, clocking an average speed of 51km/h (32mph).

His time was 44 seconds faster than that of Roglič, who fell heavily on Monday, and one minute and 18 seconds quicker than 2018 champion Thomas, who dislocated his shoulder before managing to pick himself up and finish the same crash-marred stage.

Pogačar’s time unseated Stefan Kung of Groupama-FDJ, who held the fastest time through much of the stage, with a 19-second lead. Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma placed third in the stage, with Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma placing fourth, and Van der Poel taking fifth. Primož Roglič also gave a strong performance, despite his injuries, and placed seventh.

Pogačar’s phenomenal ride didn’t quite give him the overall lead but it leaves him in the driving seat for the title, one minute and 44 seconds ahead of Carapaz, with Roglič and Thomas four and 10 seconds further adrift respectively.

“There are still some tricky stages, even an easy looking day, you never know what can happen,” said Pogačar. “I’m further ahead now and attacks will come every day.”

Welshman Thomas said he had been feeling poorly, and had mixed feelings after the stage.

“I got the pacing right, but lacked a bit of power. I woke up feeling dreadful, and only loosened up out on the road,” he said.

Carapaz said he was glad the test was behind him, while Richie Porte suggested it was far from over saying, “We have a good tactical card to play, it was a good performance.”

The yellow jersey “gave me wings”

Van der Poel had vowed to defend the yellow jersey, but this was only the second time he had raced a time trial at the top level, and he reached beyond expectations to hold the lead on his debut Tour.

“He’s a true champion, he deserves his yellow, and he put on a great show, didn’t he,” Pogačar said of Van der Poel.

The raw emotions that accompanied Van der Poel taking yellow on Stage 2, avenging his recently deceased grandfather and former cyclist Raymond Poulidor, who never wore yellow despite winning seven stages, made way to a lighter-hearted side of “VDP” (as fans call him).

“The jersey gave me wings. I’m really proud of this achievement, it’s one I’ll remember,” said the 26-year-old who was cheered wildly by French fans packed tightly along the course.

On a day when a spectator who caused a mass crash of riders on Stage 1 was arrested by French police, there were tens of thousands of roadside fans infringing onto the route as the tension mounted towards the finish line.

“This was the best day of my career, we didn’t think I could keep the jersey today, but we worked well past midnight last night in preparing it all,” said Van der Poel, who had a tailored yellow skinsuit on. Van der Poel will likely keep the overall lead a few days longer, with two flat stages to come.

Another happy man was veteran Mark Cavendish, who kept hold of the green jersey for best sprinter.

“I held back a bit today because there are two flat stages coming up and I’ll need my energy to sprint,” said the Isle of Man rider.

The Briton won Tuesday’s bunch sprint finish to take his Tour de France tally to 31 stage wins and close in on the all-time record of 34 held by Belgian great Eddy Merckx.

Mark Cavendish broke down and wept after sprinting to his first Tour de France stage victory in five years on Tuesday, taking his tally of wins to 31 in the world’s greatest bike race.

Cavendish only made the Deceuninck Tour de France roster after Irish sprinter Sam Bennett pulled out at the last minute and was generous in his praise of the team’s crucial role in his return to the top.

The signs looked good early on in the fourth stage when Cavendish won the intermediate sprint, his maximum 70-point gain on the day handing him the green jersey awarded to the sprint points leader. In the sprint on this relatively short stage Cavendish showed all his savvy, biding his time to edge ahead with 50 meters to go and eventually finishing ahead of French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni.

Known as the “Manx Missile,” the rider from the Isle of Man shook his head in disbelief as he pulled on the green jersey.

“It’s been five years too long,” said Cavendish, inching closer to Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 individual stage wins between 1969 and 1975.

“There has been a lot of talk about my condition and I hope this gives hope to people in my condition,” said the 36-year-old who was diagnosed in 2017 with the Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause persistent fatigue.

Conversely, there was heartbreak for Belgian rookie Brent Van Moer as the 23-year-old Lotto-Soudal rider was caught just 150 meters from the finish line after leading an escape for the majority of the attack.

“I had fire in my eyes”

Cavendish hailed world champion Julian Alaphilippe, from whom he inherited the green jersey, after the Frenchman gave everything to get Cavendish into position.

“I didn’t think we were going to catch him,” Cavendish admitted. “The GC guys were ahead blocking the road and we couldn’t get them going.”

“But I had fire in my eyes,” said an emotional Cavendish.

“It’s not easy winning a Tour de France stage, the hardest thing has been people not understanding how hard it was to win those stages,” he said of the years when his career seemed to have stalled.

“It’s not about proving anyone wrong. I knew I could do it, I just need someone to believe in me and that was Patrick Lefevere, and my wife at home, those are the people I wanted to believe,” he continued.

Cavendish was out of contract in December but was taken ‘home’ to Deceuninck Quick-Step, who call themselves “the Wolfpack” by Belgian team boss Lefevere, a larger-than-life character Cavendish has always trusted and believed in. Lefevere sent Cavendish to the level two Tour of Turkey in April and when he won four stages there, the foundation for a return to the top had been laid.

“I know why I’m good or bad, and I need a happy place, a team that functions as a team, a bike that fitted me, that’s why I came back to [Deceuninck] Quick-Step for the happiest time of my life,” said the sprinter.

“The Wolfpack thing is not just the face of a wolf on a t-shirt, look at Julian Alaphilippe today giving all that, I feel privileged,” Cavendish said.

Alaphilippe won Stage 1 to take the yellow jersey before losing it to Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday, but on Wednesday’s time-trial the French rider, on paper at least, has a good chance of winning it back.

The 2020 champion, Tadej Pogačar, is also gunning for a win on Wednesday.

“Yes, tomorrow is critical,” Pogačar said. “I’ve been thinking about it since I got here.”

Dutch rookie Van der Poel, who shed tears in memory of his renowned cyclist grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, on Sunday, said he felt he would lose the overall lead during the Stage 5 time trial.

“We’ll be trying to get another stage victory somewhere else, it’ll be too tough for us tomorrow,” he said.

Alaphilippe has worn the yellow jersey 18 times and trails Van der Poel by just eight seconds, with Pogačar in sixth overall, a further 30 seconds down on his chief threat ahead of Wednesday’s 27K test.

Race favourites Primož Roglič and Geraint Thomas, as well as ace sprinters Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan were all involved in nasty crashes before Tim Merlier won a drama-filled Stage 3 of the Tour de France on Monday, with one manager making a passionate plea for new safety measures.

Merlier’s teammate Mathieu van der Poel kept hold of the overall lead on a brutal day of racing peppered with falls on the rain-slick, narrow winding roads in Brittany with Thomas dislocating a shoulder and 2020 runner-up Roglič losing valuable time.

Yellow jersey wearer Van der Poel cut a dour figure compared to the tear-filled elation he experienced after winning Sunday's stage two.

“It was a very fast, technical run-in with all the general classification guys racing for their places, it’s difficult to say anything now,” said Van der Poel.

“It’s a big race, (in the) overall standings guys fighting against sprinters, for sure it’s a dangerous sport,” said the Dutch Alpecin-Fenix rider in muted celebrations after he not only retained the yellow jersey but also led out Merlier’s sprint train.

“Will mothers let their kids cycle?”

With two mass pile-ups marring Stage 1 and an ensuing hunt for the mystery culprit French police have vowed to catch up with, followed by the thrill and raw emotion of Van der Poel winning one for his illustrious cycling family on Stage 2, drama was always likely to be coming round the next corner.

And so it proved on the seafront at the Plage de Testel, 2018 champion Thomas losing his concentration and hitting the ground so hard he dislocated a shoulder before making it back to the peloton with the help of three teammates. Images of Thomas shaking his legs while having his shoulder put back in by medics won’t be easy to forget.

Slovenia’s Roglič then hit the tarmac hip first with 10K to go, and while shaken he also limited his losses with the help of teammates. Although his Tour is not finished, he now has time to make up on Tadej Pogačar and Thomas.

The worst fall came in the home straight with Caleb Ewan hitting Merlier’s back wheel at over 80kph and taking Slovak sprint specialist Sagan down with him, the pair sliding for tens of meters on the tarmac.

Ewan’s main sprint rival from FDJ, Arnaud Demare, had also fallen on a bend just outside Pontivy and his manager Marc Madiot was furious.

“Kids, families, mothers are watching this, will mothers want their kids to cycle? We have been speaking about this for years, this isn’t cycling , what condition is Ewan in,” said an impassioned Madiot.

Ineos’s Carapaz into third

In the chaos of all the crashes, Ineos’s Ecuadorian rider Richard Carapaz was the overall title contender ending the day with relative good news as he climbed to third in the overall standings.

Van der Poel enjoys an eight-second lead over Stage 1 winner Julian Alaphilippe, with Carapaz in third at 31 seconds along with Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma.

But Pogačar and Thomas both lost 26 seconds Monday while a grazed Roglič crossed the line one minute and 20 seconds down, having rallied heroically to save his Tour.

As for the mystery woman in yellow who caused the first crash on day one with her sign held up in front of the pack, French authorities are still actively looking for her , a high-ranking gendarme told AFP Monday.

“We don’t know who she is, if she’s German or Franco-German or whatever. But don’t worry, we’ll find her,” the gendarme said. “She isn’t at risk of much more than a fine, the ASO (race organizers) are making this move more as a warning to fans on the roadside.”

There were massed ranks of fans again Monday, but none of the falls were their fault.

Mathieu van der Poel won Stage 2 of the Tour de France on Sunday to claim the overall leader’s yellow jersey and strike a blow for his famous cycling family.

The Dutch 25-year-old is the grandson of French cycling icon, the late Raymond Poulidor, who was a regular on the Tour de France podium and beloved of French fans despite never wearing the fabled yellow jersey.

Van der Poel dropped to the tarmac gasping for breath before weeping with his hands covering his face as the weight of Poulidor's historic legacy was settled on two dramatic ascents of the same Brittany hill, the Mur-de-Bretagne.

“Imagine how he’d feel, he’s not here,” said van der Poel of Poulidor who died in 2019 at the age of 83. “This was my last chance on the Tour to do it, it’s so good.”

French fans saw their own hero Julian Alaphilippe lose the yellow jersey, but cheered the Dutchman both for his gung-ho passion and for his beloved grandfather.

Van der Poel won a maximum of 18 bonus seconds for crossing the summit in the lead twice, and then winning by a clear margin after accelerating away from a chasing clutch of elite road racers.

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar was second followed by Primoz Roglič, while Alaphilippe was fifth at eight seconds.

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe dusted himself off from a fall to claim the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France on Saturday, winning Stage 1 by a clear margin on a crash-marred opening day.

World champion Alaphilippe shot up the early section of the final 3K climb taking 10 bonus seconds at the finish line and ended another 12 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger.

Australia’s Michael Matthews was second and is second overall at 16 seconds while Slovenia’s Primož Roglič came third and is in the same position in the overall standings.

Crossing the line in his world champion's rainbow jersey, Alaphilippe put his thumb in his mouth in honor of his newborn son with his partner Marion Rousse, a former professional cyclist and now commentator.

INEOS Grenadiers leader Geraint Thomas and defending champion Tadej Pogačar were just behind this group on a hugely stressful finish with major time gaps at stake that almost certainly led to the second of two mass falls on the day.

Just before the finish, around 20 riders lay stricken and needing attention shortly after a first mass fall on the Tour de France opening stage including four time champion Chris Froome.

Unlike the earlier crash caused by a fan, the second came as the peloton was going around 70kph some 5km from the finish line.

A first fall happened some 45K away from the finish line of stage one of the Tour between Brest and Landerneau.

A fan brandishing a sign brought down German rider Tony Martin who was riding near the head of the pack and close to excited roadside spectators.

The Jumbo-Visma rider fell, bringing down a huge number of fellow peloton members behind him. The crash held up the race for five minutes while bikes and bodies were untangled.

The race leader slowed down to allow the stragglers to catch up and despite the spectacular tangle only one rider, Germany's Jasha Sutterlin of DSM, has so far had to pull out due to the accident.

Italian champion Sonny Colbrelli and Dutch rider Wout van Aert, who ran over Martin before falling head over heels, had both been amongst the favorites to win the first stage hilltop finish but were both badly delayed.

Hordes of unmasked fans decked out in red-and-white polka dot caps and shirts lined the narrow Brittany country lanes for the 197K stage as France eases its COVID-19 restrictions.

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Tour de France stage 21 - Vingegaard crowned champion

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Live Reporting

Chris Bevan

All times stated are UK

We won't get a 50th finish on the Champs Elysees next year - the race will end in Nice instead, because Paris will be preparing for the 2024 Olympics, but Jordi Meeus made sure this year's sprint was one to remember and, of course, the 2023 Tour belongs to Jonas Vingegaard.

You can scroll back to see how the final stage of this year's Tour was won, or check out our developing report but the 110th Tour de France is officially done and dusted.

Vingegaard's biggest fans

Vingegaard is waiting to be called up to the podium but he has already met up with his family - wife Trine Marie Hansen and their daughter Frida.

Another Grand Tour is the target for Jonas Vingegaard. He is off to try to win the Vuelta Espana next. It starts on 26 August.

First things first, though, because he is about to hop on to the top step of the podium in Paris.

Three in a row?

Jonas Vingegaard will be on top of the podium soon, but here he is celebrating with his bike. He's just thanked his team, his family and the whole of Denmark for their support.

"It's been a super hard race and a super good fight between me and Tadej (Pogacar)," he says. "I really enjoyed it."

His plan is to come back to try for a third win next year.

No change to the top of the race today, we already knew who would be on the podium - but what an effort by the Yates brothers, to be next best after Vingegaard and Pogacar.

General Classification - final standings

1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Jumbo - Visma 82:05:42

2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates +7:29

3. Adam Yates (GBR) UAE Team Emirates +10:56

4. Simon Yates (GBR) Team Jayco - AlUla +12:23

5. Carlos Rodríguez (ESP) INEOS Grenadiers +13:17

6. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain Victorious +13:27

7. Jai Hindley (AUS) BORA - hansgrohe +14:44

8. Felix Gall (AUT) AG2R - Citroën Team +16:09

9. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama - FDJ +23:08

10. Guillaume Martin (FRA) Cofidis +26:30

A four-man race to the line

I've just watched a replay of the sprint - Meeus was on Mads Pedersen's wheel in the final few metres, on the left-hand side of the road, and then burst forward. It was just enough to edge out Jasper Philipsen who had gone past Dylan Groenewegen on the right ...but none of them knew who had won when they crossed the line.

'Everything went perfect'

"Everything went perfect," Meeus says afterwards. "I am super-happy. From the moment we went full gas, my legs felt really good."

He denied Philipsen a fifth-stage win of this year's Tour and stopped him from back-to-back triumphs on the Champs Elysees.

A day to remember

This is definitely the biggest win of Jordi Meeus's career. The 25-year-old Bora-Hansgrohe rider was riding in his first Tour de France

Jonas Vingegaard wins the 2023 Tour de France

He holds his bike aloft at the finish line. What a ride, to see off Tadej Pogacar and secure back-to-back Tour triumphs.

Top five on stage 21

These were the first five riders over the finish line - the first four were basically in a straight line, spread across the Champs Elysees.

1. Jordi Meeus

2. Jasper Philipsen

3. Dylan Groenewegen

4. Mads Pedersen

5. Cees Bol

Post update

Four riders lunged for the line and from the TV camera angle, it looks like Philipsen took it... the photo shows that Meeus got it though - that's the first Tour stage win for the Belgian and what a place to get it. Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen were also left shaking their heads.

Jordi Meeus wins stage 21

Wow, that was close!

Here comes Jonas

Here comes the man in the yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard rides over the line with his Jumbo-Visma team-mates, saluting the crowd. We know he's won the Tour, but who took the stage?

Jordi Meeus might have nicked it.

Dylan Groenewegen is right there with Jasper Philipsen, it's a photo finish...

Mathieu van der Poel is leading Philipsen out from a long way.

Dylan Groenewegen is on Philipsen's wheel

Mads Pedersen is trying to protect his spot near the front. Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel are still there, behind a team-mate.

1.2km to go

Alpecin-Deceuninck are well placed, Philipsen must be favourite from here.

Fred Wright is up there too. The lead-out trains are in place.

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"Tour de France Cycle City" label: soon 150 towns and 10 countries in the loop?

As part of its "Riding into the Future" programme to promote sustainable mobility, the Tour de France launched the "Tour de France Cycle City" label in 2021, encouraging all the initiatives taken by towns and cities that have already hosted the Grande Boucle to promote everyday cycling.

For this fourth edition, the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift have received bids from 24 cities, including six outside France. This year, 16 towns on the 2024 Tour de France route have applied, and two are on the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift map, which should take the number of approved cities to 150... in 10 different countries!

The results will be announced on 15 May as part of the “Mai à vélo” (Bike in May) campaign.

150! That's the symbolic milestone the "Tour de France Cycle City" label could reach in its fourth edition. This initiative, created in 2021, enables towns that have already hosted the Grande Boucle to have their commitment to developing cycling in all its forms assessed and rewarded. Whether they are French or foreign, rural or urban, towns applying for the label must highlight all the existing measures to encourage cycling in their application and present local short- and medium-term development plans (infrastructure deployment, improving rider safety, learning to cycle with the "How to ride a bike" campaign, parking and combating theft, maintenance and repair, etc.). All these measures contribute to the growth of cycling as a means of daily transport, a source of leisure, and exercise.  

Since 2021, 133 cities in eight countries have already received at least one level of accreditation. With 24 applications, the 2024 campaign could see the number of towns and cities recognised for promoting cycling rise to 150. In addition to the new French and Belgian cities that could appear on the map, two new territories are about to join the club, representing ten countries with towns awarded the label! Italy, where the Tour de France will set off on 29 June for the first time in its history, has three candidates: Rimini, Piacenza and Pinerolo. More exotic still, Japan, which for over ten years has welcomed the champions of the Grande Boucle to Saitama in the middle of autumn as part of a festive criterium reminiscent of the Asian craze for the event, could also be in the running!  

Sixteen French towns on the route of the 2024 Tour and two others on the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift submitted bids, from Evaux-les-Bains, the least populous of the candidate towns, to Nice, the host town of a new and spectacular finish of the Tour de France on 21 July, reflecting the diversity of bids once again this year for a label that allows towns to showcase their assets on their scale. Four French cities that have hosted the event in the past have also applied, while two municipalities that have already received the label have requested a reassessment of their rating. The jury is now studying all the applications. The results will be announced to the candidate cities on 15 May 2024 as part of the "Bike in May" campaign.  

Composition of the jury for the "Tour de France Cycle City" label: Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France; Émilie Defay, deputy editor-in-chief at France Bleu Paris; Jean Ghedira, director of communications, sponsorship and general secretariat at LCL; David Lazarus, mayor of Chambly and chairman of the "Sports" working group of the Association des Maires de France; Olivier Schneider, president of the FUB (French Federation of Bicycle Users); Karine Bozzacchi, CSR manager for the Tour de France.  

Candidate cities for the 2024 label:  

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Tour de France 2023 stage-by-stage guide: Route maps and profiles for all 21 days

The 2023 Tour de France has all the ingredients of a classic: two leading protagonists ready to tear lumps out of each other in reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard and the deposed Tadej Pogacar; entertaining multi-talented stage hunters Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Pidcock; the great Mark Cavendish chasing a historic 35th stage win; all facing a brutal route with 56,000m of climbing and four summit finish.

The Tour began in the Spanish Basque country on Saturday 1 July, where Adam Yates edged twin brother Simon to win the opening stage, and these hilly routes will throw open the yellow jersey to a wide range of contenders. The race crosses the French border for some flat stages and an early jaunt into the high Pyrenees, where the Col du Tourmalet awaits. The peloton takes on the Puy de Dome volcano on its journey across France towards the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and it is in the mountains that this Tour will ultimately be decided. It all ends on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday 23 July.

Here is a stage-by-stage guide to how the race will unfold.

Stage 1: Bilbao to Bilbao, 182km

The 2023 Tour de France starts outside Bilbao’s iconic Guggenheim Museum, and winds north to the Bay of Biscay coastline before returning to the city where the stage winner will take the yellow jersey. This 182km opening stage is a hilly route with 3,000m of climbing featuring five categorised ascents, of which the final two are sharp and testing: they are tough enough to shake off the dedicated sprinters and open up early glory for the best puncheurs – those riders with the legs to get over short climbs and the power to surge away on the other side.

The profile of this stage is a great choice by organisers as it could suit just about anyone, from the speed of Wout van Aert to the climbing strength Tom Pidcock or Simon Yates – even two-time champion Tadej Pogacar.

Jumbo’s Death Star and Pidcock’s dog: Inside the Tour de France’s Grand Depart

Stage 2: Vitoria Gastiez to Saint Sebastian, 209km

The peloton will head east from Bilbao, touching more picturesque Basque coastline before arriving at the finish in San Sebastian. At more than 200km this is the longest stage of the 2023 Tour and, with the sizeable Jaizkibel climb (8.1km, 5.3% average gradient) shortly before the finish, this is even more tough on the legs than the first day. Another puncheur with the climbing strength to get over the steeper hills can capitalise, like two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe.

Stage 3: Amorebieta to Bayonne, 187km

Stage three starts in Spain and ends in France, and the finale in Bayonne is ripe for a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish will get his first shot of this race at trying to win a historic 35th Tour de France stage, but he will be up against a stacked field including former QuickStep teammate Fabio Jakobsen and the awesome speed of Wout van Aert. It will be fascinating to get a first glimpse of how the power riders stack up.

Stage 4: Dax to Nogaro, 182km

Another flat day and an even faster finish in store on the Circuit Paul Armagnac, a race track in Nogaro. The 800m home straight will almost certainly tee up a showdown between the Tour’s serious fast men.

Stage 5: Pau to Laruns, 163km

The first major mountains of the Tour come a little earlier than usual, as the peloton heads up into the high Pyrenees on day five. The Col de Soudet (15km, 7.2%) is one of the toughest climbs of the race and rears up halfway through this 163km route from Pau to Laruns. The category one Col de Marie Blanque (7.7km, 8.6%) guards the finish 20km out, and holds bonus seconds for those first over the top to incentivise the major contenders to come to the fore and fight it out.

Stage 6: Tarbes to Cauterets, 145km

This has the potential to be a thrilling day: the 145km route takes on the double trouble of the category one Col d’Aspin (12km, 6.5%) followed by the monstrous hors categorie Tourmalet (17.1km, 7.3%), before a fast ascent and a final climb to the summit finish at Cauterets (16km, 5.4%).

It is a day with several possible outcomes. If the yellow jersey is on the shoulders of a fast puncheur at the start then it may well be transferred to one of the general classification contenders by the end, should they decide to fight for the stage win. Then again, a breakaway could be allowed to escape which would open up victory – and perhaps the yellow jersey – to an outsider. The last time the Tour finished in Cauterets in 2015, breakaway specialist Rafal Majka surged clear of his fellow escapers to win. Keep an eye on Ineos’s Tom Pidcock, who could use the long, fast descent from the Tourmalet summit to speed to the front, as he did before winning atop Alpe d’Huez last year.

Stage 7: Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux, 170km

The first week of racing finishes in the Tour’s second most visited city, Bordeaux, and it’s a third flat day for the sprinters to contest. Much will depend on who has best preserved their legs through the high mountains when they come to this tight, technical finish on the banks of the Garonne river in the city centre.

Stage 8: Libourne to Limoges, 201km

A long, hilly day will see the peloton head 201km east from Libourne outside Bordeaux to Limoges. The lumpy stage should suit a puncheur but it is not a particularly taxing set of climbs – only three are categorised and the toughest of those is just 2.8km at 5.2%. So could a determined team carry their sprinter to the finish and the stage win? Look out for Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, superstars with the all-round talent to conquer the climbs and still finish fast.

Stage 9: Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome, 184km

The final stage before the relief of the first rest day is relatively flat and gentle – until a brutal finish atop the iconic Puy de Dome volcano, a 13.3km drag at a gruelling 7.7% average gradient that last appeared in the Tour in 1988. The summit finish will require a serious climber’s legs to clinch the stage win, and the general classification contenders may well let a breakaway get ahead and fight for that prize.

Rest day: Clermont-Ferrand, Monday 10 July.

Stage 10: Parc Vulcania to Issoire, 167km

The race resumes in the centre of France from Vulcania – a volcano-themed amusement park – where riders will embark on a hilly 167km route through the Volcans d’Auvergne regional park, finishing down in the small town of Issiore. With five categorised climbs, including the sizeable Col de Guery (7.8km at 5%) and the Croix Saint-Robert (6km at 6.3%), it will be a draining ride with virtually no sustained flat sections, and a long descent to the finish town. It looks like a good day to plot something in the breakaway, as the big GC contenders save their legs for bigger challenges to come.

Stage 11: Clermont Ferrand to Moulins, 180km

The final flat stage before the hard Alpine climbs will present an opportunity for those fast men who managed to haul themselves through the Pyrenees to get here – although there is still some climbing to be done including three category-four leg-sappers along the 180km route. The day begins in the university city of Clermont-Ferrand before the riders wind north and then east to Moulins, a small town on the Allier river. Any breakaway is likely to be reeled by those teams with dedicated sprinters eyeing their only opportunity for a stage win between the two rest days.

Stage 12: Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, 169km

The race caravan will shift east to start stage 12 in Roanne in the Loire region, before taking a 169km route to Belleville, situated on the Saone river north of Lyon. This has been categorised as a hilly or medium mountain stage, but it might feel harder than that by the time the peloton reaches the foot of the fifth categorised climb of the day, the Col de la Croix Rosier (5.3km at 7.6%). That should be enough to put off the best puncheurs like Van der Poel and Van Aert, because the stage winner will need strong climbing legs. The GC riders will want to conserve energy, so expect a breakaway to stay clear and fight amongst themselves.

Stage 13: Chatillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier, 138km

The first of three brutal stages that could decide the destiny of this year’s yellow jersey is only relatively short – 138km – but will provide a stern enough test to reveal any weaknesses in the major contenders. The peloton will enjoy a relatively flat and gentle first 75km from Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne before entering the Jura Mountains. A short climb and fast descent precedes the big climax: all 17.4km (7.1%) of the Grand Colombier providing an epic summit finish. This could be another day for a breakaway away to get free, but the overall contenders like Pogacar and Vingegaard will also fancy stage glory and the chance to stamp their authority on the race.

Stage 14: Annemasse to Morzine, 152km

Part two of this triple header of mountain stages sees the peloton ride into the Alps with a 152km route from Annemasse to Morzine ski resort. Three tough category one climbs line the road to the hors categorie Col de Joux Plane (11.6km at 8.5%), a brutally steep grind where bonus seconds await the first few over the top – and stage victory is the prize at the bottom. This is another potential spot for yellow jersey fireworks.

Stage 15: Les Gets to Saint Gervais, 180km

The last ride before the final rest day will take the peloton further east into the Alps, towards the French border with Italy . The 179km day is almost constantly up and down, with a fast descent before the final two climbs, and the summit finish atop Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc will require strong climbing legs once more.

Rest day: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, Monday 17 July.

Stage 16: Individual time trial from Passy to Combloux, 22km

This year’s home stretch begins with the only time trial of the race: a short, relatively flat 22km from Passy to Combloux in the shadow of Mont Blanc. The route includes one categorised climb, the steep but short Cote de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4%). This stage is unlikely to decide the yellow jersey or podium spots, but there is an opportunity here to make up crucial seconds for those that need them.

Stage 17: Saint Gervais to Courchevel, 166km

Put Wednesday 19 July in the diary: this will surely be the most brutal day of the entire Tour de France and it could be decisive. The 166km route features four big climbs, the last of which offers up this year’s Souvenir Henri Desgrange for the first rider over the highest point of the race. To get there the riders must endure a 28.1km slog averaging 6% gradient to the top of the Col de la Loze, towering in the clouds 2,304m above sea level. There are bonus points seconds up here too, before a short descent down to the finish at Courchevel.

A breakaway will probably form, but can they last the distance? Whatever happens up the road, the fight for the yellow jersey will be fierce – only the strongest handful of riders will be able to stand the pace and this will likely be the day that the 2023 winner is effectively crowned.

Stage 18: Moutiers to Bourg en Bresse, 186km

After a potentially explosive stage 17, stage 18 is classified as “hilly” but is really a relatively sedate 185km which the sprinters are likely to contest if their teams can haul in the inevitable breakaway. The big question is whether there will be many sprinters left in the peloton after such a demanding set of stages in the Alps. For those fast men still in the race, the descent into Bourg-en-Bresse precedes a technical finish, with roundabouts and a sharp corner before a swinging right-hand turn on to the home straight where the stage will be won and lost.

Stage 19: Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny, 173km

Another flat day gives a further opportunity for those sprinters left in the field, as the peloton travels 173km from Moirans, near Grenoble, north to Poligny. The general classification contenders will be happy to rest their legs before one final push to Paris.

Stage 20: Belfort to Le Markstein, 133km

The final competitive stage of the Tour is a 133km ride from Belfort to Le Markstein ski resort in the Vosges mountains, and it offers just enough for one final attack to steal the yellow jersey, should the overall win still be on the line. The last two climbs of the day are both steep category one ascents: first the Petit Ballon (9.3km, 8.1%) followed by the Col du Platzerwasel (7.1km at 8.4%). Whoever is wearing yellow just needs to hang on to the wheel of their fiercest rival here, and that should be enough to see them home.

Stage 21: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysees, 115km

As is tradition, the peloton will transfer to Paris and ride a truce to the Champs-Elysees. The stage will start at France’s national velodrome, home of cycling for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It will finish with one final sprint: Cavendish has won four times in Paris and it would be a fitting way to end the race that has defined his career if he were to repeat the feat one last time. And once the race is done, the winner of the 2023 Tour de France will be crowned.

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Tour de France 2021: The Essential Race Guide

All you need to know, from the contenders to race and stage-by-stage analysis

The 2021 Tour de France is almost upon us with the Grand Départ set for June 26, and 21 mouth-watering stages to look forward to as the race takes in Brittany, two individual time trials, a double assault on Mont Ventoux and the customary finish on the Champs Élysées in Paris on July 18.

The 108th edition of the race will see defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) aim to defend his crown against Primoz Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and a host of other yellow jersey contenders over what is an intriguing and multi-layered route profile. 

After a mountain-heavy Tour de France in 2020, race organisers ASO have opted for a more traditional and classic affair this time around, with the race reverting to hosting two long individual time trials for the first time since 2013.

In fact, on the face of it, the profile and route of the 2021 edition of the Tour de France is somewhat of a throwback to a Jean-Marie Leblanc style of race – in that the route suits a strong time triallist and puts the pure climbers on the back foot almost immediately. However, there are deeper levels and dimensions to Christian Prudhomme’s opus. 

There are just three summit finishes in total, 58km of time trialling – a lot for a modern-day Tour – and eight stages for the sprinters. Prudhomme has also moved away from packing the route with a barrage of new climbs or prolonged periods in the Jura, Massif Central or Vosges mountain regions. 

That being said, Prudhomme has cleverly concocted a route that marries some of the most iconic of French cycling furniture – Mount Ventoux, Brittany, the Col de Port, Pau, and the Tourmalet – and blended those ingredients with several truly engaging aspects. 

There may only be three summit finishes, and many of the staple Alpine climbs are missing, but there are stages that could be defined just as much for their descents as the climbs they included, with ASO attempting to nullify the typically late mountain-top attacks by encouraging riders to go on the offensive even earlier.

Prudhomme may have built this Tour on traditional foundations, with two days in the Alps and five in the Pyrenees, but he has also taken risks too – something Leblanc rarely did. His 2021 route is peppered with stages that could easily be turned upside down by crosswinds and potential ambushes, especially around Narbonne, Nimes, and Carcassonne. The four days in Brittany – although a replacement for the Copenhagen Grand Départ – could see the race lead change almost daily, while the first time trial on stage 5 has enough road to create a pecking order and draw out the climbers ahead of the Alps.

Overall, this is a route that perhaps doesn’t ignite the immediate excitement or glamour that some of Prudhomme’s recent ventures have. Ventoux aside, there are no gimmicks, but this is still a highly engaging route and one that provides all the landscape the riders need to make compelling Tour de France.

The Tour de France contenders – Pogačar, Roglič and Ineos

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) comes into the race as the reigning champion so the young Slovenian starts his Tour defence under completely different circumstances to last year, when he was somewhat of an underdog. His smash and grab at La Planche des Belle Filles last summer was nothing short of astonishing but it’s fair to say that he benefitted from the fact that he and his team didn’t need to control any of the race. Instead, they wisely allowed Jumbo-Visma to wear themselves out, but this time around Pogačar will not be afforded such comforts and from the moment he arrives in Brest for the Grand Départ the entire race will be watching his every move. That said, Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates squad are far from average. In Marc Hirschi, David de la Cruz, Brandon McNulty, Davide Formolo, and Rafal Majka, the defending champion has the core of an excellent team. They aren’t the strongest team in the race but they don’t necessarily have to be. 

On paper, Pogačar’s main threat is the rider he crushed in the final time trial last year, Primoz Roglič . The Jumbo-Visma leader has spent the last few months secluded up at altitude, shunning the standard pre-Tour race programme for a tailor-made and extended period of training. He has not been seen at a race since Liège-Bastogne-Liège back in late April but the 31-year-old will no doubt bring his best condition to the race. There are reasonable questions over the current form of his team but while the Dutch outfit may not have the same sparkle they had last year, they are far from mediocre, with Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert and Steven Kruijswijk providing worthy cover.

The strongest ensemble in this year’s race comes from Ineos Grenadiers who line up with 2018 winner Geraint Thomas , Richard Carapaz and Richie Porte among their cast. The British team, smarting from last year’s defeat, will be looking to win back-to-back Grand Tours after Egan Bernal’s Giro d’Italia success in May, and while they do not have a contender as lethal as Pogačar or Roglič, their collective muscle could be just as important. When the leading group are down to 10 riders in the mountains it’s possible that half of that contingent could be made up of Ineos riders and that's a level of dominance that cannot be ignored. Roglič and Pogačar cannot chase every move and while attacking might be the Slovenian pair’s best form of defense, they could just as easily become isolated.

For Ineos Grenadiers, the dilemma comes in the form of which leader to back. Thomas has the better Tour record, of that there’s no doubt, but he looked below his best at the Dauphiné while Carapaz dominated the Tour de Suisse. Porte is somewhat of a dark horse but the two time trials along the route probably edge Thomas ahead in the team pecking order.

Outside of the Ineos, UAE and Jumbo stables, there are a number of overall contenders with hopes of challenging for the podium. Marc Soler, Enric Mas , Miguel Angel Lopez and Alejandro Valverde are in line for protected spots at Movistar – although it’s surely Mas who leads the line after his fifth place last year. Julian Alaphilippe will shoulder Deceuninck QuickStep’s ambitions but will once again be forced to fend for himself in the mountains, while Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) looks to be back to his 2017 level when he finished on the podium.

There are three Australians – leaving Porte aside – with genuine top-ten hopes. Ben O’Connor has finished top ten in his last two weeklong WorldTour stage races and it’s little wonder that AG2R Citroën recently extended his contract. Lucas Hamilton has been given the responsibility of leading Team BikeExchange's GC bid with Simon Yates targeting stage wins, while Jack Haig was fifth in the recent Dauphiné and has an in-form Bahrain Victorious at his disposal.

Wilco Kelderman forms part of a very strong Bora-Hansgrohe squad that includes Emanuel Buchmann and Patrick Konrad , and Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) remains a threat even if his star has been waning for some time.

Along with Alaphilippe, the French have real hope via Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who looks to be peaking on time this year after he faded in the second half of last year’s race, but it’s David Gaudu at Groupama-FDJ who instills the most belief from the home nation. With Thibaut Pinot still on the sidelines, Gaudu has the chance to stake his claim as a Tour de France contender in his own right. He was mightily impressive at the Vuelta last year, winning two stages and finishing eighth overall. This year the 24-year-old has been consistent and the next natural progression for him would be a top-five in Paris.

Israel Start Up-Nation arrives at the race with Michael Woods as their protected GC asset. That leaves four-time Tour winner Chris Froome to act in the unfamiliar role of road captain. 

Below those riders there are a number of talented outsiders worth watching, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech), Esteban Chaves (Team BikeExchange), Michael Woods (Israel Start–Up Nation), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers), Dan Martin (Israel Start–Up Nation) and Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) are all flying under the radar.

The Tour de France sprinters – Ewan, Démare, Merlier, Cavendish or Bennett?

With up to eight stages within this year’s race intended for the sprinters, there’s no hiding away from the fact that the fastest riders in the world will be hogging their fair share of headlines in this year’s race. The first dedicated sprint stage arrives on stage three and other than the block of stages in the Pyrenees, the rest of the flat days are liberally dotted throughout weeks 1, 2, and 3. 

There are question marks over the participation of Sam Bennett , who is still recovering from a knee injury, and while Deceuninck-QuickStep boss Patrick Lefevere publicly announced that he has no ‘plan B,’ that’s not strictly true. Mark Cavendish – a 30-time stage winner – is waiting in the wings and after his recent exploits in Belgium, he looks like the fiery, competitive rider of old. Michael Mørkøv needs someone to lead out after all, and if Bennett proves unable to prove his fitness in time, the veteran Manxman could prove the perfect tonic for Lefevere’s unease. 

The fastest rider in the race, however, is likely to be Caleb Ewan , who looks like a prime contender for the green jersey, let alone a stage win or two. The Australian has almost the entire Lotto Soudal team at his disposal and, after his double at the Giro d’Italia, looks well on course to add to his tally of five Tour stages. 

When it comes to the WorldTour, Arnaud Démare has been a pale imitation of the rider who dominated the Giro sprints last year but his flat-track bully performances in recent months suggest that the Groupama-FDJ rider is approaching something like his best form just in time. Tim Merlier looks like a rider to watch after his stunning start to the year, while his Alpecin-Fenix teammate and leader Mathieu van der Poel can no doubt play a part on any stage that isn’t in the mountains or a time trial. 

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) can sprint with the best riders but his disrupted run-in and operation to remove his appendix has left question marks over his condition. Even a Van Aert at 80 per cent is a threat but Peter Sagan – the seven-time Green jersey winner – remains the biggest threat for Bennett’s title defence if the Irishman does make it to Brest. Sagan won a stage in the Giro and the points competition and, despite Bora-Hansgrohe’s insistence on stacking a team with climbers, looks like the favourite for all but the flattest of stages. Sonny Colbrelli has never won a Grand Tour stage but was in blistering form at the recent Dauphiné, while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Mads Pedersen (Trek–Segafredo), Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels p/b KTM) are all worth a mention. 

The Tour de France Route – a stage by stage guide

All times local – CEST. All finish times according to the earliest predicted schedule. 

Stage 1 / Saturday June 26 / Brest - Landerneau, 197.8km / Times: 12:10 - 17:00

The 2021 Tour de France kicks off with what could be a thrilling stage between Brest and Landerneau. This is the first time since 2008 that the Tour has started in Brest but rather than opting for a prologue or short time trial ASO have decided to cram six climbs within the opening 197.8km of this year’s race. Although none of the ascents will worry the peloton too much, this has all the makings of a difficult day in the saddle with the pace likely to be relentless throughout. With no yellow jersey or pecking order established, tensions will run high, while the added complication from possible cross-winds will leave several overall contenders nervous.

Crashes, splits and tactical mistakes will all play a part but the gradient on the final climb does at least ease in the final 500 metres before the line. That said, many of the pure sprinters will have been distanced by that point and it should be a puncheur who comes out on top to take the stage and the first maillot jaune of this year’s race.

Stage 2 / Sunday June 27 / Perros-Gueirec - Mûr-de-Bretagne, 183.5km / Times: 13:10 - 17:30

Stage 2 of the Tour de France is a day of two halves. Unlike the opening day of racing, when the climbs were evenly spread out, stage 2 between Perros-Guirec and the top of the Mur-de-Bretagne has most of the six categorised climbs crammed into the second half of the stage, with two ascents of the Mur-de-Bretagne thrown in for good measure. That said, there’s relatively little in the way of flat roads between the start and the first climb at 72.8 kilometres.  

The finale is technical and we’re likely to see the same riders who contested stage 1 once again take centre stage. Assuming the peloton starts the final climb in one piece, the gaps between the overall contenders should be relatively small come the line but last time the race finished here, back in 2018, Daniel Martin attacked with around one kilometre to go and everyone of the top-three finishers in Paris lost time. Once again, this isn’t a day for the peloton to relax.

Stage 3 / Monday June 28 / Lorient - Pontivy, 182.9km / Times: 13:10 - 17:24

After two days that catered for the puncheurs the sprinters of this year’s Tour de France will be finally let off the leash. The stage departs Lorient, the hometown of former King of the Mountains winner Warren Barguil, but that’s where any attention directed towards the talismanic Frenchman ends, with the race hugging the coastline before heading inland, through the department of Morbihan, but before reaching the finish in Pontivy the peloton must climb the Côte de Cadoudal – known as the Breton Alpe d’Huez – and where stages have taken place in both 2008 and 2015. All the fine-tuning and training before the race will count for little in the heat of the finale and with such a huge prize up for grabs it may well come down to which sprinter, and his leadout, make the fewest mistakes.

Stage 4 / Tuesday June 29 / Redon - Fourgères, 150.4km / Times: 13:25 - 16:52

The Tour de France’s mini Tour of Brittany ends on stage 4 with another outing for the sprinters. At just 150.4 kilometres in length, this is shorter than the previous day and its part of ASO’s plan to increase the intensity within the race on days that might ordinarily set out as slow burners before igniting in a fierce sprint battle to the line. There are no categorised climbs to speak of between the start in Redon and the finish in Fougeres but this is a must-watch stage nonetheless. The entire stage takes place in the Ille-et-Vilaine region. The last time the race ended in Fougeres was in 2015 with Mark Cavendish taking the stage. It’s an identical finish this time around with the sprinters set to enjoy their second straight day of action before the stage 5 time trial. 

Stage 5 / Wednesday June 30 / Changé - Laval, 27.2km / Times: 12:15 - 16:50

The Tour de France leaves Brittany on stage 5 and shifts up a gear with the first of two time trials in this year’s race, and while the opening two stages may have provided brief glimpses of a fight for the yellow jersey the 27.2 kilometre test between Changé and Laval Espace Mayenne will cause major changes to the overall standings. This is the longest individual time trial the Tour de France has held in the opening week since the 2008 edition. That year a vast amount of time separated the top contenders with the top 20 riders spread out over approximately a minute and a half and, in a race that has so far been judged by seconds, the aftershocks from this stage could determine the pattern of racing for the next two weeks.

Stage 6 / Thursday July 1 / Tours - Chàteauroux, 160.6km / Times: 13:55 - 17:26

After the stage 5 time trial and a reshuffling at the top of the overall standings the attention turns back to the sprinters. However, while the stage profile looks tailor-made for the fastmen, with a limited amount of climbing on the menu, there is a threat of crosswinds and echelon action in this region if the winds pick up.

The 160.6 kilometre stage leaves Tours and heads east. For the first few hours of racing there should be very little to trouble the peloton as the race heads out of the cathedral city and ventures into picture-postcard châteaux and vineyard country. This should be a day for the sprinters, and Mark Cavendish won his first-ever Tour stage in the finish town of Châteauroux back in 2008.

Stage 7 / Friday July 2 / Vierzon - La Creusot, 249.1km / Times: 11:00 - 17:05

Stage 7 of the Tour de France is a day that should be finely balanced between a break succeeding or a reduced group of all-rounders deciding the day’s honours. The stage, which sees the race head east from Vierzon is the longest Tour stage in 21 years, totalling a whopping 249.1 kilometres.

This may not look like a day for the GC riders but this has potential ambush written all over it. The distance, coupled with the demanding second half will ensure only a small group contest the finish, and we could potentially see yet another change in race leadership.

Stage 8 / Saturday July 3 / Oyonnax - Le Grand Bornand, 150.8km / Times: 13:10 - 17:06

The hills on stage 7 were mere an appetizer for what’s in store on stage 8 of the Tour de France as the race heads into the Jura and Alpine mountain ranges for the first time this year. There may not be a summit finish in store for the peloton but with five categorised climbs, plus an uncategorised uphill start, this will be a rude awakening for the riders after a week of relatively flat racing broken up by the odd short, sharp ascent.

The stage culminates with the first category ascent of the Col de la Colombière and a finish at Le Grand-Bornand but before then the peloton will tackle some rugged terrain and obstacles in just 150.8 kilometres of racing. 

The addition of the Cote de Mont-Saxonnex, new compared to the 2018 version of this finale, just adds another level of difficulty to the stage. Back in 2009, when the race also climbed the Romme-Colombière combo several GC contenders, including Lance Armstrong, were dropped with Frank Schleck taking the honours.

Stage 9 / Sunday July 4 / Cluses - Tignes, 144.9km / Times: 13:00 - 17:30

Two years after a stage on the Tour de France to Tignes was washed away by flash floods ASO have made true on their promise of bringing the race back, and this should be another mountain blockbuster with five climbs peppered along the 144.9-kilometre route between Cluses and the ski station at Tignes.

After taking in some of the most stunning scenery of the race so far the riders begin the long descent down into Bourg-Saint-Maurice followed by the long steady climb of the Montée de Tignes. It’s 21 kilometres in length and starts off relatively steadily but as the road continues the climb the gradient really digs in around the point of the Les Brevières. This a brute of a climb and the gaps between the overall contenders could stretch into minutes, and while this isn’t a summit finish – with the road flattening out with 2 kilometres to go – it’s still the hardest stage of the Tour so far. 

Rest day 1 / Monday July 5

Stage 10 / Tuesday July 6 / Albertviille - Valence, 190.7km / Times: 13:05 - 17:23

  Following the first rest day in this year’s Tour de France the racing recommences with a 190.7km stage from Albertville to Valence. The race takes us away from the Alps and it’s a day for the sprinters but the threat of potential crosswinds and echelons in the final part of the stage makes this anything but an easy day in the saddle. Michael Matthews won a stage in these parts back in 2017, beating Edvald Boasson Hagen and John Degenkolb to the line in Romans sur Isère, on a day that was also hit by crosswinds. That day Chris Froome and Team Sky put Dan Martin and Alberto Contador to the sword and even though their time losses were manageable every second counts at this point.

However, assuming that the sprinters’ teams remain in contention this could be a hugely important day in the battle for the Green jersey with a flat run into Valence perfectly suited to a bunch gallop. Chepe González – who certainly wasn’t a sprinter – won from a breakaway in Valence all the way back in 1996.

Stage 11 / Wednesday July 7 / Sorgues - Malaucène, 198.9km / Times: 12:00 - 17:18

Stage 11 is all about the climbers with the race taking on the highly anticipated doubled ascent of Mont Ventoux. Before the riders get to the first ascent they leave Sorgues and take on two small fourth category climbs, the Cote de Fontaine-de-Vaucluse followed by the first category Col de la Liguière. The riders will then descend into Sault before beginning the first ascent of ‘the Giant of Provence’. The first time up takes the easiest of three possible routes to the top but it’s also the longest, with 24.3 kilometres of climbing facing the riders. The toughest gradient come into view around Chalet Reynard with the riders emerging from the tree-covered landscape and reaching the barren slopes that make Mont Ventoux so revered. At the summit the riders drop down into Malaucène for the first time via one of the fastest descents they’ll face in the entire race before taking a short uncategorised climb to Bédoin and then the final ascent of the Ventoux. At 15.7 kilometres long, and with an average 8.8 per cent, the road is simply relentlessly steep from the very start. At Chalet Reynard they hit the roads they climbed earlier before cresting the summit and taking on a second breakneck descent into Malaucène for the finish.

Stage 12 / Thursday July 8 / Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Nîmes, 159.4km / Times: 13:30 - 17:12

After the double ascent of Mont Ventoux on stage 11 the race returns to less testing terrain with a 159.4 kilometre stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes. As with stage 10, however, appearances can be deceptive and despite only one short climb positioned mid-way through the stage there’s another chance that echelons and crosswinds could play their part in proceedings. At Vallon Pont d’Arc the stage heads south and into the Gard department. The exposed roads at this point could be a key if the wind picks up before the peloton hits the third cat climb of the Côte du Belvédère de Tharaux. With less than 30 kilometres to go the road heads due south to Nîmes for the expected bunch sprint, where Alexander Kristoff and Caleb Ewan are both past winners. This could be either a relatively quiet day in the Tour or one of the most intense battles of the race so far.

Stage 13 / Friday July 9 / Nîmes - Carcassonne, 219.9km / Times: 12:05 - 17:15

After finishing in Nimes on stage 12, the riders still left in the Tour de France will leave the same city in the Occitanie region of southern France and head towards the historical city of Carcassonne. On paper this looks like a relatively straightforward transition stage as the race tip-toes towards the Pyrenees but the finer details of this 219.9 kilometre jaunt tell a different story. Once more the threat of crosswinds loom large and while there is only one fourth category climb between the start and Carcassonne the majority of route is rolling. It’s no coincidence that no stage has ever ended in a bunch sprint in Carcassonne with Magnus Cort Nielsen winning from the break last time the race reached the walls of the medieval citadel that dominate the hill-top town, back in 2018.

Stage 14 / Saturday July 10 / Carcassonne - Quillan, 183.7km / Times: 12:15 - 16:48

For a second day in a row the Tour de France departs from the previous day’s finish and stage 14 of the race heads out of Carcassonne for a 183.7 kilometre journey south to the small town of Quillan. On paper this looks like a nailed on day for the breakaway with five categorised climbs peppering the route all the way towards the 17 kilometre descent from the top of the last ascent into the finishing town. The most likely scenario will see the sprinters’ teams sit back after the last few days of hostilities while the GC riders opt for a calm day given what’s ahead of them in the coming days.

The stage could be decided by the final climb of the stage, the Col de Saint-Louis. The ascent is 4.7 kilometres long and has an average gradient of 7.4 per cent and will provide the perfect launch pad for the remnants of the break to attack each other before the final descent to the line.

Stage 15 / Sunday July 11 / Céret - Andorre-La-Vieille, 191.3km / Times: 12:20 - 17:28

Stage 15 from Ceret to Andorre-La-Vieille is one of the hardest in this year’s race. There are four categorised climbs along the 191.3 kilometre route but three of them are first category ascents, while the riders will reach the highest point in this year’s race, topping out at over 2,400 metres. What’s more the final climb of the day, the Col de Beixalis, has the potentially to blow the entire race apart. From the intermediate sprint at Olette the road continues to climb towards the summit of the Montee de Mont-Louis. A descent follows but there’s little valley road before the riders begin to climb the secondary Cole de Puymorens – a 5.8 kilometre climb with an average gradient of 4.7 per cent. That climb will bring the riders to just under 2,000 metres, and there’s only a short descent before the first category climb of the Port d’Envalira – with the Souvenir Henri Desgrange going to the first rider to reach the Tour’s highest point. The following descent brings the race deep into Andorra before the assault of the Col de Beixalis looms into view. At the summit the road plummets back towards the centre of Andorra with a steep and highly technical descent towards the line.

Rest day 2 / Monday July 12

Stage 16 / Tuesday July 13 / Pas de la Case - Saint-Gaudens, 169km / Times: 13:05 - 17:21

Stage 16 sees the race head back into France, and while the 169 kilometre jaunt from Pas de la Case to Saint-Gaudens is far from easy, the profile suggest that the win could be decided by a break. That said, racing after a rest-day can often throw up some surprises and if one of the riders in the top-ten is showing any signs of weakness or fatigue, expect no mercy from their rivals. After the Col de la Core the riders will descend into the valley before hitting the Col de Portet-d’Aspet. They then descend – passing the Fabio Casartelli memorial – before the last and shortest climb of the day, the Côte d’Aspret-Sarrat. It’s only 800 metres in length but there are certainly some difficult stretches and with the finish just a few kilometres away it should provide an excellent launchpad for any last minute attacks.

Stage 17 / Wednesday July 14 / Muret - Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet, 178.4km / Times: 11:50 - 16:49

The Col du Portet, first introduced to the Tour de France in 2018, returns this year and comes at the end of a crucial day in the Pyrenees. Starting in Muret, the route heads southwest and the opening 115 kilometres or so are relatively flat until the peloton reach Bagnères-de-Luchon – exactly where the 2018 Tour stage started. From there the riders will on the first of three major ascents with the Col de Peyresourde first up. The riders will then make a breakneck descent into Loudenvielle before tackling the Col d’Avet. It’s shorter than the Peyresourde but with a gradient averaging 8 per cent it’s a severe test. Another fast but this time technical descent follows before the road kicks up for the final climb and the summit finish atop the Col du Portet. The 16-kilometre ascent suits the lightweight pure climbers perfectly with a tough opening section as the road climbs towards Espiaube. At that point the gradient briefly eases before the riders turn right, thus avoiding the road towards Pla d’Adet, and take on a relentless section of switchbacks. The gradient reaches over 10 per cent in the final kilometre and the time gaps here could be race defining.

Stage 18 / Thursday July 15 / Pau - Luz Ardiden, 129.7km / Times: 13:35 - 17:19

Stage 18, the final mountain stage of this year’s Tour de France is arguably one of the hardest days in the race, with two massive Pyrenean climbs – the Col du Tourmalet and a blockbuster finish at the top of Luz Ardiden. What’s more, the stage is just 129.7 kilometres in length, meaning that there will be little to no respite.

There are two small fourth category ascents in the first 54 kilometres of racing – the Côte de Notre-Dame de Pietat, and the Côte de Loucrup, before an intermediate sprint at Pouzac From there the race heads through Bagnères-de-Bigorre and gently rises south through Campan and Saint-Marie-de-Campan before the race really starts on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet. There’s then a rapid descent through Barèges and into Luz-Saint-Sauveur before the race reaches the Pont du Napoleon bridge. The riders then start the second straight HC-category climb of the day to the summit of Luz Ardiden. The climb is 13.3 kilometres in length, and while the opening few hundred metres are relatively easy the climb ramps up drastically after the first kilometre.  

Stage 19 / Friday July 16 / Mourenx - Libourne, 207km / Times: 12:20 - 17:06

With the Pyrenees in the rearview the attention turns back to the sprinters on stage 19 with a 207 kilometre stage from Mourenx to Libourne. However it will be a tough day for the sprinters to control. The distance, coupled with the fact that peloton will be exhausted from five days in the mountains, will leave a number of teams somewhat unwilling to control a peloton for a long day in the saddle. This could also be the last chance for teams without a sprinter or a GC rider to potentially rescue their race and with a lumpy opening 50 kilometres a bunch sprint is far from a certainty. 

Stage 20 / Saturday July 17 / Libourne - Saint-Emilion, 30.8km / Times: 13:05 - 17:19

At 30.8 kilometre in length, the individual test between Libourne and Saint-Emilion is a flat affair with small rises and long drags that will perfectly suit the time trial specialists. 

This is the course for the power specialists and even the technical sections along the route should be no problem for them. Any concerns will be purely reserved for the climbers, who after three weeks of racing could see their advantages obliterated in a painfully short amount of time. 

Stage 21 / Sunday July 18 / Chatou - Paris Champs-Élysées, 108.4km / Times: 16:15 - 19:00

After three weeks of drama and excitement the Tour de France arrives in Paris for the final stage and a showdown between some of the best sprinters in the world on the Champs-Élysées. For the fourth year in a row the final stage of the race starts in Chatou, just west of the capital, but the route initially heads east for a brief while before doubling back on itself. At this point the pace will be relaxed with teams and riders soft-pedalling through the opening kilometres and using the opportunity to celebrate their achievements and reaching Paris to complete the Tour.

How to watch the 2021 Tour de France – live TV and streaming

Read on to find out how to watch the Tour de France   via live stream, no matter your location, with  ExpressVPN .

The 2021 Tour de France will be broadcast around Europe and Eurosport. A subscription to  Eurosport Player  costs £6.99 for a single month, £4.99 for a year-long monthly pass, or £39.99 for a 12-month pass.

GCN+  will also air the race in the UK and in  select other territories  around Europe. A year’s subscription to GCN+ now costs £39.99 / €39.99 / $49.99 after the end of a promotional price in February. 

ITV4  will also be showing the race in the UK, with full full live coverage and highlights available. In Wales,  S4C  will be airing the race.

The Tour de France will be available to view in the USA on  Peacock Premium . A seven-day free trial is available, while a subscription to Peacock Premium will set you back $4.99 (or $9.99 without ads) per month.

FloBikes  will air the Tour de France in Canada. An annual subscription will set you back $149.  SBS  will air the race in Australia.

Around Europe, broadcasters include  France TV  in France,  ARD  in Germany,  Sporza  and  RTBF  in Belgium,  Rai  in Italy, and  RTVE  in Spain

If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.

Our sister site TechRadar tested hundreds of VPNs and recommends the number-one VPN currently available as Express VPN. With  ExpressVPN , you can watch on many devices at once including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.

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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.

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