There will be no more racing for Jonas Vingegaard this season, following the crash that broke his collarbone in the Tour de France.

According to the Dane's Visma-Lease a Bike team, he is still feeling the effects of the crash and is unable to work towards late-season racing goals such as the World Championships. He won't race again until 2027.

“After a long and intense racing period, a recovery period was planned after the Tour de France anyway," said Vingegaard on the team's website. "Due to the collarbone injury, the start of my training has been delayed and it is not possible for me to get back to top level in the coming period. The focus is on preparing optimally for the goals of the 2027 season. I will discuss these specific goals with the team in the coming period.”

The 29-year-old won the Giro d'Italia earlier in the season, completing a career triple of French, Spanish and Italian Grand Tours. He also won the Volta Catalunya and Paris-Nice stage races, and proclaimed himself feeling more like he did before his devastating crash in Itzulia Basque Country in 2024.

He had hoped to challenge for a third Tour victory in July, but an already floundering attempt came to a halt on stage 15 to Plateau de Solaison. He was one of multiple riders to come down on a tricky right-hand bend, sustaining injuries that took him out of the race.

Vingegaard was sitting in second place at the time, 4.30 behind eventual winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

His retirement with a broken collarbone was described as "devastating" by the team at the time.

Speaking about the rest of Vingegaard's season, his directeur sportif Marc Reef said he would take stock and ultimately formulate a plan for 2027.

“As announced at the start of the season, we would take stock of the remaining part of the season after the Tour de France. After a busy period with many days of racing and the collarbone fracture Jonas sustained in the Tour de France, it is best for him to focus on 2027. Together with Jonas, we will look at the right training build-up and goals for the new year over the coming weeks.”

Uncharacteristically losing his cool, Jonas Vingegaard gestured angrily at a television motorbike to move along and leave him alone. A late incident on stage five of this year's Tour de France, had left the two-time champion scrabbling for a bike change, and his desire to avoid the camera’s gaze while drafting cars back to the peloton was understandable. But that flash of frustration served as a reminder that motorcycles have become an enveloping swarm around the Tour de France peloton.

There are as many as 100 motos on the road on each stage – an armada that has expanded to feed the demand for multi-angle live broadcasting, with around 45 camera bikes, and at least as many police escort and support motos. Conflict is inevitable. While they haven’t caused any major controversies so far in this year’s race, this sheer number of motos presents hazards, influences aerodynamics – and you wouldn’t bet against such incidents cropping up in the days to come.

“It would be nice not to worry about it, but it’s a big problem, for sure,” said Lidl-Trek’s Toms Skujiņš.

The issue at hand is almost as old as bike racing itself, but it has become increasingly pronounced in recent years: TV motorbikes getting too close to riders and creating a slipstream effect that has a real, sometimes even decisive, influence on the racing.

This is no occasional problem: it happens on each and every stage of the Tour de France, multiple times. Camera bikes frequently hover just in front of a breakaway, a solo attacker or the peloton. The benefit cannot be overstated: the effect is big enough to alter the outcome of the race.

A 2020 study by engineering professor Bert Blocken of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, found that a motorbike sitting 10m ahead of a cyclist – and they are often much closer – reduces drag by 23%. This translates to an 8.9% speed increase, or a saving of 5.4 seconds per kilometre – 4kph of free speed at 54kph. Anyone benefitting from this effect is therefore much, much harder to catch. Conversely, if the peloton is the beneficiary, they are able to close the gap to the tête de la course much more easily.

Cycling Weekly contacted the UCI about this issue, but in response it referred us only to its rulebook – in which it is stated that a motorcycle “must operate from three-quarters in front of riders and must position itself on the opposite side of the wind in order not to provide a draft… nor allow riders to benefit from their slipstream.”

The rulebook emphasises that the motorcyclists “must carry out their work without disturbing the proper functioning of the race.” The vagueness is the problem here: how close is too close when it’s not specified in the rules?

It is generally accepted that a moto shouldn’t be within 10m of the racing, but it’s an unwritten rule – and it’s frequently ignored. Too often, as we’ve seen in this Tour de France, a motorbike loiters too close to riders, providing a pronounced aerodynamic benefit – as big a boost as a brisk tailwind. Following a motorbike at a distance of five metres, a rider’s speed increases by 15 seconds per kilometre. It’s a major advantage.

The aforementioned study from Blocken et al proved that even at greater distances there is a slipstream effect. At 30m, the following riders gain 2.7 seconds per kilometre, while at 50m it’s 1.6 seconds. A similar study by the same author, published three years later, determined that the effect of camera bikes can be even greater than that of cars. “A motorcycle with two persons sitting upright is a less aerodynamic object than [a] car. This leads to a larger benefit for the cyclist behind the motorcycle,” the report concluded.

Multiple variables affect how much influence a motorcycle has on a following cyclist, not least the road’s gradient, the speed, and the direction of the wind. But the summary of Blocken’s 2020 report stated: “The common concern in the cycling community that drafting behind motorcycles can influence the outcome of races is correct.” Riders at the Tour wholeheartedly agree.

NSN’s George Bennett, riding his sixth Tour, describes the feeling of being in a moto’s draft. “You don’t really feel it, as you’re still pedalling fast and pushing the same power, but you do notice that you’re going really fast,” he says. “You’ve also got to remember that one or two kilometres per hour faster is huge – it’s such a big margin. Suddenly gaining 10 watts is quite a big difference. In a sport of millimetres, all of these small things make a big difference.”

In Bennett’s view, it’s an issue that tends to favour the breakaways more than those fighting for overall victory at the end of a stage, but still has a significant effect on the race. “There are examples where it’s really bad,” he says, “[including] some obvious cases in the Giro d’Italia where the peloton were pulling death turns and not getting anywhere. And at the Tour de Romandie, life at the back of the peloton wasn’t fun.”

Like others we spoke to for this feature, Bennett points to Italian races as the worst offenders. “I’m sure this will be a hot topic this Tour,” adds the New Zealander. “But it’s not a new topic – it’s been around forever.”

Complaints from the peloton about the proximity of motorbikes have become increasingly common in recent years, but Bennett admits it works both ways: riders go out of their way to capitalise on the slipstream. “You want to be the guy who attacks first because you know you’re going to get a draft from the bike,” he says. “I’ve benefitted hugely from motorbikes myself.”

He is unequivocal about where the responsibility lies. “It’s definitely not at all on the riders – you’d be an idiot to move out of their draft – it’s on the motorbikes. I even know stories of Belgian ex-team-mates who have talked to motorbike drivers and made friends with them because it can really affect the race.”

What, then, is the solution? Some have suggested equipping motorbikes with lasers to project a ‘distance bubble’ on the road, while others have called for more side-on filming (though Blocken notes this would still provide an aerodynamic effect). The use of drones – as seen at Milan-San Remo and in numerous cyclo-cross races – has also been proposed. However, the most popular idea is enforcing a minimum distance rule of 25m. Blocken points out that the challenge is to ensure the camera motos can still do their job effectively. “From 100m away, on a winding road, the camera won’t see the rider.”

So what does he think should be done? “The best that can be done, while we’re waiting for drones to become practical, which could be decades, is setting some minimum distance rules. The cameras nowadays are highly advanced and they can record high quality footage 30-40m away.” One even simpler solution from Blocken is to reduce the number of motorcycles allowed in front of the racing. “We often see multiple motorcycles together in front of a group,” he says. “At most there should only be one motorcycle.”

When Blocken first published a study into the advantage motorbikes provide to following riders in 2017, the UCI was initially dismissive of his work. “The UCI technical director said it’s just a load of nonsense,” he recalls. Since then, the governing body has been more open to working with Blocken, and in 2023 it extended the minimum distance a following team car must remain behind a rider in a time trial from 10m to 25m. Blocken doubts this rule is enforced, and no such action has been taken in road races.

Even if the UCI eventually introduces new measures, Skujiņš warns that the real challenge will lie in enforcement. “A lot of the times we tell the race commissaires that the moto is too close. It might go away for five minutes, but then it’s back five minutes later,” the Latvian says. “We also need to educate the drivers and cameramen that they can’t sit close to the rider.” It’s an issue guaranteed to rear its head repeatedly at this year’s Tour – and one that shows no signs of being resolved any time soon.

TNT Sports witnessed a 58% year-on-year increase in viewership of the Tour de France in the UK and Ireland this month, in the first year of its exclusive broadcasting deal for the race.

A report published on Wednesday by the channel’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), said it enjoyed a “record number of viewers” of this year’s Tour across its streaming, television and digital platforms.

Although WBD did not provide specific numbers – and refused to do so when contacted by Cycling Weekly – it said that an audience of “millions” watched the race on TNT Sports, and record numbers streamed it on its HBO Max platform in the UK.

This coincided with the first edition of the Tour de France in four decades that had no live coverage on free-to-air television in the UK.

Last autumn, ITV dropped the rights to broadcast the race after 25 years. In its place, WBD signed an exclusivity deal in the UK, putting the race behind a paywall that currently costs £30.99 a month, or £25.99 a month on a 12-month contract.

"Companies like us and Sky invest in sport, and that's why sports like the [football] Premier League have been going since day one behind a paywall," said WBD Sports Europe’s executive vice president Scott Young earlier this year.

"There’s a clear audience in this market that accepts paying for sport. Sport in this market generally sits behind a paywall one way or the other."

A survey by Cycling Weekly last year found that 71% of respondents said they watched the Tour on ITV. Of those 1,273 people, 1,120 said they would not subscribe to TNT Sports to watch the race live in 2026, and almost half said they had never paid to watch cycling on TV.

Although WBD did not provide free-to-air live coverage of this year's race, its free highlights show on Channel 5 recorded an average of 557,400 viewers per stage.

Across Europe, the Tour was shown on WBD's Eurosport channel, which was absorbed into TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland last February. The company reported a general 9% increase in viewership across its territories on Eurosport for the race.

France Télévisions, the race's host broadcaster in France, announced on Monday it had beaten records with its coverage, reaching an audience of more than 46.5 million over the three weeks – an increase of 600,000 from 2025.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won his fifth Tour title this July to equal the all-time record held by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin.

And just like that, the Tour de France is over for another year. It's always a bit of a whirlwind three weeks – so much pre-race anticipation, and a slow gathering of pace in the early days before, then just like that, we're congratulating the winner in Paris.

This year, more than ever, it's been a case of 'blink and you'll miss it', because this 113th edition was the fastest ever. The peloton, or more accurately Tadej Pogačar, covered the 3,245km at a blistering average of 43.227kph (26.86mph). That's a whole half a kilometre per hour quicker (give or take a thousandth) than the previous record, which was set – wait for it – last year, by Tadej Pogačar.

The overall race average is far from the only speed record set this year. Among the most memorable were Pogačar's toppling of Marco Pantani's 31-year-old mark for Alpe d'Huez, and his own (and Jonas Vingegaard's) time for the Col du Tourmalet – rather newer, dating from 2023.

Not all the records set involved the new five-time Tour champ, however, which is probably no bad thing. There was a new record for the fastest ever stage, for example, set on stage 11 from Vichy to Nevers. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) romped home first at the head of a bunch sprint that day, recording an historic 50.91kph (31.62mph) average – almost 0.6kph faster than the previous fastest, set in 1999.

You might find, especially if you remember The Bad Old Days™ of the 90s and 2000s, that poring over this list of rising average speeds invokes multiple reactions. On the one hand you have wonderment, perhaps, over just how fast riders manage to travel, especially in the brutally hot conditions of this year's race. And wonderment at Pogačar's sheer supremacy. We are told regularly these days that we should cherish the privilege of being fans in the era of what might just be the best rider ever, and that advice shouldn't be scoffed at.

However, thanks to a long list of disgraced riders and Tour results with names crossed out, bike racing in the 21st century now comes with a healthy dose of suspicion. You only have to look through the comments sections or social media to see it. No matter how stringent the testing policies and procedures, fans have simply had the rug pulled from underneath them too many times by dope cheats for this not to be the case.

Journalists too, have been burned by the flames of historical doping revelations, accused of being naive at best, deceptive enablers at worst. But on this occasion I'll stick my neck out and say that I believe we have plenty of cause to be optimistic about the cleanliness of the modern pro peloton.

I spoke to Pogačar's countryman Matej Mohorič a couple of days before the Tour began, and he made an insightful point about how much difference better equipment has made in a few short years. Even in the last 15 years bikes and clothing have moved on significantly, with disc brakes allowing for faster, wider tyres, and more optimised rims, cables running internally on every bike, positions becoming more aero with narrower front ends and fabrics getting incrementally more aerodynamic every season.

The riders are significantly more skilled too, Mohoric said, and the equipment significantly more capable at high speeds. He was talking about descending, but it spoke to a peloton that was slowly uncovering every trace of extra advantage, whether in equipment, nutrition, or recovery protocols.

Development in on bike nutrition, tailored to each rider has been a key driver of performance gains in just the last two or three years. It wasn't long ago that riders would fuel themselves on 60g of carbohydrate per hour. Now they're consuming 120g or more. Rewind 10 years and a rider would have given themselves severe stomach issues trying to ingest this much. A rider's muscles having an almost limitless supply of fuel improves fatigue resistance, meaning speeds at the end of a long stage, or in the final week of a Grand Tour, no longer drop off.

And it makes sense that the best riders – and there always will be riders who are better, let's not kid ourselves that if everyone did everything perfectly they would all be equal – will benefit a little bit more than the lesser ones, even if training, nutrition and recovery plans are optimised for each individual.

Modern wearable tech also enables teams to focus not just on their riders' maximal physical capacities, but on their recovery too. Figures released by Whoop offer a startling insight into the quality of Pogačar's sleep during the Tour and ability to go again, day after day. His heart rate variability and recovery numbers show an elite ability to bounce back from physiological stress. His sleep is high quality too, with a score of 88% across the Tour. This means he was achieving 88% of the sleep his body needed – something most of us would be pretty happy with any day of the week, let alone throughout one of the world's hardest endurance events.

Finally, the race itself has changed with stage distances coming down. When Marco Pantani set his record up Alpe d'Huez in 1997 it was at the end of a 203.5km stage over several major passes. This year the stage was just 128km long with two minor climbs before Pogačar hit the Alpe.

Bike racing in the 1990s now looks entirely archaic. Many riders back then trained and raced on feel; sports nutrition still meant a steak and rice for breakfast and the average road bike had the aerodynamic properties of a cement mixer compared to a modern machine. It's a wonder Pantani's record has stood so long – not a wonder it has been beaten.

So, there's every reason not to jump to the conclusion that faster means doped. A 100% clean pro peloton may be someway off – an impossible dream, even. But when it comes to Pogačar, Vingegaard et all, until I see those red flags flying high I'll be keeping the faith and enjoying the era. And for cycling's sake, may I never be proven wrong.

Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team took home €832,750 (£712,500 / $945,900) in prize money from this year’s Tour de France, more than a third of the entire pot.

A total of €2,300,600 (£1.97m / $2.61m) was distributed among the 23 teams at the race, and awarded based on performance. UAE Team Emirates-XRG earned the most, while Picnic PostNL received the least – €12,770.

A large part of UAE’s winnings came from Pogačar’s overall victory in the general classification, which earned the team €500,000 (£427,800 / $567,900).

The team also received €100,000 for Isaac del Toro’s third place, €20,000 for his victory in the young rider’s classification, and €11,000 for each of their six stage wins – five for Pogačar and one for Del Toro.

As such, UAE ended up hauling 36% of the total prize pot at the race. The next best team in the prize money ranking was Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, who took home €288,160, thanks mostly to the €200,000 Remco Evenepoel claimed for finishing second overall.

The full prize money allocation, officially released by race organiser ASO, is below.

How is the prize money allocated?

Prize money at the Tour de France is weighted heavily on each rider’s placing in the overall standings. The yellow jersey winner receives €500,000 – almost a quarter of the entire prize pot – while second place earns €200,000, third earns €100,000, and the winnings diminish down to €3,800 for 10th place.

There are also large sums on offer for the winners of each of the other three jerseys – green, polka dot and white. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) took home the green jersey as the winner of the points classification, and netted €25,000. The same sum went to Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) as the King of the Mountains.

Carapaz also received €20,000 for winning the overall combativity award. Del Toro’s white jersey victory, as the best young rider, yielded the same amount.

Likewise, the team classification, awarded to the team with the best cumulative time of its top three-riders in the GC, carries a significant pay-out. Lidl-Trek earned €50,000 for winning the competition, while UAE Team Emirates-XRG received €30,000 for second, and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe €20,000 for third.

Prize money is also awarded after every stage based on each rider’s placing: €11,000 for the stage winner, €5,500 for second place, €2,800 for third, all the way down to €300 for 20th.

Riders also have the chance to win between €200 and €5,000 for being first over certain climbs. Carapaz, for example, was awarded €5,000 for winning the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, the award given to the rider who summits the highest peak of the race, in this case the Col du Galibier on stage 20, which topped out at 2,642m.

Meanwhile, Pogačar earned the same sum for winning the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, having been the first rider over the top of the Col du Tourmalet on stage six.

All prize money is traditionally shared around a team, rather than going to the individual winners.

The Tour de France has come to an end, and what a race it turned out to be – both in terms of rider performances and the bikes and tech we saw along the way. We were on the ground in Barcelona, trawling the paddocks and team hotels in the quest of spotting new bikes and tech – you can read all about that in our TT and road tech gallery from the Grand Depart.

The biggest bike news was Remco Evenepoel's unreleased Specialized S-Works Shiv TT bike that stole the show at the Grand Depart in Barcelona. The Belgian had two versions of the new bike at his disposal – a camouflaged model and a regular team-liveried bike, the latter of which he steered to victory on stage 16's individual time trial. As we saw at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Paul Seixas was also experimenting with options including his Van Rysel RCR-Pro prototype.

In terms of tech, I put myself out there and made six tech trend predictions based on the races I've attended and trends I've spotted emerge and develop over the past few seasons. While some were based on calculated forecasting, others were hunches I had due to this year's parcours and searing temperatures.

Let's get into the details.

More 3D-printed components and accessories – correct

This was an easy one. Having spent a large amount of time at the races this year, including Opening Weekend, 3D-printing has emerged as the biggest trend among teams and riders, with some riders going so far as to source solutions on their own. This creativity is a result of poor execution by bike manufacturers who sometimes don't take ancillary kit fit and finish into account.

Of all the products we saw on display, Netherlands-based company Leap Components took centre stage – particularly when it came to the SRAM-sponsored teams. The most widely used product was seen at the time trial stages, with the Aero Grip Blip Mount brake levers and TT Shift assembly used to neatly house the wireless blips, as seen on Tom Pidcock's Pinarello Bolide F TT bike. Some riders used Leap-branded housing, others removed the branding completely, while some personalised it with their initials (these are options given to the user by Leap Components).

We also saw Leap computer cradles and Aero Crankset Caps. Most teams were also using 3D-printed number flag holders on the seatposts.

The rise of stem spacers – correct

Another easy one to spot, based on the tech trends I've seen riders and teams employ over the past six months. In the past, the rhetoric around speed and aerodynamics pertained to slammed stems and front ends, but as sports science and biomechanics have progressed, more and more riders are seeing the benefits of adopting slightly more relaxed setups and embracing stem spacers.

WorldTour riders also change teams and bike brands, which means spacers are often an easy way of matching their bike fits. Some manufacturers have also updated the geometry of their bikes - such as the new Cannondale SuperSix Evo that now utilizes a 10mm lower stack - so some riders will need to use spacers to achieve the same position as before; the question over the necessity of the revised geometry is, of course, another topic.

At three-week-long Grand Tours, comfort is king and using a slammed front end can potentially result in compound fatigue. As a result, some riders are finding that raising their front ends improves ergonomics and allows them to maintain an aero position for longer by finding a sweet spot that balances aero and comfort.

While slammed stems were still employed (mainly by the old guard who refuse to cave), more riders are embracing stem spacers – but we're talking 10-20mm max.

Wider tyres are here to stay but 28mm still has a place – correct

Wider tyres are here to stay, but they don't rule the roost – especially at a race such as the Tour de France where every little marginal gain adds up. France is also known for its impeccable road surfaces, so teams could afford to utilise narrower tyres and benefit from the aerodynamic advantage.

From what I saw at the Grand Depart, the split was about 50:50 and came down to rider and team preference. Most teams were running 28mm for the time trial stages, and this ratio flipped slightly in favour of 30mm for the road stages, with some riders opting for 29mm. Overall, the split between road and dedicated time trial tyres was also pretty even across road and mountain stages.

Team UAE Emirates-XRG were seen using 28mm on the road stages, with Tadej Pogačar himself opting for 25mm tyres on his Colnago TT2 time trial bike. Speaking to a team mechanic at the hotel in Barcelona, he told me the 28mm Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres were chosen purely as an aerodynamic ploy.

A similar tactic was seen on the Cannondale Lab71 SuperSix Evos of EF Education-EasyPost and Pinarello Dogma F bikes of Pinarello-Q36.5 that used a mix of Vittoria Corsa Pro and Pro Speed. The Specialized Cotton TLR 30mm was the chief tyre choice employed by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Soudal Quick-Step.

Return of the climbing bike – correct

Okay, maybe this one was a bit of a stretch because there were many of the best aero bikes used during the 21 days of racing – chiefly the Colnago Y1Rs and Cervelo S5.

Despite popular opinion, many of the Tour de France bikes aren't as light as you might think. Teams that have access to advanced all-rounders, such as the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9 or Cannondale SuperSix Evo, enjoy some substantial aero benefits within a build able to hit the 6.8kg weight limit. Others still have to choose between a heavier aero bike and a climber, with some still opting for the latter.

As one of the heavier bikes in the WorldTour, the Ridley Noah Fast of Uno-X Mobility was a veritable rocketship on the flats but a notable tank on the climbs with an estimated system weight of over 8kg for some riders. While Torstein Træen did ride the Noah Fast on his way to earning the yellow jersey, he and his team opted to ride an unreleased Falcon RS climbing bike in the high mountains.

Paul Seixas was also seen using an unreleased Van Rysel RCR-Pro in favour of his Van Rysel RCR-F aero bike, as the former is closer to the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg.

Vented aero helmets – correct

As I predicted, riders used aero helmets with improved ventilation this year. Specialized-sponsored teams had access to the all-new Evade 4 (which is claimed to be 2.4% cooler than the model it replaces), while UAE Team Emirates-XRG were riding unreleased Met Manta helmets with revised venting ports on the front.

To ensure they complied with UCI rules, EF Education-EasyPost adapted their Procen Air road helmets by removing the ear coverings on the flanks and visors, and pairing them with regular sunglasses. The Procen Air is known to be one of the fastest helmets in the WorldTour, and is underscored by three central vents on the top section.

We also saw Decathlon CMA CGM's Olaf Kooij wearing a Van Rysel RCR-F aero helmet with a galaxy mirror finish for improved peripheral vision in the sprint lead. Gimmick or not, Kooij managed to negotiate the chaotic lead-out and win stage 5's bunch sprint. While it appears to possess the same design as before, it's also one of the few dedicated aero lids that prioritises ventilation.

Faster, cooler fabrics and rider kit hacks – correct

This was a tougher one to spot than bikes, helmets, and accessories, as picking out new fabrics requires a keen eye and up-close examination. A few teams, however, were running new fabrics and skinsuits that combined aerodynamics with cooling properties.

Soudal Quick-Step's Tim Merlier used an unreleased Castelli skinsuit that bagged him three stage wins before abandoning the race on a mountainous stage 15. Inside sources tell us it's the same design as the suit he wore to three victories at the Giro d'Italia and that it 'comes alive at speeds of over 80km/h' – not your typical sprint speeds... It also uses a lightweight body-hugging fabric that improves ventilation and would have helped the Belgian in the scorching temperatures of weeks one and two.

Mathieu van der Poel was also using a new Kalas skinsuit. Dubbed 'Project Verano', the suit is reportedly designed for thermal management in the hottest temperatures, while still prioritising aerodynamics. The Dutchman won two stages in the skinsuit: stage 9 and the final stage on the Champs-Élysées.

Tadej Pogačar secured his record-equalling fifth Tour de France title on a custom yellow Colnago Y1Rs after battling Mathieu van der Poel for victory in the final stage in Paris. The Dutchman narrowly held off a stampeding group to win his second stage in a pulsating finale on the Champs-Élysées.

The Slovenian rode a raw carbon version of the Italian brand's aero bike to save weight in the previous 20 stages. But he switched paint to commemorate his third consecutive yellow jersey, which drew him level with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on five Tour de France wins.

Six of Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates also received yellow bikes, including Brandon McNulty, who abandoned the race. Isaac del Toro rode a white Y1Rs to match the colour of the Young Rider's jersey he won on his way to third overall.

Colnago painted the frames at its facility in Pisa and added a collection of details specific to the 113th edition of the race to make the frames truly one of a kind.

The elevation profile of the route from Barcelona to Paris runs along the seat stays and the names of every team member are written on the top tube.

Each rider's bike has his national flag on the seat tube and the years of Pogačar's Tour de France victories on the head tube are displayed when the handlebars turn.

Pogačar's frame also carries rainbow flags in honour of his road race world title on the top tube, head tube and seat tube where Y1Rs is spelt out in Morse Code.

Colnago says each frame is one of a kind and they are not for sale. It will not make replicas either.

In terms of the components, the full bike is built to the original specification level of the bike Pogačar and his team raced to Paris. As such, the Colnago Y1Rs is built around a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with Carbon-Ti taking care of the chainrings and derailleur hanger. As the final stages took in just 88.7km/1,000m of climbing over a shortened course, the Slovenian kept his gearing configuration unchanged at 55/40T, 11-34T with 165mm cranks.

To ensure uniformity across the board, the team paired his Enve SES 4.5 Pro wheels with yellow decals, and switched out all the red anodised Carbon-Ti hardware for the golden equivalent. His golden Bikone ceramic bottom bracket remained unchanged owing to its already complementing colour scheme.

Other details included a yellow Wahoo Elment Bolt with matching Elite Leggero Carbon cages and bidons. Pogačar also matched his shoes with yellow laces and wore a yellow Whoop strap.

I have spots in front of my eyes, but it’s nothing to do with the heat or a headache, although the humidity is high and the crowd I’m in is colossal and cacophonous. I’m opposite the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Montmartre, waiting for the arrival of the riders doing stage 21 of the 2026 Tour de France, along with thousands of other people, virtually all wearing polka dot t-shirts.

These spotty tops, given out by the caravan and emblazoned with the logo of Tour sponsor hypermarket chain E.Leclerc, are inspired, of course, by the jersey won by the king of the mountains, who this year is Richard Carapaz, EF Education-EasyPost’s popular Ecuadorian rider.

South Americans appear to be here in Paris in large numbers, but it’s the Mexicans who are making all the noise on the bank of the bank of the Basilica opposite me, chanting the name of their hero, Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates XRG, who beat the local favourite Paul Seixas (Decathlon) to win the best young rider’s white jersey.

The final stage of the 2026 Tour de France might have been shortened, and the general classification competition neutralised, but there’s no lack of excitement among the Montmartre crowds, who perhaps sense they are in for something special today.

It’s muggy as hell, and the bruised sky looks ready to unleash a payload, but spirits are high and they’re unlikely to be dampened by a little rain. If anything, a bit of moisture would be some relief, and it would inject a little excitement and jeopardy into the race.

In truth, of course, the Tour was well and truly decided yesterday - if not some days earlier, at least in terms of the general classification, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) sealing his historic fifth victory. But each day of the Tour is also its own race, and today there is an opportunity for a bold rider to seize their last chance to take a stage.

The crowd is six-people deep on my side of the road, and every street is thronging with fans.

I very nearly never made it to the Sacre Coeur at all, having been caught up in a particularly boisterous haggle of people while trying to push past the Moulin Rouge, exactly when a group of cancan girls started performing. But I extricated myself and got to the church on time. Just about.

I quickly realise I’ve had it easy, compared to those around me. Mona and Sean Patel, standing next to me, have travelled all the way here from California specifically to watch this stage. They saw the Tour a few years ago, on the flanks of Mont Ventoux, and now they're back for more, thrilled at the thought of seeing Pogačar and Visma–Lease a Bike's American rider Sepp Kuss in particular.

"We arrived yesterday," Mona tells me. "We're actually staying right in front of the Sacre Coeur, and we can see the race from our apartment, but we thought we'd come down here and soak up the excitement with the crowds."

William and Amélie are here from Belgium, and they have been holding their spot on the barrier since 1.30pm, to get a prime spot to see the riders, who finally fly past for their first lap at five past seven in the evening. "It was tricky when he went to the toilet," Amélie admits. "But the atmosphere is fantastic."

I ask them who they’re here to see, although I’m pretty sure I already know the answer. "Tadej Pogačar," William reveals. Wait... what? "Yes. Normally in Belgium, you should support Remco [Evenepoel] even a little bit. But, Remco… we think he has big ego. So, yeah, we want to see Tadej."

In the end the clouds clear and, against all the odds, the stage turns out to be one of Tour's most exciting, with Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin–Premier Tech taking dramatic victory on the line. Van der Poel is Dutch, but was born in Belgium – as I'm sure William and Amélie well know.

I've long since lost the couple amid the crowd by the time the race ends, but I'm glad the riders put on such a sensational show for them and the thousands of supporters who have transformed the City of Light into a sea of polka dot for one very special day at the end of another incredible race.

Twelve months ago, Tadej Pogačar seemed pretty done at the end of his fourth Tour de France victory. The Slovenian was tired, and, as it later emerged, injured, and was ready to go home. He spoke of burnout, of fatigue, and didn't seem to be enjoying the world of cycling that he dominates that much.

Twelve months on, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider seems rejuvenated, ready to go again. Rejuvenated enough to light up the final stage of the Tour de France, as other general classification rivals sat back, rejuvenated enough to keep winning until stage 19 of the race, rejuvenated enough to even hint that he might tackle the Vuelta a España.

Asked about his burnout, and his apparent lift in mood this year in his winner's press conference, Pogačar nods, smiles, recognises that this year has felt more comfortable.

"I didn't say last year I was burning out, but I was well aware that it could happen," he explained. "I'm also aware now. The burnout doesn't mean you're sad one day, or you don't feel one day on the bike, it means chronic fatigue and you're not happy on the bike when you go riding. Everything feels like a job.

"I'm aware that this can happen if you push too hard. That's why I don't want to say I go to Vuelta, I go to that. I need to think about this. Keep the feet on the ground."

Pogačar has now won five Tours de France, putting him on the same level as the legends of the race: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. There seems no reason to bet against him not winning a sixth next year or that his reign of dominance will end soon.

However, history doesn't mean much to the Slovenian; he likes winning things, but is not a student of the history of pro cycling.

"Right now, I just want to enjoy the moment of winning the Tour, if it's fifth or the first it doesn't matter," he said. "It's unbelievable to wear the yellow jersey and cross the finish line in Paris winning it. I will just enjoy the moment, not thinking about any history, not thinking about any clubbing or whatever. I just want to enjoy this moment, and come back home and enjoy the small things in life. I'm really happy and proud to win the fifth Tour.

"Every single one of them has a different story, a different meaning, different emotions. Each one of them feels incredible and emotional for me."

On his potential participation at the Vuelta, the only Grand Tour he hasn't won yet, which would complete the set of Grand Tours, he said: "Right now, if it it starts tomorrow, I would say no. In two weeks, I can still decide."

There is no rush for the Vuelta, it could be done next year, or the year after. Time is on his side, he is just 27 after all, but this Tour also felt like one where the baton began to be passed on. In the yellow jersey, he helped his 22-year-old teammate Isaac del Toro to third overall, and the white jersey, while 19-year-old Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished third. The Pogačar era is not coming to an end, but things are shifting.

"I will definitely not be doing this for a long time," he said after stage 20, but at his current rate, it will not take a long time for Pogačar to win everything.

"The next generation is looking very sharp, and I'm happy to have Isaac on my side," he said on Sunday night. "Maybe I can be a kind of mentor, maybe I can teach him a thing or too, but he's already quite smart. Other young riders are coming up, super strong, and we will see. It's a good future for cycling what is coming in the next years. I think."

Such is Pogačar's dominance at the Tour de France – 26 stages in seven editions, five overall wins in that time, a record-breaking time up Alpe d'Huez this year – that there is a cloud of suspicion over his performance levels.

At this year's race, Pogačar and his main rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) were awoken in the middle of the night ahead of stage 15 of the Tour de France by anti-doping testers, a scenario reserved by the UCI's rules for "serious and specific suspicions".

"In my opinion, 2am for Jonas was crazy. 5am was also a little bit weird," Pogačar said in his post-race press conference, when he was asked if he understood the suspicion. "Definitely not the weirdest. Since I'm riding the Tour in 2020, we've had crazy controls, before queen sstages a lot of times, almost every Tour. Four or five times, out of seven that I did, [there was] a control in the stage before the bus, 30 minutes. This is even weirder, but they're doing their job. It's part of my life.

"When I hear a knock on my door, the first thing is that it's a control here. For me, it's like going to the supermarket. For me, it's nothing unusual anymore because I have so many in the last years that it's really part of my life now."

However, right now, Pogačar is done. Not in a terminal way, as it seemed last year, but in the press conference. With a mic drop, he leaves the stage, ready for celebration. He no longer seems on the edge of burnout, instead comfortable in the knowledge he is the greatest rider of all time.

Remco Evenepoel, still only 26, boasts one of cycling’s all-time greatest palmarès. A Grand Tour win, two Olympic golds, four World Championships, a couple of Monuments, and third and now second on GC at the Tour de France.

Yet still doubt surrounds him. Still questions linger if the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider can cut it in the high mountains. Still debate rages if he’ll ever be a true contender to win the Tour de France.

The Belgian has just silenced most of them.

In his third Tour, and the second he’s completed, Evenepoel finished runner-up behind runaway winner Tadej Pogačar. There’s absolutely no shame in losing to the five-time winner and greatest of all time.

And it’s absolutely true that Evenepoel was the only rider in the race who bettered Pogačar. Not once, not twice, but three times. In winning stage 15’s stage up the HC climb of Plateau de Solaison, stage 16’s time trial, and finishing second to Pogačar’s fourth on Alpe d’Huez on stage 20.

Perhaps now Evenepoel, finally, will get the status he merits. “Maybe expectations from my the outside world were lower after my climbing level in the spring, so the UAE Tour and [Volta a] Catalunya, but from myself and also inside the team, we achieved what we were aiming for: to get a stage win and to finish on the podium like in 2024,” Evenepoel said in Paris, while drinking a sponsor-obligatory Red Bull.

“Two stage wins and two very nice second places [also on stage 10] in very hard stages, really shows that I’ve stepped up in terms of my climbing level and performances in the hardest stages.

“For me it was more the fact to prove to myself that I did well to not let go of my dream of stepping on the podium of Grand Tours as much as possible and aiming to try to win them because that’s my career goal.

“After this result I’ve shown towards myself, the team and also the outside world that I deserve to dream and aim for that.”

The scepticism over Evenepoel’s Grand Tour prospects mostly stem from him collapsing midway through the 2023 Vuelta when he was defending champion – only for him to respond by taking two stage victories and the mountains jersey – and a similar collapse, also on a stage involving the Col du Tourmalet, at the 2025 Tour.

This year, though, his first season away from Soudal Quick-Step, has heralded a change: he is leaner, and he forgo competing in stage races before the Tour in favour of spending longer at altitude. The changes worked.

“The fact is, I was still on a very good level on the second weekend and in the third week, in terms of my climbing performance,” Evenepoel reflected. “Stage 15 and also yesterday [stage 20] was really good, and on the climb in the time trial I did one of my best ever 15 minutes [power numbers].

“I think that showed my level at the end of the Tour was really good, and also that I showed no signs of cracking.

“After perfect preparation, I showed to myself and to the team that I was on a good level for three weeks and even now I feel pretty fresh with no real fatigue in the body. That’s good and we take that towards the future.”

The constant noise around Evenepoel is to be expected. He’s Belgian, after all, the only county in the world that often prioritises cycling over football. It’s also the country of Eddy Merckx, the greatest of all time until Pogačar came along, and so the comparisons between Evenepoel and Merckx are as inevitable as they are tedious and unhelpful.

Fervent speculation over his future was last year’s news – and in the many years before – and this year it was over his co-leadership with Florian Lipowitz. Wherever Evenepoel goes, whatever he does, there is a story. He generates additional headlines, too. He’s outspoken, he’s a footballer in a cyclist’s body, he’s an entertainer.

He’s also matured and settled into his status as one of the sport’s best. In 2024 he was in tears with his third place at the Tour; two years on he looks more comfortable on the podium – at home, even.

“I think back then it was special because it was my first Tour and then straight away I was on the podium and in the white jersey. It was actually something I did not dare to dream of at that point,” he said.

“Now we came into this Tour with the mindset of getting a stage and trying to step on the podium, and I just felt in control of myself during the whole Tour. The team as well, in control of how things went.

“Already I’ve had so many setbacks in my career that I kinda started to know how to deal with everything. I just know for myself that when everything goes well, I’ll always be calm and have control of situations.”

Pointing to his wife Oumi who was sat front row in his press conference, he continued: “It’s not because she’s sitting here, but it’s true that when I come home we almost never speak about cycling.

“I do my training but when my bike is in the garage we are not living in a cycling world, even though everything is done for cycling. I think we’re very good at managing the on-off button.”

Despite his more relaxed demeanour than two years ago, Evenepoel said that perceptions shouldn’t disguise his delight at his second spot at the Tour.

“It’s a very big achievement in my career, to come second behind the guy who equals the record [of most Tour wins]. It’s a really big honour to be on that podium, to live that moment, and it’s something special that maybe I can tell my kids that I was second in the edition where someone equalled the record. It’s something I’ll never forget.

“Even though I appear to be calm, I’m very happy and proud with everything I did in the last month.”

For a brief moment, the dream was alive. On the final time up the Côte de la Butte Montmartre on stage 21 of the Tour de France, British champion Fred Wright attacked, and was off the front of the bike race.

The Pinarello Q36.5 rider lit the race up on the cobbles through, until his move was shut down by yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and former world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech). The 27-year-old kicked off what would become the winning move of the stage, as Van der Poel held on for victory on the Champs-Élysées.

"The adrenaline got me through," Wright said after the finish, where he finished 25th.

"My hand is so sore. It's really sore now, it's hitting me. It was a nice way to end the Tour. I was floating nicely on Bini's wheel but with the headwind I just got a bit blocked."

"I was dying a bit, I got a bit excited," Wright continued. "I saw a yellow bike on my inside, I thought it was Pogi but it was Florian [Vermeersch]. Maybe it was a bit foolish, but at least I was at the front end of the bike race. If you don't try you never know.

"It's really special. I feel a bit sick to be honest, I got through that on a lot of mental energy rather than physical today. My brain is all over the place."

Shown the pictures on TNT Sports in the UK after the finish, Wright said: "That's pretty cool. It's just a shame I had that crash a few days ago, that would have given me a bit of energy. In 20 minutes I'm going to forget it all, have a beer and a pizza, and love the fact I was on the front on Montmartre.

"It's like an out of body experience. Tom [Pidcock] asked me in the race how I was, and I said I don't know. I'm not going to forget that for a long time."

"I was so gutted on stage 17 because I had a crash and the break had gone at that point. To be able to race at the front today was a pleasure. I wanted to do that more this Tour. First Tour for this team, we can be really happy with it [Pinarello Q36.5 finished their maiden Tour de Tour with Pidcock in 9th]."

Mathieu van der Poel won a brilliant 21st stage of the Tour de France on Sunday after escaping with yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar on the final ascent of the Montmartre climb during the Paris final.

In an extraordinarily tense final, Van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took 12 seconds onto the Champs Elysées, leading a large group of chasers, including sprinters and their lead outs.

With their lead down to just five seconds inside the last kilometre, Pogačar was unable to maintain his effort, but Van der Poel forged on, winning the stage by a bike length form his team mate Jasper Philipsen. Green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was third.

With the GC times decided before the first of three longer laps up the Montmartre climb, which remained in the route after its debut last year, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) confirmed his fifth overall win at the Tour de France.

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was second overall and Pogačar's team mate, Isaac Del surviving a poorly timed mechanical to take third and the best young rider classification.

Pogačar was never lower than fourth on GC, taking the yellow jersey on stage three, ceding it, then never relinquishing it after reclaiming the race lead on stage six. Not only that but he won five stages en route to a record equalling fifth overall win, again unarguably confirming him among the sport's greatest ever.

"It was an amazing day, I'm speechless," Pogačar said. "An incredible day an incredible atmosphere and happy that it's over and that we won for the fifth time. Every victory is very special, and it's seven Tours already and seven times on the podium, and five wins. It's something you wouldn't even write in a story book, it's unbelievable even for me.

"I don't know's a lot of factors," he said when asked how he did it. "The most important I think is that you enjoy what you're doing and you have good people around you, that you trust that they help and that they're there for you when you're on your lowest. Then you can build yourself and chase your dreams. And you have to set your goals always, need to now find a new goal after this," he concluded, though he refused to say what those dreams might be.

How it happened

After Sunday's final stage was shortened, the race was reduced from the scheduled 133km to just 89km, the start moved to the finish location on the Champs Elysées. Indeed, seven laps of the traditional 6.8km circuit comprised the opening of the race, before it headed for three of a longer circuit taking in the Montmartre climb seen in last year's Tour.

This final circuit had been tweaked from last year, when Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) won in the pouring rain, with the ride from the top of the climb to the line extended to 10.4km, the race returning to the Champs Elysées via the Arc de Triomphe. This changed the dynamic of the stage, the sprinters having a greater opportunity to get back on.

Without the traditional run into the city meant we saw none of the Champagne drinking celebratory photo opportunities, instead we got a couple of parade laps. First the jersey winners on the front, then those same riders and their teams and a series of ad hoc groups, the Danes, a couple of teams, the podium, no one really seemed to know when to start racing.

Before they did, organisers announced the general classification times would be decided before the first of the three Montmartre laps, with 41km remaining. Eventually Pogačar's UAE team gradually lifted the pace, before the attacks came as the third lap started, 75km to go.

After an aggressive lap, Baptiste Viestroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) was a few seconds off the front, and though the chase behind never let up, he held on until just after the intermediate sprint at the end of the fifth circuit.

On the approach to the start of the seventh lap Xabier Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Thibaut Guernalec (TotalEnergies) escaped, the pair building a lead of 50 seconds as they left the Champs Elysées for the first Montmartre lap. However, as they did so, the pace was up in the peloton.

A stretched peloton caught Guernalec and Azparren as they reached the top of the climb, green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) leading onto the descent, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pogačar on his wheel.

A group of nine headed back to the Arc de Triomphe where they would rejoin the Champs Elysées, but much of the peloton had reformed by the time they got there. Despite the pace being knocked off at the front, a group which had detached off the back and included Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) were unable to get back on and they began the penultimate 16km lap a minute down.

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe led towards the base of the climb, but it was Tim Wellens who was first wheel as the road edged upwards, working for Pogačar, who made his move half way up the climb.

At the top only Van der Poel was on his wheel, though Evenepoel caught them soon after the top, while Pedersen got back on before they reached the Arc de Triomphe. However, with Decathlon-CMA CGM leading the chase the four leaders were unable to consolidate their advantage and were caught at the farthest end of the Champs Eylsées. Here UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Lidl-Trek took control of the race, leading it across the line for the final lap.

Soudal Quick-Step made the pace as the climb approached for the final time, but the final ascent was less explosive, at least to start. Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) attacked early on, though the British champion was summarily dropped when Van der Poel made his move half way up, once again taking only Pogačar with him.

Though they took turns to maintain their lead, a group of six, including two from Visma-Lease a Bike were handful of seconds back, with a bigger group chasing them. By the time the two leaders reached the Champs Elysées with five kilometres to go, their advantage was steady at 12 seconds.

However, as they entered the final two kilometres, it was all but over and the tensest of finals was in store.

RESULTS

Tour de France 2026, STAGE 21, PARIS > PARIS (88.7KM)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech, in 1:58:49
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech, at same time
3. Made Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek,
4. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana,
5. Ben Healey (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost,
6. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious,
7. Rick Pluimers (Ned) Tudo Pro Cycling,
8. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies,
9. Milan Fretin (Fra) Cofidis,
10. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, all at same time

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 73:56:26
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +6:26
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9:42
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +11:56
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +13:02
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+14:59
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +17:48
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +20:00
9. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +29:28
10. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies, +33:21

Chris Froome, a four-time winner of the Tour de France, has revealed that he accidentally pushed a fan into a canal during his ambassadorial work at this year’s race.

Forty-one-year-old Froome, who officially confirmed his retirement from the sport earlier this month, returned to the Tour to work with car manufacturer and race sponsor Skoda, a position that former race winner Andy Schleck used to do until he joined Lidl-Trek’s management.

Froome’s daily tasks involved hosting guests on a morning group ride, before taking them to the stage’s start and providing analysis and insight.

One morning, however, Froome found himself swimming after a client’s footwear. “It was a gentleman from Turkey who was having trouble with gears,” Froome said in a wide-ranging interview (not limited to ‘canal-gate’) with The Telegraph’s Tom Cary.

“He hadn’t done much riding before. I leaned over, touched his shifter, and he went into a massive wobble, crashed over my back wheel, rolled down the embankment and into the canal.

“Plop.

“I dropped everything and went in after him. He was already clinging to the bank by the time I got down there. I had to go and retrieve his shoe which was floating away.”

The rest of the Tour has been less hazardous for Froome, whose last race was the Tour of Poland last August before he suffered a second life-threatening crash while training.

It was his fifth season racing for Israel-Premier Tech, who he joined in 2021 after 11 years representing Team Sky and latterly Ineos Grenadiers

Those who succeeded Froome as the sport’s pre-eminent general classification riders, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, have had to face the same questions and doubts that Froome did in his career. Namely, credibility over their performances.

Riders from at least five teams, including Pogačar and Vingegaard, were made to provide an anti-doping sample in the middle of the night during the race, the first time that the International Testing Agency (ITA) has performed such tests. To get permission, the ITA had to prove “serious and specific” suspicion that the targeted athletes “may be engaging in doping.”

“It is something that, as riders, I just think we have to embrace,” Froome said of the night-time tests. “Of course, it’s not much fun being woken in the middle of the night, particularly as a GC rider who has to perform every day.

“And perhaps it was a contributory factor in Jonas’s crash [on stage 15] – there’s no way of knowing for sure. Maybe the fairer way of doing it would be to do everyone, rather than just two guys.

“But yeah, our doors always have to be open, regardless of how inconvenient it is. To inspire confidence and to act as a deterrent.”

During his reign as the Tour’s undisputed champion, Froome was regularly jeered by French fans at the Tour who disliked the dominance of the Briton and Team Sky. He even had urine thrown at him.

“We had some pretty hair moments – death threats, all kinds of things which were never made public,” he revealed.

Froome tested positive for the prohibited asthma drug salbutamol at the 2017 Vuelta a España – which he won – but he was cleared by the UCI and WADA of any wrongdoing nine months later. There were also accusations of Team Sky exploiting Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for certain medications.

The seven-time Grand Tour winner admitted that he could understand why fans were cynical of his performances. “I think because I was the next guy after Lance Armstrong was charged [with a litany of doping offences in 2013], even though he had won the last of his Tours years earlier, I think that definitely came with a level of scepticism.

“I definitely blame a lot of the French commentators at the time, who were speaking on public television and saying things like, ‘I can’t believe what I’m watching here. This looks like US Postal all over again, Lance Armstrong 2.0’.

“It was a perfect storm. I completely understand why we got the flak we did. But it was fascinating for me to see that the moment I returned to the Tour after my injuries in 2019, the amount of support I had. I actually have a really good relationship with the French public now.”

Asked if he is confident that Pogačar’s results will stand the test of time, Froome said: “Because of my personal experiences, it doesn't sit well with me that people accuse someone just because they’re the best.

“I can’t speak for him. I don’t know how he’s training. All I can say is from the outside, it’s super impressive what he’s doing. And just from my experience, how the testing works, how I’m still having samples retested now, that gives me confidence.”

As for what’s next, Froome ruled out a job in management with any professional team. “I feel as if I can do more, potentially at grass-roots level,” he said. “Maybe something linked to being over in Kenya, where I grew up.”

Julian Alaphilippe said that the 2026 Tour de France will be his last, after finishing stage 20.

The Tudor Pro Cycling rider finished 29th on the penultimate stage of the race, and said just after it that it was "certainly" his final race. The 34-year-old has won six stages of the Tour over his career, including a memorable spell in the yellow jersey at the 2019 edition, which only ended on stage 19, when he rode for Deceuninck-Quick Step. He ended up fifth in the race. The double world champion raced eight Tours in all, and he does have one more year on his Tudor contract, but it seems like he won't be battling for yellow again.

His returns at his home Grand Tour were slim this year; he sits 125th overall after stage 20.

It was a "very, very difficult Tour de France", he told Eurosport on Saturday. "Today was a tough stage, so phew," he continued. "Honestly, my legs weren't what I'd hoped for, so I suffered a lot, but we never gave up, we fought hard. Yannis (Voisard) gave everything to protect his position in the general classification (11th, in his first Tour), and Rick (Pluimers) was also putting in some great sprints... Of course, we would have hoped to do better, winning would have been great, but we gave it our all."

Tudor's best result at this year's Tour was fifth for Pluimers on stage 17, which was won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech).

"I was with Warren Barguil just then. There were a lot of emotions. We have suffered a lot in this Tour," the Frenchman said at the finish, Cyclingnews reported.

"I’m not thinking about tomorrow. I’m thinking about nothing at all," he continued, answering a question about stage 21 in Paris. "All I really want is to hold my son in my arms.

"It’s maybe my last one, so I made the most of it, I gave everything, not with a lot of success but I didn’t leave anything out there. That’s how cycling is," Alaphilippe added. He had flirted with the time cut on stage 19, finishing 159th out of 160 riders the first time the race went up Alpe d'Huez, 32:51 behind the winner, Tadej Pogačar.

"I feel happy to finish this Tour, it’s certainly my last one," Alaphilippe said, definitively.

“Quel est l’écart?” – what’s the gap? Dorian Godon asks the driver of the broom wagon, the last vehicle on the Tour de France route, essentially the peloton’s backstop. Fall behind it and you’re out.

“Six minutes,” Stéphane Bezault, the man who drives the Tour’s most feared vehicle, replies. Godon bows his head. He takes another bidon from Bezault, drinks a splash of it, and pours the rest over his head. It’s only 19°C, nothing like the infernal heat of week one, but he’s suffering like a dog.

Godon’s still got 15km left to the top of the Col du Galibier, one of cycling’s hardest and highest climbs. And he’s bereft of support from his Netcompany-Ineos teammates. He’s got a mountain to climb – literally and metaphorically. His Tour de France participation is so cruelly hanging in the balance – on the penultimate stage.

But he’s not alone. Luigi from Super Mario pushes him up the 8% gradients for 50 metres. Ditto a man dressed head to toe in polka dot. Three young men dressed in hot pants follow suit. Likewise three young men dressed far less revealingly.

This is Godon’s solo battle against the broom wagon, but the tens of thousands of fans by the roadside, many of whom recognise Godon for being the French champion until just one month ago, are with him every slow, sluggish, weary pedal stroke. It takes an entire mountain to resist the broom wagon.

But even the broom wagon, that most anxiety-inducing of vans for cyclists, is here to help. Thanks to this white van, the Frenchman will make it to Paris – it will not scoop him up in a ball of anguish and heartache.

Others won’t be so lucky on stage 20, however.

A century of collecting stragglers

The broom wagon, or voiture balai in French, has been in the Tour since 1910. Its only role is to collect the dropouts. Whether through injury, illness or fatigue, if a rider can’t go on anymore, the white Volkswagen sponsored by a window and skylight company, Velux, is there to sweep up the oft-distraught stragglers.

Once upon a time there was, but nowadays there is no broom. But the name, and legend, lives on. What there are spaces for are several bikes, two empty seats next to me, and a commissaire from the French cycling federation who’s more interested in eating his mid-morning burger and hot dog than actually policing misdemeanours (and boy are there many).

This year 13 riders have been mopped up by Bezault, the driver of the Tour’s broom wagon since 2017. Although it’s rarer and rarer that a rider actually gets into the van these days (they typically hop into a waiting team car or persist to the finish, even if they’re outside the time cut) it does still happen. Hence the van’s continued presence. And stage 20, the queen stage of the 2026 edition, poses a far greater threat to the peloton’s backmarkers.

5,600 of elevation metres, three HC climbs, and the possibility of thunderstorms. The gruppetto – the collection of riders, mostly sprinters, at the back of the race – will have the spectre of the voiture balai hanging over them up and over the high Alps.

Two quit in half-an-hour

On the lower slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer, the day’s torment begins for the race’s biggest bodies. Aaron Gate, the race’s oldest debutant at 35, is pedalling squares, and he’s only done 10km. His XDS Astana teammate Davide Ballerini, no stranger to seeing the broom wagon in his rear view mirror, drops back and helps him. The pair each take aero bottles from their team’s soigneurs. Given their speed, it’s like a cruel, ironic joke.

But Gate and Ballerini will find a second wind. 35 riders will finish after them on Alpe d’Huez. That’s how this race ebbs and flows, and even more so in the third week.

Pascal Ackermann, out of nowhere, takes their place at the rear of the race. His head is bowed and his legs are like jelly. Just 22km into the 171km stage, he grinds to a halt halfway up the Croix de Fer. He gently puts his bike down on the road, and sits down. The tears are next to fall. He’s abandoning. His Jayco AlUla sports directors, Mat Hayman and Steve Cummings, step out of their car and console him. But they’re unable to. Still the tears flow for Ackermann.

Space is cleared for him in the Volkswagen van. He is pointed towards the middle seat, to take up position next to myself, but he opts to ride back down the mountain and to his team’s bus. When he gets there, he’s met by German broadcaster ARD. He’s still crying. “I was simply at my absolute limit the last two days,” he says through sniffles. “I just couldn’t get going anymore. My legs were empty. My big goal was to reach Paris. I didn’t manage that and I’m pretty disappointed.”

There’s no sigh, no distress, no sympathy from the broom wagon. To Bezault and the commissaire, Ackermann is just another rider who has fallen short.

Ilan Van Wilder is next. The Soudal Quick-Step rider is 12th on GC, an outside pick to win the stage, but after being dropped by the peloton early on, he crashes on the descent of the Croix de Fer. His left side is bloodied, bruised and cut open. He’s walking OK, and his team later confirm he’s just suffered abrasions and no major injury, but like Ackermann, he rejects the broom wagon. The ambulance is favoured.

There’s shame, clearly, in being bundled into the back of the voiture balai.

Godon's not-so-solo fight

Godon is fighting against what seems inevitable. Caught up in a high-speed crash during stage 12’s bunch sprint in Chalon-sur-Saône, he has been struggling ever since.

He drops to the back of the race at the bottom of the Col du Télégraphe just as the first (and last) drops of rain fall. His posture and riding form don’t indicate signs of trouble, but his head keeps dropping. Bezault pulls up alongside him and asks how he is. “Va bien” – I’m OK – he responds.

This is Godon’s solitary-yet-no-so-solitary long, arduous battle against the Télégraphe and Galibier. He accepts a Coca-Cola from Bezault, but refuses a bag of Haribos (thrown out by the publicity caravan) by a fan. A young boy, no older than 10, screams ‘Allez Dorian’ through a megaphone. The cries echo up the mountain. Everyone is willing him on to make the time cut.

Bezault gives him a plastic bottle of Vittel. Five minutes later it’s a Vittel-branded bidon. Two more follow. Then he’s handed a gel. The commissaire, seated in the front of the broom wagon, turns a blind eye to the questionably long sticky bottles, occasionally lengthy drafts behind a car’s slipstream, and the odd super-tuck. A gendarme on a motorbike drives past and lets out a prolonged and loud yawn. He’s evidently not riveted by Godon’s 15km/h speed. But neither will he punish the assistance Godon is being afforded. It pays to be French, clearly.

Towards the top of the Galibier, in large part thanks to the broom wagon's invaluable aid, Godon closes in on the other strugglers, but can’t quite regain touch. One kilometre down the other side and he almost comes a cropper. It was a long ascent, and it looks like it's going to be a long descent, too.

Enter Josh Tarling to play the Wout van Aert role. The Welsh time trial specialist drops back – though he says unintentionally so and more a result of his own struggles – to pace Godon down the Galibier, from a height of 2,631m to 1,184m, through tunnels, past the viewpoints of glaciers, and around dozens of sweeping bends. “There was a headwind and it [the descent] was dead straight so we could keep swapping off,” Tarling explains.

When they reach the Col de Sarenne, the alternative way up Alpe d’Huez, Godon is no longer last. Lotto-Intermarché’s Liam Slock, held up by a puncture, is. Neither he nor Godon nor the remaining 158 riders still in the race will be caught by the broom wagon.

“With the crash and especially the heat, he was just suffering. He’s alright, but he’s had a rough week,” Tarling goes on. “We actually had a big margin all day but it was scary with the time limit at points. But we didn’t need to stress it as hard by the end.”

Ackermann and Van Wilder are the day’s only casualties. The last riders, Cofidis’ Benjamin Thomas and Jenthe Biermans, arrive 43 minutes after stage winner Richard Carapaz but crucially seven minutes before the 50:56 cut-off time. It was never in doubt. But how Godon suffered.

“Since the crash, I’ve had trouble breathing through my diaphragm and I was in trouble,” the 30-year-old says. The Télégraphe and Galibier, he admits, were a “disaster”. “I couldn’t go any further," he adds. “It was pain from start to finish. Even my brain didn’t want to force it anymore. I was on the verge of crying at some points – I couldn’t do it anymore.”

As he found out, though, the broom wagon is not the enemy; it’s the aid. It doesn’t end dreams; it keeps them alive.

Paul Seixas, aged 19, has just more or less confirmed that he will finish fourth at his debut Tour de France, the first teenager to finish in the top 10, let alone the top five, since 1904.

The Decathlon CMA CGM rider finished 10th on stage 20 atop Alpe d'Huez, 2:55 behind the stage winner, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and 1:50 behind yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and his teammate and white jersey, Isaac del Toro.

It is a remarkable result, one that is beyond superlatives, for Seixas to finish fourth at his debut Tour, his debut Grand Tour in fact. It's all the more remarkable because Seixas fought hard on the penultimate stage, not to secure his place on general classification, but to actually attempt to move up into third, and to overhaul Del Toro. His team rode smartly, and while the plan failed, it showed intent.

However, in the immediate aftermath, in the biggest huddle beyond the finish line, the young man is disappointed.

“I cracked. Voilà. That’s how it is,” Seixas said.

“I wanted to go as deep as possible, but there was a moment where I was on my limit, and I cracked,” he continued.

“I hoped to be stronger than usual but in the end I exploded.”

The podium might have slipped away from his grasp, but it was clear that Seixas was ready to gamble his fourth place, rather than race conservatively to secure his historic result.

“We said in the team that we had nothing to lose. Today I’m fourth, and yesterday I was fourth. We tried everything to crack Del Toro and he was just stronger today,” he explained.

“We say we risk it all for the podium. I’m still fourth so I didn’t lose anything. I tried everything but the legs were not good enough, the head also. That’s why I cracked after. For me it was third or nothing, and today for me it’s nothing."

However, fourth place is not nothing – it is yet more confirmation that France has a serious talent on its hands, one that is only going to mature into a better racer, and one that also has time on his side in the battle against Pogačar and Del Toro in the future.

It does show the sign of a great competitor to be disappointed with fourth, although that achievement will be understood more in the coming weeks.

“In a few days, with a bit of air, there will be some pride,” Seixas said.

Sepp Kuss finished stage 20 of the Tour de France disappointed, having finished third after cresting the Col de Sarenne in third, but it could have been so much worse.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider crashed twice in the final 8km of the day on the descent from the Sarenne before the small climb up to Alpe d'Huez, with the second crash looking particularly terrifying.

First, the American crashed as he left a dark tunnel with 7.1km to go, but then with just over 4km to go, he misjudged a corner on a fast descent and was saved from plummeting over a sheer drop just by safety netting on the bend.

The heart-stopping moment allowed Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) to catch and overtake him, and win the stage, his second in three days. To add insult to injury, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) passed him in the finale.

The only consolation was third place, and a combativity prize. The other good news is that the man from Colorado seemed unhurt by the incidents, but he came close to disaster. The prize of a second Tour stage win was on the line, hence the pressure Kuss put on himself on that descent.

"I wasn't entirely clear-headed," Kuss told France Télévisions post-race. "The effort was incredible. I was trying to maintain the gap with Richard Carapaz. I knew he wasn't far behind and that he would fight to the end. I was trying to gain as much time as possible on every corner."

"I wasn't too scared," he continued. "I thought I'd read the right line. Luckily, there were nets. It would have been nice to finish this Tour on a positive note. But I managed to finish the stage, and we're satisfied with the fighting spirit we showed in this Tour. We fought to the very end."

"I was so on the limit, I misjudged the corner a bit," he added to the Tour's media team. "First in the tunnel, and then after that I was still trying to make up too much time and I misjudged the corner. It was a bit scary, sorry to my wife and my family watching at home! That's racing. I’m happy with the fight and the performance, and it was a big day out.

"That’s how it goes, you can't always have good luck, of have everything in your way. We can be proud of the way we fought as a team. After Jonas [Vingegaard] was out the race, we made the most of every single day. I felt the support of the guys during the stage, I couldn't pay it back but we can be proud of our effort."

To dampen what could have a been a perfect day even more, the day's jury bulletin revealed that Kuss had been fined 1500 CHF ($1,832) for littering.

The exact rule reads: "Rider or team staff disposing of waste or other objects outside of litter zones, or not returned to team or organisation staff, not collected by team staff, thrown at a spectator."

He did it twice, according to the report; for the first offence, he was fined 25 UCI points and 500 CHF, for the second offence, 50 UCI points, 1000 CHF and 60 seconds in the general classification.

Richard Carapaz knows how to win hearts and minds.

Always aggressive, always classy, always embodying panache.

The Tour de France wasn’t even supposed to be on his 2026 calendar – winning the Giro d’Italia for a second time was what his season was based around, until a perineal cyst ruled him out of the Italian Grand Tour.

How the Tour has benefitted.

The Ecuadorian – third on GC at the Tour in 2021, and the winner of the mountains jersey and a stage in 2024 – has lit up the race in the final week.

Two stage wins, his second coming on stage 20 atop Alpe d’Huez just two days after his first, and an unassailable lead in the mountains classification – all he has to do is finish in Paris on Sunday to round off a terrific, enviable Tour.

Perhaps only the three podium finishers and Tim Merlier with three stages can be happier. As a bonus – and it really is an added tip – Carapaz will finish eighth on GC.

Unlike other riders in the top-10 who’ve ridden a careful, considered GC race but haven’t earned their respective teams much visibility, Carapaz has shown off the EF Education-EasyPost jersey at the front of the race, repeatedly.

He’s also shown how to ride a Tour de France. He is a proper bike racer. The one everyone dreams of being like.

“We’ve broken many speed and climbing records this year, and every year the competition gets higher and higher, so to win this jersey is very complicated,” the 33-year-old said after sealing his various triumphs.

It was made even more difficult by his injury-marred spring. “When I realised I wouldn’t do the Giro, it was a complicated situation for me,” he said. “When I came out of the operation, I didn’t ride my bike for three weeks and I didn’t know if my preparation for the Tour was complete.

“But working with the team I got a lot of help, not only physically but mentally and morally, and they helped me tremendously.

“When I knew I was coming to the Tour, we knew the first week would be hard, and I lost some time when I had to. I wanted to be 100% in this last week.”

Carapaz always comes into his own when the race enters the high mountains; it’s no surprise – he was born and raised at an altitude of 2,800m. “I knew the last week of the race would be hard but it’s like that every year,” he said.

“The third week is my favourite and we’ve ridden it in a spectacular way, with two stages and the polka dot jersey. We’ve achieved the goal we had when we started in Barcelona.”

When Carapaz began the penultimate stage, he had one main aim: to get in the breakaway and hoover up the dozens of polka dot jersey points on offer over the Croix de la Fer, Télégraphe, Galibier, Saranne and then Alpe d’Huez.

WInning the stage was a secondary ambition. But once over the Galibier, he started to believe. “When we passed the Galibier and went downhill, there was good collaboration with [fellow escapees] Jai Hindley, Sepp Kuss and Juan Ayuso,” Carapaz reflected.

“We had four minutes [lead to the GC group] but we had to stay calm. I knew I had the legs to win. Coming into the last climb I knew I had to do a half-an-hour effort and to pace myself to achieve the victory. Sepp attacked me at one point. I was six or seven seconds behind but I was always close to him.”

Then Kuss, also in the breakaway with Carapaz 24 hours earlier, crashed. Twice. The second time he was saved by netting that prevented the Visma-Lease a Bike rider from falling down a mountain side at speed.

Fortunately Kuss was fine and able to remount, but he had passed up his chance of victory. Carapaz swooped in, ascended the final four kilometres, and won by 26 seconds from Remco Evenepoel; Kuss finished third.

“On Alpe d’Huez I suffered so much,” Carapaz added. “Even though I knew the route until the last metre, I suffered so, so much, but it was worth it to win this stage.

“I think we have deserved what has happened to us. The goal was to win the mountains jerseys – that was our mission – and we did that.”

Two stages and eighth overall ain’t a bad addition, either. Chapeau, Richie.

Tom Pidcock took a moment to compose himself as he reached his team after the finish line of Alpe d'Huez on stage 20 of the Tour de France. The man from Leeds, distinctive in his Red Bull helmet, covered his face with a blue towel, and listened as his soigneur held his face and geed him up, made him realise what he'd just achieved.

Unlike the previous day, this was not a completely emptied Pidcock, but one satisfied with his achievement of all but sealing ninth place at the world's biggest bike race.

The Pinarello Q36.5 rider finished 16th on Saturday, 9:03 behind stage winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), but defended his overall place, taking time on 10th-placed Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies). It means, barring disaster, Pidcock will achieve his first ever top 10 result at the Tour.

Pidcock has had a combative race, twice finishing third on stages, but did not quite get over the line for his second stage victory. However, a second Grand Tour top 10, and a first at the Tour, satisfied both the 26-year-old and his team.

"I think I'm very happy," he said after finishing atop Alpe d'Huez for a second day in a row. "I think top 10 in the Tour, I can be very proud of. Of course, I'm ambitious, I look forward to next year to try and improve it. For now, I can be very happy. It has been an unbelievably hard race. I don't know if the race tomorrow is neutralised, but I hope it's neutralised."

Asked how difficult the day was, he replied: "From the first climb... the first 20 minutes we went so hard, I thought it was going to be a fucking long day."

Pidcock did not have an ideal run-up to the Tour, with illness forcing him to skip the Tour de Suisse, and seemingly affecting his training as well.

"I would have signed for that [ninth] coming into this race, knowing the disruption I had in the lead up here, I can be very happy," he continued. "I'm ambitious, I look forward to next year, I'm already thinking about things I can improve on to get a better result and be close to these other guys, but for now I can be happy."

There is the small matter of the final stage in Paris on Sunday, which on paper could suit a rider like Pidcock, although the course might not be hard enough. However, in reality, it has come at the end of a hard race.

"First of all, we go to the race and see how it is," he said. "I look forward to the finish line to be honest."

Having finished top 10 at the Tour, on top of his third place at the Vuelta a España last season, Pidcock now knows where there are gains to be made: "When I'm in my best shape I have consistency, and I didn't have that coming into this. That's what I missed I think, consistently working and getting better every training session. That's good for me."

For now, though, there are 89 kilometres in between Pidcock and a well-earned rest – not a beer though, he is not a fan.

Richard Carapaz added to his Grand Tour tally on Saturday, winning a dramatic stage 20 of the Tour de France into Alpe d'Huez.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider had once again been part of the day's breakaway which was down to just three riders as they reached the bottom of the day's final climb, the Col de Sarenne, with 27km to go.

Having been distanced by Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) close to the top of the climb, the American crashed on the road into the finish Alpe d'Huez, Carapaz able to take advantage and his second stage in three days. Having won maximum points on three of the four classified climbs, Carapaz also sealed the mountains classification.

Largely uninjured, Kuss held on gamely but was unable to hold off Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third, just 26 seconds behind Carapaz. Kuss was third, a further five seconds down.

Evenepoel had been in a group with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG pair of Tadej Pogačar and Isaac Del Toro, neither of whom reacted when the Belgian attacked, at two kilometres to go.

Finishing in fourth place on the day, Pogačar all but cemented his fifth Tour de France overall victory on Saturday. The yellow jersey had worked for his team mate, Isaac Del Toro for most of the day and now needs only to finish Sunday's shortened stage in Paris to seal the record win.

In a fantastic stage which waxed and waned all day, the race changed complexion both on the stage and the general classification. While the GC podium places remained the same, the time gaps did move, and Isaac Del Toro cemented his place in the best young rider's jersey, just has his team leader did in yellow.

As with the general classification, the points and mountains classifications are also all but decided. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won the day's intermediate sprint, while Richard Carapaz won three of the day's classified climbs, both men taking unassailable leads in their respective classifications, provided they finish in Paris on Sunday.

How it happened

The last of three stages in the Alps, stage 20 was the race's queen stage, the 170.9km stage between Le Bourg d'Oisans and Alpe d'Huez leading the riders climb a brutal 5,400m over four classified climbs. Of those climbs the day's second, the first category Col du Télégraphe, was the "easiest", the remaining three ascents classed as hors categorie - beyond category.

The final one of those was the Col de Sarenne, being used for the first time as a climb, evened out 14km from the line, before emerging onto the traditional Alpe d'Huez ascent just inside the final 4km, with five hairpins remaining.

The race was on an unclassified climb within the opening 10km, a group of six already a minute up the road. However, as the gradients of the 24km Col de la Croix de Fer began to bite the soup fell apart and they were soon caught by the Visma-Lease a bike led bunch.

Four riders from that team were soon part of a 15-man group to get away, with Carapaz, his chief rival for the mountains classification, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Juan Ayuso among them, the Lidl-Trek rider having lost more than six minutes on Friday, falling to seventh overall.

Three kilometres from the top of the climb Carapaz attacked, leaving Paret-Peintre trailing in his wake, taking maximum mountains points, with the UAE led peloton more than two minutes back.

Perhaps the most impressive ride of the early part of the race was that of green jersey, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). The Dane began the stage leading the points classification by 57 points, but attacked the favourites' group, bridging to the breakaway which, in turn caught Carapaz and Paret-Peintre. Pedersen then took maximum points at the intermediate sprint, securing the green jersey providing he finishes in Paris on Sunday.

By this time, with 104km to go, the peloton remained 2.20 behind, the Col du Télégraphe looming. However, by the time the leaders began to climb the peloton had slipped back a further minute, with the Visma duo of Davide Piganzoli and Bruno Amirail working for Kuss in the break.

When Carapaz won maximum points on the Télégraphe, the lead was out to 4.10, Bahrain Victorious leading the chase in defence of Lenny Martinez's fifth place overall, which was threatened by Ayuso's presence up the road. However, as the climb wore on they ran out of riders and were forced to leave the chase to UAE.

With 12km of the climb remaining, Ben Healey upped the pace for his team mate, Carapaz, reducing the break to only eight riders. Healey himself was next to drop, before Carapaz made a move 5km for the top and causing the rest of the break to shatter.

Only three men chased Carapaz, Kuss, Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon-CMA CGM) catching him 3km from the top of the 2026 Tour's highest climb. The group stayed together over the top, Carapaz taking maximum points and sealing the polka-dot jersey, but behind them the race had changed.

With Felix Grosschartner out of gas, Pogačar took over the pursuit, apparently working in support of team mate, Isaac Del Toro. Almost instantly the peloton fell apart, leaving only the yellow jersey, his team mate Isaac Del Toro, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) and Martinez in the GC group, though they crested the Galibier 4.40 behind the leading group.

The descent down to the start of the Col du Sarenne extended to almost 33km, and though Ayuso regained contact with the leaders, Riccitello was unable to hold the wheel, despite a lack of cohesion at the front. Meanwhile, Pogačar's group swelled to 10 and they began the Sarenne, 27km from the line, with a deficit of 3.22.

With Pogačar continuing to lead, that deficit briefly dropped, but attacks at the front saw it stabilise and even extend. Only when Nicolas Prodhomme upped the pace working for Seixas, did the gap begin to drop properly, but the French prodigy was isolated with 18km to go and when first Evenepoel then Del Toro and Pogačar went to the front the 19 year-old was dropped.

At the front, Kuss crested the Sarenne with an 18 second lead over Carapaz, and while Hindley was dropping back apparently to help Evenpoel, it seemed the Visma rider had the stage in the bag. However, two crashes on the run back into Alpe d'Huez put paid to that, Carapz taking full advantage.

RESULTS

TOUR DE FRANCE, STAGE 20, LE BOURG D'OISANS > ALPE D'HUEZ (170.9KM)

1. Richard Carapaz, (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, in 4:59:392. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +26
3. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +31
4. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:05
5. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, same time
6. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:07
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:15
8. Mattias Skelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:55
9. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, same time
10. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon-CMA CGM, same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 20

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 72:53:44
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +6:26
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9:42
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +11:56
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +13:02
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+14:59
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +17:48
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +20:00
9. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +29:28
10. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies, +33:21

The final stage of the 2026 Tour de France has been shortened after policing resources were put under pressure due to the wildfires currently impacting the country.

Instead of starting in Thoiry, just outside Paris, stage 21 will now start on the Champs-Élysées, with two more laps of the famous street before the Montmartre circuit is used, the race's organisers announced on Saturday afternoon.

The team presentation will still take place in Thoiry, but riders will then travel into the capital by bus. The stage will now be 89km rather than 133km long.

A joint press release from the Prefecture of Police and ASO, the Tour's organisers, reads: "As numerous wildfires are currently affecting France, particularly the Gironde region, emergency services are fully mobilised to combat the blazes, while internal security forces are working to secure the affected areas and protect the population.

"In light of this, the Ministry of Interior has decided to redeploy a portion of the internal security forces initially mobilised to ensure security for the final stage of the Tour de France, in order to reinforce the response efforts in the areas affected by the wildfires.

"In the spirit of national solidarity with the affected regions and populations, it has been decided to adjust the route of the final stage between Thoiry and Paris on Sunday, July 26, 2026."

"The Prefect of Police and the Director of the Tour de France commend the dedication of all those involved in fighting the wildfires and express their full solidarity with the affected communities," the press release concludes. "They thank the riders, the teams, the local authorities, the partners and the public for their understanding regarding these exceptional measures made necessary by the situation."

The official start will now take place at 5:50pm CEST, with the scheduled finish at 7:45pm. The caravan will leave Thoiry at 1:20pm and head straight to the final circuit in Paris, before the team presentation takes place at 3:40pm in Thoiry.

Almost 200,000 people have been evacuated from near Bordeaux in south-west France due to the wildfires, which have burned more than 32,000 hectares of land, according to French newspaper Le Monde. The current wildfires are the latest consequence of a brutal summer of heatwaves, which has been attributed to the ongoing climate crisis.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG's general manager has said he was a "victim" of the doping scandals which rocked the former team he was in charge of.

In an interview with French sports newspaper L'Équipe at the 2026 Tour de France, which his team is set to win through Tadej Pogačar, Mauro Gianetti denied responsibility for the controversies which affected his former team, Saunier Duval.

At that team, where Gianetti was manager from 2004 to 2008, three riders, Leonardo Piepoli, Riccardo Ricco and Juan José Cobo, were involved in doping scandals, which included Ricco testing positive for EPO at the 2008 Tour. Cobo was stripped of the 2011 Vuelta a España title after abnormalities in his biological passport.

"I made the mistake of taking them in my team. I should have reacted differently, been clearer with the press, explain that I was a victim," Gianetti told L'Équipe.

"My concern was to save the jobs of 70 people. You never know what your children do in their rooms, and you certainly don't know what the riders do at home," he continued. "And before signing Ricco, I asked him to go to the UCI to be tested. The UCI then sent me a document stating that he did indeed have a naturally occurring hematocrit level above 50%. I feel like a victim of this. I filed a complaint in Italy against the riders who had caused me to lose sponsors and damaged my reputation."

A winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Amstel Gold Race in the notoriously EPO-affected era of the 1990s, Gianetti denied ever taking the drug. However, he said: "It was a peculiar time." On his hospitalisation at the 1998 Tour de Romandie, Gianetti said: "That's a personal matter; what I had to say, I've already said."

The 62-year-old, at the head of the UAE and Pogačar project, was asked if his past has damaged the image of the Tour's yellow jersey.

"In any case, Pogacar is so strong that no matter the team, there will be doubts concerning him," Gianetti said. "I'm doing my job, I've brought more than 600 million euros into cycling, getting contracts signed, salaries."

In July 2013, second-year pro Luke Durbridge watched the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées. He collected the hats tossed out to the fans at the roadside, and gaped at the lights show on the Arc de Triomphe, as Chris Froome was crowned the winner on the race’s 100th anniversary. “This looks like the big show,” Durbridge told himself. “I thought, ‘Next year, I really want to go.’”

Twelve months on, the Australian was back, and this time he was part of the peloton. He has since raced 12 of the last 13 Tours – more than 200 stages – each one with the same team, now named Jayco AlUla. This edition, however, will be his last; after next January’s Australian Road Championships, the 35-year-old will retire from professional cycling, calling time on a 15-year road career.

“I’m just incredibly lucky to be able to do as many [Tours] as I did,” he tells Cycling Weekly. “I just wanted to do one.”

Durbridge is one of at least five riders who have decided, on their terms, that this will be their final Tour. Alongside him in the Class of ‘26 are Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Damien Howson (Pinarello Q36.5) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), all of whom are due to retire at the end of this season.

Riders don’t always have the luxury of knowing when their final Tour will be. Some careers end in crashes or contract breakdowns; other times, riders just never make the cut for the eight-man squad again.

While there’s often great fanfare around debutants at the Tour – take Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro, for example – the final-timers tend to exit stage left, without a curtain call. Cycling Weekly spoke to three of them at this year’s race, and asked them about their best memories through the years, their toughest moments, and the wisdom they have for the next generation.

“Probably the most standout memory is actually the people,” says Durbridge. “All of my best friends and all of my closest relationships have come from just being in the trenches at the Tour. You probably remember the hard moments with your mates more than you do the ones where you might have got a nice victory.”

What, then, was his hardest moment? “Alpe d’Huez, 2018,” he replies, no need to stop and think. “I made the time cut by 50 seconds, last guy on the road.

“I was quite good on the climb beforehand, and then I just completely cooked it up in the heat nutrition-wise. Then I was just dipping into the soul. I got a lot of help from the crowd that day. That’s a pretty iconic moment for me. I’m pretty proud of myself that I got it done.”

Durbridge’s compatriot and former team-mate Howson is riding his third Tour de France. After competing in back-to-back editions in 2017 and 2018, he began to wonder if he’d ever return to the biggest bike race in the world. Now, eight years on, he’s back with debutants Pinarello Q36.5.

“I set it as a goal when I changed teams four years ago to Q36.5,” the 33-year-old says. “It was a goal of mine to get back to the Tour de France, and it was a goal of theirs to make the Tour de France, so it’s cool to be here in my final year, along with the team, both achieving our goals that we set many years ago.”

Howson chose the eve of this year’s Grand Départ in Barcelona to announce his retirement. Already, his farewell Tour has brought a full-circle moment.

“We started in Carcassonne the other day, and that’s the place where I fractured my scaphoid in my last Tour de France and ended my race there on stage 15,” he says.

“That was another reason I wanted to come back; after feeling the finish in Paris [in 2017], it’s an iconic moment in sport, and to get so close and break the scaphoid, I wasn’t able to get there that year. Now, eight years later, we’re back at the Tour de France and trying to tick off the team’s objectives and ambitions. But it’ll be a nice little cherry on the top for me to finish in Paris.”

Uno-X’s Magnus Cort has only failed to finish one of the eight Tours he started. Funnily, that uncompleted edition in 2022, which began in his native Denmark, is also the one that gave him the fondest memories.

“I was in the polka dot jersey,” he says of the opening stages out of Copenhagen. “Then I got a second day where I was riding alone in the breakaway. That was also very special.

“It’s something I won’t get the chance to do again now. It was the one time I had the opportunity to do something, and I was very happy that I could do it.”

Cort is one of two riders in the Class of ‘26, alongside Izagirre, who can call themselves stage winners. The Dane earned the first of his two victories on his debut in 2018, while the second came five days before he withdrew in 2022.

Rather than his wins, some fans might remember Cort more for his tongue-in-cheek hotel reviews, which he began posting on Instagram as early as 2019. “Many of them are not the best hotels, so I don’t think that’s a part I will miss,” he says. “I know a lot of people have told me they’ll miss my reviews.”

What’s the biggest hotel nightmare he’s had at the race? “It was this one we stayed in two years ago,” he says. “We stayed in a slightly different part of the hotel, and I don’t know if it was the weather in the different part, but it was a lot more moist there. There was water basically running down the walls. It was really, really nasty there.”

The rough nights, though, have taken nothing away from Cort's Tour experience. “It’s been great,” he says, but he won't reminisce any deeper just yet. That will come later. “For the moment, I’m thinking about the race and doing everything I can like every other year.”

Durbridge, too, isn’t letting himself sit back and reflect on his 13 Tours just yet. With two days still to go until Paris, he's sticking to the mantra he's always had: “I’m trying to keep it one stage at a time.”

It’s the same wisdom the Jayco AlUla road captain gives to any rider at the start of their Tour journey. “Try and take it all in,” he says. “Try not to get overwhelmed, because you want to do many Tours. I think in my first Tour de France I got a bit overwhelmed by just the size and the craziness of it, and I didn’t quite perform. But performing at the Tour is what you want to do – it’s not just about getting selected for the Tour.”

Howson’s advice is similar. “The hype is real,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it is still just a bike race, so don’t let it overwhelm you; embrace it rather than let it hold you back.”

Come Sunday evening, when the race closes on the Champs-Élysées, all the cameras will be pointed at the stage winner, the yellow jersey, and the other podium finishers. Spare a thought then for the final-timers – Durbridge, Cort, Howson, Izagirre and Caruso – and the legacies they leave behind. They might not be on the start line next year, but they'll be part of the Tour's history forever.

Joxean Fernández, team manager of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, has explained his part in the incident which saw Movistar rider Einar Rubio injured during Friday's Alpe d'Huez stage of the Tour de France.

Rubio was forced out of the Tour with just two stages remaining, after hitting the back of one of the UAE team cars, close to the top of the final climb during stage 19. The Colombian had been part of the day's breakaway and was among the leading riders on the road as the race entered its final kilometres.

He had just been passed by eventual winner, Tadej Pogačar when the incident happened, the UAE team car braking hard to a halt, Rubio hitting it so hard he broke the rear window with his head. The team car then immediately drove off, leaving the stricken rider alone with only members of the crowd for help.

Rubio suffered multiple injuries to his face, requiring 20 stitches, but was discharged from hospital late on Friday evening. Some of the videos of the incident which have emerged on social media, clearly show a fan falling in front of the car, and had Fernández not braked as he did, it appears likely they could have driven over the fan. However, some have criticised the driver for not stopping to help Rubio.

"Today, I feel the need to explain what happened from my position inside the car during yesterday’s stage," Fernández wrote in a post in his instagram account posted on Saturday morning.

"In the final kilometres of the Alpe d’Huez climb, with thousands of fans right next to the road and the immense pressure typical of a decisive Tour stage, a spectator suddenly ran out and fell right beneath our vehicle. My only reaction was to brake immediately to avoid running him over. It all happened in a split second, and my only thought was preventing a far worse tragedy.

"After braking, we heard a loud impact behind us, but amidst the noise, the tension, the crowd, and the responsibility of continuing to protect the race leader, I didn't learn the full extent of the accident, or that Einer had to withdraw from the Tour, until we reached the finish line. I immediately contacted the Movistar Team, its directors, riders, and staff to check on the situation and ask what had happened.

"Those of us involved in cycling know that in such extreme situations, decisions are made in fractions of a second and always with the aim of protecting human life.

"I deeply regret the consequences of this accident. If the decisions I made in that moment ended up affecting a rider in the peloton, I can only say that it pains me deeply. At the same time, I believe it is important to remember that the safety of riders, teams, and fans also depends on the responsible behavior of those who enjoy this sport from the roadside.

"I offer all my support and affection to Einer; I am deeply sorry for what happened and sincerely hope to see you back competing where you belong very soon. This has not been, and is not, an easy day for me, and I needed to share this with you."

Despite the consequences of the incident, Fernández was not sanctioned by the race commissaires in the post race bulletin and he continued in the team car on Saturday's 20th stage, which also finishes at Alpe d'Huez, though by a different route.

You’ve seen the photos, watched the videos, and possibly stood on the road yourself, witnessing the world’s biggest riders at the world’s best race ascending the world’s noisiest climb.

Few things stir the emotions and whet the appetite quite like a stage of the Tour de France to the top of Alpe d’Huez.

After a four year absence, the Tour returned to its most famous of climbs on stage 19 (and will do again on stage 20, albeit without ascending the 21 hairpins and instead going via the Col de Sarenne).

If watching a spread out peloton, one by one, climb the Alpe, past the tens of thousands of fans, barbecues, flags, empty beer bottles and questionable fancy dress is an unmissable date in the diary, imagine what it’s like to actually ride the thing. To be an actor in bike racing’s craziest circus. Even one of the minor players, not stage winner Tadej Pogačar.

Tobias Foss of Netcompany-Ineos was one of many riders riding up to the ski station for the first time. “It was very fun,” the Norwegian said. “All the climbs in the Tour have a lot of people but this was extreme.

“My eardrums were hurting a bit sometimes, honestly. I’m expecting when I get back to the hotel that my ears will be singing a bit. It was just incredible.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re the first guy or the 40th guy or the 100th guy, people are still having a good party and cheering you. It’s amazing and incredible.”

No surprise that Foss had a favourite section. “We have the Norwegian/Danish corner, and I saw some friends at the start of that corner so that was nice. It was cool to see a lot of Norwegian flags.”

NSN’s Lewis Askey, losing his battle to finish dead-last in the race, was a spectator on the Alpe four years ago when his British compatriot Tom Pidcock won. This time he was riding it. “Mental,” is how Askey described the experience.

“I think it’s one of the mythical things of cycling to be able to do. I watched it a couple of years ago so to be here now riding it is really cool.

“I hate to think what it would have been like for the leaders as I couldn’t ride through the crowds [at some points]. It was so crazy, and that was half-an-hour afterwards.”

The Tour is littered with episodes of riders joining in the festivities on the Alpe, either by taking beers from fans, or wheeling up the steep gradients. Michael Matthews of Jayco AlUla was in the day’s big breakaway, but when he got to the bottom of the Alpe, he switched his focus into enjoying the madness of it all. Even in the cauldron of noise, he found time for quiet reflection.

“Stage 19 of the hardest race in the world, and after breaking my arms at the start of the year, and having [pulmonary] embolism at the Tour de France last year, it’s such an amazing feeling to be back," Matthews said.

“After what I’ve been through the last two years, to be back at the Tour and in this shape, and having these fans cheer me on, it was quite emotional.

“I was by myself for pretty much the whole climb and I was able to enjoy pretty much every single fan on the side of the road, try to gee them up to get them even more excited, and just do what I can to really just enjoy the atmosphere.”

How did Matthews animate the crowd further? “It’s just winding your hands up and that makes the fans go even more crazy. It doesn't take much! Just a little symbol that you’re acknowledging them and they go even crazier.

“I also saw a lot of Aussie flags out there which was really incredible and not even just Aussies, but fans from around the world were cheering me on as if I was about to win the race, so that was pretty special.

“In terms of feeling the support from the fans, it doesn’t get much better than this. The Flanders Classics are pretty incredible, but this was 13km of screaming in my ears the whole way.”

Not everyone will leave with positive memories: Movistar's Einer Rubio suffered facial injuries after crashing into the back of a UAE Team Emirates-XRG car.

But Robert Stannard of Bahrain-Victorious was another one who was inspired by the watching public. “It’s amazing to come up here with all the fans,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like an effort at all because of how much motivation they have us.

“Just to get here at the bottom, knowing that you’re going up Alpe d’Huez in the Tour de France is almost like a dream come true. It was really amazing, all the fans, everything. I loved it.”

Most fans would give a lot to ride a stage of the Tour up to Alpe d’Huez, but it was Foss who had the most envy. “It must be so cool to stand alongside the road,” he said. “I’ll definitely bring my kids here in the future.”

Adam Yates made a Lazarus-like recovery to get into a breakaway on stage 19 of the Tour de France, and launch Tadej Pogačar to victory on Alpe d'Huez.

At the end of stage 18, it seemed very much as though Yates’ entire race was done. Clearly unwell, UAE Emirates-XRG’s British rider had survived the stage but he looked, frankly, awful.

Less than 24 hours later, at the end of a brutal 127km mountain stage, he popped up to play a stage-changing lead-out role for Pogačar, who became only the second rider ever to win on Alpe d’Huez in the yellow jersey, and he set a new record on the climb while he was at it.

Clearly exhausted, but looking like a different man compared to the way he presented the previous day in Orcières-Merlette, Yates even managed a brief laugh when asked immediately after the finish if he felt reborn.

"Reborn is a strong word," he said. "I'm still suffering a lot. It's quite obvious we have had some illness in the team, and the last few days have been really difficult. Even just to finish the stage has been really hard. We knew we would get through it, but it takes time."

From the bottom of the infamous hors catégorie climb, making its first appearance at the Tour since 2022, the UAE Emirates-XRG team knew Pogačar had several minutes to make up on the leaders, and that success would depend on who they had in the break.

Despite the fact that he was still feeling the effects of his illness, Yates stood up, although he admits there was some serendipity in how things panned out.

“I didn't mean to be in the break actually, I was up near the front marking some moves, and suddenly there was a space,” he admitted to reporters. “Yeah, it was good - I got a bit of a head-start on the climb, and then the guys came from behind and you know what happened.

“I would have liked [the pull for Pogačar] to have been a little bit longer, but like I say, I've been struggling for the last few days with illness, and just to be back in this kind of shape, and to be back at the pointy end of a race is nice.

“When you're sick the only thing you pray for is health, I read the other day, and that's true. It's good to be back, and hopefully I'll be even better tomorrow.”

One thing is clear, regardless of whether there has been sickness in the squad, a mere malady isn't likely to stop Pogačar's relentless pursuit of his fifth Tour de France title.

The last time Tom Pidcock rode up the Alpe d'Huez at the Tour de France, it was one of the performances of his career. The then 22-year-old flew up the famed climb to take his first – and to date only – Tour stage win, and to mark his name on the world of cycling.

That was in 2022. Four years on, the now Pinarello Q36.5 rider, aged 26, is older and wiser, but also now the owner of an opposite experience on the Alpe. Instead of tasting victory once more, Pidcock finished 20th on stage 19 of the 2026 Tour , 8:22 behind the stage winner and yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

"That second last climb I went so deep, I think I paid for that on the last climb. I was dead there," he said at the finish.

"Of course [there are positives to take from the stage] Yeah, what a day. I hoped for more. But there was nothing more I had in my legs there. It is was it is."

There might have been positives, but stage 19 was a bad day for Pidcock; not only was he not able to recreate his heroics from four years ago, he also slipped down on the general classification, being leapfrogged by Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). What looked like a comfortable eighth place is now an edgy ninth, with Pidcock leading Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) by under two minutes. It should be enough, but with a chaotic penultimate stage to come, anything might happen.

His comments post stage 18 on Thursday were prescient, warning of Carapaz: "When Carapaz is up the road, I have too much respect for this guy to give him free time. You don't give him free time."

The EF rider is chasing the mountains classification, but has also found himself in the top 10 on GC; he is just 15 seconds ahead of Pidcock, so it will all come down to stage 20, also to Alpe d'Huez.

Despite the disappointment, Pidcock could still find time to enjoy his second time racing up the Alpe at the Tour: "It's incredible you know, the amount of people who come here and watch bike racing. It's amazing. The atmosphere. Thank you to everyone who comes out and makes it so magical."

Freed from domestique duties, with his teammate Jonas Vingegaard at home with a broken collarbone, Sepp Kuss sensed glory on Alpe d’Huez.

It’s been five years since the sport’s favourite helper won a stage of the Tour de France, and there was no better place to finally win in the Tour again than atop the mythical Alpe, the climb every single cyclist, amateur or pro, dreams of being triumphant on.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Kuss did everything right at the start. He was part of the huge 42-man breakaway, and was present when that group was whittled down to 15 on the penultimate climb. At the bottom of the iconic Alpe, only six remained, and one of them was Kuss.

Before long, there were only three: Kuss, stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz, and the best French-placed rider in the race: Lenny Martinez. Either of them could win.

Neither of them would.

The trio all attacked one another, but it was in vain: with 3km remaining, Tadej Pogačar, he who spoils so many dreams, passed them all and rode to his fifth stage victory in the race. Martinez held on for second, Carapaz third, but Kuss drifted back to fourth.

If it seemed inevitable that Pogačar would win, and in doing so smash Marco Pantani’s record, Kuss believed that the break had a chance of resisting the race leader. But their advantage to the yellow jersey at the foot of the Alpe wasn’t big enough.

“I knew he [Pogačar] would probably go from the bottom so with that you probably need six minutes or something,” Kuss said.

“We had a good selection at the bottom, but when I saw the gap at the bottom, I knew it would be tight. It was a bit stop-start riding, a lot of attacking.

“It was just everyone on their own, nobody wanted to commit fully. It’s still a climb where you get quite a bit of drafting, so it was pretty tactical at the end.

“I just tried to ride my own rhythm. I’m not as explosive as those other guys, but I’m happy with the ride. I tried to keep it steady, but it’s hard. There are all the moments when you think, ‘Now I want to go with speed, or go when they’re finished with their effort’. Then you get another narrow part. So it’s hard to time it.”

Despite not pulling off the win, Kuss was content with how he performed. ”I’m happy with the ride. I feel good,” the American said.

The Tour returns to the Alpe tomorrow. One more chance for a Kuss victory.

Tadej Pogačar was more than three years away from being born the last time someone rode up Alpe d'Huez faster than him.

On stage 10 of the 1995 Tour de France, the controversial Marco Pantani flew up the Alpe d'Huez in 36:40. 31 years later, on stage 19 of the 2026 Tour, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar rode the famous climb in a reported 35:26, 1:14 faster than Pantani's time.

Not that it means much to the Slovenian: "I actually don't know what the time of Pantani was to be honest. I'm staying off the internet a lot in the last weeks, and I don't take too much into that," the world champion said after his latest win.

"I heard that I broke the record, so I'm happy. I just wanted to do a good race and win today. For the guys. Also, I don't know how old, 30 years old record, finally broken, is good for us."

The victory was Pogačar's fifth of the race, his 26th stage win overall, and means he now has a lead of more than seven minutes over second-placed Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

It was dominant performance, as he attacked on the final climb of the day from the GC group, 12km from the top, and picked off riders from the break one by one. From a deficit of 3:25 at the bottom, he overhauled them all. The last survivors were Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), with Carapaz and Martinez finally dispatched with 800m to go.

The Alpe, the record, this is supposed to be special. Asked how much this result meant to him, Pogačar answered: "I would say as much as any other win, but now that every single journalist says how big this win is, maybe I'll start to realise how big this win is. Maybe I'll appreciate it once it settles down."

It meant a lot to his team, however, with his sports directors Joxean Fernández Matxín and Andrej Hauptman overjoyed that their charge had done it again, with the former in tears at the finish.

"I didn't know..." Pogačar started. "I don't know why they got so emotional as men. I don't cry often, I guess it meant a lot to the team. Also, the way we are riding as a team, not just the victory, the team spirit and all, it cannot be better, even with the rough days of the last days, the team spirit cannot be better than when we win. It's a reward for all, and then emotions come to the surface."

Those "rough days" for UAE saw Brandon McNulty abandon, and both Adam Yates and Tim Wellens fall ill to a stomach bug.

"Adam was really bad on the TT day, he was white like a wall," the yellow jersey explained. "Today I was so happy when I caught him on the last climb to ride behind him. Felix [Großschartner] had to do all the work in the last few days because Tim was also feeling sick, Brandon also went home. Guys don't feel like themselves, but today we stepped up again.

"They believed we could win and it was just nice to seal the deal today after a couple of rough days for the guys. This one is for the teammates."

Pogačar now leads the 2026 Tour by 7:11, which would be the biggest winning margin of any of his five Tours if the race ends with him on top, as it is likely to. That gap is helped by the absence of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), but it proves his utter supremacy.

On French TV, they compared Pogačar to Pac-Man, a yellow character gobbling up all before him. In this Tour, however, there are no ghosts to threaten the main character; he looks unbeatable. Even illness within his team hasn't held him back.

He is a man used to gobbling up riders ahead of him. Asked what it's like to overtake rivals, he said: "Some riders, you can see that they're already taking it a bit easier to go to the top, and maybe with some riders we have good energy. With [Harold] Tejada we smiled at each other, then some riders... it's a good feeling when you pass somebody. Some riders stick on the wheel to see how fast I am going, and it's a compliment a little bit.

"It gives a lot of motivation when you catch riders, and today there was a lot of riders in front so it was good to go and catch them one by one. Chapeau to everyone in the front."

It feels like a given now that Pogačar was going to gobble them all up, including Kuss, Carapaz and Martinez, but it wasn't always so, and Pogačar himself wasn't certain.

"The moment I started to believe was when I heard on the radio that they started to attack each other," he explained. "Then I knew that it was on and off. Then 5km to go... I don't know how much the gap was, if I kept this pace maybe I catch them just before this right turn. When it was the barriers, I could see them finally, and I saw they were looking at each other.

"I knew I could catch them, but also somebody was saving a bit, so I was quite in doubt. Then Sepp attacked, and I was like, 'Fuck they're gone again, I will not be able to catch'. That was the last resource of Sepp. Then Lenny was incredible, he was on my wheel, I didn't think I was able to catch him. I was barely able to catch Richard. We were all at the limit. I tried not to come to a three man sprint.

"I accelerated with 1km to go, 800m to go, I gave it all. It was one of the hardest wins for me, and chapeau to all the breakaway riders, they were smart today with a lot of teammates in front. Today was a battle of teams, and in the end we could pull it off."

Despite a team under the weather, held back by illness, Pogačar the Pac-Man couldn't be stopped. Pantani's record gone, the Tour de France overall victory record of five in touching distance, what's next? If Merckx was the cannibal, Pogačar is just as voracious.

Movistar rider Einer Rubio crashed into the back of a UAE Team Emirates-XRG car on Alpe d’Huez, and failed to finish stage 19 of the Tour de France as a result.

The Colombian was part of the day’s 42-man breakaway, and was towards the front of the race halfway up the final climb, sitting just behind the lead group of Richard Carapaz, Lenny Martinez and Sepp Kuss.

With around 5km to go, the eventual stage winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) passed Rubio, and shortly afterwards, while riding alone, Rubio rode headfirst, at speed, into the back of a UAE car that was forced to slam on its brakes for reasons not yet known.

Unlike other sections of the climb, there were no barriers holding fans back from riders where Rubio crashed.

Rubio, 28, was hurt enough that he was unable to ride the remainder of the climb. The stage’s medical report listed Rubio as having a “facial injury”, adding that he was “observed at the mobile x-ray". His team have yet to provide further details, and there was no action taken against UAE in the jury's report.

A UAE spokesperson told Cycling Weekly: "A spectator fell forward directly into the path of the car. The car braked to avoid the collision. It was a very unfortunate incident and we wish Einer Rubio a speedy recovery."

He was riding his second Tour de France, and had featured in the breakaway in the last five road stages. His best result was 16th on stage 15’s race to Plateau de Solaison.

Rubio’s last win – and only his second in professional cycling – was at the 2023 Giro d’Italia. He has been riding with Movistar since 2020.

The Spanish team have been active in breakaways throughout the Tour, particularly with Rubio, Pablo Castrillo and Raúl Garcia Pierna, but they haven’t yet scored a victory; their best result was the latter’s third-place on stage four into Foix.

Movistar’s goal pre-race was for a top-10 on GC with Cian Uijtdebroeks, yet the young Belgian pulled out on stage six after suffering with a stomach virus and fever.

Movistar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG were contacted for comment.

Sprinter Mark Cavendish has the record for the most Tour de France stage wins in his career. The Manxman took his first win in 2008 at Chateauroux when riding for Team Colombia then took number 35, 16 years later in Saint Vulbas, riding for XDS Astana.

The record makes Cavendish the greatest sprinter in Tour de France history with the four riders directly below him in the stage-wins list all GC riders. André Darrigade, who won his stages in the late 50s and early 60s, is the next sprinter at number six. Below him, Belgian Freddy Maertens won 15 stages and Marcel Kittel, a rival of Cavendish's for several seasons, is on 14.

Part of Cavendish's Tour success was the length of his career as a successful bunch sprinter. Despite facing multiple challenges in the second half of his career, including crashes, non-selection for the Tour, and struggles to find a team to back him, Cavendish continued, always determined to make it back to the Tour and keep winning.

This, fueled in part by his well documented love of the race, kept him racing and winning at the Tour over 16 seasons. Darrigade won his stages over an 11 year period, Maertens was successful over six years while Marcel Kittel packed his wins into just five years.

The only rider in the list still competing is Tadej Pogačar who, after his win on Alpe d'Huez, hit 26. Whether or not he eventually beats Cavendish's record would seem to depend on how long the Slovenian chooses to keep riding as he is still only 27 years old. His 26 wins come from seven editions of the race, an average of 3.7 stage wins a year.

Tour de France stage wins

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) 35
2. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 34
3. Bernhard Hinault (Fra) 28
4. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 26
5. André Leducq (Fra) 25
6. André Darrigade (Fra) 22
7. Nicolas Frantz (Lux) 20
8. François Faber (Lux) 19
9. Jean Alavoine (Fra) 17
=10. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 16
=10. René Le Greves (Fra) 16
=10. Charles Pelissier (Fra) 16
13. Freddy Maertens (Bel) 15
14. Marcel Kittel (Ger) 14
15. Philippe Thys (Bel) 13
*Rider still competing

Tour de France days in yellow

Tadej Pogačar is also climbing up the list riders with the most days in the yellow jersey. Sealing his fifth win from seven attempts (that included two second places) since 2020, he has rarely been out of the yellow jersey. Although his first Tour win in 2020 resulted in just one day in yellow after he took the lead on the penultimate day with a sensational mountain time trial up La Planche des Belles Filles, which saw him snatch yellow from his countryman Primoz Roglič.

1. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 96
2. Bernard Hinault (Fra) 75
3. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 70
4. Miguel Indurain (Esp) 60
5. Chris Froome (GBr) 59
6. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 50
7. Antonin Magne (Fra) 38
=8. Nicolas Frantz (Fra) 37
=8. Philippe Thys (Bel) 37
10. André Leducq (Fra) 35
*Rider still competing

Tour de France General Classification wins

=1. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 5 (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964)
=1. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 5 (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974)
=1. Bernard Hinault (Fra) 5 (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985)
=1. Miguel Indurain (Esp) 5 (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
=1. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 5 (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026)
=5. Chris Froome (GBr) 4 (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017)
=7. Philippe Thys (Bel) 3 (1913, 1914, 1920)
=7. Louison Bobet (Fra) 3 (1953, 1954, 1955)
=7. Greg LeMond (USA) 3 (1986, 1989, 1990)
13 more riders have won the Tour de France twice
*Rider still competing

Tour de France green jersey wins

Peter Sagan holds the record for the most green jerseys won at the Tour de France with seven. From 2012 onwards he was almost unbeatable in the competition as he could compete in bunch sprints, get into breaks and get over the climbs that the pure sprinters couldn't

1. Peter Sagan (Svk) 7
2. Erik Zabel (Ger) 6
3. Sean Kelly (Ire) 4
=4. Robbie McEwen (Aus) 3
=4. Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (Uzb) 3
=4. Freddy Maertens (Bel) 3
=4. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 3
=4 Jan Janssen (Ned) 3

Tadej Pogačar celebrated his fifth stage win of this year’s Tour de France after a record setting performance on Alpe d’Huez.

The Slovenian set a new record time of 35:27 up the storied climb breaking the record set by Marco Pantani in 1997.

Pogačar has now racked up 26 stage wins in his career, just nine shy of Mark Cavendish’s record.

There had been much speculation over whether the UAE Emirates-XRG leader might be affected by stomach sickness sweeping its way through the team, but he showed no signs of that being the case as he left the GC riders in his wake on Alpe d’Huez’s early slopes.

With just one more mountain stage left in today’s race his grip on the yellow jersey now appears unassailable.

It is Pogačar's first win on the storied slopes of The Alpe and just the second by any rider wearing the yellow jersey after Geraint Thomas in 2018.

Speaking at the finish he said: “It’s very cool to win up here. It was a crazy atmosphere on the whole climb thanks to all the team that I could pull it off in the end.

Pogačar launched the attack that would take him to victory on the lower slopes of the 21-bend climb. Asked if that was the plan from the start he said: “In the beginning in the first kilometre of Alpe d’Huez I knew I had good legs and there weren’t many guys who could follow, so I tried. Then I committed to the top.”

The yellow-jersey was paced for a couple of kilometres by Adam Yates who had been the day’s breakaway after suffering from stomach sickness in recent days, before the maillot jaune set off on his own.

He caught the three remaining riders from the day’s break with just under 2km to go and eventually distanced them under the flamme rouge to go on and win.

Tomorrow the peloton will ascend Alp d’Huez again, this time from the other side. Asked if he might try and stack back-to-back wins on the famous climb he said: “We’ll see. We’ll go our own rhythm and own plan tomorrow. We don’t care about anything else, we’ll do what we do every day which is stick together and do our best as a team and then see what happens.”

Until the UAE Emirates-XRG leader’s unprecedented display the stage had unfolded in much the way many observers had expected, straight form the flag drop the course climbed and soon a breakaway of 41 riders formed.

Both Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) competed for the king of the mountain points at the top of the second category climb. The Frenchman had started the day just one point off Tadej Pogačar’s lead in that competition with Carapaz a further six points back.

Paret-Peintre beat the Ecuadorian to claim the maximum 5 points, while Carapaz picked up three for second.

That climb was soon followed by the first cat Col du Noyer and the break built up a lead of over three minutes by its summit.

There Paret-Peintre once against bested Carpaz in the sprint for the mountain points extended his gap to the Ef Education-EasyPost rider by another two points.

The descent off the climb flowed into a series of flat to rolling roads before the intermediate sprint at the bottom of the penultimate climb.

But as the breakaway approached the bottom of the penultimate climb Paret-Pientre was dropped leaving and opening for Carapaz to capitalize in the king of the mountains competitions. He took full advantage on the Col d’Ornon taking the maximum five points on the second category climb.

As the race reached the first of Alpe d’Huez’s famous 21 bends the front group had already been whittled down to just 13 riders. Among them was Carapaz.

Before it reached its next bend Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) attacked taking a group of three other riders with him.

In the GC group Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), who sat fifth on GC, both fell out of the back swiftly as the gradients hit.

Soon afterward Tadej Pogačar launched an attack and bridged up UAE Emirates-XRG team-mate Adam Yates, who’d spent the day in the breakaway and now proceeded to set pace for the Slovenian.

Up ahead Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked, dropping Arensman and leaving a trio of Kuss, Carapaz and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) out front. However, the yellow jersey, in Yates’ wheel, was eating into their advantage.

With 10km to go Pogačar had put 30 seconds between him and the rest of the GC pack.

Just over a kilometre later Carapaz accelerated taking just Martinez with him but Kuss, riding tempo bridged back up to the front pair.

With 6.7km to race Kuss made an acceleration of his own but was marked by the other two breakaway companions.

Just outside of the 5km mark Carpaz went once again but again Martinez marked him and Kuss clawed his way back up to them. By now Pogačar had a lead of almost two minutes on the GC group.

He was eating up the gap to the leaders too and under 4km to go banner could finally see them up ahead.

Perhaps sensing the danger, Kuss attacked just before the Slovenian could make contact but a counter-attack from Carapaz was the first to finally break free.

With 1.7km to go Pogačar caught Carapaz with Martinez now in his wheel and the three rode into the ski resort at the top of the mountain together. The Slovenian tried to attack them but couldn’t get away.

Under the flamme rouge he tried again and this time the gap began to open. Martinez attacked Carapaz in the final straight but Pogačar, making a good case to be the greatest of all time, was well out of reach.

Results

Tour de France 2026, stage 19: Gap > Alpe d’Huez (127km)

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 127.9km in 3:17:57
2. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +6s
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +9s
4. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:14
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +2:07
6. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:29
7. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:41
8. Mathias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:45
9. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, at same time
10. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +3:22

General classificaion after stage 19

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 67:53:00
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +7:11
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +9:42
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +10:06
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +13:00
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+13:09
7. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +15:58
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +21:15
9. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +21:30
10. Jordan Jegat (Fra) ToralEnergies, +23:21

Not everyone can have a Tour de France debut like Isaac Del Toro and Paul Seixas who are locked in a tight battle for the probable third and final spot on the podium.

Most of the other 50 debutants have had a far more typical first experience of the race: some good days, some bad days. Some, like Alex Molenaar, have crashed and abandoned. All are knackered, counting down the days until home. But three days, and two ascents of Alpe d’Huez, still have to be tackled.

“I thought I’d be in a body bag by now, and I am in a way, but not as much as I thought I would be,” laughed EF Education-EasyPost’s Max Walker ahead of stage 18. “I’ve been recovering and sleeping well, and feel surprisingly better than I expected I would.”

Speaking before the race, Walker’s approach to his first ever Tour – and first ever race longer than eight days – was not to think too much about it. No point stressing over the unknowns; embrace the experience.

“I’ve got to think back to when I was a kid and dreaming about doing this race, and then realise that now I’m actually here," he said. "It’s going to be really hard, but it’s a privilege to do it, and I’m lucky to do it.

“I’m probably a bit naive to it all and I’ve not spoken to many people about it. I’m just trying to block it all out and it’ll be nice when it happens. I’ll try not to get overwhelmed by it all. I’m quite a relaxed person so I think I’ll be able to zone everything out and just take it as it comes."

Three weeks on, Walker has definitely done that. His relaxed demeanour remains the same, as does his cheeky smile laugh. He also enjoyed his 25th birthday, turning a year older on stage nine. “We’re almost there [at the finish] and it’s getting tougher the further we get into it, but the feeling is pretty good and I’ve actually really enjoyed it,” he said

“I didn’t think the crowds would be as big as they have been – that’s been a bit of a shock – but it’s been really nice.”

His main takeaway from his debut Tour is the intensity of the race. “It’s been raced a bit harder than I thought it would be,” adds Walker, who is the latest rider from the tiny island of the Isle of Man to race the Tour. “I’m doing nearly my peak numbers in the third week and still getting my head kicked in. It’s what you’d expect, really.

“I’m hoping that every other race feels a bit easier than this. I’ve been told it will, so I’m hoping that I take a step up in level and the rest of the races don’t feel as hard.”

Walker has been one of EF’s small army of domestiques for his team’s leaders, stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy. He has also, like the rest of his teammates, been attempting to infiltrate many a breakaway.

“I’ve been trying to get in the break a few days but I’ve not been able to,” he said. “I’ve also been covering moves when other riders haven’t, and that’s been helping my teammates get in the break. If I don’t make it into the break then I turn my attention to keeping the boys fed and hydrated so they can either the stage easy to rest for the next day, or to keep their energy levels topped up for the end of the stage.”

The end is now in sight for the other debutants who remain in the race. Del Toro has a 20 seconds advantage over Seixas in the fight for third, and Alpe d’Huez, both on Friday and Saturday, will determine which of the two will come out on top.

For Walker, he’s just focused on making the Alpe memorable – for a very different reason. “I think it’s going to be another level up – even crazier,” he said of the hundreds of thousands of fans lining the 21 hairpins.

“We were saying among ourselves that we should try to do a challenge of who can ride non-handed the longest without being pushed off. I don’t think we’d last very long. It depends on what corner you’re on. If you’re on Dutch corner, I think it’d be impossible.”

Now that’s how to bring the curtain down on a debut Tour.

Although we've explained why Tour de France riders' setups have become more relaxed lately, there are always exceptions. Kasper Asgreen has an extremely aggressive position on his Cannondale Lab71 SuperSix Evo, with a huge saddle-to-bar drop paired with a long and narrow cockpit.

It's clearly something that works for the 2021 Tour of Flanders champion and stage winner at the 2023 Tour de France. As we know from speaking to Cannondale and the Dane's team, EF Education–EasyPost, Asgreen is one of the peloton's most tech-focused riders and fastidiously optimises his bike.

Being a breakaway specialist who usually wins solo or from a small group, Asgreen's position makes sense. When he gets away, he needs to be in the most aerodynamic position possible. It's not one many pros attempt to hold these days, but Asgreen has shown he can on many occasions. He's also used a few nifty tricks to help him win in these scenarios.

Let's run through the details of his Cannondale Lab71 SuperSix Evo that we photographed at the Grand Depart and featured in our Tour de France tech gallery from Barcelona. We'll pick out a few differences from the Specialized S-Works Tarmac he rode while at Soudal–Quickstep.

Despite standing at 1.92m tall, Asgreen rides a 56cm SuperSix Evo, which is one or two sizes smaller than an amateur of the same height might ride. That explains the massive drop between the saddle, which has previously been measured at 82cm above the middle of the bottom bracket, and handlebars. He does this because the low position he wants would not be possible on the frame size up. The stack of the 58cm SuperSix is about 25mm taller than the 56cm.

Cannondale dropped the stack of the fifth-generation SuperSix by one centimetre across the range, bringing it into line with the Tarmac SL8 Asgreen raced at his previous team. Nonetheless, since joining EF Education-EasyPost, Asgreen told me he has gone slightly up and out, maintaining overall reach while flattening his torso angle. This makes that still-aggressive position easier to hold. He appears to have done this by adding a couple of spacers, using upturned hoods and benefitting from the extra reach these long SRAM Red AXS shifters bring.

At the SuperSix launch last year, Cannondale said all EF racers were narrowing their cockpits and Asgreen has followed suit, dropping down from 38cm to 36cm for this year. His SystemBar Road integrated cockpit has a 130mm effective stem length and 4cm flare. This gives more control in the drops and abides by the UCI's handlebar dimension rules requiring a 40cm outside-to-outside width.

SRAM's wireless sprint Blips are tucked into the handlebar tape on the drops. Although Asgreen isn't a sprinter, these would come in handy during a reduced group sprint, enabling him to change gear at full tilt.

Some SRAM-sponsored teams have taken advantage of the American brand's provision for 1x road drivetrains at this year's Tour. EF Education-EasyPost, however, has stuck with traditional double chainrings. Asgreen is pushing a 54/41T combo.

As pro chainrings have increased in size, so have cassettes. A choice of 10-33T or 10-36T SRAM Red AXS cassettes is the new normal for SRAM teams on rolling and hilly terrain. Not so long ago an 11-28T cassette was considered a climbing gear.

The green around the pedal thread of these SRAM Red AXS cranks denotes they measure 172.5mm. That might seem long these days, but Asgreen is very tall and would have doubtless ridden 175s previously.

A benefit of the SuperSix's low frameset weight is that riders can run deeper rims without much of an overall weight penalty. These look like 60mm-deep Vision Metron RS rims fitted with 700x30c Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres. Note that these are the non-time trial version that offers better puncture protection.

A sleeve of black fabric on the fork leg isn't the tidiest nor potentially most aero way to carry an obligatory race transponder, but it does the job here.

This quick link matches EF's pink-themed kit in a reminder than professional cycling isn't all about going fast.

Asgreen's perch of choice is the Argo Adaptive, a 3D-printed saddle from saddle-sponsor Fizik. This appears to the narrower 140mm version which is 265mm long. This level of bike has titanium hardware in the clamp to save a few grams.

Lab71 is Cannondale's highest-tier carbon, equivalent to Specialized's S-Works Fact 12r carbon. This build will set you back £11,000/ $13,499.

Cannondale Lab71 SuperSix Evo specs

Frameset: Cannondale Lab71 SuperSix Evo, Ultralight Series 0 Carbon
Fork: Lab71 SuperSix EVO, Ultralight Series 0 Carbon
Cockpit: Cannondale SystemBar Road, 130mm/360mm
Seatpost: Cannondale C1 Aero 40 Carbon V2
Groupset: SRAM Red AXS 54/41T, 10-33T
Wheelset: Vision Metron 60 RS
Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Pro 30mm
Saddle: Fizik Argo Adaptive

As I beckoned Lewis Askey over to talk to me ahead of stage 17 of the Tour de France in Chambéry, he already knew what I wanted to talk to him about.

The NSN Cycling rider has had a solid Tour, the second time he has been here, now part of the team behind Biniam Girmay's challenge in sprints and the green jersey competition, but that's not what I was interested in. When we spoke on Wednesday lunchtime, Askey sat 163rd overall, 4:38:18 behind race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and only 21 seconds ahead of the man in dead last, Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious). It meant he was almost lanterne rouge, the mythical position of finishing last at the Tour.

He cut a relaxed figure in Chambéry, revelling in his status as the second-slowest man at the race. It reassured me that he was taking the battle for last place seriously, potentially even that it was something he was aiming for, should the stars align. There was no sigh, or resignation at being asked about being four hours behind the yellow jersey.

"I'm made for going fast over short periods of time, not for doing five or six hours going up a hill," the 25-year-old explained to Cycling Weekly. "Because of that, my goal is to use the least energy possible. If I'm not there to do a job or to go for the win, I'm going to take it as easy as I can, and it's easier if I'm in a group, because if you drop off earlier you end up struggling and using more energy.

"Any of the climbs we've been OK for the time cut, then I go as easy as I can all the way to the line."

"I can't play with it," he said of his status on the general classification. "I would have played with it a little bit more, but the days to come will be a fight all the way to the line for the time cut. I don't think there will be any playing now."

Finishing last is something that four British riders have ever achieved: Tony Hoar, John Clarey, Luke Rowe and Mark Cavendish.

Askey has been working at this race for Girmay, his team's sprinter, who has finished sixth, third, second, sixth and fourth in the five bunch sprints at the Tour, as well as being a presence in the battle for the green jersey. Being lanterne rouge does not imply being the worst rider in the race, far from it, perhaps instead just showing a mastery of energy levels and timing.

As a result, Askey has put in a lot of work for intermediate sprints and for bunch finishes, and has concentrated less on the hillier and mountainous days, hence the loss of time. That does not mean he has been putting in any less effort, though.

"I've had one day, maybe two where I've been able to go relatively easy to the line, maybe two," Askey explains. "The day before the rest day, it was full gas at the start to be in the group that ended up becoming the peloton, and because we started the final two climbs with them, it meant the time cut was quite long. We were at zero minutes back when we started the climb, so it allowed us to go at training pace up the climb. All the other climbs, I'm pretty much close to my limit, I couldn't go very much faster if I had to.

"On the Markstein day, we had the sprint just before the first climb, every climb we rode on our limit. Every 5km we were chopping off doing 60kph, trying to make it, and we made it there with three minutes to spare. It's not easy."

Asked if he'd like to finish dead last, Askey said: "Why not? It's cool, no? It's better to be properly last rather than second last. You're talking about it, aren't you? It has a bit of history, so it's a nice thing to do.

"I wouldn't go out of my way specifically, but now I'm thinking I should have lost a bit of time the other day when I went easy to the line."

Just over four hours later, it turned out that finishing last was not the priority for the man from Staffordshire. On a chaotic stage 17, Askey worked hard to get into the day's break, then was part of the action as it forced its way to the front of the race, a key protagonist, and he ended up finishing fourth. It was his best result not just at the Tour, but at any Grand Tour, and his second-best WorldTour finish.

It was the kind of performance Askey is capable of, but it showed a real lack of commitment to the lanterne rouge goal. It disappointed me, too.

"It was a good day, it was nice, the first opportunity I've been given at this Tour, so it was nice to get something out of it," he said before stage 18. "I would have like to come second in that sprint instead of fourth, but I think I rode a pretty good race. I didn't have any regrets in that final. I think I did pretty well to get there, to be honest."

What of the great fight to finish last? "I think the dream is dead this year, unfortunately. I did actually think about that, 40km to go we jumped across, we were this big group, I saw the time gap out and I was like ah, I think that's the lanterne rouge gone now. I'll go for it again, there's still plenty of years to go."

My dream too might be dead, but such is the wheel of fortune at the Tour de France. Stage 18 was back to business for Askey, as he finished 160th, 34:49 behind stage winner Richard Carapaz, but it's probably too little, too late – he's now up to the dizzying heights of 157th overall, 8:10 ahead of the new lanterne rouge, Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM). I suppose if it's not now, there's always next season.

You can read Lewis Askey's thoughts on the Tour de France in Cycling Weekly. Subscribe now.

First, Brandon McNulty abandoned, 24km from the finish of stage 18. He couldn’t continue anymore.

An hour later, Tadej Pogačar, dressed in his yellow jersey but curiously in black shorts (you can join the dots), crossed the line in the GC group, flanked by Isaac Del Toro. UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s main men were fine. But for the first time all Tour de France, they had no support around them.

Felix Großschartner was next from the UAE team to be welcomed by his team's soingeurs at Orcières-Merlette, but he stopped at the top and turned straight around. He wasn’t going to answer questions about the stomach virus in the camp.

Ten minutes later, Nils Politt arrived. He looked fine but neither was he in the game for fluffy comments: he was going to be honest and realistic – UAE have a problem.

“We have to survive the next two days now,” Politt said. “It is a major setback for us as a team,” he said of McNulty’s exit. Pogačar echoed those sentiments: “We will miss him the next two days, obviously.”

Eleven minutes afterwards, Adam Yates – struck down by the bug and vomiting since Tuesday – finished the stage, but hunched over his handlebars, he was pale-skinned and exhausted. He was not in a good way. Pogačar expressed confidence yesterday and today that Yates would recover in time for the high Alps – but on this evidence, Yates is regressing, not progressing.

"We hope Adam felt much better today as well. He fell behind simply to save energy for the next two days," Politt added. That might be true, but if this was Yates recovering, he’s going to need a miracle to be a useful aid to Pogačar on the back-to-back ascents of Alpe d’Huez.

Like Großschartner, Yates refused to speak. A warm coat was put on him for the 15km ride back down to the team’s bus. He would have freewheeled down from Orcières-Merlette, but it was more time spent on the bike when his body needs complete rest.

Florian Vermeersch arrived four minutes after Yates, and though he looked better than his teammate and also spoke briefly to the assembled media curious as to the state of the team’s health, his skinsuit was also stained by salt marks.

He too headed down the mountain, and he would have passed Tim Wellens who only just made the time cut by two minutes. The Belgian, like Yates, is similarly run down with the same stomach virus.

Usually, UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti is at the finish line of every stage, ready to greet his riders. This time he wasn’t. In his press conference with the written media, Pogačar only had time for three questions – there are normally five – and one of them he answered in one-word; these days Pogačar tends to give lengthy answers.

Those two observations – Gianetti’s absence and Pogačar’s few words – may mean nothing, but the struggles, body language and admissions of illness from his teammates suggest that multiple UAE riders are being afflicted by the stomach virus. At the worst possible time.

With just three days to go, Pogačar has an advantage of 4:32 in the GC to Remco Evenepoel, a lead that was presumed unassailable. But all of a sudden, victory looks a tiny bit less sure. Illness is the one great uncontrollables that not even UAE’s money can control.

Will a third week virus – either directly by Pogačar falling ill or indirectly due to his sick teammates being unable to support him – so cruelly deny the Slovenian? Evenepoel and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe can sense an opportunity.

“Thank goodness Isaac and Tadej are feeling good, and so are Felix and I,” Politt added.

“We are trying to separate ourselves from the team as much as possible in order to simply minimise the risk. Many riders are ill in the bunch – you hear from every team that there’s something going around. That is simply part of three weeks. I’ve never got to the end of a Tour without sick hands.”

Vermeersch said he’s struggling with an injury rather than illness – “It’s not a problem for me,” he stated – but the same cannot be said for his Belgian compatriot Wellens. “Tim is really out of sorts,” Vermeersch admitted.

Ever the optimist, however, Pogačar turned spin doctor: yes, UAE are affected, but so too is everyone else. “I think we can manage it,” he said. “It’s the third week. All teams are suffering a bit.

“Bodies are everywhere on a stage like today. We will survive the stage tomorrow, try to come to Alpe d’Huez and see what we can do. We will keep fighting and I believe we can do it.”

The road will tell.

Tom Pidcock will focus on general classification for the rest of the Tour de France, he said, after his attempts to get into the break on stage 18 failed.

The Pinarello Q36.5 rider, who sits eighth overall at the Tour, a result which would be his best ever finish at the French Grand Tour, said post-stage that any attempt from him to get up the road was closed down on Thursday.

"It wasn't possible to get in the break, no-one wanted me there," the 26-year-old said. "I already know from before the race that I was on people's black lists to not get in the break. I wanted to try one more time, but I guess now [I will] focus on the GC until Paris."

The man from Leeds has been in the break four times at this year's race: stage nine to Ussel, where he finished third, stage 13 to Belfort, where he again finished third, and then the twin stages last weekend, 14 and 15, where he went up the road to build a buffer before the final climb.

However, with just two more stages to come, both finishing up Alpe d'Huez, it is tricky to see a situation where Pidcock will be allowed up the road until Paris. However, his top 10 seems incredibly secure, with the Q36.5 rider having over 11 minutes on ninth-placed Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies).

On Thursday, Pidcock finished with the yellow jersey group, 4:35 behind stage winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who moved up to 10th overall as a result. "[It was] not an easy day, but the last climb was fairly controlled I think," Pidcock said. "When Carapaz is up the road, I have too much respect for this guy to give him free time. You don't give him free time."

The other story of the day was illness at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, which Pidcock played down having a great effect on the battle for yellow, despite Brandon McNulty abandoning the race.

"It's not good for them, they definitely weren't in a good way today," he said. "But I think, to be honest, these next two days, it's about the other teams fighting for the podium. I don't think UAE will have that much work to do."

British national champion Fred Wright is battling on through the latter stages of the 2026 Tour de France with several injuries, including a broken bone in his left hand.

A heavy crash on stage 17 saw the Pinarello Q36.5 rider hit the tarmac hard, along with fellow teammate, Tom Pidcock.

The crash happened during the early stages of a fast and often chaotic stage on Wednesday. "The road sort of narrowed, randomly, and there was a bit of raised pavement that wasn't signalled or anything," Wright told us before starting stage 18. "And yeah, I hit it coming on the side with full speed, and it took me out. It should be pointed out, to be honest - it caused a big crash."

Wright and his Pinarello Q36.5 teammates had stages 17 and 18 firmly in their sights as days to launch an attack, but the crash and its repercussions have dealt their best laid plans a serious knockback.

Arriving with one knee bandaged and nursing a suspected break in his left hand, Wright revealed he had spent hours in hospital instead of getting valuable rest before today's tough mountain stage.

"I thought I fell alright, but my hand was really sore and I had scans on it yesterday," Wright continued. "I've broken something. It's a small bone on my finger. It looks like it's broken."

Despite the injury, Wright is determined to continue. "It's manageable," he told Cycling Weekly. We are going to get ourselves to Paris."

Nevertheless, the disappointment is palpable: "Yesterday was a real shame. The goal was to be aggressive and be up there. And looking at the way the move was, I think, without the crash, I feel like I would have been there. I'll see how I fare today, but yesterday and today, were the days we had to try and be aggressive, and, yeah... in the end I aggressively hit the floor, unfortunately."

Wright had been looking forward to getting his national champion's jersey a bit more airplay: "I'd have hoped to have showed it up a bit more, to be honest. So maybe I'll try and show it off a bit today, but yeah, I'm not sure how much is possible, because I didn't have the best sleep last night.

"Obviously, being in the hospital, getting the CT scans - it's not it's not ideal prep. So now it's on to three horrible mountain days, but yeah, I should be alright."

Wright finished stage 18 156th, 34:13 behind stage winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), but comfortably inside the time cut.

Richard Carapaz raced aggressively and smartly to take his second ever Tour de France stage win, this time atop the Orcières-Merlette climb, on stage 18.

His victory is the first one for the EF Education-EasyPost team at this Tour.

It also boosted Carapaz’s chances of taking the king of the mountains’ jersey, currently held by yellow jersey wearer Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirate-XRG), who finished minutes behind.

He is now third in that contest at seven points back.

"Today has been a very, very crazy day. For us it was an objective to be in the breakaway and try to go for the stage," Carapaz said afterwards. "Today I had the determination to win the stage. This was my motivation – to be in the game to win the stage.

"Today’s breakaway had a lot of quality riders in it. Mauro [Schmid] has already won one stage, and I had a lot of respect for the others in the group for type of riders that they are. It was a brilliant day. Our [breakaway] group rode well and we understood our roles well. It was a different victory because of how much quality was in the break."

The Ecuadorian had survived a day of attacks and counter attack in the front group to arrive on the final 7km climb with five others, including fellow polka-dot jersey challenger Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), who ended the day just one point behind Pogačar in the polka-dot jersey race.

Around half-way up the climb Carapaz splintered the group with a stinging attack but was brought back. Then spotting his rivals riding on the other side of the road he accelerated again and swiftly built a gap and soloed to the line.

It had been, much like yesterday, an aggressive day of racing. By the top of the early Côte d'Engin climb a break of seven, including yesterday’s most combative rider Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who was chasing points at the intermediate sprint, had established themselves at the front.

Their numbers would swell until with around 110km to race, the peloton appeared to sit up, content to let the escapees go.

Attacks in the peloton saw Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos), Carapaz and Paret-Peintre bridge up to the front of the race.

The front group would swell to 14 by the intermediate sprint where Pedersen took the maximum 25 points.

Now with 56km left to race attention turned to the stage and the finish up the first category Orcières-Merlette climb and as it pushed the pace some riders dropped.

As the race entered its decisive moments at 25km to go Jorgenson attacked the front group, but was marked out, though Paret-Peintre was briefly dropped.

The front group stayed together over the top of the third category Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèzes and descended to the bottom of the day’s final climb together. The group was now made up of Jorgenson, Carapaz, Paret-Peintre, Schmid, Johannessen and Garcia García Pierna.

Further back in the peloton UAE Emirates-XRG’s defences looked to under pressure as Brandon McNulty, who crash riding a recon of Tuesday’s time trial, abandoned the race and Adam Yates remained below his usual level due to illness.

With 12km to go, before the leaders hit the beginning of the final climb Jorgenson tried once again to go away solo but was brought to heel. With a lead of over three minutes over the first chase group come the bottom of the climb the days winner was almost certain to come from the group of six out front.

As the race hit the steeper sections of the final climb with around 5km to go Jorgenson once again put a dig in but was marked by Carapaz.

With 4km to go Carapaz launched his own stinging attack and only Paret-Peintre was able to follow him. Schmid and Jorgenson then bridged up to the attackers.

Then riding on the other side of the road Carapaz once again accelerated and put daylight between himself and the rest. They never saw him again until after the finish.

Can he now win the polka dot jersey? "Winning a stage was more important for us, but now we’re entering into the real mountains, there are a lot of points at play," he said.

"If Tadej scores points it’s going to be difficult, but if we can try, I will try. In my mind I want to be able to finish with the jersey in Paris. It’d be something very beautiful."

Result

Tour de France 2026, stage 18: Voiron > Orcières-Merlette (185km)

1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, in 4:26:21
2. Mauro Schmid (Sui) Jayco-AlUla, +45s
3. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, in same time
4. Valentin Paret-Peintra (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:14
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +1:57
6. Raúl García Pierna (Esp) Movistar, +2:21
7. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +4:30
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +4:35
9. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
10. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Pinarello Q36.5, all at same time

General classification

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 64:35:13
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:32
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +6:51
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +7:11
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +9:22
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+10:14
7. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +12:50
8. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +12:58
9. Jordan Jegat (Fra) ToralEnergies, +14:04
10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +21:00

Tadej Pogačar's teammate Brandon McNulty abandoned the Tour de France, midway through stage 18.

The American was the first UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider to leave the Tour, leaving the yellow jersey with six support riders over the final few stages. McNulty would have been a key part of Pogačar's support in the two upcoming Alpe d'Huez stages, although with the Slovenian having a 4:32 buffer over Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), his abandon may not prove decisive.

It came the day after his teammate, Adam Yates, was revealed to be suffering with a stomach illness. It is not yet known if McNulty's abandon is connected. Separately, McNulty was already suffering after being hit by a car during his reconnaissance of the stage 16 time trial course on Tuesday.

After Yates suffered on Wednesday's stage 17, UAE team boss Mauro Gianetti said that Yates has been isolated from the group, but expressed confidence that it’s nothing more than an “episode”. Neither was he concerned that the infection could be contagious to other members of the team.

UAE Team Emirates posted on X: "Unfortunately, despite battling hard to stay in the race, Brandon McNulty has been forced to abandon Le Tour. Brandon had been suffering from illness and leaves the race on stage 18. You’ll be missed, Brandon. Feel better soon."

More to follow...

Tucked away in the southern French Alps, the ski resort of Orcières-Merlette doesn't enjoy the renown of fabled summits like Mont Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez, or the Col du Galibier. Nevertheless the eyes of the cycling world will be directed towards it today, with Tadej Pogačar and his Tour de France rivals finishing stage 18 on its category-one slopes.

The personal goals of each rider today will be many and varied, from winning at the top to simply making the time cut. And while you might imagine Pogačar has little left to prove in this year's Tour de France, he has unfinished business at today's destination. Last time the race finished here was his Tour debut in 2020, on stage four. The young pretender was beaten to the punch by countryman, rival and old-hand Primož Roglič, riding then for Jumbo-Visma.

Roglič, who was on his way to coming as close as he ever had to winning cycling's biggest prize two-and-a-half weeks later, sprinted home at the front of a 20-strong elite front group, with Pogačar latching on to finish second – the dynamic riding style we've all become so used to already plain to see.

As you might remember, being during Covid-era, that stage took place in September in front of a restrained though still surprisingly big crowd.

Still only 21 then, Pogačar ultimately had the last laugh in that race, taking his debut Tour victory on the penultimate day's time trial at Planche de Belles Filles. But Pogi likes to win, and at Orcières-Merlettes he has yet to do that. It would be no surprise to see him correct the record today.

The 185.3km stage begins where yesterday left off with a Jasper Philipsen win in Voiron, well to the north-west. From here the peloton makes its way over the numerous climbs that fringe the Alps, starting with the the cat-one Côte d'Engins, which, at 11.5km, 5.4% and topping out at 854 metres, must surely be on the borders of the Côte / Col definition. The riders crest this at just 35km, and it's followed mid-stage by the Côte Monteyard (cat-two) and the Côte des Terrasses (cat-three), which comes just before the intermediate sprint.

This takes place at the ominously named Corps, and both Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will do all they can to get the points here and boost them at the top of the green jersey classification.

From here the road trends upwards for the next 55km or so, all the way to Orcières-Merlettes, although there is a cat-three to deal with at 166km, the Côte de Saint-Leger-les-Mélèzes. The final climb proper starts at around seven kilometres to go, with a shallower first kilometre segueing to a gradient of around 7% all the way to the line.

As Tour de France cyclists switch between screens on their bike computers and pause them as soon as they cross the line, you may have wondered what they're looking at and recording.

To their detractors, the best bike computers make racing more predictable and diminish the breakaway's chances. But they are here to stay despite a recent ruling by cycling's governing body, the UCI. It announced a restriction on bike computer size, in case riders get distracted by the supposed plethora of data at their fingertips.

These fears seem to be overblown based on what we've found out about how professional cyclists use their head units in races.

Bigger isn't better for racing

Unlike some of the UCI's equipment rules, its ruling on bike computer size isn't set to inconvenience elite riders. Computers such as the Wahoo Elemnt Ace are nowhere to be seen, with most riders opting for smaller models for marginally lower weight and drag.

Wahoo told us the WorldTour teams it sponsors tend to use the smaller Elemnt Bolt instead of the larger Roam or Ace.

Garmin-sponsored teams also prefer its svelter head units in competition over the big Edge 1040 and 1050.

Lotto–Intermarché's Georg Zimmermann says: "I use the Edge MTB because it’s the lightest option."

Bike computers are a good way for pros to save weight because, being removable, they don't count towards the 6.8kg UCI weight limit. Weighing just 58g, Edge MTB is half as heavy as larger models, making it popular among Visma–Lease a bike riders too.

Some riders, like Netcompany-Ineos' Sam Watson, prefer more data and a larger screen in training than in races.

"In training I prefer the Edge 1050 because of its large screen," says the former British road race champion, who was not selected for this year's Tour. "Everything is easy to see, and I almost always ride with maps enabled, as I like seeing clearly where I’m going.

"For racing, I use Edge 850. Because it’s light and smaller, I like to think there’s a marginal advantage in it, and during races I’m generally not looking at my screen very often and focus on the race itself.

"I like to train with the Edge 1050 because the larger display is ideal for navigation and makes all my data easier to read. But in races I keep things simple. My maps screen also displays only distance and time.

"During training, I switch between several screens: one for structured efforts, one for general riding, and a map screen when I am following a route. When I have my map screen on, I also display power and time."

Mapping for safety

Instead of distracting riders, it seems bike computers have a role in safety.

"I always have the map on my screen," says current British road race champion Fred Wright, who races with the Garmin Edge 850. "For me, it’s important to know how long it is until the next corner, especially at the more crucial points in the race.

"Alongside the map, I display power and the elevation profile because I like knowing when the next flatter section of the climb is coming up.”

Wright's Pinarello Q36.5 teammate Tom Pidcock uses his Edge 850 in a similar way.

"I always use the same data screen: power, speed, lap time, lap distance, heart rate and cadence," says the Olympic cross-country mountain bike champion. "I also have a map showing lap time and the distance to my destination, so I know how far I still have to go.”

Zimmermann also displays maps on his Edge MTB and configures nutrition alerts.

"During races my main screen shows the map with the GPX course, current power output and a timer," he adds. "I use the map to know where we’re heading and the time to keep track of my nutrition, so I know when it’s time for me to eat, which is every 30 minutes, and the power data helps me pace myself.”

Data differences

Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old Frenchman who is fourth in the general classification, also has a map screen, but his is busier than most riders'. We caught a glimpse of it on his unreleased Van Rysel RCR-Pro.

During stage 14 from Mulhouse to Markstein Le Fellering, he displayed metres climbed, altitude, average heart rate and maximum speed. The elevation data makes sense on a mountain stage, but the other two readings seem less crucial.

The other data screen on his Bolt is also quite crammed. It displays current and average power, speed, BPM and cadence, as well as distance and time.

His nine data fields contrast to Mads Pedersen's seven. The Green Jersey wearer might have his averages on a different screen, but one we can see only shows current speed, power, BPM and RPM. The Dane must like keeping track of time, as he has clock and ride duration fields.

Alex Baudin has kept the polka dot trim around his Bolt from when he wore the climber's jersey earlier in the race. The Frenchman's data screen has a similar layout to Pedersen's, with additional average speed and altitude.

Only the essentials

Another common theme is that riders are also tracking a few data points during races, such as core body temperature and ventilation sensors, but generally don't look at these metrics while racing.

Cofidis rider Jenthe Biermans did have the Core heat sensor connected to his Wahoo on the rest-day recon of the individual time trial, which he crashed out of. But this appears to be on a 'training' data screen. His map screen is sparse, with only distance and distance to go at the top.

The breakaway star of the 2026 Tour France, Baptiste Veistroffer, also keeps things simple on his Edge 850, which he likes for the "balance of screen size and data visibility."

He adds: "The metrics I pay the most attention to are power and heart rate. The screen I use most often is the map page, with distance and power data displayed at the bottom.”

Has Tadej Pogačar got what it takes to win an egg and spoon race? Can anyone challenge Remco Evenepoel in a boccia tournament? Will Filippo Ganna be the anchor in the Netcompany Ineos tug-of-war team?

These are all questions we’ve been asking ourselves after spotting the Tour de France peloton donning baggy tabards just after the finish line.

But that’s not why the usually aero-obsessed pros have changed into something resembling the flappy primary-coloured outfits of a school sports day.

The bibs are handed out to the riders at several of the summit finishes including Gavarnie-Gèdrestage on stage six and Plateau de Solaison on stage 15.

They are to protect the riders as they descended off the mountain on days where the team buses have to park at the bottom of the final climb due to extremely limited parking at the top.

In those circumstances, Tour riders are allowed to descend back down the course to get back to their bus or hotel even if the groupetto is still making its way up the climb.

However, there is always a risk that spectators looking down the hill for the riders still racing won’t see them coming. The bibs help mark them out and riders are also given whistles engraved with their race number to help them alert people.

The bibs also reduce the chances of gendarmes tasked with keeping the route clear from taking mistaking them for spectators and taking exception to the pros riding back down the course.

Luke Durbridge is among the fans of the bibs in the peloton. "I've been waiting all week to put this on," he said when presented with it on stage six.

The next day when asked, jokingly, on Jayco-AlUla’s Instgram is he slept in it he replied: “Oh yeah, it’s a great vest.”

The risk its working against is real in 2018 Tour de France winner Chris Froome was pulled from his bike by a gendame who mistook him for a fan riding on the course as he descended off the remote Col de Portet.

At the time Froome was wearing a large coat that obscured his team kit. The confrontation resulted in an angry Froome swearing at the policeman.

The 2026 Tour de France is set to be one of the fastest ever, if not the fastest! Some are predicting an average speed of over 43km/h despite the peloton visiting no fewer than five mountain ranges during the 2026 edition. In fact, after the first 10 stages, the average race speed is closer to 44km/h than 43 km/h.

So, what can we mere mortals take away from the Tour de France peloton to make us faster and more efficient? After years of racing myself and ending up down many a rabbit hole, here’s my list of the seven best-value upgrades you can make to your road bike that truly make a difference.

Continental GP5000 S TR tyres

First on my list is a set of Tour de France-proven tyres and one of the best tubeless road bike tyres, trusted by no less than six of the twenty-three competing teams; it's, of course, the Continental GP5000 S TRs.

Tyres can make an absolutely huge difference to how your bike handles and feels on the road. Continental reckons that more than 1,000 of its tyres will be used during the 2026 Tour de France, and they’re trusted for good reason: they’re fast, grippy, and durable. Personally, my go-to width is 30mm, just like the one and only Tadej Pogačar, but it depends on what your frame can accommodate.

Schwalbe Clik Valves

My next selection won’t actually make you any quicker; however, it might help speed up the pre-ride faff. There have been a number of 'new' valve types to hit the market in the last year or so, but I think the Clik valve from Schwalbe will gain the most traction, given the brand's dominance in the tyre market.

The big advantage is that it's just so easy to use. As the name suggests, you simply click your pump on (granted it's compatible). They also allow for greater airflow than the traditional presta valve, making them ideal for tubeless setups. The best part, unlike much of the tech used at the Tour de France, is that they are incredibly affordable.

I’d recommend checking out the new Lezyne range of best mini bike pumps and track pumps. Lezyne is one of the first pump manufacturers to widely adopt the Schwalbe Clik system as a dedicated head, removing the need for an adapter.

Van Rysel RCR-F helmet

It wouldn't be a value list without mentioning Van Rysel, the in-house brand of the retailer-sporting-giant Decathlon.

Switching to a more aero lid can make a surprising difference, often more than some of the best aero bikes, depending on what you’re coming from. While Kask, Ekoi, and Specialized (having recently launched the new Evade) all have new lids at the race, it's the Van Rysel RCR-F MIPs that still offer the best bang for your buck.

Given that it's half or even a third of the cost of some of the best road bike helmets, it would be my choice. It is also the choice for 19-year-old Decathlon CMA CGM rider and hope for a future French Tour winner, Paul Seixas.

You, too, can get the Seixas look and everything he uses for a surprisingly affordable price.

Elite Leggero Carbon cages

After years of using the best bottle cages that claim excellent retention but have less staying power than a British Prime Minister, I wanted some that I could trust, and the Elite Leggero carbon cages haven't let me down.

They’re not cheap, but compared to other bike upgrades, I think they’re pretty good value and will almost certainly save you a few grams. Used widely across the pro peloton for the same reason, most notably by the UAE Team Emirates-XRG and none other than Tadej Pogačar.

Reserve 57/64 Wheelset

Choosing one of the best road wheels is a big upgrade and comes with the biggest financial outlay. However, they potentially also offer the biggest performance gain, especially if you are coming from wheels that don't offer much in the way of aerodynamics.

I’ve concluded that, as lovely as the Enve wheels and Scope Artechs have proven to be, I’d go for the Reserve 57/64 wheelset. They’re around half the price of the aforementioned wheels and are regularly found bolted to the Cervelos of the Visma Lease-a-bike team.

This is a team that leaves no stone unturned when it comes to going fast. Having spent a reasonable amount of time on a set, I can happily report that they back up the claimed speed with excellent stiffness and crosswind stability. They also feature a hooked bead interface and are optimised around wider tyres.

Other noteworthy attributes include a no-rider weight limit and a lifetime warranty, making them suitable for just about anyone.

A good bike computer

One of the best bike computers can help you navigate unfamiliar roads and pace your rides, but the flagship computers from brands such as Wahoo and Garmin have price tags that could make your eyes water. Ironically, the top-tier options are often shunned by the best racers in the world, who opt for the smaller, lighter and cheaper computers. Tadej, for example, is well known for using the smaller Wahoo Elemnt Bolt over the more advanced Elemnt Roam 3.

Unless you particularly want or need a larger screen, I’d happily recommend the Wahoo Bolt 3 or Garmin Edge MTB to any cyclist looking for a good-value cycle computer. Despite being their positioning in their respective ranges, they only miss out on very few features compared to their bigger brothers.

Given that much of the analytical metrics comes from the supporting software, it's rarely noticeable when actually out on the road.

Better Bar Tape

Other good-value upgrades could include one of the best bike saddles, but because this is a personal choice, it’s very hard to recommend just one. But that's not the case for the best handlebar tape.

Many bikes come with cheap bar tape that’s slippery when wet and offers next to no cushioning. It’s one of the cheapest upgrades that you can make to your road bike, and my personal recommendation is the Prologo Onetouch tape.

At 2.5mm thick, it's chunky enough to offer good comfort without being bulky, and it costs less than a meal out.

Let me know in the comments below if there are any products used at the Tour de France that you think should make the list, or anything you have spotted that has inspired you to make a purchase.

Some stories are turned right on their head in the final few lines - Atonement by Ewan McGregor being a classic example.

And so it was with stage 17 in the Tour de France, when Lidl Trek's Mads Pedersen's grip on the green jersey, which looked like it was going to be utterly unbreakable for most of the day, was dramatically loosened by an extraordinary fight back from Jasper Philipsen, who secured his first victory of the 2026 Tour, helped by a team effort from the Alpecin-Premier Tech squad.

After yesterday, Pedersen had a 31-point lead in the points classification, and he rode aggressively all day, being named the most combative rider of the day for his dogged refusal not to be part of any group that tried to escape and extending his lead at the intermediate sprint.

But after Philipsen was launched into the finish straight by Mathieu van der Poel, to take a memorable victory in Voiron and bagging 50 points in the process, the gap was slashed to seven.

“It was a proper s**t day,” Pedersen said at the finish. “Super disappointed I didn’t get the job done. It’s a big loss of points. But it is what it is, we just have to deal with the situation.”

The mood at the Lidl Trek bus was equally downbeat. "It’s tight," conceded Kim Andersen, the team's sports director, when Cycling Weekly caught up with him. "He has to pick up some points. Of course, he was hoping for more, but it is like it is. It was a good fight. He's still in front, so...

"I think we didn't calculate that others would help them out, because if it was just Philipsen it would have been okay, just Alpecin in it, things would have been okay," he continued. "But now it gets a bit tight."

Philipsen, buoyed though he might be by the result, cannily played down his chances of taking the green jersey. "It'll be very hard," he said in the press conference after the stage. "He [Pedersen] also took 25 points in the intermediate today. He was in front, so he made it very hard.

"The next three days are very tough with the intermediate, the chance I will not be there is pretty high. Pedersen is climbing well so he can gain some points again. We will see where we are in Paris on Sunday, and we'll see what's possible."

What is for sure, is that in a race that some people have said lacks unpredictability and drama, due to the undeniable dominance of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the story of who takes home the green jersey this year still promises a few twists.

Jasper Philipsen achieved atonement for his finish-line loss to Ben Turner here in Voiron during the 2025 Vuelta Espana, but will it be enough to propel him to victory in the race for the green jersey in the 2026 Tour de France? We may have to wait until the final page and the much-anticipated Parisian stage to find out.

"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen," is a quote often misattributed to Lenin, but it seems fitting on stage 17 of the 2026 Tour de France, on a day where decades appeared to happen.

A stage teed up as one for the breakaway, which saw yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar briefly up the road; a crash for Tom Pidcock; Mads Pedersen leading the charge to the intermediate sprint and Voiron; a solo attack from Jasper Stuyven; and then, finally, a reduced bunch sprint win for Jasper Philipsen, led out expertly by his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Mathieu van der Poel.

You could almost taste the relief in the air as Philipsen punched the air; the Belgian probably sighed, knowing that he had finally won his 11th Tour stage, and kept up his record of winning at least one stage every year since 2022. It had been a long time coming.

He was fifth in Pau on stage five, fifth in Bordeaux on stage seven, fourth in Bergerac on stage eight, and then third twice on stage 11 and 12 in Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saône respectively. There was a sense that maybe the win wasn't coming this season, and a lot of column inches about the disappointments. However, on Wednesday, there it was, the confirmation that the 28-year-old still has it.

All this after one of the hardest fought stages of the Tour, with the front of the race all together with just 3.7km to go. "I think everybody was dead," Philipsen said post-stage. "Of course, it's completely different to a normal sprint stage, everyone was on their limit. It's already stage 17, so the fatigue was there."

It was a triumph of tactics and physical effort, but also mental will, to keep believing, to keep trying.

"It was mainly [about] staying in front and being in a position where he would be able to sprint for victory," Alpecin-Premier Tech team boss Philip Roodhooft said at the team's bus, swarmed by journalists but for good news this time, not for bad. "We've seen at some moments that it was lost, and it's all credit to him and all of the team for continuing to believe in it. Continuing to push, and then at a certain point the pieces of the puzzle did fall into place for us.

"Not to win, but to be able to sprint for the win, and then if you see how Mathieu positioned Jasper, not only the leadout but into the last corner, I think it's a great victory for Jasper, but there's so much more behind it with the whole team."

All of that applied on Wednesday, but continuing to believe in Philipsen when everything seemed lost could also be ascribed to their whole race.

The belief needed to come from Philipsen himself too, who was under a lot of pressure to deliver.

"The team is not saying that I have to win, but it's obvious that I should win, because we did the preparation, we have a full leadout squad, we're here for stage wins not for GC," he explained. "There are always expectations, and when I don't deliver they're not going to shoot me or anything, but you just try to deliver. For the team, for the sponsors, for the staff, for everybody.

"If I can't deliver, that builds a lot of pressure on myself. It's something hard to deal with sometimes, but it's just part of the sport."

The pressure is fairly constant for Philipsen, at a team that's partly built around his finishing speed, from a cycling-mad country in Belgium, at a Belgian squad.

"I try to not look at articles, just to do something other than cycling, than the Tour de France," he replied when asked how he distracts himself. "It's easy to get your mind on the Tour all the time. You can watch a lot of programmes, read a lot of articles. but I just try to think about something else. That's the way I do it."

"It's a relief, not only for myself but for the team," Philipsen continued. "We already had our stage win with Mathieu of course, that was something very nice for everybody. To take the second one, after a lot happened on stage 17, I think it's just very nice, good for the atmosphere, good for everyone that kept on believing. Something nice to celebrate tonight."

"I think it's only human, there was a lot of disappointment," Roodhooft added. "That adds up of course, the first time not winning is ok, but then the second one, the third one, and lack of confidence comes into play. He knew that there weren't many opportunities still to come, and today wasn't a certain bunch sprint. There's so little space for making mistakes, and it makes the satisfaction bigger. It's more than relief, it's satisfaction."

On the day when decades happened, Philipsen delivered. Roodhooft might argue it's satisfaction, but it sure seemed like relief, deliverance.

"It's a relief, not only for myself but for the team," Philipsen said. "We already had our stage win with Mathieu of course, that was something very nice for everybody. To take the second one, after a lot happened on stage 17, I think it's just very nice, good for the atmosphere, good for everyone that kept on believing. Something nice to celebrate tonight."

UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Adam Yates is suffering from a stomach illness at the 2026 Tour de France and his participation in the race’s final few stages is not guaranteed.

The Briton dropped out the back of the peloton with 66km remaining on stage 17, and finished the day’s racing more than 26 minutes behind winner Jasper Philipsen.

His shorts were stained with salt marks as he rode back to his team's bus, which he boarded as soon as he dismounted his bike.

Yates is one of the key mountain domestiques for race leader Tadej Pogačar, and ordinarily would be providing crucial support on stage 19 and 20 which head into the high mountains and finish atop Alpe d’Huez.

But the 33-year-old’s condition will have to improve significantly if he is to be of assistance to Pogačar.

“Yesterday he was really bad – if it was a normal stage he wouldn’t have finished,” Pogačar said after stage 17. “Luckily it was just a time trial and he managed it. He looked terrible.”

UAE’s general manager Mauro Gianetti revealed that Yates’s sickness began after Monday’s rest day.

“Yesterday he was not feeling well and after the time trial he was really bad, vomiting, [and with a] stomach problem,” Gianetti said.

“We said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens tomorrow morning’, and he was feeling OK [this morning], not so bad like yesterday. He said, ‘OK, I’ll start’. He was in the group and then one moment he spoke with Nils [Politt] and said, ‘I will take the train [gruppetto] behind us to try to save some energy.

“This morning he was better but he was empty. With the full [gas] start, he suffered because he was empty from yesterday and only ate a bit this morning. He was really struggling. We knew it would be a hard day for him.”

Gianetti said that Yates has been isolated from the group, but expressed confidence that it’s nothing more than an “episode”. Neither was he concerned that the infection could be contagious to other members of the team.

“It’s just him vomiting himself – it’s just him,” Gianetti said. “Let’s see if he can recover a little bit, [and] have some good food.”

Asked if Yates will start stage 18, Gianetti responded: “I don’t know. The doctors will decide.”

Pogačar seemed more confident than Gianetti that Yates would remain in the race. “Today in the morning he looked a lot better, [he was] in a good mood and eating well. This was a good sign, but today was a hard stage even for me, and I think he paid a bit [the price] after yesterday’s bad day.

“I think he will recover. Maybe not for tomorrow, but for Alpe d’Huez. At least for the queen stage [on Saturday] he will be good.”

Jasper Philipsen came off Mathieu van der Poel’s wheel to launch an unanswerable sprint to win stage 17 of the Tour de France in Voiron.

The day had been one of the most chaotic of this year’s Tour with attacks, counter-attacks and splits throughout the day.

But eventually a reduced front group containing several sprinters including Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) and Aaron Gates (Astana-XDS) contested the victory.

Speaking after the finish Philipsen said: “It has been such a rollercoaster of emotions at this Tour de France, having to wait until stage 17. I prepared very, very well I was in the shape of my life I think but the first 12 stages were just horrible I couldn’t find the feeling I was hoping for.

“It’s really one for the team that keep on believing in me. I want to thank everybody because I’ve been like an angry bird at the [dinner] table, I was just disappointed in myself and angry that I couldn’t take a stage win.”

He added: “I doubted myself. I did everything I could before this Tour, I did amazing preparation with the team, but I just was not myself. Was it because of the heat, because it was really horrible? Or was it something else? I don’t know.

“Mentally it was really tough with all the sh*t you get, read my Instagram. I just tried to be with my team-mates in our own bubble and just working towards the next goals, but it’s always a rollercoaster of emotions at the Tour de France in July.”

In a stage marked by chaos, the Alpecin-Premier Tech sprinter hadn’t always been in the front of the race and had to dig deep to make it back to the main break before the finish.

He said: “This victory cost me a few years of my life I was fighting somewhere in the middle between groups, I thought the stage was lost. In the end they were super strong and delivered me to the finish line.”

Philipsen’s victory injected new vigour into the competition for the Tour’s green jersey because the leader of that competition Mads Pedersen was only able to place eighth.

The Belgian is now just seven points between Pedersen after claiming 50 for the win. He said: “The next stages are very, very tough but I’ll keep fighting until Paris.”

The day had been marked by chaos that saw the break take 75km to form. One of the major animators of that was Pedersen who seemed to want to be in every group that tried to go clear. He’d be awarded the most combative rider prize at the end of the day.

He was rewarded for those efforts by taking maximum 25 points at the intermediate sprint, which was placed 147km into the 175km stage.

Immediately afterwards, Stuyven attacked attempting to complete the stage’s final 25km alone.

With 16km to go he had built a lead of 45 seconds. The Belgian, who hasn’t won a race since he was victorious in Milan-San Remo in 2021, was riding strongly but behind Pederson’s group was caught by the large breakaway group that contained several sprinters including Philipsen, Pedersen and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) all eager to contest the win.

With more than 40 riders bearing down on him his gap began to erode. By 10km to go it had fallen to 31 seconds.

Alpecin-Premier Tech and Jayco-AlUla were contributing heavily to the chase and by 5km to go Stuyven’s advantage had dropped to 20 seconds.

With 3.5km to race the Belgian powerhouse was finally caught, prompting a flurry of counter-attacks but they were all shut down and the group contested the win.

Stage 17 was not one for the GC men, but Adam Yates (UAE Emirates-XRG) team-mate of yellow jersey wearer Tadej Pogačar raising questions about whether the Tour leader might be at risk of getting sick.

Results

Tour de France 2026, stage 17: Chambery > Voiron (175km)

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in 03:41:13
2. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco-AlUla)
3. OlavKooij (Decathlon CMA CGM)
4. Lewis Askey (NSN Pro Cycling)
5. Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling)
6. Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ United)
7. Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché)
8. MadsPedersen (Lidl-Trek)
9. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla)
10. AaronGate (XDS Astana) all at same time

Tour de France 2026 general classification after stage 17

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 60:04:17
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Redu Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:32
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +6:51
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +7:11
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +9:22
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+10:14
7. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain-Victorious, +12:50
8. Tom Pidcock (Gbr), Pinarello Q36.5, +12:58
9. Jordan Jegat (Fra) ToralEnergies, +14:04
10. Yannis Voisard (Sui) Tudor Pro Cycling, +24:18

Cycling's governing body has defended night-time testing of riders at the Tour de France, saying that "the fight against doping is an absolute priority".

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the UCI said that the organisation acknowledges the disruptive nature of the tests, but that this "exceptional measure" serves the "overriding interest" of tackling doping.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard and race leader Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG were woken up at 2am and 5am respectively on Sunday morning, ahead of stage 15, by doping control officers from the International Testing Agency (ITA) and made to provide a sample.

Cycling Weekly has also reported that riders from five teams, including Pogačar and Vingegaard, have received unannounced anti-doping tests between 11pm and 6am, which require authorisation from a judge. It is understood that at least one rider was tested at 5am during the first week of the race, meaning that Pogačar and Vingegaard were not the first riders to be subjected to a test in the early hours. Separately, on Monday's second rest day, blood samples were taken from all the riders left at the Tour by the ITA.

The ITA’s night-time testing at this Tour has been described as “strange” by Pogačar, "inhuman" by Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and criticised by many, including the riders’ union, the CPA.

Earlier this week, Jonathan Vaughters, the manager of EF Education-EasyPost, defended the tests, describing them as “very effective” in detecting micro-dosing.

Tests between the hours of 11pm and 6am are prohibited, except in exceptional circumstances, when the ITA has to request permission from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a judge.

The UCI spokesperson said: "Following a number of reactions in recent days to unannounced anti-doping controls carried out by the International Testing Agency (ITA) during the Tour de France – in particular following the statement issued by the association of professional riders (CPA) – the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) wishes to respond and to reaffirm that the fight against doping is an absolute priority.

"The UCI of course acknowledges that night-time testing can disrupt riders' rest and recovery, and wishes to reiterate that carrying out such controls outside normal hours remains an exceptional measure, reserved for limited and justified circumstances. While fully aware of how onerous such a measure is for riders, the UCI nevertheless underscores that these controls serve an overriding interest: the fight against doping.

"In 2021, the UCI entrusted the ITA with the management of its anti-doping programme – including the planning and execution of controls – in order to guarantee its independence and maximise its effectiveness. With this in mind, the UCI fully supports the ITA's use of every means at its disposal to carry out its mission as effectively as possible, in compliance, naturally, with the World Anti-Doping Code of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), UCI Regulations, and legislation applicable in each country for the conduct of controls (as in the present case, with the approval of the competent judge) and/or the gathering of intelligence."

"The UCI considers it essential that all stakeholders unite and support the anti-doping programme in place in cycling, which is now recognised by the relevant sporting authorities as a benchmark in this field," the spokesperson continued.

"The requirement for independence, rigour and effectiveness in its anti-doping programme comes at a cost to cycling, one borne collectively by all of its stakeholders: every year, more than €10 million is invested in the collection, analysis and re-analysis of samples, as well as in intelligence-gathering, across events falling within the UCI's regulatory remit, including the Tour de France. This investment reflects the UCI's determination to protect riders who respect the rules, and to relentlessly pursue the reinforcement of its arsenal against those who cheat.

"The UCI will continue to support the ITA in carrying out its mission, in full and complete respect for its independence, in the service of a cleaner and more credible sport of cycling."

Tom Pidcock returned to the Tour de France this year as leader of the Pinarello Q36.5 outfit after his ProTeam failed to earn a wildcard for the 2025 edition. To celebrate the occasion, the team is sporting a special, lighter-coloured switch-out kit with matching bike liveries.

The Yorkshireman’s size 53 Pinarello Dogma F is a very different bike to the one we covered at Opening Weekend: gone is the Classics-ready 1x configuration, and in comes a pragmatic 2x drivetrain to ensure everything from the flats and gradients to the serpentine descents are dismissed without issue. For the faster average speeds of the Tour de France, he’s opted for the lighter and mixed-depth 53/58mm Zipp 454 NSW wheels and shod them in 30mm Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed time trial tyres.

Colour-wise, the Dogma F looks resplendent in its blue-to-gold matte-metallic fade – officially dubbed by Pinarello as ‘Titan and Luxter Venice’ tones. Not only are the Pinarello wordmark and Dogma F logos finished in gold, but the Zipp decals get the same treatment. It’s a wonderfully balanced and thoughtful design.

As a SRAM-sponored team, Pidcock’s Dogma F is built around the American brand’s top-tier Red AXS groupset, complete with an integrated power meter. A 54/41T, 10-36T chainset provides a balanced, albeit taller, spread of gears, paired with 165mm carbon cranks. There’s also a nifty little Leap Components 3D-printed computer cradle (something we saw liberally used on his Pinarello Bolid F TT bike) that houses a Garmin Edge 850 and a 10mm spacer under the stem – proving slammed front ends are no longer de rigueur among the pro rungs.

The touchpoints comprise a 360mm Most Talon UltraFast integrated handlebar matched to a 120mm stem, complete with a 10mm spacer underneath, Shimano Dura-Ace PD-R9100 pedals, and a new Prologo Choice saddle that features a similar carbon-fibre rail shroud as the Predator TT saddle. The balance of the build includes Tacx Ciro bottle cages with Tacx-Garmin bidons.

All in, Pidcock’s bike safely meets the UCI minimum weight limit of 6.8kg with pedals.

Pinarello Dogma F specs

• Frameset: TorayCa M40X, TiCR
• Fork: eTICR Onda Fork with ForkFlap
• Cockpit: Most Talon Ultra Fast integrated cockpit
• Seatpost: Pinarello Aero
• Groupset: SRAM Red AXS, 54/47T, 10-36T
• Wheelset: Zipp 454 NSW
• Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed 28mm
• Saddle: Prologo Choice
• Weight: 6.86kg (with pedals)