'I believed he could do it, I just never thought it would happen' – why a rider making his Tour de France debut is a family affair
Three riders, three families, all brought together by the dream of riding the Tour de France
Riding the Tour de France is not just the accomplishment of a lifelong goal for a bike rider, but the fulfilment of an entire family's ambition. The 50 debutants in this year's race are chuffed to be here, but so too are their parents and siblings, and everyone else who has been part of their journey.
Take Zac Walker, two years younger than his brother Max, who is riding his maiden Tour at the age of 24 (he will turn 25 on July 12) for EF Education-EasyPost. "This has always been our childhood dream, so I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to watch him," Zac says, placing the emphasis on the collective. "It was always our dream and we're just all so proud of him. He's such a nice guy and it couldn't happen to anyone better."
Zac is supporting his brother throughout the Tour by driving "a hire car that is probably a bit too big for my driving capabilities" but he hasn't got much of a plan beyond the first few days. "If my preparation isn't good enough and the worst comes to the worst, there's always the backseat so I can sleep in the car just fine. And if not, I've got a Decathlon tent."
It's likely Zac will be visible - and audible at the side of the road over the coming weeks. "I don't think it's a problem at the Tour, but at some cycling races there's not enough cheering, so I'll be giving Max a big cheer. I've got my Isle of Man flag in my bag, as well as a cowbell. My voice does wonders as well."
"Everyone's talking about it and knows what Max is doing - they call it the Isle of Man posse, and they're all rooting for him."
Sally Walker
The Walkers' mum, Sally, can't quite believe her oldest son has made it to the Tour when she speaks with CW at the start in Barcelona. "For the family it's massive, huge," she smiles. "He's always watched it, especially with Mark Cavendish and Pete Kennaugh being from the Isle of Man as well. But I never thought in my wildest dreams that he'd make it. He always said he wanted to, and I did believe he could, but I just never thought it would happen. It's not until I've got here that I see that, yeah, it is happening."
She turns her thoughts to Dot Tilbury, the Isle of Man coach who has been credited with launching the careers of all of the small island's pro riders. "Dot will be so proud. She's massive to anyone from the Isle of Man," Sally says. "Everyone's talking about it and knows what Max is doing - they call it the Isle of Man posse, and they're all rooting for him."
Max, who is in the second year of his first professional contract with EF, was told nine days before the race started that he had been selected. "But I missed the original phone call as I had my phone on silent!" he laughs. "I didn't know what to expect when I called Charly [Wegelius, the team's sports director] back as I knew I was one of the last two picks and that it was 50-50. I was half-excited but half-nervous that he might say no, so when he said I was going I was really happy."
But just like most 20-somethings who delay informing their parents of any news - no matter how small or big - Max didn't tell his family of his selection until three days later. "He didn't tell us for ages!" Sally chuckles. "And when he did, he just dropped it in, five minutes into another chat we were having!"
The Walkers have twice seen the Tour: in Harrogate on day one of the 2014 race, when their fellow Manxman and idol Mark Cavendish crashed out, and in Morzine in the Alps when they hiked for hours up a mountain to watch a mountain stage - only for incessant rain to leave them sodden. What they've learned from their previous trips is to maximise the caravan freebies.
"Seeing the riders was cool, but the caravan was even cooler," Max says of that day in Morzine. "I was dancing on the side of the road, getting all the Haribos and caps. I think half of my suitcase was filled with caravan stuff. I've been telling my family to make sure they get out early to see the caravan."
Zac has listened and is obliging. "My aim is to have to buy another suitcase to put on my flight on the way home. Not that that's booked, by the way. I haven't got much of a plan for anything."
Alex Molenaar with his mother before the Grand Depart in Barcelona
One family who did have a plan at the start of the race was the Molenaars. Alex, 26, was riding his first Tour for race debutants Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. Born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands to his Dutch father Gerrit, Molenaar lived in Olot, Catalonia from the ages of 10 to 16. His Spanish mother, Dolors, is from Barcelona, and her childhood home was at the foot of Montjuïc where stages one and two finished. Molenaar essentially had a home Grand Départ.
"Buah, it's everything!" Molenaar tells CW before stage one. "From the first day I started riding a bike until now, I've been dreaming of this. When I was young, when I started my first training sessions and races, through all the suffering, it's all been for this moment. And it's all worth it."
Up until this spring, when ASO, the Tour organisers, announced that Caja would receive a wildcard to ride the race, Molenaar had never seriously thought he would appear at the Tour. He's spent his entire career so far riding for third-division Continental teams and second-tier ProTeams. "You dream, but at this level it's difficult to believe it's possible," he says. "For riders who are at this level, it's an opportunity that presents itself very few times. To ride the Tour is something really fuera de normal - extraordinary. It's a huge prize for all of us and the team as a whole."
Caja were the first team down the team time trial start ramp in Barcelona, and Molenaar was the first rider across the finish line. For a few minutes, he was in virtual yellow - the de facto leader of the race sat in the hot seat. His mum, watching on with Gerrit and their extended family, could barely believe what she was witnessing.
"You couldn't imagine that so many years later your son would be riding the Tour de France on the same streets that you played on as a child," she says, just hours after Molenaar passed them. A day later, Molenaar was one of three escapees, and ended the day in the King of the Mountains jersey. "It's just a beautiful experience, truly unforgettable," Dolors says.
The Molenaars picked up their family campervan on stage three to follow the rest of the Tour, but two days later were dealt a blow when their son crashed on stage five, sustaining injuries that would see him pull out before the next day. But that wasn't their summer over. In August they go to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift where their daughter, Laura, will make her second successive appearance for VolkerWessels. "It's incredible that our two children are competing in the Tour de France," Dolors beams.
Alex Dowsett's unexpected debut
As thrilling as riding the Tour de France for the first time is, it's not a happy experience for everyone - as Alex Dowsett experienced in 2015. Because he had been focused on the Hour Record in the spring - setting a new record - he was 4kg overweight and failed to finish the Critérium du Dauphiné a few weeks before the Tour. But his Movistar team selected him.
When Dowsett arrived in Utrecht, the enormity of his imminent debut hit him. "Two days before the organisers gather all the riders to discuss important things," he says. "I remember looking around and thinking: 'shit, everyone here looks so skinny and so good. Every team had brought their A team, there was no one there for experience - and no one called up last minute, except me! It was an intimidating room to be in, and I was looking for people who would be in the gruppetto with me, or the odd few who might be worse than I was."
Dowsett finished 13th in the opening-day time trial, but on the cobbles on stage four he crashed hard and required five stitches in a deep wound on his arm. "I probably caved a little under the pressure of it being the Tour," he says. He struggled through the next week of racing, not being able to get his heart rate over 150bpm, before eventually withdrawing on stage 12. "It was like I had a limiter of what I could do," he says. "I was just surviving. It was my first Tour and it was a baptism of fire."
While Walker, Molenaar and other debutants, including Netcompany-Ineos's Josh Tarling, are being supported at the roadside by their partners and family, New Zealander Aaron Gate has his two young sons cheering him on. "It was quite surreal that all four of us just jumped in our car and drove two-and-a-half hours from our home in Andorra down to Barcelona to start the Tour de France," he says.
"To have my wife and kids with me is pretty cool." Aged 35 and seven months, Gate is the oldest debutant since Mathew Hayman in 2014 and one of only nine riders this century over the age of 35 to make their Tour bows.
The Kiwi has spent most of his career focusing on the track, winning four Commonwealth Games medals for his home nation and a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the 2012 London Olympics. It was only in 2017 that he started to properly commit to the road, but he didn't reach the World Tour until the 2025 season, signing for XDS-Astana, who he's riding for at the Tour.
There was a certain symmetry that the Tour began with a team time trial, for Gate's first taste of competitive action when he was a teenager was racing 10-mile team time trials in inter-school national competitions.
"The guys who I used to race those TTTs with rekindled an old chat last week and they were joking that one of us has finally made it to the Tour de France," Gate says. "It was through those guys that I got interested in following cycling so this is for them as much as it is for me."
The super-slick time trial set-up that Gate was on in Barcelona was quite the contrast to the races of old. "We had restricted gearing set at 53-17," he says. "Our best time on a flat course was 20 minutes, 6 seconds. We were gutted we didn't quite break the 20-minute barrier for 10 miles." That definitely doesn't matter now he's riding the Tour.
"Everyone has dreams, but I've never been someone to set really long-reaching goals. I just go with the flow and when opportunities present themselves, I take them with both hands," he says. But, he confesses, there were fears in the past month that injury or illness might scupper his chances.
"I will admit that it was nerve-wracking from a crash point of view at the Tour of Belgium and Copenhagen Sprint," he says. "I was just making sure that I got through them both with my body intact. When I crossed the line in Belgium, I did so with a big sigh of relief. 'I've done it! I've survived without falling off!' I was telling others."
Gate had done everything he needed to do to make the Tour squad, just like Walker, Molenaar and the other few dozen debutants. While they will be the ones who are spoken about on TV and featured in the press, their achievements will belong as much to their families as to them.
"Watching your son at the Tour de France is such a privilege," says Molenaar's mum, Dolors, "We're really, really proud. Our son is a good rider but he's not a superstar. We're so grateful that our son gets some attention in these few weeks - as all other parents will be."
