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How did Americans do in the Tour de France?

Matteo jorgenson finishes in the top 10.

By Dennis Romboy

Tadej Pogačar pedaled away from his chief rival and the rest of the field in the big mountains of the Alps on the way to his third Tour de France win in five years, while an American placed in the top 10 for the first time in a decade.

Pogačar, of Slovenia, capped his dominating Tour victory Sunday winning the closing Monaco-to-Nice time trial, marking his third stage win in a row and sixth overall in the 2024 race. The Slovenian, who rides for the UAE Team Emirates, ended Jonas Vingegaard’s two-year hold on the title in the world’s most prestigious bike race. Vingegaard finished second overall, 6 minutes, 17 seconds behind. Pogačar finished second to the Danish rider in 2022 and 2023.

“I cannot describe how happy I am after two hard years on the Tour de France — always some mistakes — and then this year, everything to perfection. I’m out of words. Incredible. This is the first Grand Tour when I was totally confident every day. Even in the Giro I had one bad day but I won’t tell which one,” Pogačar, who won the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, said, per Eurosport .

“This year, the Tour de France was amazing. I was enjoying it from day one till here. Today, I felt super good over the first climb. I’ve done the climb so many times in training — I did not waste any of my preparations. Maybe some people thought the Giro was a safety net for me if I didn’t win the Tour. And for sure, it would have been an incredible year. But to win the Tour is another level, and to win both together, is another level above that level.”

Vingegaard stayed close to Pogačar through much of the 21-day race, thanks in large part to his Visma-Lease A Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson, of Boise, Idaho. Jorgenson pulled Vingegaard, who hadn’t raced since a horrific crash in April, through the toughest stages, giving his team leader a chance to win.

Riding with the race leaders over much of the 2,173-mile course, Jorgenson finished eighth overall, the first time an American has placed in the top 10 since Teejay Van Garderen came in fifth in 2014. Riding in his third Tour de France, Jorgenson nearly pulled off his first stage win Friday in the Alps but Pogačar powered past him in the final kilometer.

Though disappointed after taking second on Stage 19, Jorgenson bounced back to finish fourth in Sunday’s time trial, solidifying his place in the top 10 overall.

“I didn’t let it get to my head and I just kept going full, really suffered and got everything out of myself and just relieved and happy to finish this tour,” he told reporters. “I really have a fire in my stomach to win a stage of the Tour de France. It’s been my dream since I was a little kid.”

Van Garderen, now an NBC Sports commentator, and others say Jorgenson could do more than just take a stage but is a future contender for winning the Tour overall. He won Paris-Nice this year, the first American to do so since 2006. He also won Dwars door Vlaanderen and finished second in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Jorgenson was one of three Americans in the Tour de France. Neilson Powless and Sean Quinn finished 59th and 78th overall, respectively. Both ride for the EF Education-Easypost team. The race started with 176 riders and ended with 141.

Olympic cycling coming up

Jorgenson will go from the Tour de France to the Olympics in Paris next week. He and Magnus Sheffield were named last month to fill the last two spots on the U.S. Olympic road cycling team for the Paris Games. Both are first-time Olympians.

“The Olympics were always a part of my childhood,” Jorgenson said, according to USA Cycling. “I remember spending entire summers watching sports I had never heard of and admiring the athletes. For sure it had a big effect on me and was one of the reasons I decided to pursue a career as a pro athlete. Being able to race in Paris, especially following the best year of my career, is a dream come true.”

Jorgenson earned his Olympic spot at Dwars door Vlaanderen in Belgium, the only American man to win a top-level international one-day road race this season. He and Sheffield join Chloé Dygert, Taylor Knibb (who also qualified in triathlon) and Brandon McNulty on the Olympic team.

Dygert qualified by winning the 2023 World Championships time trial. Knibb and McNulty, who finished third in Paris-Nice, earned spots by winning U.S. time trial titles in May.

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Tour de france: sepp kuss is in, brandon mcnulty is out, which other us riders will race, which us riders will start the tour de france on july 1 in bilbao here's the latest on who will make the grade..

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Final start lists are not yet confirmed, but a solid crew of U.S. riders will be heading to the Tour de France next month packing dreams of glory.

Velo checked across all the major WorldTour teams to confirm the latest status of the Tour-bound candidates among the American peloton, and there are a few surprises.

With only eight starters per team, selection to the Tour is always highly competitive. It remains to be seen which riders will be tapped in the coming weeks to punch their tickets to start the 2023 Tour in Bilbao on July 1.

• A new generation of Americans take over at the Tour de France
• Kuss: ‘You always have to earn your Tour start’
• How McNulty winds down in the off-season

Teams pick only the strongest and best-prepared for the season’s most important race, but a spot on the team can often depend on bad luck or top result of one of their teammates.

Riders have been training and sacrificing for months. A ticket to the Tour is the dream of any elite men’s professional career.

This year’s U.S. crop won’t have any front-line yellow jersey favorites, but there will be a mix of stage-hunters, super-domestiques, workers, and stars in the making.

Nothing is guaranteed. Right now, riders are waiting for that call from a sport director for the final OK or to break the bad news.

Kuss, Powless, Jorgenson all but in

A few names are all but assured. Only a final-hour crash or illness will stop them from making the start.

These include Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar). All three will be playing headline roles on their respective teams across three weeks.

The 28-year-old Kuss, who helped chaperone Primož Roglič to the maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia, will return to the Tour for his fourth Tour start and what will be his first attempt at the Giro-Tour double, a challenge for any rider.

A stage-winner in 2021, Kuss will slot into the “Killer Bees” mountain tram at Jumbo-Visma to pace Jonas Vingegaard across the Tour’s highest cols . With Primož Roglič not starting, and Steven Kruijswijk crashing out of the Dauphiné, the team will be leaning on Kuss to keep his powder dry for the climb-heavy back half of the race.

Powless, 26, is also expected to return for what will be his fourth Tour appearance as well.

EF Education-EasyPost will be backing Richard Carapaz in a bid for the final podium, but depending how the race unfolds, Powless will see his chances in select stages as well as ride as the team’s No. 2 GC option. Twelfth overall last year and riding within seconds of the yellow jersey early in the race, Powless is hoping to keep his steady rise at the Tour moving upward.

Though he will leave Movistar at the end of the season, Jorgenson will have freedom to chase stage wins in the wake of his spectacular Tour debut last year, when he rode into three winning breakaways, and hit the top-5 each time.

Movistar will riding to support Enric Mas in a bid for the final podium, but Jorgenson — who turns 24 on the Tour’s opening stage — will see his chances in the always aggressive Spanish team.

McNulty out, everyone else ‘on the bubble’

Behind that sparkling trio, there are a solid half-dozen who are on their respective team’s long lists. Team insiders say final selections will be by the end of the Tour de Suisse, which runs from June 11-18.

Among the other Americans who are trying to elbow into the Tour include Lawson Craddock (Jayco-AlUla), Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (Team DSM), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), and Joe Dombrowski (Astana-Qazaqstan).

Dombrowski, who made his Tour debut last year, told Velo it’s long-shot odds that he’ll be returning to the Tour next month.

The Virginian, who raced a heavy spring calendar that ran from the Tour of the Alps, the Giro d’Italia and into this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné, will only return to the Tour only if there is a raft of final-hour injuries and illnesses across Astana-Qazaqstan. The team will build around sprinter Mark Cavendish and his quest for a 35th history-making stage win, with Alexey Lutsenko chasing stage wins in the mountains and a top-10 in the GC.

UAE Team Emirates officials confirmed to Velo that Brandon McNulty , who won a stage at the Giro d’Italia in May, will miss what would be his third straight Tour de France.

Leaving McNulty time to recover after the Giro, the team is rallying around two-time winner Tadej Pogačar, with riders such as Adam Yates, Marc Soler, Mikkel Bjerg, and Rafa Majka expected to ride in support.

My review of ‘Unchained’ is up on Outside. A few takes: 1. Best opportunity road cycling has had in decades to attract new fans. 2. Roone Arledge 101: human stories with sprinkling of sports info 3. No clumsy diagrams: the cycling explainers are subtle https://t.co/KECost2TgL — Frederick Dreier (@freddreier) June 8, 2023

Others see better chances of punching their Tour tickets, but nothing is guaranteed in the closing weeks ahead of the Tour.

Craddock, 31, is angling for a spot on Jayco-AlUla in what would be his third Tour start, and his first since 2018. Craddock’s varied skillset plays well to help both GC captain Simon Yates as well as sprinter ace Dylan Groenewegen.

Sheffield, 21, is hoping for a Tour debut, but it’s highly competitive inside the Ineos Grenadiers bus that also includes the likes of Tom Pidcock, Dani Martínez, and Michal Kwiatkowski. A winner of some big races in his WorldTour rookie season last year, Sheffield has yet to race a grand tour.

With Egan Bernal also expected to make an emotional return to the Tour, Sheffield could be sent to the Vuelta instead later this season with an eye toward a Tour debut in 2024 if he’s not tapped this summer.

Simmons is also hoping to return for what would be his second Tour start, but nothing is guaranteed yet for the Coloradan.

Last year, the 22-year-old was equally impressive in his Tour debut, riding into no less than five breakaways. A top result of 11th in stage 10 doesn’t accurately reflect his aggressiveness and intention.

The Trek-Segafredo rider pulled the plug early on his spring classics campaign after things were not going as well as he expected. He’ll be returning to the Tour de Suisse this weekend, where he won the climber’s competition and hit fourth in one of the big mountain stages, to prove he deserves a trip back to the Tour.

Vermaerke, who crashed out in the first week in his Tour debut last year, will also race the Tour de Suisse later this month with hopes of assuring his return to the Tour. Team DSM officials confirmed Vermaerke, 22, is on the team’s long list.

Quinn, racing this week at the Dauphiné, is also on EF’s long list for a possible Tour debut.

So how many will start? For sure, this year’s Tour crew will not equal the all-time high for U.S. starters of 10, a mark set in 2011 and in 1986.

It’s more likely the peloton will see between five to seven U.S. starters. Kuss, Powless, and Jorgenson are all but locks, with Craddock and Simmons looking likely, with Vermaerke and Sheffield also in the running.

US riders in the Tour de France by year:

2022 — 7 2021 — 4 2020 — 3 2019 – 4 2018 — 5 2017 — 3 2016 — 5 2015 — 3 2014 — 9 2013 — 6 2012 — 8 2011 — 10 2010 — 8 2009 — 7 2008 — 4 2007 — 6 2006 — 8 2005 — 9 2004 — 7 2003 — 6 2002 — 9 2001 — 8 2000 — 9 1999 — 8 1998 — 6 1997 — 6 1996 — 3 1995 — 2 1994 — 3 1993 — 3 1992 — 5 1991 — 5 1990 — 7 1989 — 5 1988 — 6 1987 — 7 1986 — 10 1985 — 2 1984 — 2 1983 — 1 1982 — 1 1981 — 1

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Tour de France 2024 riders and teams: Every cyclist at this year’s race

A packed peloton of the world’s best cyclists are set to do battle across 21 stages at the 2024 Tour de France .

An historic edition sees the Grand Tour start in Italy and end with a time trial in Nice for the first time since the race’s inception.

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is back to defend his yellow jersey after making a swift recovery from injury to bid for a third successive general classification crown, but familiar foe Tadej Pogacar will be out to usurp his old rival having already won the Giro d’Italia this year.

Mark Cavendish , meanwhile, is set to ride his final Tour as he targets a record 35th stage win after delaying his retirement from the sport.

In all, 176 riders from 22 teams will contest the Tour, with the 18 World Tour outfits joined by four Pro Tour invitees.

Here are all of the riders and teams at this year’s race.

Visma-Lease a Bike

1 Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark)

2 Tiesj Benoot (Belgium)

3 Matteo Jorgenson (United States)

4 Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands)

5 Christophe Laporte (France)

6 Bart Lemmen (Netherlands)

7 Jan Tratnik (Slovenia)

8 Wout van Aert (Belgium)

UAE Team Emirates

11 Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia)

12 Joao Almeida (Portugal)

13 Juan Ayuso (Spain)

14 Nils Politt (Germany)

15 Pavel Sivakov (France)

16 Marc Soler (Spain)

17 Tim Wellens (Belgium)

18 Adam Yates (Great Britain)

Jayco AlUla

21 Simon Yates (Great Britain)

22 Luke Durbridge (Australia)

23 Dylan Groenewegen (Netherlands)

24 Chris Harper (Australia)

25 Chris Juul-Jensen (Denmark)

26 Michael Matthews (Australia)

27 Luka Mezgec (Slovenia)

28 Elmar Reinders (Netherlands)

Ineos Grenadiers

31 Carlos Rodriguez (Spain)

32 Egan Bernal (Colombia)

33 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain)

34 Laurens De Plus (Belgium)

35 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)

36 Tom Pidcock (Great Britain)

37 Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)

38 Ben Turner (Great Britain)

41 Giulio Ciccone (Italy)

42 Julien Bernard (France)

43 Tim Declercq (Belgium)

44 Ryan Gibbons (South Africa)

45 Mads Pedersen (Denmark)

46 Toms Skujins (Latvia)

47 Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)

48 Carlos Verona (Spain)

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale

51 Felix Gall (Austria)

52 Bruno Amirail (France)

53 Sam Bennett (Ireland)

54 Dorian Godon (France)

55 Paul Lapeira (France)

56 Oliver Naesen (Belgium)

57 Nans Peters (France)

58 Nicolas Prodhomme (France)

Bahrain-Victorious

61 Pello Bilbao (Spain)

62 Nikias Arndt (Germany)

63 Phil Bauhaus (Germany)

64 Santiago Buitrago (Colombia)

65 Jack Haig (Australia)

66 Matej Mohoric (Slovenia)

67 Wout Poels (Netherlands)

68 Fred Wright (Great Britain)

Soudal Quick-Step

71 Remco Evenepoel (Belgium)

72 Jan Hirt (Czech Republic)

73 Yves Lampaert (Belgium)

74 Mikel Landa (Spain)

75 Gianni Moscon (Italy)

76 Casper Pedersen (Denmark)

77 Ilan van Wilder (Belgium)

78 Louis Vervaeke (Belgium)

Red Bull BORA-hansgrohe

81 Primoz Roglic (Slovenia)

82 Nico Denz (Germany)

83 Marco Haller (Austria)

84 Jai Hindley (Australia)

85 Bob Jungels (Luxembourg)

86 Matteo Sobrero (Italy)

87 Danny van Poppel (Netherlands)

88 Aleksandr Vlasov

Groupama-FDJ

91 David Gaudu (France)

92 Kevin Geniets (Luxembourg)

93 Romain Gregoire (France)

94 Stefan Kung (Switzerland)

95 Valentin Madouas (France)

96 Lenny Martinez (France)

97 Quentin Pacher (France)

98 Clement Russo (France)

Alpecin-Deceuninck

101 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)

102 Silvan Dillier (Switzerland)

103 Robbe Ghys (Belgium)

104 Soren Kragh Andersen (Denmark)

105 Axel Laurance (France)

106 Jasper Philipsen (Belgium)

107 Jonas Rickaert (Belgium)

108 Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium)

EF Education-EasyPost

111 Richard Carapaz (Ecuador)

112 Alberto Bettiol (Italy)

113 Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland)

114 Rui Costa (Portugal)

115 Ben Healy (Ireland)

116 Neilson Powless (United States)

117 Sean Quinn (United States)

118 Marijn van den Berg (Netherlands)

Lotto Dstny

121 Arnaud De Lie (Belgium)

122 Cedric Beullens (Belgium)

123 Victor Campenaerts (Belgium)

124 Jarrad Drizners (Australia)

125 Sebastien Grignard (Belgium)

126 Maxim van Gils (Belgium)

127 Harm Vanhoucke (Belgium)

128 Brent van Moer (Belgium)

Israel-Premier Tech

131 Stevie Williams (Great Britain)

132 Pascal Ackermann (Germany)

133 Guillaume Boivin (Canada)

134 Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark)

135 Derek Gee (Canada)

136 Hugo Houle (Canada)

137 Krists Neilands (Latvia)

138 Jake Stewart (Great Britain)

141 Guillaume Martin (France)

142 Piet Allegaert (Belgium)

143 Bryan Coquard (France)

144 Simon Geschke (Germany)

145 Jesus Herrada (Spain)

146 Ion Izagirre (Spain)

147 Alexis Renard (France)

148 Axel Zingle (France)

151 Enric Mas (Spain)

152 Alex Aranburu (Spain)

153 Davide Formolo (Italy)

154 Fernando Gaviria (Colombia)

155 Oier Lazkano (Spain)

156 Gregor Muhlberger (Austria)

157 Nelson Oliveira (Portugal)

158 Javier Romo (Spain)

Arkea-B&B Hotels

161 Kevin Vauquelin (France)

162 Amaury Capiot (France)

163 Clement Champoussin (France)

164 Arnaud Demare (France)

165 Raul Garcia Pierna (Spain)

166 Dan McLay (Great Britain)

167 Luca Mozzato (Italy)

168 Cristian Rodriguez (Spain)

Intermarche-Wanty

171 Louis Meintjes (South Africa)

172 Biniam Girmay (Eritrea)

173 Kobe Goossens (Belgium)

174 Hugo Page (France)

175 Laurenz Rex (Belgium)

176 Mike Teunissen (Netherlands)

177 Gerben Thijssen (Belgium)

178 Georg Zimmermann (Germany)

dsm-firmenich PostNL

181 Romain Bardet (France)

182 Warren Barguil (France)

183 John Degenkolb (Germany)

184 Nils Eekhoff (Netherlands)

185 Fabio Jakobsen (Netherlands)

186 Oscar Onley (Great Britain)

187 Frank van den Broek (Netherlands)

188 Bram Welten (Netherlands)

Astana Qazaqstan

191 Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)

192 Davide Ballerini (Italy)

193 Cees Bol (Netherlands)

194 Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kazakhstan)

195 Michele Gazzoli (Italy)

196 Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan)

197 Michael Morkov (Denmark)

198 Harold Tejada (Colombia)

Uno-X Mobility

201 Magnus Cort (Denmark)

202 Jonas Abrahamsen (Norway)

203 Odd Christian Eiking (Norway)

204 Tobias Halland Johannessen (Norway)

205 Alexander Kristoff (Norway)

206 Johannes Kulset (Norway)

207 Rasmus Tiller (Norway)

208 Soren Waerenskjold (Norway)

TotalEnergies

211 Steff Cras (Belgium)

212 Mathieu Burgaudeau (France)

213 Sandy Dujardin (France)

214 Thomas Gachignard (France)

215 Fabien Grellier (France)

216 Jordan Jegat (France)

217 Anthony Turgis (France)

218 Matteo Vercher (France)

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It’s Vas in Amneville

It was a bittersweet victory for Blanka Vas (Team SD Worx – Protime) on Stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Amneville, as the Hungarian outsprinted Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) to the line, with Kristen Faulkner (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) close by in fourth. A crash involving Vas’ teammate Demi Vollering and several other riders decimated the peloton with 6 km to go, with Vollering remounting but losing crucial time and control of the Yellow Jersey. Niewiadoma now leads the GC by 19” from Faulkner, with QOM leader Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) third at 22”. Vollering is now 9th overall, 1’19” off Niewiadoma, having lost 1’47" after her crash.

Starting from Bastogne The cycling hotspot of Bastogne was the setting for the start of Stage 5 as 137 riders commenced the day’s action, which would see the peloton cover 152.5km, taking on five categorised climbs on the route to Amneville. Elena Pirrone (Roland) first and then counter-attacker Michaela Drummond (Arkea-B&B Hotels) were the early movers, arriving together at the summit of the first categorised climb of the day (Côte de Hotte - Km 14.1, Cat. 3, 1.2km at 7.9%) approximately 20” ahead of the bunch, which was led over the top by Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ). Pirrone and Drummond were caught by the peloton shortly after they descended the Côte de Hotte. Attacks before the Côte de Saint-Pancré There were several short-lived breakaway attempts as the riders made their way to the second categorised climb of the day, but the peloton tightly controlled the potential escapees. That was the case until the Finn Wilma Aintila (Lotto Dstny Ladies) attacked after an hour of racing and she was soon joined by Amandine Fouquenet (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) at the front. After her earlier assault Pirrone went on the move again and joined Aintila and Fouquenet to form an attacking trio in the breakaway, creating a 35" gap by km 65. Just after the race entered France (km 64.5) a group of 15 counter attackers tried to reach the front three, with the peloton responding. As the riders got to the start of the Côte de Saint-Pancré climb (Km 69.6, Cat. 4, 1.5km at 3.9%) the three breakaway riders were caught. Pieterse shines Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) reinforced her position in the QOM ranking in her polka dot jersey by taking the lead at the top of the Côte de Saint-Pancré climb (Km 69.6, Cat. 4, 1.5km at 3.9%) for two more points, just ahead of Justine Ghekiere (1 point). FDJ-Suez then stepped up the attacks and ended up finding an opening with Loes Adegeest, 3rd in the Rotterdam time trial. She was 15" ahead of the bunch at the top of the Côte de Fermont (Km 79, Cat. 4, 1.5km at 4.6%), with the main group led by Persico at the summit. A second group in which Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was riding reached the Fermont summit just over a minute behind the GC leaders. Julie Van de Velde (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) and double cyclo-cross World Champion Fem van Empel (Visma | Lease a Bike) joined forces with Adegeest 67.5 km from the finish and soon built up a lead of over a minute, whilst Kool and her group re-joined the peloton. Intermediate sprint Before the intermediate sprint at Mercy-Le-Haut (km 105.8), though, Kool was in trouble again, dropping to more than two minutes behind the bunch. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the bunch sprint for 13 important points, crossing the intermediate line in fifth place, behind the breakaway three and counter-attacker Maëva Squiban (Arkea - B&B Hotels Women), with Squiban soon caught again by the GC group. It had been Van de Velde who won the intermediate sprint, ahead of Adegeest and Van Empel and with 30km to go a 2’17” advantage gave the three riders at the front the hope that they could make it to the finish to contest the victory between them. Montois-la-Montagne climb However, by the time Van de Velde, Van Empel and Adegeest approached the Montois-la-Montagne climb (Cat. 4, 1.7km at 6%) their lead over the peloton was down to just 48", with Movistar Team increasing the pace of the peloton. That gap was just 24” at the summit, which Van Empel reached first. The big accident involving Vollering with 6 km to go shook up the GC, whilst Adegeest was the last of the breakaway riders to be caught - as 9 riders who had moved ahead of the split peloton after the crash reached her with 2.3km to go. On the final straight Vas was too strong for Niewiadoma, Lippert and Faulkner to take the win on a difficult day for her team.

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The riders from Australia and New Zealand flying the flag at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes

From Niamh Fisher-Black, who will be backing the defending champion, to Grace Brown's last stand and Sarah Gigante's debut

New Zealand

The men's Tour de France is over, the Olympic Games are wrapping up but this is no time to turn off the spotlight, as the stage is set for another enthralling battle at the Tour de France Femmes .

The third edition of the race starts in the Netherlands on Monday, August 8, before working its way back toward the Alps and a crucial final two days in the mountain, with Alpe d'Huez the crowning glory. Defending champion Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) may be the outright favourite, but there are plenty of others that are set to play a significant role – including a contingent of 13 riders from Australia and New Zealand. Some of those will be chasing their chances for stage victories, and perhaps giving one of the nations its first Tour de France Femmes stage victor, while others will be dedicated to helping their teammates. Either way – whether they are lining up for their first or last Tour de France Femmes – the strong group of riders from Australia and New Zealand will not go unnoticed as the peloton weaves its way across the 946km course from Rotterdam to the top of Alpe d'Huez.

Cyclingnews takes a closer look at the nine riders from Australia and four from New Zealand expected to – based on the preliminary start list – line up at the race that draws the eyes of the cycling world from August 12-18.

Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ)

A few months ago the Australian announced her plans to retire at the end of this season with the closing remark of ‘let’s see if I can sign off in style’. No matter what comes next as Grace Brown lines up for her third Tour de France Femmes, the gold medal hanging around her neck after the time trial at the Olympic Games means she has delivered in spades. Still, even though the final months of her career are quickly counting down and the pinnacle she has already reached is lofty, there is still much riding on this final Grand Tour with there being no question about just how important the race is to her French-based squad. The stage 3 time trial probably offers her the best opportunity to give her FDJ–SUEZ team the stage victory it is pursuing at the Tour de France Femmes, though stage 4 could also be an opportunity as the road to Liège has been kind to Brown this year, with the 32-year-old winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège in May. Her role, beyond that, is likely to be in support as FDJ-SUEZ has two strong options for the mountains and overall, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig – who has had a few hurdles with injury this season – and Évita Muzic. Helping a French team to success at the Tour de France, regardless of whether that is through earning top stage results herself or helping out in the GC charge, will win her plenty of wholehearted cheers from the local fans on the roadside as she waves goodbye.

Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM)

It may be the first time Neve Bradbury has lined up at the Tour de France Femmes, but she is doing so with some serious results behind her. Blockhaus was a stage of the Giro d’Italia Women that stood out as soon as the route was announced as delivering one of the most challenging climbing stages the Women’s WorldTour had seen – and Bradbury won it. When Cyclingnews spoke to her before that impressive Giro stage win Bradbury said "when it's quite hard, quite late, everyone's tired – that's usually what would suit me quite well."

The same scenario she described as suiting her at the Giro – of hard stages late – applies just as much with the dual mountain stage finale of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, which concludes at the top of Alpe d’Huez. Still, her role at the race is different from that at the Giro, where she was a leader and finished third overall. Teammate Kasia Niewiadoma has clearly earned the whole-hearted support of her squad by finishing third at the French Grand Tour in the last two editions, so Bradbury’s focus will likely be to bury herself for her team leader when the terrain hits the mountains and perhaps, at the same time, gather the experience that may one day help her be that leader at the biggest race on the calendar. Although if things don't go to plan for Niewiadoma, she could also be a handy plan B this time around.

Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Amber Pate (Liv-AlUla-Jayco)

The Australian champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon and her teammate Amber Pate will be lining up for the nation's only Women's WorldTour squad. Both will be taking on their second edition, with Pate lining up in 2023 while Roseman-Gannon made her debut in 2022, her first year as a professional. Roseman-Gannon has amassed plenty of experience since and has certainly built up her results through this season, claiming the national criterium and road race title at the start and then also picking up her first Women's WorldTour stage win along the way at the Tour of Britain. She'll be chasing another at the Tour de France Femmes “When I did the 2022 Tour de France Femmes, it certainly felt like the biggest race I’ve ever done, just due to the number of spectators and media interest," said Roseman Gannon in the team's pre-race media release. "It was a really incredible atmosphere and I’m excited to come back this year with two more years of training and experience."

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In her pursuit of stage wins, Pate will be a strong ally, just as she was when the Australian Champion claimed the rest of her three victories so far this year.

Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek)

The experience of Amanda Spratt is a valuable asset in a Grand Tour with the rider who has twice finished on the overall podium of the Giro d'Italia Women lining up as a powerful support rider on the climbs for one of the strongest teams going up against defending champions SD Worx-Protime. The 36-year-old finished in the top ten overall last year, when she had to take up the mantle after GC hope Elisa Longo Borghini had to leave the race right before the crucial stage ending on the Col du Tourmalet. This time, too, the Italian has had to change her race plans, but before the start after a pre-race training crash, though there are others that are expected to lead the team charge this time. Longo Borghini – who took the maglia rosa at the Giro d'Italia – had timed her peak to begin in Italy and given that was always going to be hard to maintain through the Olympic Games and onto the Tour de France Femmes so other options were in focus. The small amount of time trialling and two final mountain stages with summit finishes could play into the hands of capable climber Gaia Realini and Shirin van Anrooij is also another GC option, one who doesn't have quite the same climbing record but has the characteristics to potentially carve out an advantage through the opening stages. The climbing strength of Spratt could be a valuable piece of the puzzle that helps wear down rivals and conserve the strength of her teammates for those crucial moments.

Sarah Roy and Josie Talbot (Cofidis)

Sarah Roy will be lining up for her second Tour de France Femmes with the French team and so will Josie Talbot. The Australian pair’s best chances for a top result come on the punchy terrain of stage four and stage five. Both are showing solid form to make the most of the opportunities that may crop up. Roy, the 2021 Australian road champion, this season took her first victory since claiming the national title, winning stage 2 of the 2.1 ranked Bretagne Ladies Tour. 

Talbot has been raising the bar in her second season with Cofidis, taking victories at La Périgord Ladies and on stage 3 of the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées. The rider will be hoping to keep up the strong run as she heads toward a new team, Liv-AlUla-Jayco, next year.

Sarah Gigante and Anya Louw (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Even before the rebirth of the women's Tour de France was confirmed, the excitement at the potential for it to be introduced was clear when Cyclingnews spoke to Sarah Gigante about the prospect . Back in 2021 when the then 20-year-old was in the extremely early stages of her professional racing career, it seemed clear that this was an event where the potential for her to make a mark on the race in the future was clear as this was a rider that embraced big challenges, long tough climbs and could deliver a solid time trial as well. The Melbourne-based rider, however, hasn't yet had a chance to line up at the event, but that is set to change.

Gigante is set to make her debut in the third edition of the race, beginning to gather experience in the French Grand Tour with AG Insurance-Soudal. It should be another massive step in what is her fifth year as a professional but, given a horrible run with interruptions, is her first solid European season. 2024 started with the dream win at the women's Santos Tour Down Under, with the overall and stage victory clinched with a spine-tingling run up Willunga HIll, and has continued with solid results. As she returns to racing, after having not pinned a number on since the end of June, no matter the results lining up at the Tour de France Femmes will be another dream realised. Experience is likely to be the big target in this edition, but who knows in the years to come.

Anya Louw is also expected to join Gigante on the start line in 2024, having already taken on the event in 2022. The 23-year-old who came through the ranks with Gigante in Australia has proved an ever reliable teammate and is bound to fill that role again.

Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx-Protime)

The mountains of the Tour de France Femmes are finally calling for Niamh Fisher Black. The rider from New Zealand has long shown enormous climbing strength – finishing in the top ten overall at the last four editions of the Giro d'Italia Women –the likes of which in most teams would have seen her lining up at the French race long ago. Fisher Black, however, is racing for the world's top team, SD Worx-Protime, which always seems to have an endless array of options for just about any scenario. This time, however, the 23-year-old rider from New Zealand gets her chance to ride the Tour de France Femmes.

Fisher-Black may have had the option of chasing her own opportunities at the Giro in July, but there is no doubt about the focus of the team in August given that Demi Vollering heads the line up not just as defending champion but also the clear-cut favourite. Vollering has already sailed away to victory at La Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia Women, Vuelta a Burgos and at the Tour de Suisse this year and in the mountains it will be Fisher-Black she will be counting on to be a key ally.

Mikayla Harvey (UAE Team ADQ)

It is a debut Tour de France Femmes for Mikayla Harvey, who should prove a handy all-rounder for UAE Team ADQ. The 25-year-old, who came fifth overall at the Giro d'Italia Women in 2020 and 6th overall at the UAE Tour Women in 2023, is expected to line up alongside Erica Magnaldi and Silvia Persico. 

Magnaldi was last year 13th overall at the French Grand Tour and also came fifth overall at the Giro d'Italia Women while Persico has taken to the stage podium three times on stages of the Tour de France Femmes and finished fifth overall in 2022, with the race a real breakthrough for the rider who was then at Valcar-Travel & Service. As such, Harvey is likely to find herself in a support role much of the time particularly given it hasn't been a season where she has regularly been pushing to near the top of the results sheet.

Michaela Drummond (Arkea B&B Hotels)

Michaela Drummond will be making her debut at the race with a French team, with the weight of the sprint expectations for the squad on her shoulders for the first two sprinter-friendly stages. It has been a strong season for the 26-year-old, with a win in the national championships criterium, at Région Pays de la Loire Tour Féminin and two stage victories at the Volta a Portugal Feminina in July.

Sill the rider from the Continental Team will be stepping into a whole new tier at the Tour de France Femmes, with Arkea B&B Hotels one of the wildcard entrants. The advantage of that, however, is that she will be free to fly under the radar as she chases whatever opportunities may come her way.

Kim Cadzow (EF-Oatly-Cannondale)

Kim Cadzow is lining up for her first Tour de France Femmes with an EF Oatly-Cannondale squad that is bound to be aggressive in pursuit of stage wins. "My goal is to get stuck into the racing," said Cadzow in a team announcement. "I want to enjoy the experience and support the team as best as possible."

Cadzow will be lining up alongside several potential stage winners, including the two-time Paris Olympic gold medallist Kristen Faulkner, but with the year the rider from New Zealand has had, it would be no surprise if she was also given support to chase her own opportunities. This season so far an overall and stage win at the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa in March led into a sixth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a top ten overall at La Vuelta Femenina as ample evidence of just what potential the 22-year-old has to be a powerful force. She is also clearly coming into the race with some strong form, having taken seventh at the Olympic Games time trial. Update: Since publication, on the eve of the Tour de France Femmes, EF-Oatly-Cannondale put out an announcement on social media to say that Cadzow would have to withdraw as she tested positive for COVID-19. 

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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg . Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.

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FAQs of the Tour de France: How lean? How much power? How do they pee mid-stage? All that and more explained

Ever wondered why riders have such veiny legs? Do riders share rooms? How does a 60km ride count as a rest day? We take a look at the burning questions and those you never thought to ask

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The 2024 edition of the Tour de France is not far away - and if you’ve watched previous editions, there’s probably quite a fair few points that might have piqued your curiosity. That is to be fully expected - a lot is left going on behind the scenes that the cameras aren’t capturing.

Google's autocorrect can provide us with a wealth of information around the general public's deepest thoughts about the pros. For instance, it seems there are enough people desperately searching for ‘how do cyclists pee whilst racing the Tour de France?’ that the search engine is serving up this suggestion for everyone. 

Naturally, we couldn’t leave them hanging, and our answer to how exactly cyclists do pee during top level races can be found here. There’s an almost dizzying array of other questions, too, which we'll get fully stuck into here.

We will take a look at Tour de France performance trends and, continuing past the finish line, we’ll also reveal what the riders get up to in their team buses and talk more about how the pros deal with the hotel-to-hotel life that makes up the three weeks of a Grand Tour.

Why are Tour de France cyclist’s legs so veiny?

We’ve all got veins in our legs quite near to the skin surface, but they are hidden by a layer of fat just under the skin. 

Tour de France cyclist's legs appear to be uber-veiny for two main reasons: firstly, they have much less body fat than ‘ordinary’ people, and secondly, their veins and arteries have adapted to carry more blood around their bodies. The cardiovascular adaptations are numerous, but a large increase in vein and artery diameter is one of them. You can read more about the science behind why Tour de France rider’s legs are so veiny here.

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What do Tour de France riders do on their rest days?

They ride, and not just a little amble around the streets. Most will be on their bikes for two hours and some even more. 

In the early days of Team Sky, Russell Downing found out why after the first rest day of his Grand Tour debut in the 2011 Giro d’Italia: “It was a hard race, the weather was bad and by the first rest day I was really tired. The others asked if I was going with them, but it was cold and raining and I said I’d go on the turbo in the hotel basement instead. I did that for about 45 minutes, just very easy, then went back upstairs to lie down. Next day I was nailed for the whole stage, just hanging on. I was okay the day after, but I’d learnt my lesson and rode with the boys on the next rest day. If you don’t ride reasonably hard on the rest day , your body thinks you’ve stopped and switches off ready for deep recovery. You’ve got to keep it firing for the whole three weeks.” 

What is a soigneur in cycling and what are their duties during the Tour de France?

Soigneur is the French word for ‘carer’, and basically soigneurs care for riders. They prepare them for each stage, looking after them at the finish and back the hotel, with massage and rehab therapies. And they care in other ways too. 

Dirk Nachtergaele, a Belgian pro team soigneur for over 40 years says: “A soigneur is also like a priest. We are the one who riders can confide in, confident that anything they tell us goes no further. They can complain about another rider, the sports director even; they can talk about problems at home – anything. They know we will not tell anyone what they said. That role as confidante is as necessary in a team as being a skilled therapist.”   

How light and lean are the Tour de France climbers?

Double Tour de France stage winner, and now retired Irish pro rider Dan Martin was a climbing specialist. His racing weight was 62kg, which is light for his 5ft 9in height, but some shorter climbers weigh under 60kg. However, being super-light is no longer the preserve of the pure climbing specialists. Defending Tour champion Pogacar is the same height as Martin and only slightly heavier at around 66kg, while 2019 winner Egan Bernal , also 5ft 9in, is a true featherweight at just 60kg. 

The riders mentioned start the Tour de France with body fat percentages well below 10 per cent, but nutritionists are careful not to allow ‘cutting’ to go too far. 

In fact, it can be better to offload a little muscle, as Dr Rob Child, a performance biochemist who worked with several World Tour teams, explains: “It’s sometimes worth losing a bit of muscle to reduce weight because very low body fat has health implications. Tour de France performance is governed by the cardiovascular system, not by the maximum force applied to the pedals. Pro riders don’t need huge amounts of muscle to pedal at 400 watts for 20 or 30 minutes, and that’s often the key to performing well overall in the Tour. They need a highly developed cardiovascular system, not big muscles.” 

Why do Tour de France riders drink Coca-Cola?

Most team nutritionists would rather the riders didn’t drink coca cola, and some teams even forbid it.

That said, there’s also always one small can of coke in the musettes Trek-Segafredo gives its riders. Drinking a regular fizzy drink such as a cold can of coke after a stage is good for morale – and preserving positivity in a brutal three-week race is vital.

Of course, the most important nutritional consideration for riders is getting enough calories to meet the extreme demands of the race. If you’re wondering how they achieve that, here we look into what exactly goes into fuelling the riders of the Tour de France .

What do Tour de France riders do to recover between stages?

The standard of hotels used by the Tour has improved a lot in recent years, so that helps with sleep and recovery . Even so, teams provide further ‘home comforts’ by carrying all their own bedding, including mattresses and pillows. They also have their own washing machines in the team buses and equipment trucks. Everything is done to promote good sleeping habits and hygiene. 

Riders generally do room-share, partly through tradition but also because it’s good to have company. Pairings are decided diplomatically, though.

Why and how do riders warm up before each stage?

The ‘why’ is explained by double Tour stage winner Steve Cummings: “There are two races in every stage: the first is to get a breakaway established, and the second is to win the stage. If I saw a stage that suited me, one where a break might stay away and give me a chance to win, I’d focus on the first hour to 90 minutes, nothing else. Typically it was attack after attack right from the start, then a huge effort to get the break established. You had to be fully warmed up for that.” 

As to the ‘how’, a Tour warm-up is usually done on a turbo trainer, allowing the whole team to warm-up in one compact space, everyone controlling their effort. Ineos-Grenadiers’s deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth says: “The idea is to prepare the rider’s energy systems for a fast start. They ride steady but progressively harder for at least 20 minutes, then do five minutes of capacity work to open everything up. After that they pedal easily and try to stay loose.”

How much do riders have to eat to meet energy demands?

Riders can burn twice or even three times their usual calorie requirement during a hard day at the Tour. Nigel Mitchell, a nutritional consultant who worked extensively with WorldTour cycling teams, says: “At a Grand Tour, riders can burn more than 5,000kcal on a single stage, depending on the terrain, and that means consuming a huge amount, both off the bike at meal times and on it during the race, in the form of energy drinks, bars and gels.” To put 5,000kcal into perspective, it is roughly equivalent to four large McDonald’s BigMac meals. 

What do the riders eat after each stage?

 Does each rider have their own bespoke meals? Who does the cooking?  

Three questions, but they are related and so are the answers, which come from a former Tour de France rider, UAE Team Emirates former sports director and current race analyst Allan Peiper. The man who oversaw Tadej Pogačar’s first Tour de France win in 2020 told us: “Each rider has a bespoke meal plan based on any needs flagged up by team doctors and physiologists, and on any personal physiological quirks such as intolerances or allergies. The medics talk with nutritionists, and the nutritionists tailor meals to meet specific needs. Each team also has its own chef who works with the nutritionist to prepare tailor-made meals.” 

How heavy are the heaviest riders in the race, and how do they get over the mountains inside the time cut?

There are very few riders of over 80kg in the Tour de France nowadays. The limiter when climbing mountains is power-to-weight ratio, and if a rider is too bulky they cannot overcome the disadvantage, no matter how mighty their power output. The heaviest Tour de France rider since 2000 was the Swede Magnus Backstedt, who says: “I had to be the lightest I could be for the Tour, which was around 90kg, and as fit as I could be. But at my weight, every hill is steep, and the mountains were a real challenge. On mountain stages, I’d hang on to the peloton for as long as possible, then look for a good grupetto – that’s what we call the groups of non-climbers who ride together to get inside the time limits. Once in a grupetto with experienced riders, it was just a case of digging deep, sometimes very deep, and hanging on.” 

Grit and stubbornness get heavier riders up the mountains, but they have an advantage to deploy on the other side, going down. Tour stage winner Sean Yates was a tall, well-built rider, and he says: “You have to get good at descending if you are bigger. You can’t regain all the time you lost going up, but you can get some of it back by really going for it on the descents.”

What’s the relationship between rider age and Tour de France performance?

It used to be that riders developed into Tour contenders gradually over many years. Those youngsters who did take part would be expected to help the team and gain experience, and possibly even drop out after the first week. That’s all changed. Tadej Pogačar was just 21 when he first won in 2020, and Egan Bernal was 22 when he won in 2019. Pogačar’s coach Inigo San Millan has this to say about his rider’s prodigious ability: “He has extraordinary physiological characteristics, and the correct mental attributes, so he was already good enough to win at 21.” 

Until Bernal’s win four years ago, it was thought that riders reached their peak in terms of physiology, psychology and skill at around 26 or 27. According to Allan Peiper: “This may still be true, we just don’t know what the young winners we have now will be like when they are 27 or 28. Will they still be winning, or will the next generation have surpassed them?” At the other end of the scale, the oldest Tour winner of modern times was Cadel Evans in 2011, at the age of 34.  

What do the riders’ musettes contain?

Nothing very surprising, just a re-supply of the gels, drinks and energy bars. Musettes were more interesting in times gone by, when they contained cakes and tarts for energy, small ham and cheese baguettes for protein, and all manner of delights. The food was individually wrapped and packed by the soigneurs. The first female soigneur Shelley Verses, who worked for US team 7-Eleven in the 1980s, used to wrap her riders’ food in pages from Playboy magazine. “It was good for their morale,” she commented. 

Do Tour de France riders drink alcohol during the three weeks?

Yes, but not much. Stage wins might be celebrated with a glass of champagne, and sometimes a small glass of red wine is taken with the evening meal, but that’s as far as it goes. Teams have tried total bans on alcohol, but most allow small amounts to protect morale. 

All rather sensible – not like Tour riders from previous eras. In the early days of the race, riders drank wine and beer during stages because it was less of a threat to health than the contents of some of the primitive water supplies. Right up to the 1960s, some riders enjoyed a mid-Tour tipple or two. One of the most notorious stories is about the 1964 Andorran rest day when race leader Jacques Anquetil went to a party and indulged to such an extent he was hungover the next day and almost lost the race. 

How do Tour de France riders stay hydrated through sweltering long stages?

Nigel Mitchell tells us: “I get riders to start drinking as soon as they wake. I mix water with a little fruit juice in a big bottle, because that makes it more interesting than plain water, and I ask them to finish it before breakfast. They drink fruit juice with breakfast for the electrolytes, and another bottle of diluted fruit juice travelling to the stage start.

“During the stage, they drink from two bottles on the bike, one plain water and one energy drink, and they keep getting fresh bottles from the team car or support motorbikes. They get more fluid in a protein shake after the stage, and an electrolyte drink if it’s been hot. I also provide rice cakes, which contain quite a lot of moisture from the water absorbed by the rice during cooking. 

“Even then, we still check on hydration by checking the rider’s weight each morning. If they are well hydrated, they will stay at pretty much the same weight throughout the Tour.” 

What’s the role of the bottle-carrying domestiques in the Tour de France?

The cycling community uses a lot of French words, with domestiques being one of them. Transporting bottles from the team car to team-mates in the peloton is just one of many duties carried out by domestiques. 

This supply chain is overseen by the sports directors, as Allan Peiper explains: “The sports directors have real-time information in the team cars on each rider’s performance metrics. They can tell if anyone is having a bad day, and they won’t ask that rider to drop back to the team car and pick up bottles, because it could just push them further into the red.” 

Each team has several domestiques and their role, although complicated in execution, is straightforward in mission. It’s to put the team’s leader (or leaders) in the best position to challenge for victory.

That could involve riding at the front to control the peloton’s pace, leading riders who’ve punctured back to the action, chasing when a breakaway needs to be brought back, leading out sprinters at the end of stages, setting the pace in the mountains, and many other jobs. They even perform a very unglamorous function in comfort stops.

Find definitions of the French cycling terms you hear during the Tour de France , such as domestiques, over here.

In terms of FTP and watts per kilo, what does it take to be a GC contender at the Tour de France?

In 2020 the power meter supplier to Team UAE Emirates, Stages, released the following information on Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar’s performance metrics from Stage Nine, a mountainous stage in the Pyrenees: 

Time: 3:58:16 

Average power: 301W (4.5W/kg) 

Normalised power: 351W (5.4W/kg) 

Peak 5min power: 473W (7.2W/kg) 

Peak 20min power: 429W (6.5W/kg) 

To put these figures in context, good amateur racers (i.e. cat two) are capable of five-minute power in the region of 4-5W/kg and 20-minute power of 3.5-4.1W/kg. Even for committed amateurs who train hard, a huge gulf in performance separates them from the likes of Pogačar. 

Do Tour de France riders use dietary supplements. If so, which ones?

They need lots of protein to help recover, so they drink recovery drinks and eat protein bars to augment the protein they get from food. They sometimes consume vitamin and mineral supplements too. Dr Rob Child says: “I try to meet a rider’s needs through well-cooked, nutritious foods, but I always know what their nutritional state is in detail. We take regular blood tests, and I can use supplements to make good any deficiencies.”  

Do riders pee during the Tour de France?

If the race pace isn’t too high, riders can stop by the side of the road, having picked a place where nobody can see – which can be difficult. Peeing on the move is a skill Tour de France pros must have in their toolbox. It’s tricky, as it’s impossible to pedal while peeing, so it’s up to the poor domestique to ride alongside and with a hand on the back to maintain forward momentum. 

And here’s how difficult peeing can be…In 1965 British pro Vin Denson rode the 1965 Bordeaux-Paris, a 365-mile single day race, in support of the race winner Jacques Anquetil. As he approached Paris late in the afternoon, Denson realised he hadn’t peed since the start at 2.30am, and he was bursting. He stopped at the side of the road, but found he couldn’t pee at all, even though his bladder was full. Desperate, he shouted to the stationary team car and his soigneur got out, poured a flask of hot coffee down the front of Denson’s shorts, and Denson recalled: “I went like a fountain – it was glorious!”

This full version of this article was published in the print edition of Cycling Weekly.  Subscribe online  and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week. 

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Chris has written thousands of articles for magazines, newspapers and websites throughout the world. He’s written 25 books about all aspects of cycling in multiple editions and translations into at least 25

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SD Worx-Protime rider wins ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma in punchy finish, as Demi Vollering loses time

By Adam Becket Published 15 August 24

The Dutch rider hit the deck at 6.3km to go on Thursday

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Dutch rider Charlotte Kool wins a mass sprint on home soil to take first stage of women’s Tour de France

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch rider Charlotte Kool won a mass sprint on home soil in the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France on Monday.

Kool, of the DSM-Firmenich PostNL team, will start Tuesday’s second stage in the leader’s yellow jersey after completing the 76-mile stage in two hours, 47 minutes, and 40 seconds.

“It's very special that everything fell into place,” she told Dutch broadcaster NOS. “This is the day I was hoping for.”

🔻 Bad luck for @lorenawiebes , and @charlotte_kool delivers a perfect sprint to claim the win! Relive the last km of this first stage. 🔻 Malchance pour @lorenawiebes et @charlotte_kool en profite pour remporter la victoire après un sprint parfait ! Voici le dernier KM de cette… pic.twitter.com/st4AOSPdzf — Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 12, 2024

Anniina Ahtosalo of Finland was second and Elisa Balsamo of Italy finished third in the same time as Kool.

Last year’s race winner Demi Vollering of the SD Worx team finished back in 35th spot, three places ahead of Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner . Both riders also registered the same time as Kool.

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Vollering's teammate Lorena Wiebes had been one of the favorites to win a sprint finish, but her bike's chain fell off within sight of the end and she dropped out of contention.

The stage took riders over flat countryside between the port city of Rotterdam to a North Sea beachside finishing line in a southern suburb of The Hague, amid hot summer temperatures. Thousands of spectators lined the streets of the two cities to watch.

The eight-stage race crosses into cycling-crazy Belgium and then heads south through eastern France to finish Aug. 18 on the punishing climb of the Alpe-d'Huez's famous 21 hairpin bends.

Tuesday sees two stages, a dash of just under 70 kilometers from Dordrecht to Rotterdam followed by a 6.3-kilometer individual time trial through the port city.

How Much Do Tour de France Riders Make?

Here's how much are the jaw-dropping efforts of the 2023 Tour de France athletes are actually worth.

Before we break down rider payouts, it's important to note how much money was up for grabs: with a total purse prize of $2.8 million, the lion's share goes to the top riders and teams.

Please, show me the money.

The top 20 general classification riders received the highest rewards. The overall winner and yellow jersey for the second year in a row, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), earned $540,000.

Second-place GC rider Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) earned around $200,000, while his teammate and third-place GC finisher Adam Yates earned about $100,000.

Tour riders who finish between 21st and 160th place receive €1,000 (around $1,097).

In addition to the GC win, stage winners earn a separate payout. The first rider to cross the finish line for each stage earns about $12,000. Payouts decrease incrementally, with the 20th-place finisher making around $329.

Riders lucky enough to earn a color-specific jersey get an additional payout. Green (sprinter's) jersey winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck), aka "Jasper the Master," and the polka dot (King of the Mountain) jersey winner Giulio Ciccone (Lidl–Trek) both took home $27,000. Payouts extend to second and third-place contenders, with each earning almost $16,000 and $10,900, respectively.

Contenders under age 25 are eligible to win the white jersey. Pogačar wore the white jersey for a historic fourth time during the 110th Tour. His payout was approximately $22,000. With the top four young riders compensated, the fourth-place rider earns roughly $5,400.

Additionally, riders known for attacking the peloton can earn the distinction of "most aggressive rider," which comes with the red jersey and a $21,900 payout.

Finally, the top three teams of the Tour get a piece of the pie. This year, Jumbo-Visma took top honors earning over $50,000. The UAE Team Emirates squad finished second with about $30,000, and Ineos Grenadiers finished third and collected almost $22,000.

Taneika is a Jamaica native, a runner and a gravel cyclist who resides in Virginia. Passionate about cycling, she aims to get more people, of all abilities, to ride the less beaten path. 

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Vuelta a España 2024 preview: Full schedule and how to watch men's cycling Grand Tour race live

Discover the key things you need to know about this year's edition of the men's cycling Grand Tour stage race around Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, which starts on 17 August in Lisbon, Portugal.

(REUTERS/Susana Vera)

The UCI World Tour road cycling stage race season kicks back into full swing this weekend after a break for the Olympic Games with the third and final Grand Tour of the men's season: the 79th Vuelta ciclista a España , the Tour of Spain .

This year, it runs from Saturday 17 August through to Sunday 8 September, and will cover over 3,300km (over 2,050 miles) of racing across 21 stages in southern Europe's Iberian Peninsula. The race begins in Lisbon, Portugal , the second time the Spanish stage race has begun in its neighbour after it hosted La Vuelta's first ever international start in 1997, and ends as is traditional in the Spanish capital Madrid .

Of the 21 stages, two are individual time trials, eight are classed as high mountain stages, five as medium mountain stages, five as hilly or uneven stages, and just one as a flat stage.

Sepp Kuss of the USA (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) is the defending champion and returns to lead of his team, looking to become a repeat winner of the race. The three-time champion Primoz Roglic of Slovenia, who won for Visma from 2020 through 2022, is also in the race for Bora-Hansgrohe .

A total of 176 riders from 22 teams will take to the start line in Lisbon on Saturday aiming to make it to the finish line in Madrid. This is what you need to know about this year's La Vuelta.

• Sepp Kuss: The USA cycling domestique who became a Grand Tour winner (2023)

Sepp Kuss is the reigning Vuelta champion

Vuelta a España 2024 riders to watch

Aside from both Kuss and Roglic, who between them have won four of the last five Vuelta general classifications (GC), there are some strong contenders on other teams, including from home Spanish riders.

INEOS Grenadiers are handing the race leadership to home hope Carlos Rodríguez , while his compatriots Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick-Step) and Enric Mas (Movistar Team) will also be expected to do well.

It remains to be seen whether Movistar opt for a dual-pronged strategy, with 2016 winner Nairo Quintana of Colombia back in their team. The same can be said of UAE Team Emirates, who have two bona-fide leaders in Adam Yates of Great Britain and João Almeida , who will want to do well on his three home stages in Portugal.

Other GC hopefuls include Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Tokyo 2020 Olympic road race champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek).

However, neither the Paris 2024 Olympic road race and time trial champion Remco Evenepoel nor Giro d'Italia and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar are racing.

(REUTERS/Miguel Vidal)

Key stages of the 2024 Vuelta a España

With just one flat road race stage included in this year's Vuelta parcours, the peloton has a lot of climbing ahead of it over the 21 stages.

Four districts of Portugal and 20 provinces of Spain in nine autonomous communities will play host to the race, which has a total of nine uphill finishes at altitude.

Many of these finishes are well-known in the recent history of the race: the Alto de Moncalvillo, which welcomes the end of Stage 19, made its debut in 2020 on a stage won by eventual champion Roglic; on the very next stage this year the race will end on the Picón Blanco, which made its first Vuelta appearance in 2021.

Other climbs, meanwhile, such as the Lagos de Covadonga, have formed part of many stages in the tour's past – although, for the first time this year, a stage will end on the majestic climb, which sees ramps of up to 16 per cent in gradient.

The nine stages with hilltop or mountaintop finishes are:

• Stage 4, ending on the Pico Villuercas at 1550m altitude, with an ascent of 14.6km at an average gradient of 6.2 per cent and maximum climbs of 20 per cent;
• Stage 6, ending in Yunquera on the Alto de las Abejas at 728m altitude, with an ascent of 8.9km at an average gradient of 3.9 per cent;
• Stage 8, ending on the Sierra de Cazorla at 1056m altitude, with an ascent of 4.8km at an average gradient of 7.1 per cent and maximum climbs of 20 per cent;
• Stage 12, ending at the Estación de Montaña de Manzaneda at 1488m altitude, with an ascent of 15.4km at an average gradient of 4.7 per cent;
• Stage 13, ending on the Puerto de Ancares at 973m altitude, with an ascent of 7.5km at an average gradient of 9.3 per cent and maximum climbs of 15 per cent;
• Stage 15, ending on the Cuitu Negru at 1847m altitude, with an ascent of 18.9km at an average gradient of 7.4 per cent and maximum climbs of 24 per cent;
• Stage 16, ending at the Lagos de Covadonga at 1069m altitude, with an ascent of 12.5km at an average gradient of 6.9 per cent and maximum climbs of 16 per cent;
• Stage 19, ending on the Alto de Moncalvillo at 1491m altitude, with an ascent of 8.6km at an average gradient of 8.9 per cent and maximum climbs of 16 per cent; and
• Stage 20, ending on the Picón Blanco at 1498m altitude, with an ascent of 7.9km at an average gradient of 9.1 per cent and maximum climbs of 18 per cent.

With just a single truly flat stage, this race is not one for the pure sprinters. There is no team time trial on the race this year, and unlike many recent years where the final stage has been a procession into Madrid, the 2024 Vuelta a España ends with an individual time trial , allowing for late changes to the GC standings.

Full route of 2024 Vuelta a España

• 17 August: Stage 1 , Lisbon – Oeiras (individual time trial, 12km)
• 18 August: Stage 2 , Cascais – Ourém (194km)
• 19 August: Stage 3 , Lousã – Castelo Branco (191.2km)
• 20 August: Stage 4 , Plasencia – Pico Villuercas (170.5km)
• 21 August: Stage 5 , Fuente del Maestre – Sevilla (177km)
• 22 August: Stage 6 , Carrefour Jerez Sur, Jerez de la Frontera – Yunquera (185.5km)
• 23 August: Stage 7 , Archidona – Córdoba (180.5km)
• 24 August: Stage 8 , Úbeda – Cazorla (159km)
• 25 August: Stage 9 , Motril – Granada (178.5km)
• 26 August: Rest Day 1, Vigo
• 27 August: Stage 10 , Ponteareas – Baiona (160km)
• 28 August: Stage 11 , Campus Tecnológico Cortizo, Padron – Campus Tecnológico Cortizo, Padron (166.5km)
• 29 August: Stage 12 , Ourense Termal – Estación de Montaña de Manzaneda (137.5km)
• 30 August: Stage 13 , Lugo – Puerto de Ancares (176km)
• 31 August: Stage 14 , Villafranca del Bierzo – Villablino (200.5km)
• 1 September: Stage 15 , Infiesto – Valgrande-Pajares, Cuitu Negru (143km)
• 2 September: Rest Day 2, Oviedo
• 3 September: Stage 16 , Luanco – Lagos de Covadonga (181.5km)
• 4 September: Stage 17 , Monumento Juan de Castillo, Arnuero – Santander (141.5km)
• 5 September: Stage 18 , Vitoria-Gasteiz – Maeztu-Parque Natural de Izki (179.5km)
• 6 September: Stage 19 , Logroño – Alto de Moncalvillo (173.5km)
• 7 September: Stage 20 , Villarcayo – Picón Blanco (172km)
• 8 September: Stage 21 , Distrito Telefónica, Madrid – Madrid (individual time trial, 24.6km)

How to watch the 2024 Vuelta a España

Here is a list of live television broadcasters around the world, many of which also offer digital livestream coverage too.

• Belgium: VRT
• Czechia: Tipsport
• Denmark: TV2
• Netherlands: NOS
• Norway: TV2 Norway
• Pan-Europe: Eurosport
• Spain: RTVE
• Brazil: ESPN
• Canada: FloBikes
• Colombia: Caracol
• Latin America and the Caribbean: ESPN
• United States: NBC Sports, Peacock

Asia-Pacific

• Australia: SBS
• China: Zhibo TV
• Japan: J Sports
• New Zealand: Sky Sport
• South-East Asia: Eurosport

Middle East and Africa

• Middle East and North Africa: BeIN Sports
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Supersport

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