With the action underway, we’re running through the full start list of 2023 Tour de France teams and riders.
The Tour de France 2023 start list contains some clear favorites, some dark horses, some surprising absentees, some incredibly strong teams, and some with a slightly underwhelming set of riders for the race.
Although the race seems to be a bit of a two-horse race between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard this year, there are some definite outside favorites and some excellent teams ready to compete for this year’s yellow jersey, in what could be an extremely exciting edition of the Tour.
So, what is the Tour de France 2023 start list? Here are the complete teams and riders in full.
This article was last updated after Stage 3 (3rd July 2023).
Notable Absentees
This year’s start list is incredibly strong. However, there are some important riders that you would expect to be present who have been left out.
Primož Roglič
Jumbo-Visma’s recent Giro d’Italia 2023 winner Primož Roglič has not been included on their team list for the Tour de France 2023.
He played a key role in supporting Jonas Vingegaard’s successful Tour campaign last summer as a super-domestique, but his efforts at the Giro meant his Jumbo-Visma team decided to rest him for this year’s Tour.
He will not be racing in this year’s World Championships either, and is instead saving himself for the Vuelta a España, looking to take his fourth red jersey after losing out to young Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel last year.
Remco Evenepoel
Speaking of the defending Vuelta champion, Remco Evenepoel was forced to drop out of this year’s Giro d’Italia (while wearing the pink jersey) due to COVID-19. He has now missed out on some necessary training and will not be riding the Tour de France 2023.
The Soudal-QuickStep rider will surely be looking to defend the red jersey in this year’s Vuelta a España, however.
Geraint Thomas
Although the veteran Welshman rode an incredible Giro d’Italia, leading the majority of it, Geraint Thomas ultimately lost out in the final time trial to Roglič.
After his efforts, Thomas has been left out of the Ineos team for the Tour de France to focus on other races later in the summer.
Chris Froome
Despite being the dominant force in the competition throughout the 2010s, British four-time yellow jersey winner Chris Froome was not selected by Israel-Premier Tech to ride in the Tour de France this year.
Froome has struggled significantly to recover his form after a horror training crash in 2019, and has not won a race in five years.
2023 Tour de France Teams and Start List
Jumbo-Visma
Jumbo-Visma – the world’s top-ranked professional men’s cycling team – has released what is a terrifying start list for the 2023 Tour de France.
With an extremely strong set of domestiques around him, including last year’s incredibly impressive Sepp Kuss, and the in-form Dylan van Baarle who has already won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad this year, it’s going to be a difficult task for anyone to dethrone the reigning champion.
Also among their start list is last year’s green jersey and combativity award winner – Wout van Aert. Arguably the fastest sprinter in the Tour de France 2023, van Aert is also extremely strong across the board and has won nine individual Tour de France stages since 2019.
- 1 Jonas Vingegaard
- 2 Tiesj Benoot
- 3 Wilco Kelderman
- 4 Sepp Kuss
- 5 Christophe Laporte
- 6 Wout van Aert
- 7 Dylan van Baarle
- 8 Nathan Van Hooydonck
UAE Team Emirates
This year’s favorite in the bookies is the Slovenian cycling machine Tadej Pogačar, the team leader of UAE Team Emirates. The two-time Tour de France winner was thwarted last year in his pursuit of a third consecutive yellow jersey by rival Jonas Vingegaard.
Although recovering from a wrist injury, he already seems in blistering form.
Although Jumbo-Visma’s team is perhaps more intimidating on paper, the domestiques of UAE are already doing a fine job, with British rider and domestique Adam Yates in yellow after two stages, and Rafał Majka riding an incredibly impressive Stage 2.
- 11 Tadej Pogačar
- 12 Mikkel Bjerg
- 14 Felix Großschartner
- 15 Vegard Stake Laengen
- 16 Rafał Majka
- 17 Marc Soler
- 18 Matteo Trentin
- 19 Adam Yates
Ineos Grenadiers
Although they’re still the third-ranked cycling team in the world, Ineos’ start list leaves a little to be desired.
With no clear team leader, their best hope Tom Pidcock has admitted that he doesn’t believe he can win Le Tour this year.
Despite the inspiring return of the 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal after his life-threatening accident last year, it’s unlikely that he’s going to be winning the yellow jersey so soon after his recovery.
The dominant cycling team of the 2010s seems a little directionless this year, with no clear team leader or serious points or mountain classification contenders.
The likelihood is that the team will “maybe at one point switch tactics and go solely for stages”, as said by Pidcock.
- 21 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez
- 22 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas
- 23 Omar Fraile Matarranza
- 24 Michał Kwiatkowski
- 25 Daniel Martínez
- 26 Tom Pidcock
- 27 Carlos Rodríguez
- 28 Ben Turner
Groupama-FDJ
A potential dark horse in this year’s race, and actually the bookie’s 3rd favorite to win the race, French rider David Gaudu is leading the lines for Groupama-FDJ this year.
He’s not their only strong rider, though, with Giro d’Italia 2023 Mountains Classification winner Thibaut Pinot and Stefan Kung, who also put on an impressive show at il Giro this year, around to support him in his underdog shot at the yellow jersey.
- 31 David Gaudu
- 32 Kevin Geniets
- 33 Stefan Kung
- 34 Olivier Le Gac
- 35 Valentin Madouas
- 36 Quentin Pacher
- 37 Thibaut Pinot
- 38 Lars van den Berg
EF Education-Easypost
Potential outside favorite Richard Carapaz had a disastrous start to the race as a Stage 1 crash ended his Tour de France prematurely.
Although this has potentially ended their GC hopes, American rider Neilson Powless is in the polka-dot jersey after three stages and has taken by far the majority of the available points so far, and looks set on a King of the Mountains title challenge this year.
- 41 Richard Carapaz
- 42 Andrey Amador Bikkazakova
- 43 Alberto Bettiol
- 44 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio
- 45 Magnus Cort
- 46 Neilson Powless
- 47 James Shaw
- 48 Rigoberto Urán
Soudal-QuickStep
With a name that has been thrown around as a favorite in previous editions of the Tour, Julian Alaphilippe, as their team leader, Soudal-QuickStep could have a fairly strong Tour this year, with Remi Cavagna having ridden a strong Stage 2.
- 51 Julian Alaphilippe
- 52 Kasper Asgreen
- 53 Remi Cavagna
- 54 Tim Declercq
- 55 Dries Devenyns
- 56 Fabio Jakobsen
- 57 Yves Lampaert
- 58 Michael Mørkøv
Bahrain Victorious
Yet another team with outside GC hopes: Bahrain Victorious have Mikel Landa, a potential dark horse in this year’s Tour as their team leader. He also has the dependable Wout Poels and Fred Wright around him as domestiques.
Team Bahrain Victorious were rocked by the tragic death of Gino Mäder following a crash at the Tour de Suisse, just two weeks before the beginning of the Tour.
- 62 Mikel Landa Meana
- 63 Nikias Arndt
- 64 Phil Bauhaus
- 65 Pello Bilbao
- 66 Jack Haig
- 67 Matej Mohoric
- 68 Wout Poels
- 69 Fred Wright
BORA-hansgrohe
Last year’s Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley is leading the lines for Bora Hansgrohe this year, with the Australian rider looking to stay near the top of the GC for as long as possible.
- 71 Jai Hindley
- 72 Emanuel Buchmann
- 73 Marco Haller
- 74 Bob Jungels
- 75 Patrick Konrad
- 76 Jordi Meeus
- 77 Nils Politt
- 78 Danny van Poppel
Lidl-Trek
Although their team leader, Giulio Ciccone, is unlikely to challenge at this year’s Tour, Lidl-Trek have a strong enough team to expect some stage wins in the race.
Mads Pederson and Jasper Stuyvens rode an extremely impressive Giro d’Italia and have the potential to put on a show in the Tour as well.
- 81 Giulio Ciccone
- 82 Tony Gallopin
- 83 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
- 84 Alex Kirsch
- 85 Juan Pedro López
- 86 Mads Pedersen
- 87 Quinn Simmons
- 88 Jasper Stuyven
AG2R Citroën Team
- 91 Ben O’Connor
- 92 Clément Berthet
- 93 Benoit Cosnefroy
- 94 Stan Dewulf
- 95 Felix Gall
- 96 Oliver Naesen
- 97 Aurélien Paret-Peintre
- 98 Nans Peters
Alpecin-Deceuninck
Cyclocross world champion Mathieu van der Poel is the leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck this year, though world-class sprinter Jasper Philipsen will also be a protected rider.
However, Rafał Majka’s aggressive pace-setting on the Jaizkibel yesterday forced Mathieu van der Poel off the back of the leading group, reinforcing the impression that the Alpecin-Deceuninck man is likely to target stage wins rather than a serious GC challenge.
- 101 Mathieu van der Poel
- 102 Silvan Dillier
- 103 Michael Gogl
- 104 Quinten Hermans
- 105 Søren Kragh Andersen
- 106 Jasper Philipsen
- 107 Jonas Rickaert
- 108 Ramon Sinkeldam
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
Biriam Girmay is undoubtedly one to watch and is a serious contender for stage wins at the 2023 Tour de France.
The 23-year-old Eritrean has already made history as the first black African to win a Grand Tour stage with his Stage 10 victory at last summer’s Giro d’Italia (and hit the headlines for hospitalizing himself with a champagne cork to the eye while celebrating).
- 111 Biniam Girmay Hailu
- 112 Lilian Calmejane
- 113 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa
- 114 Louis Meintjes
- 115 Adrien Petit
- 116 Dion Smith
- 117 Mike Teunissen
- 118 Georg Zimmermann
Cofidis
Although Cofidis aren’t going for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, this year is already more successful than the previous 15 in which they hadn’t won a single stage.
Lafay looks to be going for the green jersey, too, with an impressive Stage 3 intermediate sprint earning him points, and he will retain the green jersey for Stage 4, too.
- 121 Guillaume Martin
- 122 Bryan Coquard
- 123 Simon Geschke
- 124 Ion Izagirre Insausti
- 125 Victor Lafay
- 126 Anthony Perez
- 127 Alexis Renard
- 128 Axel Zingle
Movistar Team
Movistar’s team leader Enric Mas was brought down in the same crash as Richard Carapaz on Stage 1, forcing his race to a close after just a few hours.
- 131 Enric Mas
- 132 Ruben Guerreiro
- 133 Alex Aranburu
- 134 Gorka Izagirre Insausti
- 135 Matteo Jorgenson
- 136 Gregor Mühlberger
- 137 Nelson Oliveira
- 138 Antonio Pedrero
Team DSM
French rider Romain Bardet is another outsider for the General Classification this year, and is the team leader of DSM.
- 141 Romain Bardet
- 142 John Degenkolb
- 143 Matthew Dinham
- 144 Alex Edmondson
- 145 Nils Eekhoff
- 146 Chris Hamilton
- 147 Kevin Vermaerke
- 148 Sam Welsford
Israel-Premier Tech
The main story of Israel-Premier Tech’s Tour de France team is undoubtedly the omission of four-time champion Chris Froome.
- 151 Michael Woods
- 152 Guillaume Boivin
- 153 Simon Clarke
- 154 Hugo Houle
- 155 Krists Neilands
- 156 Nick Schultz
- 157 Corbin Strong
- 158 Dylan Teuns
Team Jayco-AlUla
Jayco-AlUla’s Simon Yates has ridden an extremely impressive opening two stages, pushing twin brother Adam close for the Stage 1 victory.
Having previously won the Vuelta, Yates has the potential to stir the pot this year’s Tour.
- 161 Simon Yates
- 162 Lawson Craddock
- 163 Luke Durbridge
- 164 Dylan Groenewegen
- 165 Chris Harper
- 166 Christopher Juul Jensen
- 167 Luka Mezgec
- 168 Elmar Reinders
Team Arkéa-Samsic
- 171 Warren Barguil
- 172 Jenthe Biermans
- 173 Clément Champoussin
- 174 Anthony Delaplace
- 175 Simon Guglielmi
- 176 Matis Louvel
- 177 Luca Mozzato
- 178 Laurent Pichon
Lotto-Dstny
- 181 Caleb Ewan
- 182 Victor Campenaerts
- 183 Jasper De Buyst
- 184 Pascal Eenkhoorn
- 185 Frederik Frison
- 186 Jacopo Guarnieri
- 187 Maxim Van Gils
- 188 Florian Vermeersch
Astana Qazaqstan
British sprinting legend Mark Cavendish looks to extend his Stage-win tally to become the single all-time record holder for the most career Stage wins in the Tour de France.
He’s currently level with the great Eddy Merckx at 34, and this will be his last chance to snatch the record for himself given his recent announcement of retirement plans at the end of the season.
- 191 Mark Cavendish
- 192 Cees Bol
- 193 David de la Cruz
- 194 Yevgeniy Fedorov
- 195 Alexey Lutsenko
- 196 Gianni Moscon
- 197 Luis León Sánchez
- 198 Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
- 201 Alexander Kristoff
- 202 Jonas Abrahamsen
- 203 Anthon Charmig
- 204 Tobias Halland Johannessen
- 205 Rasmus Fossum Tiller
- 206 Torstein Traeen
- 207 Søren Wærenskjold
- 208 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly
Team TotalEnergies
The great Peter Sagan is the headline act for TotalEnergies following his transfer this season – though what impact the Slovakian veteran can make remains to be seen.
- 211 Peter Sagan
- 212 Edvald Boasson Hagen
- 213 Mathieu Burgaudeau
- 214 Steff Cras
- 215 Valentin Ferron
- 216 Pierre Latour
- 217 Daniel Oss
- 218 Anthony Turgis
