Jumbo-Visma managed to win all three Grand Tours in the same year, with three different riders claiming victory in the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España. Not even the dominant Team Sky achieved such a feat back in their heyday.
So, what exactly drives their consistent success?
In a thrilling display of strength and teamwork, the Dutch powerhouse DSM-Firmenich defied the onslaught of torrential rain to secure a stunning victory on the opening stage of the Vuelta a España.
With Jonas Vingegaard’s second Tour de France victory confirmed, it’s time to look back on the drama provided by three weeks of scarcely-believable action in the great race’s 110th edition.
Join us as we run back through all the action, sub-plots, and headline-making drama of the 2023 Tour de France.
The Tour de France: three weeks of grueling climbs, breathtaking descents, and sprint finishes that leave spectators around the globe glued to their screens.
But behind the fascination and thrill of this legendary cycling race, there lies an increasing problem: fan behavior.
Stage 21 of the 2023 Tour de France saw a thrilling conclusion in Paris as Jordi Meeus of Bora emerged victorious in a razor-thin sprint finish.
The final stage of the race started off as a relaxed procession toward the French capital, with riders enjoying the tradition of champagne toasts and photo opportunities.
However, once the peloton entered Paris, the atmosphere shifted from casual to competitive.
The penultimate stage of the 2023 Tour de France turned into a tense, tactically charged race with Tadej Pogacar delivering a stunning performance to win the stage.
Beginning the day, the spotlight was on Thibaut Pinot, the French rider attempting to seize the opportunity for a home victory.
Though debate is raging over potential additional safety measures that could be introduced, the fact remains that danger is an inherent part of cycling. As this list will explore, many of the most infamous moments in the modern history of the Tour de France come from these shocking moments.
Slovenian Bahrain-Victorious rider Mohorič took the stage today with an impressive lunge to the finish line that beat yesterday’s winner – Kasper Asgreen – by a hair, confirmed only by a photo finish.
Danish Soudal-QuickStep rider Kasper Asgreen outsprinted the remainder of a small 4-man breakaway to win a breathtaking Stage 18 as an unorganized peloton came within seconds of catching them at the finish line.
AG2R Citroën’s Felix Gall launched an impressive solo attack with 6 km to go of the toughest climb of this year’s Tour – the Col de Loze – and held his lead to the finish despite the efforts of Simon Yates and Jonas Vingegaard.
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard rode the time trial of his career to eclipse rival Tadej Pogačar and take a potentially Tour-winning 1 minute and 38 seconds out of the Slovenian in his first stage win of the year.
Wout Poels claimed a superb first Tour de France win on Stage 15 in Saint-Gervais de Mont-Blanc, as Tadej Pogačar failed to land a hammer blow against Jonas Vingegaard in the battle for yellow. Poels dropped Wout van Aert decisively on the final climb, pushing on to the line with an advantage of over two … Read more
Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) claimed a brilliant victory on Stage 14 with a nerveless descent into Morzine as the electrifying duel between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard ultimately ended in a stalemate.
The final climb up the hors catégorie Col de Joux Plane delivered high drama as anticipated, but neither Pogačar nor Vingegaard could land a knockout blow in what became a cagey, tactical contest.
In what turned out to be an electrifying Stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France, Michał Kwiatkowski of Ineos Grenadiers broke away from the pack to achieve a well-deserved victory atop the Grand Colombier.
The battle commenced right from the start at Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne, with the peloton showcasing an impressive average speed of over 50km/h.
Ion Izagirre took a brilliant solo breakaway victory on Stage 11 of the Tour de France with arguably the greatest ride of his storied career.
A select chasing group contained threats such as Thibaut Pinot and Matteo Jorgensen, but never had the legs or organization to seriously challenge the outstanding Izagirre who sustained a comfortable gap to the finish.
Stage 11 of the Tour de France 2023 saw Belgian sprinter Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck secure his fourth win of the Tour in a thrilling sprint finish in Moulins.
The stage, stretching from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins over 179.8 kilometers, was a relatively flat affair, making it a prime opportunity for the sprinters to shine.
Spain’s Pello Bilbao claimed a long-awaited Tour de France stage victory with a tactically astute breakaway victory on Stage 10. Krists Neilands ambitious solo break looked set to pay off when the chasing group of five – including Bilbao – started playing tactical games when they should have been hunting him down with 10 km … Read more
In the world of professional cycling, few names have dominated the leaderboard like Chris Froome – the British phenom who has amassed a staggering four Tour de France victories.
Yet, in a surprising twist, he has been conspicuously left out of the Israel-Premier Tech squad for the 2023 Tour de France, triggering a flurry of speculation about the future of this cycling titan.
Canada’s Michael Woods pulled off a career-best victory on the iconic Puy de Dôme, overhauling Matteo Jorgenson within the final kilometer on Stage 9 of the 2023 Tour de France.
Denmark’s Mads Pedersen overpowered the pack to sprint to victory on Stage 8 in Limoges, denying Jasper Philipsen a fourth stage win of the 2023 Tour de France.
The stage was marred by the crash suffered by Mark Cavendish 60 km from the finish, which forced him to abandon his final Tour de France – and his bid for a record 35th stage victory – with a suspected broken collarbone.
Mark Cavendish has been forced to abandon the 2023 Tour de France with a suspected collarbone after crashing on Stage 8.
The episode marks the end of the 38-year-old Manxman’s legendary Tour de France career given his planned retirement at the end of this season, robbing him of the opportunity to surpass Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 stage wins.
In a gripping finale to the Stage 7 of the 110th Tour de France, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) clinched his third win of the 2023 edition, defeating Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) in a heart-stopping sprint finish.
When Cavendish, seeking to break the record for the most stage wins in Tour history, took a flyer and hit out for glory, Philipsen had to react swiftly.
Tadej Pogačar delivered the perfect response to his Stage 5 struggles with a destructive late attack to drop Jonas Vingegaard and claim an epic victory on Stage 6 of the 2023 Tour de France.
Even more important than the psychological victory of decisively dropping Vingegaard for the first time in his career – just a day after many were questioning his chances of recovering any kind of title push – was the 28 seconds Pogačar took out of his Danish rival, reducing the GC deficit by half.
This is the story of Egan Bernal, the prodigious cyclist whose shining career took a horrifying detour.
The zenith of his career arrived in 2019, when he reigned supreme to claim victory at the Tour de France. However, disaster struck in 2022, when a catastrophic accident nearly halted his shining career in its tracks.
Bora – Hansgrohe’s Jai Hindley showed his General Classification intentions by sustaining a powerful solo attack for almost 20 km to take the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour.
It was the Australian’s first stage win in his debut Tour de France, after winning the Giro d’Italia last year. Hindley snatched the yellow jersey from UAE’s Adam Yates, on what was a poor day for UAE.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his second consecutive victory on Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour de France, outsprinting Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) by half a wheel at the line in Nogaro.
The riders covered 181.8 km from Dax to Nogaro, with Philipsen’s teammate Mathieu van der Poel once again providing a crucial lead-out.
Alpecin – Deceuninck rider Jasper Philipsen was the fastest of the bunch today as he crossed the finish line a wheel’s length ahead of Phil Bauhaus in a thrilling bunch sprint in Stage 3 as the Tour de France returns to French soil.
Victor Lafay launched a blistering acceleration to distance himself from the bunch – and pre-stage favorite Wout van Aert – in the final kilometer, as Stage 2 of the 2023 Tour de France arrived in San Sebastián.
Lafay crossed the line a bike length ahead of van Aert, who was seen to punch his handlebars in frustration at the finish line as he lost the sprint.
The world of professional cycling has witnessed many legends, but few stories are as compelling as that of Mark Cavendish.
A career once seemingly over due to health setbacks and a string of misfortunes has blossomed into a tale of resurgence, fueling hopes of a record-breaking 35th stage victory in the Tour de France.
Adam Yates dropped his twin brother Simon in the final kilometer to power to victory at Stage 1 of the 2023 Tour de France.
The pair pushed clear of the field with 9 km to go, managing to keep a group containing yellow jersey favorites Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard at arm’s length all the way to the line to contest a sprint finish between themselves.
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.
It is almost that time of the year where we surrender three weeks of our lives to plonk ourselves in front of the TV and let the Tour de France wash over us.
Helping us through these three weeks is a Phalanx of Tour de France commentators. They guide us through the race, explain the team tactics, and shower us with knowledge of France, its history, and its mountains.
The directeur sportif (sports director) of each team essentially runs the show on the sporting side of things. Analogous to the head coach in football, the directeur sportif provides insight into the current situation of the race, following the team in a car.
They also provide the team with the proper tactics they should use in each case, often updating these as such during a stage, reflecting the current situation of the race.
There are some people who watch the Tour de France simply to let to let the French countryside pour over them for three weeks. And there are those who tune into the most famous bike race just to gaze longingly at the Tour de France bikes.
The Tour de France is by far the biggest cycling race in the calendar, one that transcends this niche sport, and the biggest bike and component manufacturers want their equipment in lights.
The Tour de France is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and such a significant sporting event – in any context – is never going to be emission-free.
Cycling is widely considered to be a sustainable practice, particularly when used in place of another form of transport. However, in the context of cycling as an organized sport, it’s certainly not emission-free.
The Tour de France isn’t just a test of physical talent and endurance; it is a chess game on wheels, a spectacle of strategy where every decision could mean the difference between victory and defeat.
In this article, I’ll be drawing on my experience of elite-level road racing to demystify the fascinating tactics and intricate strategies that shape the outcomes of this iconic race.
With the Tour de France 2023 just one month away, attention is inevitably turning to the red-hot favorites for the yellow jersey.
As we count down to this year’s Tour, we delve into the intense preparation that makes each pedal stroke on the road to Paris possible.
For the uninitiated, Tour de France lingo can be pretty impenetrable.
It can take some time to understand the structured chaos of a Tour de France stage at the best of times, and new cycling fans aren’t helped by the sea of jargon surrounding the sport’s most famous race.
In the era of online streaming, watching Le Tour can be something of a minefield of subscription plans, broadcasting rights, and workarounds.
So we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to how to watch Tour de France 2023, so you can spend less time fiddling with the remote, and more time watching.
With just a few months left until the Tour de France 2023 kicks off on June 1, anticipation is hotting up.
The inclusion of four summit finishes will have cycling fans’ mouths watering at the prospect of a repeat of 2022’s titanic battle between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar.
Are you a cycling enthusiast or a curious beginner who wants to learn more about the world’s most prestigious cycling race, but caught yourself wondering:
“How does the Tour de France work?”
Well, look no further than this beginner’s guide to the Tour de France, where we’ll cover everything you need to know about the race.