one tour de france

Tour de France stage one LIVE: Bilbao to Bilbao

Updates as the 2023 Tour de France kicks off in the Basque Country

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Follow live updates from the stage one of the 2023 Tour de France .

I'm Richard Abraham and I'll be kicking off CW's live coverage of this year's Tour. Tweet me your questions and comments @rabrahamcycling

One of the toughest opening stages in recent Tour history awaits the 176 riders in the peloton today.

Five categorised climbs and over 3000m of total elevation are on the menu as the race begins with a 182km loop in the Basque Country, starting and finishing in Bilbao. 

The expected finish time in Bilbao is between 17:15 - 17:42 CET (16:15 - 16:42 BST)

*A breakaway of five riders lead the Tour through the Basque Country as the peloton awaited a feisty finale. Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) all broke away from the gun. 

Good morning and welcome to the live coverage of today's opening stage of the 2023 Tour de France.

One of the most hotly anticipated days of the cycling year is upon us. Who will win the first stage and don the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France?

Looking at today's stage profile, I think we can say that it won't be a sprinter. There's barely a metre of flat road. 

Of course we already know that the 2023 Tour will be, in the words of the race director Christian Prudhomme, "one for the climbers."

Today is a stage where the key GC favourites - Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar chief among them - will have to be alert and on their guard. 

Speaking ahead of the race, defending champion Vingegaard said he expects his Slovenian rival to attack early on in the race. 

"When you have opportunities at the Tour you take it. Sometimes you need to hold your horses, but this year, with this first week, we’re going to see a lot of racing. The first or second stage is already a chance to take the yellow jersey" Tadej Pogačar

Despite that wrist injury that has seen him race just two days since April, Tadej Pogačar also recognises that there are real opportunities to be seized in the opening stages of this year's Tour. 

Twenty days would be a long time to defend the yellow jersey, mind... 

Pello Bilbao in Bilbao

One of the favourites for today's stage, however, is ultimate local rider Pello Bilbao.

I mean, he's got the same name as the start and finish town AND he was born just down the road in Guernica, where the stage's intermediate sprint will be contested. 

Pello recently spoke to the media about his hopes for the stage

It's typical Basque weather in Bilbao today - damp and grey - and the riders will be on classic Basque roads. 

Here's the map for today's stage. Besides the ups and downs, there will be constant twists and turns along slick asphalt. It will make for a very nervy start in a very nervy bunch. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (182km to go):

The riders have lined up at the start line in Bilbao and are rolling, the 2023 Tour de France is officially underway! 

Just a 25 minute neutralised zone before the flag drops. 

Of course, this is not always without incident. Chris Froome crashed in the neutral kilometres on the first stage of the 2013 Tour. Things turned out alright for him that year, though. 

Thanks for joining us today, by the way. I'm Richard Abraham and I'll be kicking off CW's live coverage of this year's Tour. 

You can tweet me your questions and comments @rabrahamcycling

And they're off!

Christian Prudhomme waves his flag from the top of the red Skoda and the attacks start to fly. 

It's just 14km to the top of the day's first categorised climb: the Côte de Laukiz (2.2km at 6.9%). 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (170km to go):

For all that anticipation, the break seems to have gone clear at the first opportunity. Five riders are 1:30 up the road, and here they are:

Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies). 

Jonas Gregaard leads the break over the first categorised climb of the day; this is shaping up to be a ding-dong battle between the breakaway riders to snap up the early points in the King of the Mountains classification and end the day in the polka-dot jersey 

Siguiendo los pasos de Gino y continuando con su legado, durante este @letourdefrance donaré a la asociación @basoaksos 1€ por cada corredor que se clasifique después de mi en cada etapa. El objetivo es comprar un terreno deforestado y replantarlo con especies locales. pic.twitter.com/bBtWNDZkRV June 30, 2023

Loads of fans out on the roadside, as you would expect. The Basque Country is a place that really loves and appreciates its bike racing. 

Earlier we mentioned local rider Pello Bilbao. He will be donating a 1€ for every rider he beats during the stages of this year's Tour to a reforestation project. 

The fundraising is a wonderful tribute to his late teammate Gino Mäder, who carried out a similar fundraising effort at the 2021 Vuelta a España. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (147km to go):

All the big players are staying vigilant at the front of the peloton as the break maintains its lead of around 1:25

Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers are present in numbers, with UAE tucked in behind them. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck have a rider up front in Silvan Dillier, just helping to keep things under control for Mathieu van der Poel. 

Then course there's Tim 'the Tractor' Declercq, the Soudal-QuickStep breakaway killer pulling the peloton along as he will be for much of the remaining three weeks. He's got Julian Alaphilippe to work for today. 

Pretty good nickname, the Tractor. 

Cycling has always been a great sport for nicknames. The Badger, the Professor, the Cobra, the Tashkent Terror, the Cricket, Spartacus, the Sheriff, the Cannibal, Old Leatherhead, the Pirate... the list goes on. 

Julio Jimenéz, aka the Watchmaker of Ávila, has always been a personal fave.

Tour de France 2023 stage one (130km to go):

The ikurrina flags of the Basque Country fluttering as the breakaway passes through. A relatively calm opening to the stage so far - about 10km to go before the next categorised climb of the day, the Côte de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (3.5km at 7.6%). 

Two more KoM points on offer at the top to the first over the top. 

Nice to see the British national champion's jersey on the shoulders of Fred Wright at this year's Tour.

Fred is one of seven Brits in this year's race, along with Adam Yates, Simon Yates, Ben Turner, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish and James Shaw. 

Shaw, 27, is making his Tour debut this year after a great ride at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June. It's been a long and winding road for the EF Education-EasyPost rider. 

He spoke to CW 's Tom Thewlis ahead of the race, saying that he came back from the Dauphiné "in the best shape I’ve ever been in." 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (114km to go):

Pascal Eenkhoorn mops up the two points on the Côte de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Gruppo compatto in the peloton behind.

I get the feeling that the big guns are keeping their powder dry for the big finale of this stage. All this constant climbing will all add up and nobody wants any early efforts to come back to haunt them. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (100km to go):

The five-man break is still at 1:30 as we approach the intermediate sprint at Guernica. 

You know what? I think I'll put the Basque Country on my list of places to visit. It looks fantastic. 

Beyond Pogačar and Vingegaard, who else should we look out for today in the fight for the yellow jersey? 

Take a look at CW's form guide to the overall favourites at this year's Tour de France . 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (93km to go):

After picking up some KoM points, Pascal Eenkhoorn grinds out the maximum points in the intermediate sprint in Guernica from the breakaway. 

A surprising number of riders in the peloton are interested in the sprint behind - Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) all look to have enjoyed stretching their legs. Mark Cavendish up there too. 

One rider who definitely wasn't interested in the intermediate sprint was Wout Van Aert. His eyes are very much on the stage win - and yesterday he set a new Strava KoM on the final climb, the Pike Bidea (or Côte de Pike in Tour speak). 

Coming with 9.6km to go, this is what will no doubt decide who battles for the stage. As ever, the profile only tells half the story. Some of the hairpins are much steeper than 15%... 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (82km to go):

The first sign that nerves and fatigue are building in the peloton as Torstein Træen (Uno-X) comes to grief in a little tumble. He's back up and riding. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (67km to go):

The happy sight of Didi the Devil cavorting around in his red onesie greets the riders as then enter the last two hours of racing. 

The peloton has been winding in the breakaway as more teams move to the front and assemble in support of their protected riders. Groupama-FDJ and Jayco-AlUla are the latest to take their places. 

The gap is now hovering at around 25 seconds. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (57km to go):

The next 15 kilometres are going to be crucial ones for the peloton as riders and teams start to fight for position going into the finale. Three categorised climbs pepper the last 45km, with very little let up between them. 

The breakaway is holding off the peloton at 23 seconds while Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Qazaqstan) is a minute further back following a bike change. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (54km to go):

It's been a very calm start to the Tour de France so far, particularly when one considers the usual tension and crashes that have characterised the opening stages in years gone by. Who can forget Omi-Opi in 2021... 

With that in mind, it would be no surprise to see the riders hit warp speed once these last climbs come into view. It should be a fast and furious final hour. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (50km to go):

If the honours of winning the stage aren't enough, there are bonus seconds on offer on the final climb and again at the finish. 

10, 6 and 4 seconds go to the top three on the stage, with an additional 8, 5 and 2 up for grabs for the first three over the final climb. 

The peloton has made the catch and the breakaway is absorbed on the flat roads leading into the final trio of climbs. 

So... stop watching the cricket and turn your attention to the Tour de France. Who will make the next move? 

💛⛰🔥 How is #Pike! It's a great atmosphere that we are experiencing and enjoying in this area where the cyclists will have to overcome a "wall" of 2 kilometres at an average of 9% with stretches of 20% gradient, about 10 kilometres from the finish line.🔴⚪️🟢 #ongieTOURri pic.twitter.com/SZZ23RyZIw July 1, 2023

Big crowds on the final climb! 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (43km to go):

The bunch is really starting to string out now as the pace at the front intensifies. EF Education-EasyPost riders James Shaw and Magnus Cort move to the front. Biniam Grmay (Intermarché) is well placed. UAE Team Emirates also move up en masse in a show of strength. 

At the other end, the likely names are beginning to drop back, including Mark Cavendish and Alexander Kristoff. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (40km to go):

The teams are executing a policy of mutually assured aggression at the moment; riding hard at the front because everybody else is riding hard at the front. Bit by bit, the pace seems to ramp up and the effort begins to appear on the riders' faces. 

That's the first of the final three climbs done with; 10km and they start climbing the second category Côte de Vivero. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (31km to go):

The cream is rising to the top as we approach the penultimate climb. We catch a glimpse of Mathieu van der Poel for the first time today; they're racing this like the end of a one-day Classic. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (29km to go):

Tadej Pogačar sends his UAE Team Emirates domestique Mikkel Bjerg to the front and the Dane sets an infernal pace. His objective must surely be to put the heavier riders under pressure and at the moment, it seems to be working. The peloton is stretched out in one long line but Jonas Vingegaard has Dylan van Baarle and Wout Van Aert for company. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (27km to go):

Now it's Jumbo-Visma's turn to play. An ominous cohort of yellow and black jerseys coalesces around Jonas Vingegaard at the front of the bunch while the inscrutable Dylan van Baarle (in the red, white and blue of Dutch national champion) leads them on. 

Mikkel Bjerg, by the way, is done for the day. Also out the back: Biniam Grmay and Pello Bilbao, along with many others. 

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) nabs the five points at the top of the climb, which more or less guarantees him the polka dot jersey at the end of the day. Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) was a cool customer in his wheel but couldn't kick hard enough to get around the American. 

All hands on deck on stage one of the 2023 Tour

Tour de France 2023 stage one (20km to go):

Oh no! A crash on the fast descent sends Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) to the deck. 

Both are up and moving but it's not looking good for either of them in terms of continuing in the race. That would be a big blow for those two teams to lose their GC riders so early. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (16km to go):

This is the Tour de France first stage we have come to expect. It's stressful, it's messy, there is confusion and there are crashes. 

Jumbo-Visma is still in control as the peloton approaches this last climb. The cameras cut back to a dejected Enric Mas, who surely knows his GC ambitions - and quite likely his race, going by his expression - are over before they even began. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (12km to go):

Full-on lead-out manoeuvres for Jumbo-Visma into the final climb and the Dutch team are burning through their domestiques. Meanwhile UAE rider Felix Grossschartner has ridden so hard that he has dropped his team leader Tadej Pogačar along with the rest of the peloton. Your move, Jumbo. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (10km to go):

A brief attack from Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) comes to nought as Adam Yates leads the favourites up the brutally steep Côte de Pike. He has dragged three other riders clear - Pogačar, Vingegaard and one rider from Cofidis - on the steepest part of the climb. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (9km to go):

It's Victor Lafay who is the Cofidis rider, he's having the ride of his life. He has just Pogačar and Vingegaard for company. 

Over the top it's a handful of seconds that separate the splinters of the lead group, which may well coalesce before the finish.  

Tour de France 2023 stage one (8km to go):

Well well, that answered that question: it was a GC race after all.

Now it's the two Yates twins - Adam and Simon - who are together off the front!

Tour de France 2023 stage one (6km to go):

A fascinating early show of form so early on in the Tour. Jumbo-Visma - including Wout Van Aert - are working hard to drag back the Yates brothers. They have a handful of seconds. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (4km to go):

It's all in now for Adam and Simon Yates; how will this effort leave them for the little rise to the line with one kilometre to go? 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (3km to go):

It's game over for Van der Poel, Alaphilippe, Pidcock and many of the pre-stage favourites. They sit in a group 45 seconds back. 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (2km to go):

The Yates brothers are working well together and they still have 16 seconds on the Jumbo led chase. Can they hold on!? They might just do this, you know... 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (1km to go):

Under the flamme rouge and the Yates brothers have 20 seconds!

I think they have this... do they start playing games?!

Tour de France 2023 stage one (500m to go):

The champagne bottles are being shaken up in Lancashire. Simon just starts to drop back from Adam... 

Tour de France 2023 stage one (100m to go):

They're dancing in the streets of Bury! 

Adam Yates wins stage one of the 2023 Tour de France! 

His brother Simon just dropped back with a few hundred metres to go. Tadej Pogačar leads the chasing bunch for third place. 

UAE talked up Adam Yates as co-leader of the team before the start of the race, and on today's evidence the Brit is in fine form. 

I wonder what conversations (if any) went on between Adam and Simon inside the final few kilometres. It looked like a fair fight to the line and Simon just didn't have the legs. 

What an astonishing opening to this year's Tour...

Tadej Pogačar meanwhile crossed the line like he had won the stage. With third place, he took four seconds on Jonas Vingegaard and made a serious statement that he is going pretty well himself. 

Speaking to organisers at the finish line, Adam Yates is very much downplaying his position as co-leader and insisting he will remain a support rider for Tadej Pogačar. 

It's the dream scenario for UAE Team Emirates, who perhaps weren't as visible as Jumbo-Visma across the day but who had the right riders in the right places at the right moments. 

Here's the top ten on the stage 

1. Adam Yates in 4-22-49

2. Simon Yates +4 seconds

3. Tadej Pogačar +12 seconds

4. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)

5. Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech)

6. Victor Lafay (Cofidis)

7. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe)

8. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

9. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

10. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) all same time 

Adam Yates speaking to ITV4 at the finish:

"Being in the yellow jersey is no problem. It's an honour and a privilege to have yellow. Over the next few weeks I'm gonna help Tadej try to win, he's shown he's the best win the world over the last couple of years in all disciplines and we're gonna fight for every second." 

And here's the GC after the opening stage, with those bonus seconds taken into account: 

1. Adam Yates in 4-22-39

2. Simon Yates +8 seconds

3. Tadej Pogačar +18 seconds

4. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +22 seconds 

The moment Adam Yates crossed the line

A touching moment between the twin brothers after a fantastic finale

That's a wrap from me for today. Thanks for joining us on the first stage of the 2023 Tour de France. 

If what we watched today is anything to go by, we are in for a fantastic three weeks. 

You can read the full report from today's stage and stay tuned to the CW website for the latest news and reaction from our team on the ground at the race. 

Cheers for following us, hope to see you again tomorrow! 

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Tour de France 2023: Adam Yates pips twin Simon to yellow jersey – as it happened

Adam Yates was the surprise winner of opening stage, leading home his twin brother Simon on a great day for the brothers from Bury

• Race report: Adam beats Simon in brotherly break
• 1 Jul 2023 Stage One top 10
• 1 Jul 2023 Stage one report: Bilbao to Bilbao
• 1 Jul 2023 Adam Yates speaks ...
• 1 Jul 2023 It's a Yates one-two on stage one ...
• 1 Jul 2023 Adam Yates wins Stage One
• 1 Jul 2023 They're racing in Stage One!
• 1 Jul 2023 Stage one of the 110th Tour de France is underway ...
• 1 Jul 2023 Increased calls for new safety measures
• 1 Jul 2023 Security tightened amid unrest concerns
• 1 Jul 2023 Vingegaard the man to beat in 2023
• 1 Jul 2023 Tour de France 2023
• 1 Jul 2023 Stage one: Bilbao to Bilbao (182km)

Stage One top 10

1. Adam Yates (UAE) 4hr 22sec 49sec

2. Simon Yates (JAY) +04 sec

3. Tadej Pogacar (UAE) +12sec

4. Thibaut Pinot (GFC)

5. Michael Woods (IPT)

6. Victor Lafay (COF)

7. Jai Hindley (BOH)

8. Mattias Jensen (LTK)

9. Jonas Vingegaard (TJV)

10. David Gaudu (GFC)

Stage one report: Bilbao to Bilbao

Adam Yates took the stage win and the race leader’s yellow jersey that went with it as he beat his twin brother Simon by four seconds in Bilbao.

Adam Yates speaks ...

“I don’t even know what to say,” he gaspos, struggling for breath. “I attacked on the descent after saetting the climb up for Tadej and my brother came across to work with me. At first I didn’t know if I should work with him so I asked on the radio and they said ‘Go for it!’. I’m speechless.”

On duking the finish out with his twin brother: “I speak to him every day and we’re rally close, so to share this experience is really nice. I wish he would pull a little bit easier because he almost dropped me at one moment. I’m super happy! I want to keep my feet on the ground because we’re here for Tadej and he’s the boss. Over the next few weeks, I’m sure he’s going to show a lot.”

It's a Yates one-two on stage one ...

Adam Yates leads his twin brother Simon home, winning an eventful stage one in 4hr 22min 49sec. He’ll take the yellow jersey. They attacked just after the final climb passing Pogacar and Vingegaard just before the descent began. It’s a big day for the Yates family – Adam takes his first ever stage win and the Maillot Jaune that happens to go with it.

Adam Yates wins Stage One

800m to go: Simon Yates (Jayco Alula) leads his brother Adam (UAE) but is overtaken. Adam Yates pulls clear on the ramp towards the finish line. His brother Simon follows him home. Tadej Pogacar finishes third. It’s a one-two for the Yates brothers and a one-three for Team UAE.

2km to go: Adam and Simon Yates are sharing the work as they head towards the final ramp that leads to the finish. There’s no time for any cat-and-mouse tomfoolery.

3km to go: Brothers Adam and Simon Yates have opened a lead of 16 seconds over the Vingegaard group. Julian Alaphilippe is way back and won’t be winning today.

8km to go: Pogacar and Vingegaard go over the top of the Col du Pike with only Cofidis rider Victor Lafay for company and the front of the race looks to have been blown to smithereens for now at least. More and more riders will catch them on the downhill, you’d presume.

10km to go: Tadej Pogacar tries to attack on the climb but Jonas Vingegaard is glued to his wheel. Not literally, of course – he’s not a Just Stop Oil protestor.

11km to go: Back at the front of the race, all the big guns are in good positions as they approach today’s final climb, the Category 3 Cote de Pike. It’s two kilometres in length and 212 metres high with a gradient of 10 per cent. Dylan van Baarl is making the pace.

15km to go: Carapaz is back on his bike but his face is a mask of pain and he’s struggling to even turn his pedals. His left knee looks to have taken a mighty whack and he’s already over five minutes behind the leaders. Enric Mas has abandoned and become the first man to leave this year’s race.

16km to go: I haven’t seen the crash which did for Mas and Carapaz but it looks like the former’s race is definitely over. His Movistar team are making no apparent effort to get their star rider back on his bike. That’s so unlucky for them but such are the perils of bike racing.

19km to go: Crash!!! Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education) are both standing at the side of the road following a crash and neither look in particularly good shape. The main GC contenders for both their teams, their Tour looks over on day one, even if they are able to continue. Carapaz is given a spare bike and pedals away but his knee looks badly damaged; he’s going to lose a lot of time. Enric Mas is still standing at the side of the road and looks dazedc and ashen-faced. He might have a concussion.

27km to go: Neilsen Powless sprints off the front of the bunch, is first over the top and takes five King of the Mountain points.

27km to go: Jumbo Visma take over at the front of the bunch as they continue their climb, with Dylan van Baarle putting in the hard yards. They’ve a kilometre to go to the summit of Cote De Vivero. Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu van der Poel, who will each fancy their chances of winning today’s stage, have both seen quite a few of their teammates get dropped.

Tour de France Unchained: “If you enjoyed TdF Unchained, the next step is The Least Expected Day, also available on Netflix,” writes Tim Hoult. “Its first season follows the Movistar team through a really eventful 2019 season that saw infighting, a Grand Tour win, outright dissent with team orders and frequent behind the scenes footage on the bus and in team hotels. Great fun, although I was frequently bewildered at exactly why Movistar have so many leaders in any given race!” Thanks for the recommendation and consider it on my list.

30km to go: The peloton is stung out as the riders tackle the steep gradient of the penultimate climb and plenty more riders are being dropped. Some can’t cope with the high speed and others are keeping their energy in reserve for more important battles ahead. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE) is towing the leaders along.

32km to go: Matteo Trentin brings Tadej Pogacar to the front of the bunch, where he is joined by Julian Alaphilipe, who’s spent most of the day so far loitering at the back of the bunch.

35km to go: Next up is the Cat2 Côte de Vivero, which is 4.2 kilometres in length and has an altitude of 361 metres. As they approach the climb, the bunch is travelling at 33.1km per hour.

Tour de France Unchained: “I enjoyed seeing the more candid footage, but I wasn’t keen on the way that narratives and stories had to be forced on to everything, especially when they were less than accurate,” writes Nick Honeywell. “The Mark Cavendish erasure in the very first episode rather rubbed me up the wrong way; I understand a French-made show would’ve liked to feature Alaphilippe, but to suggest that he (a non-sprinter) was challenging Jakobsen (a sprinter) for a place in the team was risible.”

40km to go: The peloton goes over the Col De Morga and are on a descent that looks punchy. When the road levels out, all the big guns will want to be in the first 20 places of the bunch in a bid to keep themselves out of trouble and in contention at the business end of the stage.

41km to go: Mark Cavendish is one of six or seven riders to have been dropped at the beginning of the climb. He won’t be breaking Eddie Merckx’s record for stage wins today but it was never on the cards given that today’s stage was never going to suit the out-and-out sprinters.

44km to go: The road widens and riders from UAE, EF Education-Easypost and Groupama-FDJ can be seen the front with the bunch two kilometres from the top of the Col De Morga.

47km to go: Riding as one, the bunch is on its way up the Cat4 Col De Morga, a mere speed-bump that’s just 307m high. The riders of Jumbo Visma, Movistar and Bora Hangrohe are all at the front of the bunch.

51km to go: The gap is into 15 seconds and the peloton can see the five breakaway riders ahead of them up the road. Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny), Lilian Calméjane (Intermarché), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) we salute you but your moment in the spotlight is over with 50 kilometres to go and three categorised climbs to go in today’s stage.

54km to go: Having passed through it when they contested the intermediate sprint, the breakaway is on its way back though the town of Guernica, where the streets are lined with cheering crowds who seem to be having a great day. They love their cycling in that particular neck of the woods.

55km to go: The five men in the breakaway stretch the elastic again, their lead going back out to 1min 20sec.

An email: “I too enjoyed TDF: Unchained as the background of the race, the thoughts of the riders and how the teams prepare added something in addition to ‘just’ who won what and how,” writes Neil Mackie.

“It did have some Drive to Survive issues in terms of wrong stage footage, and the post-production ‘commentary’ was jarring, but I doubt most viewers will have picked up on that. Oh, and original audio with subtitles is the way to go, with some of my rudimentary French helping out.

“For other cycling news, downhill mountain biking phenom Jackson Goldstone has just won his first elite level world cup race in Val di Sole, Italy (his main competition from the Junior ranks, Jordan Williams, happened to win the first elite race of the season). The link to the TDF is that top level cyclists are getting younger and younger, like Alpecin’s Puck Pieterse winning in women’s elite cross country.”

64km to go: To be clear, he didn’t actually pedal backwards down the course in reverse, he turned around first and went the wrong way down the course.

64km to go: Alexy Lutsenko (Astana) stops to get a new wheel and his teammate Yevgeniy Fedorov stops, turns and cycles about 10 yards back down the road to wait for him and help pace him back to the bunch.

Going backwards down the course is an illegal move, and in this instance one that’s been captured by the TV cameras, as Eurosport’s Australian co-commentator Robbie McEwan points out. Yevgeniy may get a ticking-off from the race commisioners but is unlikely to face any other sanction. The gap is at 27 seconds.

Tour de France Unchained: “I watched the first five episodes and even got my daughter interested in the programme,” writes Patrick Foyle. “It had to be well done for her to be engaged in cycling. Pidcock’s descending was outrageous!”

“My favourite moment was the look of utter disbelief from Charly Wegelius in the EF Education team car watching Tom Pidcock’s descent from the Galibier,” writes Peter Craig.

69km to go: The gap is coming down again as the big GC hitters jockey for position at the front of the bunch with the race entering some difficult technical sections with more narrow roads to negotiate ahead of a descent.

An email: “They breakaway is dead in the water because the peloton has not let them get away,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “There’s been no ‘Give them six minutes now, we’ll have them later’. As I said earlier, the Jumbos and UAEs will be wanting to manage this 21 day race from start to finish. And possibly get their markers down early, as you suggested.”

73km to go: Jonas Gingaard (Uno-X) and Simon Guglielmi (Arkea) had attacked the breakaway but are about to be rejoined by their three fellow escapees. The gap is back out to 30 seconds and there are three categorised climbs remaining in the stage.

75km to go: The breakaway looks unsurpisingly dead in the water, albeit a little earlier than expected. The gap is down to 18 seconds.

77km to go: It’s been a quiet day today so far, with most of the teams keeping their powder dry ahead of what now look like inevitable fireworks at the busimness end of this stage. Should Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard win today, there’s a small chance they could become the first rider, since the Belgian Romain Maes 1935, to wear the yellow jersey from pillar to post on the Tour.

81km to go: Uno-X rider Torstein Træen has had a crash, changed his bike, been checked by the doctor and is back on his way again, pedalling along a few hundred yards behind the peloton with a sizeable rip visible on the back of his jersey. He had to wait a while for the team car to bring him a spare bike, possibly because his teammate Jonas Gregaard is in the breakaway.

An email: “I am happy every year to contribute $25 USD to the Guardian in support of their Tour de France coverage,” writes Martin Yeager from Houston (near the Galveston Bay). “I enjoy the 21 days of both the silly and the serious live feed comments. It is pretty on TV but I enjoy the Guardian’s and its readers’ coverage.”

86km to go: Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny), Lilian Calméjane (Intermarché), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) continue to lead but are just over a minute clear of a bunch that is keeping them on a very, very tight leash. Since escaping, they’ve only got their lead over two minutes on one occasion and even then only for a few seconds.

Intermediate sprint result

1. Pascal Eenkhorn (20 pts) 2. Simon Guglielmi (17) 3. Valentin Ferron (15) 4. Lilian Calmejane (13) 5. Jonas Gregaard (11) At 1’10’’: 6. Mads Pedersen (10) 7. Peter Sagan (9) 8. Jasper Philipsen (8) 9. Mark Cavendish (7) 10. Bryan Coquard (6) 11. Dylan Groenewegen (5) 12. Jordi Meeus (4) 13. Biniam Girmay (3) 14. Jasper Stuyven 92) 15. Alexis Renard (1)

Christian Prudhomme: A word on today’s stage from the Tour de France director. "The Basque Country doesn’t lack options when it comes to offering opportunities to the puncheurs,” he says. “With 3,300 metres of vertical gain and a double springboard where gaps can be created in the final 30 kilometres in the shape of the Vivero and Pike climbs, discussion about the identity of the first Yellow Jersey holder will focus on attackers with real pedigree, those capable of taking allying their instinct to their power.”

Intermediate sprint: Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny) wins the intermediate sprint in Guernica and takes 20 points.

Tour de France Unchained: In preparation for this year’s Tour, I watched the eight-part behind the scenes documentary about last year’s Tour de France that is currently available on Netflix. I found it thoroughly enjoyable; a bit like Drive To Survive but with far fewer thoroughly unpleasant people. Anyone else seen it? Meanwhile back at this year’s race, the gap is at 1min 28sec with exactly 100 kilometres of stage one remaining.

More top bays: “Can I add Barafundle Bay in Pembrokeshire to the list of great bays?” asks Alan Pedigrew. “It’s stunningly beautiful plus it’s a great word to say!”

“You’ve got to include Wineglass Bay in Tasmania,” writes Richard Kitson. “Beautiful location but the name is a winner on its own!”

An email: “I’m guessing you haven’t been to Sandwood Bay in North West Scotland?” asks Peter Craig. “If Alpecin and Jumbo Visma are controlling the break, my money would be on Van Der Poel or Van Aert rather than Alaphilippe.”

An email: Jeremy Boyce writes in response to Kurt Perleberg’s decidedly tongue-in-cheekl query about the lack of American Tour de France winners since Greg Lemond in 1990.

“Of course another American did ‘win’ the Tour, on numerous occasions, except he was doing and dealing dope and was rightly stripped of his titles,” he writes. “Why don’t they win more often? Maybe road biking just isn’t interesting enough for them. They have plenty of their own sports to watch where a match takes half a day day, but with a Grand Tour it takes 21 days to get a result and we all know how they love to have a result at the end of each match, hence their obsession with shoot-outs.

“The Tour has a daily winner, no shoot out needed, but it builds the overall suspense over 3 weeks, more like watching a whole season of Dallas than an episode of The X Files.”

A good email, Jeremy, although I’m not sure Floyd Landis will appreciate being further erased from the history books he has been erased from once already.

113km to go: With faces set in “grimace mode” the five riders in the breakaway make their way up a stiff Category Three climb, the second of the day, with two King of the Mountains points on offer at the top. Gregaard attacks but is reined in after going too early. Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny) is first over the top and is now in the virtual polka-dot jersey by dint of his second place finish on the first climb.

An email: “I’d be quite surprised if, as a professional cyclist, you’d be thrilled about winning an over-30’s, or heaven forbid, over-35’s competition,” writes David Hindle. “Strangely though, in the amateur, open road race world, at least here in Germany, it’s all done by age group. When you reach Masters III, or worse still IV, it’s a mixed bag. The constant reminder of how old and past it you are, mixed with the secret desire to be able to claim bragging rights for being the fastest 55-year-old in the race.”

121km to go: The riders continue to barrel along at an avergae speed of 40.2km per hour and the gap is 1min 34sec. AG2R Citreon rider Benoit Cosnefroy has dropped out of the bunch on a descent with a mechanical and has received a replacement bike.

An email: “No American has won the Tour De France since Greg Lemond in 1990,” writes Kurt Perleberg. “Why has it been so long?”

• Tour de France 2023
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Results and Highlights From the 2023 Tour de France

Stage-by-stage updates, results, and highlights from this year’s race.

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Read below for stage-by-stage updates, results, and highlights from each stage of the 2023 Tour de France

Stage Winner : Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe)

Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) was a surprise winner of Stage 21 of the 2023 Tour de France. Meeus won a sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées over the Tour’s top sprinters, Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen, and Mads Pedersen.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) enjoyed some champagne on the ride in and was officially crowned winner of the Tour de France for a second year, winning by 7 minutes, 29 seconds over second place Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)—by the largest margin of victory since 2014.

Final General Classification Standings

• Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma): 82:05:42
• Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): -7:29
• Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates): -10:56
• Simon Yates (Jayco–AlUla): -12:23
• Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers): -13:17

Stage Winner : Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won Stage 20 of the 2023 Tour de France. Pogačar was able to outsprint Jonas Vingegaard and a few other strong riders at the on the flat drag at the top of the Col du Platzerwasel. The win was Pogačar’s second stage win of the this Tour and his 11th career Tour stage win. Vingegaard was third to Pogačar (Stage 17 winner Felix Gall was second), losing just a few bonus seconds, and maintaining his lead in the yellow jersey competition heading into the mostly ceremonial final Stage 21.

The Winner of the Day

He won’t win the yellow jersey in this year’s Tour de France, but Tadej Pogačar was able to go out with a bang on Saturday. Pogačar won a sprint to the finish on a mountain stage—something he’s done many times in the Tour de France. But this win comes only a few days after Pogačar cracked on Stage 17 and effectively lost the GC to Vingegaard. Pogačar never lost faith, securing his 11th TdF stage win and his fourth white jersey of his still very young career.

The Other Winner of the Day

Of course, we be remiss not to mention Jonas Vingegaard, who did exactly what he needed to do on the penultimate stage to win the 2023 Tour de France—barring a Sunday disaster. Stage 20, in fact, mirrored a lot of what Vingegaard was able to do during the middle portion of the Tour, prior to his big gains on the Stage 16 TT and the Stage 17 mountain stage. He hung right with Pogačar and never let his top rival’s advantage on a given stage swell too much. Vingegaard, of course, is a worthy champion that will enjoy some champagne on the Champs-Élysées.

And One More Winner of the Day

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Lidl) earned maximum points on the first four categorized climbs of the stage, and with it, claimed the King of the Mountains classification at the 2023 Tour de France (as long as he crosses the finish on the Champs-Élysées on Sunday). Ciccone seized the polka dot jersey on Stage 15 and rode brilliantly to pick up points where he could throughout the Tour’s final week. Ciccone becomes the first rider to win the KOM and not win the GC in the same Tour since Romain Bardet in 2019. Sometimes it’s more fun when we spread the wealth.

Best Moment of the Day

It wasn’t a big surprise to see Thibaut Pinot get in the breakaway on the last mountain stage of his storied Tour de France career. And I guess it’s not much of a big surprise that Pinot launched a solo attack with over 30K to go in the stage. The three-time TdF stage winner put on a show for the home fans in France on Stage 20, and what a sight it was to see his supporters on his solo ride up the Petit Ballon. The dream wasn’t to be though, as the yellow jersey group caught Pinot up the Col du Platzerwasel. Merci, Thibaut. Merci.

Stage Winner : Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious)

It doesn’t get any closer than that! Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) took a sprint finish to win Stage 19 of the 2023 Tour de France. Mohorič got in a breakaway that included many of the top sprinters and classics riders. That breakaway included the likes of Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen, so Mohorič knew he had to make a move early and that’s exactly what he did, breaking free, along with Stage 18 winner Kasper Asgreen and Ben O’Connor, of that breakaway with 30K to go in the stage.

Despite a good effort by the chasers—including Philpsen, his Alpecin teammate Mathieu van der Poel, and Pederson—to try and bring back the three attackers, they ultimately couldn’t gain ground and seemed to lack full cooperation. But the pure strength of Mohorič, Asgreen, and O’Connor showed through. Down the final stretch, O’Connor, knowing his speed couldn’t match that of Mohorič or Asgreen, made his move, but that was quickly answered by the pair and it was a drag race between Mohorič and Asgreen, who gapped O’Connor and made their dash for the line. It was a photo finish, but Mohorič narrowly edged out Asgreen for the stage win.

Stage Winner : Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step)

Kasper Asgreen won Stage 18 of the Tour de France in dramatic fashion. Asgreen got in the original breakaway of the day at kilometer zero. On a stage that seemed destined for a sprint finish out of the peloton, Asgreen and the others in the break managed to fend off the hungry peloton. Asgreen outsprinted Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) for the win at line.

The Biggest Winner of the Day

It’s no secret that it’s been a rough Tour de France for the Soudal Quick-Step team. The team’s top sprinter, Fabio Jakobsen, withdrew from the race after Stage 12. The squad’s top stage hunting threat, Julian Alaphilippe, has struggled to be a factor in any stage. But Asgreen got Soudal Quick-Step off the schneid Thursday, winning in the most unlikely of ways. Asgreen got himself in the early break and held out just long enough to claim the Stage 18 victory—the first grand tour stage win of his career.

The Biggest Loss of the Day

This goes to anyone from the peloton that was hoping to get the stage win today. The flat stage was tailor-made for the pure sprinters, but the peloton struggled to pull back the four-man breakaway. It seemed in the last 10K that a catch was inevitable, but the break stayed strong and held out just long enough. Alpecin-Deceuninck, which has already racked up four stage wins this Tour, is the team that loses the most on the day. Their top sprinter Jasper Philipsen—responsible for those four wins—was fourth on the stage and the top finisher from the peloton. It would have been his stage to win—if the peloton caught the break, that is.

Stage Winner: Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën)

Felix Gall won Stage 17 of the Tour de France, a stage that ended up being the craziest of the 2023 Tour so far. Gall made his move from the breakaway and rode away from a talented group of riders to claim the first grand tour stage win of his career.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of fireworks behind Gall. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) cracked on the stage losing well over five minutes to Jonas Vingegaard in the yellow jersey. Vingeagaard placed fourth on the stage and gained a significant amount of time that will likely carry him to Paris in the maillot jaune.

We’ll get to the stage winner shortly, but first we must acknowledge that Vingegaard won the 2023 Tour de France on Wednesday. First, Pogačar massively cracked on the Col de la Loze, then Vingagaard went on the offensive to deliver the dagger. Vingegaard finished fourth on the stage, 1:52 back of the stage winner Gall, but more importantly, he gained 5:45 on the man that was by his side for the first 15 stages of the Tour, Pogačar. With just four stages remaining, Vingegaard now leads by a whopping 7:35 over Pogačar. Assuming he stays upright, Vingegaard will win his second straight Tour de France on Sunday.

The Other Biggest Winner of the Day

Felix Gall has been one of the Tour’s revelations, and on Wednesday he confirmed that he’ll be a force to be reckoned with for the future in the WorldTour. The 25-year-old, who entered the day in 10th place in the GC, conquered the Col de la Loze and rode to the win on the stage that many have called “the hardest of the Tour.” Gall emerged on the radar after he took the polka dot jersey after Stage 5 of this year’s Tour. But now he earned his signature moment, winning on an absolutely brutal day in France. Gall moves up the eighth in the GC, but more importantly, he’s etched his name into TdF history forever.

After losing over a minute and a half to the yellow jersey on Tuesday, Pogačar effectively lost the 2023 Tour de France on Wednesday. Pogačar didn’t ride a bad individual time trial on Tuesday’s Stage 16, despite losing 1:38 to Vingegaard. But on Wednesday’s Stage 17, Pogačar had the worst day we’ve ever seen the 24-year-old have at the Tour de France. “I’m gone. I’m dead,” Pogačar said to his team over the radio during the stage after he cracked and lost over five minutes to Vingegaard ending what was a terrific GC battle through the first 16 stages of the Tour.

Other Notable Gains from a Wild Stage

Simon Yates (Jayco–AlUla) made the day’s biggest jump within the top 10 of the GC. While he was second on the stage for the second time this Tour (though this time it was to someone other than his twin brother), Yates moved from eighth to fifth. He’s 12:19 behind the yellow jersey, but just 18 seconds behind Carlos Rodriguez for fourth place in the GC. Simon’s twin brother Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), meanwhile, was able to further solidify his spot on the podium. Adam Yates is in third place with a 1:16 advantage on Rodriguez, who lost time today.

Stage Winner : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) roared to the Stage 16 win in the 2023 Tour de France’s lone individual time trial. Vingegaard put down an incredible TT over 22.4km and he won the stage by 1:38 over second place Tadej Pogačar, who also happens to be his biggest rival in the GC battle. Vingegaard earned his Jumbo-Visma team its first stage win of the Tour, and more importantly, he made the most significant time gains of the Tour so far.

Jonas Vingegaard is the clear winner of the stage and quite likely the entire 2023 Tour de France after Tuesday. Vingegaard, the defending Tour champion, put down the individual time trial of his life on Tuesday—a day after the rest day—providing further evidence of the Magic of the Yellow Jersey. Vingegaard’s hold on the yellow jersey was just 10 seconds entering Stage 16, but it ballooned all the way to 1:48 after the time trial—a margin that will most likely prove decisive in the battle for the maillot jaune. After a lot of back and forth between Vingegaard and Pogačar in the mountains during the first 15 stages, Vingegaard dealt Pogačar the first major blow of this Tour.

Tadej Pogačar had the second best time of the day on Stage 16—a minute and 13 seconds ahead of Wout Van Aert!—but he may have lost the 2023 Tour de France Tuesday. Very little has separated Vingegaard and Pogačar during the first two weeks of the Tour, but Vingegaard tacking 1:38 in addition to his 10-second advantage on the individual time trial may prove to be decisive in the GC battle. It’s, of course, never over until it’s over. Pogačar will have two significant mountain stages before the Tour reaches Paris on Sunday, so the chances are there. But psychologically, it will be tough for Pogačar to regroup after Tuesday’s time trial.

While it’s clear that Jumbo-Visma’s energy at the 2023 Tour de France has been focused on helping Vingegaard win the yellow jersey—something they’ve been very successful at!—it was still surprising to see the Dutch superteam without a stage win through the first two weeks of the Tour. That changed on Tuesday, thanks to the maillot jaune himself. Vingegaard rode an unbelievable TT to Stage 16 to claim the stage win by 1:38. Surely, the GC gains are the most important, but Jumbo-Visma won’t be too upset to finally snag a TdF stage win in 2023.

Stage Winner : Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious)

Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) won Stage 15 of the 2023 Tour de France, capturing the win from the breakaway and beating a talented group to claim the first TdF stage victory of his career.

Poels spent a lot of time in the breakaway on Sunday, but his strength showed throughout the entire day. He stayed patient in the break and joined an attacking group with around 35K to go in the stage. That quartet included Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Krists Neilands (Israel-PremierTech), and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates). In the early parts of the final climb of the day—Mont Blanc—Poels made his move on Van Aert and extended his lead from there.

The Biggest Loser of the Day

Normally we call this section”The Biggest Loss of the Day” because it sounds nicer. But we’ll throw that out of the window for this one. The biggest loser of the day on Sunday was the fan that interfered with the peloton early in Stage 15, causing a massive crash.

It’s got to be the fans! Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) battled up the Mont Blanc and finished together at the finish of Stage 15. Vingegaard’s yellow jersey advantage remains at 10 seconds as we enter the rest day on Monday before the final week of the Tour de France. The margins couldn’t be closer, and who doesn’t love a tremendously close GC battle in the Tour de France? Fans will enjoy an action-packed—and surely attack-filled—final week of this Tour.

Stage Winner : Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers)

Spain’s Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) won Stage 14 of the 2023 Tour de France during a wild day in the GC. Rodriguez was dropped on the final climb up the Joux Plane, but he was able to return on the ensuing descent, and gap the two GC leaders and ride to the stage win—the second in as many days for INEOS—and improve his own GC positioning.

We expected to see GC fireworks on Stage 14 and we got exactly that. But at the end of the stage, there ultimately wasn’t a ton of change at least as far as the top two in the Tour were concerned. So therefore, the biggest winner of the day is Carlos Rodriguez and his INEOS Grenadiers team. Rodriguez capitalized on Pogačar and Vingegaard focusing on the overall GC situation. He seized his opportunity on the descent in the run-in to the finish and claimed victory on the day and moved into the podium, now sitting in third place overall in the GC, 4:43 back of the yellow jersey.

As we watched the absolute most thrilling stage of the 2023 Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar had Jonas Vingegaard on the ropes and was ready to launch an attack as they approached the top of the Col de Joux Plane. But that plan was foiled. Pogačar attacked, but was forced to stop his acceleration when the motorbikes got in the way. Eventually, Vingegaard was the one to attack and gain the time bonuses on offer at the top of the climb. You can blame the fans. You can blame the motorbikes. But maybe your blame should go to the race organizers, who should have had barrier set up to remove the chance of any interference with the battling riders.

The Other Biggest Loss of the Day

With 146K to go in Stage 14, a massive crash involved a majority of the peloton, leading to the abandonment of five riders. The race was also neutralized—a good decision by the race officials given that there wasn’t even a breakaway formed at the time of the crash. After losing GC hope Richard Carapaz, EF Education EasyPost’s Esteban Chaves and James Shaw were caught up in the crash and forced to abandon the Tour. Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) and Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich) also abandoned.

And How About One More Winner of the Day

Despite the motorbikes/fans/race organizers spoiling what could have been a perfect day for Pogačar, the Solvenian’s ability to withstand the torrid pace set all day long by the Jumbo-Visma squad is a big win. Ultimately, Pogačar lost one second to Vingegaard and now trails by 10 seconds in the GC standings, but he’s shown that he may hold a slight advantage in form over Vingegaard. It’s going to be a wild last week of racing.

Stage Winner

Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers) won Stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France, The 33-year-old won the stage atop the “Beyond Category” Grand Colombier after spending all day in the breakaway and then attacking what was left of it on the lower slopes of the final climb. It was clear throughout most of the 137.8km ride from Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne to the summit of the Grand Colombier that UAE Team Emirates wanted to set-up Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar for the win. But Kwiatokoski, a super-domestique with an impressive resume of his own, proved too strong to catch, holding-off Belgium’s Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Soudal) and then Pogačar to take the second Tour de France stage victory of his career.

Biggest Winner of the Day

While they didn’t win the stage, UAE Team Emirates has to be feeling good about its chances of winning its third Tour de France in four years. The team rode an impressive race from start to finish, lined-up at the front of the peloton throughout much of the day and setting a ferocious pace on the final climb to whittle down the yellow jersey group. But that was just an amuse bouche, as Great Britain’s Adam Yates attacked the group about 2 kilometers from the summit, drawing out Vingegaard’s teammate Sepp Kuss, and then Vingegaard and Pogačar themselves. Pogačar saved his own attack for the final ramp to the finish line, and while Vingegaard was able to follow at first he soon succumbed to the Slovenian’s acceleration. Jumbo-Visma clearly thinks the Alps will prove to be the Tour’s most important battlegrounds, but UAE is confident, strong, and looks to have all the firepower they need to win the Tour.

Gutsiest Ride of the Day

Kwiatkowski seems to have been given a free role at INEOS, chasing breakaways despite the fact that the team has two riders, Spain’s Carlos Rodríguez and Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock, in the top-10 overall. The 33-year-old rewarded the team’s faith today, ensuring that no matter what happens with its young GC riders, the team won’t go home from the Tour empty-handed.

Unsung Hero/Head-Scratcher

If you watched earlier seasons of the Movistar documentary “The Least Expected Day” on Netflix, then Spain’s Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) should be a familiar name to you. (And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?) The mercurial rider is immensely talented, but he often gave his directors and teammates headaches by making some bone-headed decisions from time to time. After transferring to UAE Team Emirates after the 2021 season, the 29-year-old is now one of Pogačar’s most important domestiques, which he showed with his pace-setting midway up the Grand Colombier. But just for good measure, he also showed why Movistar found him so frustrating: once he pulled off from the yellow jersey group, he caught back on to the back of it, which meant he must have had a little left in the tank that he could have given while he was on the front. His directors will certainly discuss this with him before tomorrow’s stage.

What Were They Thinking?

Intermediate sprints are usually designed for, um, sprinters. But today’s came in the town of Hauteville-Lompnes, midway up a long, gradual climb. We get that these are business decisions (towns pay lots of money to host the Tour’s intermediate sprints), but we can’t help but wonder what the Tour organizers were thinking today. Our best guess is that there were few bidders to host the sprint, leaving ASO with no other choice but to put it on a plateau.

Biggest Loser of the Day

Today was Bastille Day and the French were out in force on the Grand Colombier–so much so that the ascent was closed to anyone hoping to climb it early in the morning. But they had little to cheer for thanks to a lackluster showing from the Tour’s French riders. Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) did his best, attacking on the lower slopes of the Grand Colombier only to be caught by Kwiatkoski and others a little while later.To make matters worse, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich) were both dropped from the yellow jersey group thanks to the pace set by UAE Team Emirates, leaving David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) as the home nation’s best chance for a high finish in Paris (although that’s a bit of stretch given the fact that he’s ninth overall and almost 7 minutes beyond Vingegaard).

Best North American

Sepp Kuss rode valiantly on behalf of Vingegaard, covering Yates’ attack near the top of the Colombier and then hanging on to finish twelfth on the stage. He’s now back into the Tour’s top-10 overall, but will likely sacrifice himself for the sake of Vingegaard in the Alps, where his team thinks the race will be decided.

Rookie of the Day

Riding his first Tour de France and only his second grand tour, Rodríguez maintained his position on the Tour’s General Classification, ending the day fourth overall, 4:48 behind Vingegaard. INEOS is happy to let the 22-year-old (and Pidcock) follow wheels in the yellow jersey group, giving them the space and the freedom to ride their best Tours possible without any pressure from the team.

There’s still a lot of race left, but Rodríguez looks to be a true podium contender–if he can somehow overcome the nearly two minutes that separate him from Australia’s Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe), who currently sits third overall.

Another Two Bite the Dust

Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan (Lotto Destny) was dropped about 55km from the end of the stage and abandoned the Tour soon after. Ewan barely survived the time cut on Stage 13 and was seen clutching his abdomen after getting dropped. Once thought to be a rider who would dominate Tour field sprints for years, Ewan now hasn’t won a stage at the Tour since 2020. INEOS also lost one its domestiques: Great Britain’s Ben Turner. It’s a good thing Kwiatkowski won a stage today, because without Turner, the team will need him to stay back and support Rodríguez and Pidcock in the Alps.

Stage Winner : Ion Izagirre (Cofidis)

Make it two stage wins for the Cofidis team in the 2023 Tour de France. That’s thanks to a brilliant Stage 12 ride by Ion Izagirre. With 30K to go on the final climb of the day, Izagirre broke free of the breakaway that included the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, riding to the day’s stage win. For Izagirre, it’s his second career stage win—he won

Let’s hear it again for Cofidis! The French team ended a 15-year Tour de France stage win drought on Stage 2 when Victor Lafay rode to the victory. But they weren’t finished there. Izagirre made his move on the Mathieu van der Poel and the rest of the breakaway at the perfect time and rode clear to the win. Cofidis also had Gui Martin positioned nicely in that select breakaway as a backup plan. It was terrific execution on the day during what has been a dream Tour for Cofidis.

Thibaut Pinot was surely going for a stage win on Thursday; it was not to be. But the 33-year-old from Groupama-FDJ, riding in his final Tour de France, made the move into the top ten of GC. He shot up from 15th overall, 9:36 behind the yellow jersey to tenth overall, 6:30 down. It’s likely not the last we’ve seen of Pinot’s stage win attempts in this year’s Tour, but regardless, it’s cool to see the veteran in the top ten overall.

The Heartbreak of the Day—and the Whole Tour (So Far)

It’s been a strong couple weeks for American Matteo Jorgensen. But unfortunately for the Movistar rider, he doesn’t have a stage win to show for it. Few riders—if any—have spent more time in the breakaway during the first 12 stages of the Tour, but the big win has been just out of his grasp. No defeat was more heartbreaking than Sunday’s Stage 9 on the Puy de Dôme. On Stage 12, Jorgensen appeared to be the strongest rider in the group chasing Izagirre, but he left it too late. He launched a number of (ultimately futile) attempts to try and bridge the gap, but it wasn’t to be. The good news for the American is that there are plenty of pro-breakaway stages remaining for him to try and claim his well-deserved glory.

Stage Winner : Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

Jasper Philipsen won Stage 11 of the 2023 Tour de France, picking up his fourth stage win so far and continuing to assert his dominance in the sprints. It was a wet and technical finish in Moulins on Tuesday, but that didn’t stop Philipsen, who sprinted past Dylan Groenewegen in the closing meters to claim win No. 4 of the Tour.

Philipsen has proven himself to be the king of the sprints in this year’s Tour de France, capturing his fourth stage victory in the first 11 stages. Additionally, he improved upon his lead in the green jersey points competition. He now leads that by a staggering 145 points. What’s perhaps most impressive about his Stage 11 victory was that he did it without the aid of his top Alpecin-Deceuninck comrade Mathieu van der Poel, who was not spotted up front in the run in to the finish. Philipsen has proven that he can win in multiple different ways and he could be well on his way to a second straight Stage 21 victory in Paris.

Another day, another goose egg in the stage win column for Soudal-QuickStep. The QuickStep team was right at the head of the peloton for much of the ride into the finish in Moulins, working for Fabio Jakobsen, but in the final sprint, Jakobsen was a non-factor sitting on the back of the bunch and ultimately finishing 16th on the day. Jakobsen crashed during the tricky Stage 4 finish, and it appears the sprinter hasn’t fully recovered from those injuries.

The Close Call of the Day

Well, that could have been bad. As the pace ramped up with just over 5K to go in the stage, the Jumbo-Visma train was at the front with Soudal Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe sandwiched in between then. The yellow jersey of Jonas Vingegaard made his way along the edge of the road next to Alaphilippe and—perhaps not noticing him—Alaphilippe drifted towards Vingegaard and the pair nearly collided. Thankfully, nothing happened and Alaphilippe gave the maillot jaune an apologetic tap of the back and the run into the finish continued.

Stage Winner : Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious)

Pello Bilbao won a sprint out of the breakaway to claim the Stage 10 victory after a thrilling of racing.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) takes his first Tour de France stage win at 33-years-old. This is the first win by a Spanish rider in 100 stages. He also slides into the top 5 for the overall standings. Bilbao rode an incredibly smart sprint, shielding himself with Zimmermann and O’Connor as long as possible before throwing the hammer down. Bilbao becomes the 5th first-time stage winner of the tour. In his post-ride interview he dedicated his ride to Gino Mäder, who died recently after suffering a terrible crash in the Tour de Suisse.

Krists Neilands (Israel–Premier Tech) rode a perfectly aggressive race, earned the KOM points on Côte de la Chapelle-Marcousse (Cat 3), and just kept building his lead in front of the two chase groups. With 10 km to go, the team radio told him, “It’s the day of your life, the day of your life, let’s go.” But with less than a kilometer to go, he couldn’t hold off the chasers. He put up an incredible battle and came away with 4th place.

Biggest Villain(s) of the Day

The road and the heat. Man-eating speed bumps, loads of gravel, and chipped pavement all made fast descents even more dangerous than usual. And by the end of the race, temperatures soared to 97-degrees and riders had a hard time staying hydrated. Groups of 4-5 stuck together just to survive.

Newest Race Strategy?

Sometimes race leaders wait until the last mile to make their move. And sometimes they do it with 100 miles to go. Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard went on the attack early in the race to split the peloton. That set the pace for an aggressive day. Still with 48 miles to go there was a 14-man breakaway that took off. The pace throughout the stage was bonkers, making it difficult for such riders as Wout van Aert, who always wants to be the one to set an ambitious pace. Riders started dropping like flies with 30 km to go.

The peloton eventually calmed down and came together, led entirely by Jumbo-Visma.

Cutest Couple

Frenemies and cyclocross stars Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert worked together for a bit to attack out of the peloton with 40 km to go. They broke up after 10 km of riding together as Wout dropped Mathieu to ride on. They proved that when conditions are tough, working with anyone is better than no one.

Stage Winner: Mike Woods (Israel-PremierTech)

Canada’s Mike Woods (Israel-PremierTech) won Stage 9 atop the Hors Categorie (“Beyond Category”) Puy de Dôme, one of the most famous climbs in Tour history. The 36-year-old from Toronto paced himself from the base of the climb, catching four riders on his way to his first Tour de France stage victory.

France’s Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) finished second and Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) finished third. After an aggressive day of racing from the breakaway, American Neilson Powless held on to finish sixth on the Puy de Dôme, extending his lead in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition. He’ll wear the polka dot jersey into the first rest day and to start the Tour’s second week

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) clawed back 8 more seconds, and now sits just 17 seconds behind Denmarks’ Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) on the Tour’s General Classification. It seems like an eternity since the two-time Tour winner lost over a minute to Vingegaard at the end of Stage 5, and he’s now regained almost all the time he conceded. More importantly, after gapping the Dane on Stage 6 and Stage 9’s summit finishes, he clearly has a mental edge of his biggest rival to win the Tour.

American Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) attacked the 14-rider breakaway with about 40km to go, heading up the road on his own and slowly extending his lead. Helped by the fact that the four riders chasing him weren’t working well together, it looked for a while as if the 24-year-old from Boise, Idaho was about to take his first Tour de France stage win.

But as the climb steepened, word came that Woods was steadily closing the gap from further down the mountain, and before we knew it, there he was. Jorgenson was clearly running on fumes as first Woods and then France’s Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) caught the American. He ended the day one spot away from the podium, a painful result considering how close he came to winning–and his two fourth-place finishes in last year’s Tour.

Best Mathlete

American Neilson Powless went on the attack again today, joining the breakaway in an attempt to pad his lead in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition. Well, Powless needs to send a thank you note to his elementary school math teacher (or at least his director sportif): by winning each of categorized climbs in the middle of the stage, Powless ensured that he had enough points to keep the polka dot jersey–no matter what happened on the Puy de Dôme, which awarded 20 points to the rider who was first to the summit. Powless’ sixth-place finish on the stage earned him another six KOM points, extending his lead even more.

Powless now leads Austria’s Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) by 18 points and with only 16 points available between Stages 10 and 11, the American is guaranteed to wear the jersey through Thursday. Look for him to continue his polka dot assault: Gall might be given more freedom to fight for the jersey himself after his captain, Australia’s Ben O’Connor, lost more time at the end of Stage 9, meaning his team might be shifting its goals to fight for stage wins–and the King of Mountains prize.

Unsung Hero

American Sepp Kuss and Belgian Wout van Aert get all the prestige as Vingeggard’s top two domestiques (deservedly so), but let’s take a minute to recognize the pace-setting done by Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma). Today he took over after van Aert pulled off and before Kuss took his turn, shedding more riders from the GC group. It’s too bad that Pogačar seems to be profiting from the hard work being done by Vingegaard’s team. Perhaps we won’t see so much of Kelderman, Kuss, van Aert, and co. at the front during the Tour’s second week.

Eeriest Moment

One of the conditions of the agreement that allowed the Tour to revisit the Puy de Dôme was that fans would not be allowed to line the climb’s upper slopes, which meant an eerie almost awkward silence as the riders tackled the final portion of the ascent. In a Tour that’s already seen overzealous fans cause some mayhem, the silence was likely a welcome treat for riders annoyed by fans getting in their faces during the Tour’s most important–and painful–moments.

Worst Luck?

Jorgenson needed a bottle at about 33km to go, but was unable to get one because the cars and motorbikes had been moved out of the gap as his pursuers dangled close behind. On a sweltering day that asked a lot of the riders in terms of hydrating and fueling, those few minutes without a bottle–and without his team car–might have made the difference between winning and losing the stage.

A day after they won Stage 8, today could have been another chance for Lidl-Trek, with Denmark’s Martin Skjelmose and Italy’s Giulio Ciccone contenders to win on the Puy de Dôme. But the team missed the move, a tactical blunder that cost them a chance to take a historic victory. To his credit, Skjelmose tried to bridge up to the move after it escaped, but he was joined by Italy’s Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), who already had Powless up the road and was ordered not to work with the Dane.

And to the idiot gentleman who brought a clothesline to the roadside of the Tour de France: Please leave your laundry at home!

Stage Winner : Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won a Stage 8 sprint, holding off Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to win his first stage of the 2023 Tour de France. The run-in to the finish saw some punchy climbs, but the top sprinters were all there and Pedersen took the win in the end.

Pedersen claimed his second career Tour de France stage win. It was stage that was designed nicely for his strengths with some climbs near the end and a technical finish. The Lidl-Trek team was perfectly positioned to springboard Pedersen to the finish. Alpecin-Deceuninck had a strong leadout train as well, putting Philipsen in good position to win his fourth stage of the Tour. But Pedersen had the advantage from the start of the sprint and was able to hold off Philipsen in what seemed like an impossibly long final stretch to the line.

Stage 8 saw the withdrawal of Mark Cavendish, one of the all-time great Tour de France riders. Cav suffered a collarbone injury and was forced to abandon , ruining his chance of breaking the all-time TdF stage wins record. It’s an especially hard pill to swallow for Cavendish and cycling fans alike, with the crash coming a day after the Manx Missile nearly captured his record-breaking stage win were it not for a mechanical issue in the closing meters. Although he announced his retirement at the end of the season in May, maybe there’s a chance

Simon Yates (Jayco–AlUla) was the lone GC rider to lose time on Saturday, crashing with about 6K to go in the stage—outside of the 3K safe zone where riders don’t lose any time for crashes.. Simon Yates entered the stage in fourth place in the GC, 3:14 off the yellow jersey and now he sits in sixth place, 4:01 back and now behind Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) and his twin brother Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).

The Run-Through-A-Brick-Wall Moment of the Day

How about the reaction from the Lidl-Trek team car after Pedersen’s epic Stage 8 win? Listen for yourself and get pumped up on this Saturday.

This was a stage that had cycling fans screaming at the top of their lungs at the finish. After a long, sleepy, and mostly flat stage, all the action was crammed into the last 3K. Why all the screaming? Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) came this close to winning the stage and breaking the TdF stage wins record, only to be passed by the seemingly unstoppable Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with 500 meters to go.

Philipsen was once again positioned perfectly for the win by his leadout ace during this year’s Tour, Mathieu van der Poel, in what he referred to as the team’s “dream Tour” during post race interviews. Cavendish, however, made it very clear that he is more than capable of winning a stage this year, with a second place finish being his best one yet. If Cav keeps getting stronger as he seems to be, there will very likely be more screaming fans tomorrow.

Biggest Winners of the Day

The Alpecin lead out train offered another masterclass in how to win stages in this year’s Tour, with Mathieu van der Poel delivering Jasper Philipsen to another stage win. The other big winner for us during this stage was the one and only Mark Cavendish, who almost made it to the line first before Philipsen overtook him at the last moment. The fact that the Manx Missile’s finish position has come closer and closer to number one with every sprint stage, we think he has the power and form necessary to win number 35 this year. For today, Philipsen keeps the green jersey for another day.

Biggest Surprise of the Day

On a stage that often resembled a recovery ride until the last 10km as the riders gave their legs a bit of a break after two stages in the Pyrenees, the commentary surrounding Wout van Aert and whether he’s on the wrong team was loud and impossible to miss. Christian Vande Velde openly questioned on air what Wout would be able to do if he were on a team he could lead during the Tour instead of having to work for Jonas Vingegaard. With persistent media speculations about tension between Van Aert and Vingegaard on the Jumbo-Visma squad, the riders have routinely denied that anything is amiss, but the questions about whether that’s true have never been this blunt.

Gutsiest—Erm, or Maybe Stupidest—Ride of the Day

With approximately 20K to go, French riders Pierre Latour, the white jersey winner of 2018, and Nans Peters, a 2020 Tour stage winner, took off, working together in an attack that it seemed impossible to hold to the line. This didn’t seem to phase these two, as they spiced up an otherwise sleepy stage, putting up to 40 seconds on the peloton. Eventually Latour went solo in an all out effort, putting the sprinters on notice before blowing up with 3.5K to go.

Strongest American Rider of the Day - Nielsen Powless

Polka Dot Powless kept the King of the Mountains jersey for another day after recapturing it yesterday. The California native has become the de facto team leader for EF Education-EasyPost after Richard Carapaz crashed during Stage 1 and was forced by his injuries to leave the race. Powless went after the KOM competition right out of the gate during this year’s Tour, and so far he’s worn polka dots six out of the seven stages.

Tadej Pogačar won Stage 6 of the 2023 Tour de France, and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) took the yellow leader's jersey during an busy day in the Pyranees. While Vingegaard took over the GC lead, Pogačar made the biggest statement of the day, passing and gapping Vingegaard on the final climb of the day. Pogačar won the stage and narrowed the gap to Vingegaard.

Tadej Pogačar, who made us think that maybe he was playing with us all day. He saved it all for the last 2 km. taking even Jonas Vingegaard by surprise. He took back much of his deficit on the yellow jersey today. He put himself back in the race.

With 2.5K to go on the climb to Cauterets up the Plateau du Cambasque, Tadej Pogačar attacked Vingegaard with a huge surge. Today’s final stretch hints that this whole tour might come down to seconds. Pogačar ended up 24 seconds ahead of Vingegaard on the stage.

Wout van Aert can lead a race forever. The super-domestique did so much work to set the pace for this entire stage. The pacemaking was literally perfect, many times looking like the only one working. With 4.4 km. to go he finally pulled over and left it up to Vingegaard looking like he had given it every ounce of his being.

Strongest American Rider(s) of the Day

Neilson Powless (EF Education–EasyPost) had a very strong day earning the overall KOM on the climbs.

And Sepp Kuss has been wildly consistent through the tour so far. Today, as usual, he dropped every one of his competitors to bring Jonas Vingegaard up the climbs. He’s easily one of the most valuable riders for Vingegaard.

Stage Winner : Jai Hindley (Bora–Hansgrohe)

Jai Hindley won Stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de France, claiming the yellow leader’s jersey along with it. It was an eventful first day in the Pyrenees as the top climbers in the world shined and shook up the GC in a big way. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl–Trek) was second in the stage and Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) came across third on the day. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora–Hansgrohe) was fourth and Jonas Vingegaard was fifth on the stage. Ciccone, Gall, and Buchmann were all 32 seconds behind Hindley and Vingegaard was 34 seconds behind the stage winner.

Jai Hindley put himself in the right breakaway and made all the correct moves on Stage 5 to rocket himself to the stage victory and the yellow jersey. It was an absolutely brilliant day in the saddle for the Australian, who said after the race that he was merely “improvising.” Hindley is no stranger to wearing the leader’s jersey at a Grand Tour; he won the 2022 Giro d’Italia. This may not necessarily be just one quick day in yellow tomorrow for Hindley. More on that in a bit.

When Jonas Vingegaard attacked off the wheels of his teammate Sepp Kuss on the Col de Marie Blanque with 19K to go in the stage, it was our first opportunity of the Tour to see if co-favorite Tadej Pogačar had the legs to match him. He did not. Vingegaard blazed ahead up the climb and maintained that advantage even on the descent of the Col de Marie Blanque. All told, Vingegaard finished 1:04 ahead of Pogačar on the stage, and is 53 seconds up on him in the GC.

Pogačar is in a tough position after Stage 5, now 53 seconds behind the reigning Tour champion Vingegaard. Pogačar, who won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, has a lot of work to do over the next few weeks to attempt a comeback on Vingegaard. Pogačar suffered a fractured wrist in April and lost some time on the bike while he recovered. Is that lost fitness the difference maker here?

Could it be the 47 seconds that Vingegaard surrendered to Hindley? Hindley is, of course, a former Grand Tour winner and not a rider to be taken lightly. It may have been a bit surprising that the Bora–Hansgrohe rider was allowed to get in the breakaway that eventually launched Hindley to the win. But that was the calculation that the Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates squads made. It’s possible that Thursday’s stage—once again in the Pyranees— is Hindley’s lone day in the yellow jersey. It’s also possible that Hindley is in yellow for much longer than that. Never doubt the power of the maillot jaune.

The Moment of the Day

The official Tour de France YouTube has made some great highlight videos. But they’ve also been great about showing fans the terrific raw—erm, unedited—emotion that the Tour brings out. Take the above video of Hindley after the stage as evidence.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his second stage win of the 2023 Tour de France, sprinting to the Stage 4 victory on Tuesday. It was a crash-marred last 5K after a very slow day in the peloton. Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck team once again delivered a great leadout and Philipsen had the legs at the end to hold off a hard-charging Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny). Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) was third across the line to make for the same three men on the podium as Stage 3 (just flip Ewan and Bauhaus).

Alpecin-Deceuninck continued to assert its dominance, claiming the stage win for a second straight day. But Stage 4 was a lot different than Stage 3, despite both days being relatively flat stages. The Stage 4 finish on the motorsport track, Circuit Paul Armagnac created plenty of chaos, which saw three different crashes in the final 2K. But the Alpecin team once again held strong and Mathieu van der Poel emerged at just the right moment to deliver Philipsen to his second win in as many days.

Jasper Philipsen won Stage 3 of the Tour de France, capturing a sprint victory over Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny). Philipsen received a terrific leadout from his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel and was delivered to the finish in great position to use his power to take the stage win.

It was a bit of a controversial finish, as race organizers took a little while after the finish before declaring Philipsen as the stage winner officially. There was some question about whether Philipsen drifted into Wout Van Aert’s line in the closing meters of the finish. Ultimately, there would be no relegation and Philipsen was given the stage victory.

Winner of the Day

It’s Alpecin-Deceuninck. Who is going to be able to beat this team when Mathieu freakin’ van der Poel is providing a picture perfect leadout? Meanwhile, Philipsen’s speed these days seems to be the best in the world. Between Philipsen and MVDP, we likely haven’t seen the last stage win for Alpecin in this Tour.

Biggest Loss of the Day

This goes to Wout Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma for a second straight day . After a miscalculation in the sprint finish on Sunday’s Stage 2, Van Aert missed out on another good opportunity to grab a stage win on Monday’s Stage 3. This sprint, however, was a little different—and maybe he has a complaint for the ASO. Neck and neck with Philipsen in the closing meters, Van Aert looked to be running out of room between Philipsen and the barriers. Van Aert let up—possibly to avoid a crash?—and Philipsen rode to the stage win (though there was a fairly lengthy delay before race officials declared Philipsen the winner). Did Philipsen impede Van Aert? Watch for yourself and you be the judge.

Touching Moment of the Day

This came from the Arkéa–Samsic team car as the lone holdout of the breakaway, Laurent Pichon, rode solo through the streets of Spain. Over the radio the team told Pichon: “I’m so proud of you. You are a warrior. You give us so much great emotion. Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy! I love you very much.”

Pinchon, for his efforts on the day, was given the combativity award—and rightfully so. How can you not get emotional about the Tour de France?

Celebration(s) of the Day

Nothing against Philipsen’s fist pump as he crossed the finish line of Stage 3, but let’s give it up for Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). The American, once again, spent the majority of the day in the breakaway to gain precious King of the Mountains points to retain his polka dot jersey. He summiting all four climbs first and gave the fans a nice waving of his arms at the top—a rare mid-race celebration that we can all appreciate! Powless claimed the maximum seven KOM points on offer on Stage 3 and extended his lead in the competition as we head into another sprint stage on Tuesday.

Stage Winner : Victor Lafay (Cofidis)

Victor Lafay won Stage 2 of the 2023 Tour de France. The Cofidis rider broke free of the lead group of riders that included many of the race favorites with 1K to go in the Tour’s longest stage (208.9K). It was a surprise victory for Lafay, who managed to hold off a hard-charging Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar in the waning meters to capture his first-career stage win.

Victor Lafay and the whole Cofidis team are easily the biggest winners of the day. It’s been 15 years since the French team has won a stage in the Tour de France, and on Sunday, Lafay came through in thrilling fashion to get Cofidis the win on the day. With Van Aert in the reduced peloton coming to the finish, Lafay knew his only shot of taking the stage would be by launching an early attack. He went with 1K to go, and thanks to a bit of misjudgement on Van Aert’s part and some pure guts on Lafay’s part, he won the sprint and earned the first stage win for Cofidis since Sylvain Chavanel in 2008.

It’s unquestionably Wout Van Aert and the Jumbo-Visma squad for missing a surefire opportunity at a stage win. Jumbo had both the numbers and the speed in the reduced peloton for the bunch sprint at the end. But the tactics just weren’t there for the Dutch superteam. Van Aert made his emotions known just as he crossed the finish line, slamming his handlebars, knowing full well he left it too late to take his tenth career TdF stage win.

Another Big Day for the American

Neilson Powless will keep the polka dot jersey for another day—and it’s been well-earned. The American riding for EF Education-EasyPost got himself in the break and banked key King of the Mountains points. Powless was first over four climbs that offered points and he now holds a four-point lead over Tadej Pogačar in the KOM competition. It looked for a time that Powless might be able to hold out for the stage win—and perhaps a shot at the yellow jersey. But a motivated peloton brought him back on the last major climb of the day.

Carapaz Abandons

After a Stage 1 crash involving Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) forced Mas to abandon the 2023 Tour de France, Carapaz was able to limp to the finish of the opening stage. But unfortunately for the Ecuadorian national champion, he wouldn’t start Sunday’s second stage, suffering a fractured kneecap. It’s never fun to see two of the peloton’s top stars leave the Tour after just one stage.

Stage Winner : Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates)

Adam Yates (UAE team Emirates) claimed Stage 1 of the 2023 Tour de France, winning an unusually difficult opening stage and claiming the race’s first yellow jersey. Adam Yates outlasted his twin brother, Simon Yates (Jayco–AlUla), as the two riders broke free after the final climb of the day.

It’s gotta be the Yates family, right? There simply cannot be a better feeling for Adam and Simon’s loved ones than watching the two twin brothers battle it out for not only a stage win in the Tour de France, but also the maillot jaune.

Who Was the Other Biggest Winner of the Day?

We’ve never seen a Grand Départ this tough before—and we’re better for it. An opening stage prologue or short time trial always felt like a bit of a tease. It was always the Tour, but was it really the Tour?

Instead this year, we didn’t have to wait too long for the fireworks. There was a nervousness in the peloton that is normally reserved for later in the race. With the prize of a guaranteed yellow jersey for the stage winner at the end, anything could happen. The punchy climbs of the Basque region of Spain—particularly the last three—provided some terrific Stage 1 excitement.

The downside of an action-packed first stage is the inevitability of a crash and that’s just what we saw on the descent of the Côte de Vivero. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) went down with around 23K to go in the stage. Mas entered the Tour as a top podium threat and was ultimately forced to abandon, while Carapaz managed to get back on his bike and finish the stage, but lost enough time to take him out of podium contention.

Top American of the Day

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) will become the first American to wear the polka dot jersey since Nate Brown in 2017. Powless, who very nearly claimed the yellow jersey at the Tour last year, was first across the top of the second category Côte de Vivero. Powless figures to be a major player in the mountains classification—and Saturday marks a strong start for him.

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Why was 1x used at the 2023 Tour de France – and what does it mean for the future?

Does 1x have a future in road racing after all? Joe Laverick investigates for BikeRadar

David Ramos / Getty Images

Joe Laverick

When the reigning yellow jersey and the best all-round bike rider in the world start the Tour de France with a 1x drivetrain on the hilly parcours of the Grand Départ, the whole sport takes note.

It had been coming. Wout van Aert rode to a Milan-San Remo podium using a single-chainring drivetrain in March, 1x was prevalent at Paris-Roubaix in April, and then Jonas Vingegaard won a mountainous stage five at the Critérium du Dauphiné using a 1x drivetrain .

Granted, hearing of riders, especially SRAM-sponsored riders, using a single chainring is nothing new in 2023 – but it is at the Tour de France .

And, seeing it in action with van Aert and Vingegaard – with the latter going on to defend his Tour title – on non-flat stages was enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Later in the race, Lidl-Trek rider Mads Pedersen would win stage eight on 1x, once again using a SRAM Red AXS setup, while Vingegaard rode into Paris with his Jumbo–Visma team-mates as Tour champion on a yellow, 1x-equipped Cervélo S5 .

After a false start, is the tide turning on 1x? Having left its mark on the Tour’s road stages for the first time, is a single-ring drivetrain likely to become a popular option for riders at future Grand Tours?

We’ve spoken to SRAM and Shimano – the two groupset giants with opposing views on 1x for the road – as well as Uno-X Pro Cycling, one of the early-adopters of 1x in road racing, to find out.

How did we get here?

The history of 1x drivetrains on road bikes is hardly positive. “It’s just a track bike with gears,” said Adam Blythe about his team-issue, 1x-specific 3T Strada back in 2018. The pro-cyclist-turned-commentator was one of the original critics of a single chainring for top-level racing, citing a lack of gear options as one of the reasons his then team, Aqua Blue Sport, folded.

Looking back, you could say the 3T Strada was ahead of the curve – 1x has become a bigger part of the conversation across road and, more significantly, the booming gravel scene, in the five years since 2018.

But, realistically, the technology just wasn’t quite there. At the time, 11-speed rather than 12-speed was the standard, and gear ratios have increased, too. Back in 2018, Blythe was right.

Since then, the use of 1x drivetrains for racing has largely been limited to time trials , which is no great surprise. There, it’s a controlled situation, on a much more predictable, shorter course. Coupled with the aero and chainline benefits, as well as the fact that non SRAM-sponsored teams are more willing to bend contracts for time-trial tech, it’s often a no-brainer on an appropriate route.

Speaking of sponsorship, neither Shimano, who we’ll hear from later, or Campagnolo offers groupsets engineered for a single chainring on the road. By our reckoning, only one Shimano-equipped team, Uno-X, used 1x at the men’s Paris-Roubaix, swapping in PCD chainrings in place of the standard, 2x Dura-Ace arrangement.

As you’d expect, no Shimano or Campagnolo team used 1x at the Tour de France, and while Jumbo-Visma and Lidl-Trek experimented, SRAM’s third sponsored team in the men’s WorldTour, Movistar, stuck to the traditional 2x system.

How does 1x for the road work?

On paper, it might seem that ditching the inside chainring and front derailleur would make life easier, but it can, in fact, complicate things more.

First, you can’t use a standard chainring when moving to 1x. It has to be re-engineered in favour of a ‘ narrow-wide ’ design. This pattern limits the lateral movement of the chain and, in turn, reduces the chance of dropping the chain – although, as Primož Roglič, using SRAM’s 1x-only XPLR gravel drivetrain , found out at the Giro d’Italia, this is still a possibility.

Looking to overturn Geraint Thomas’ overall lead on the stage 20 uphill time trial, and having switched from a time trial bike to a 1x-equipped road bike at the foot of the steep climb, Roglič’s chain dropped after he hit a crack in the road. Roglič’s chances of pulling on the maglia rosa flashed before his eyes.

But a quick-fix and push from his mechanic saw the Slovenian soon regain momentum to overturn Thomas’ lead and, in effect, win the race.

When we questioned SRAM as to what happened with Roglič’s chain, Sam Watt, a race technician for the American brand, said: “We honestly don’t know, racing incidents happen. What happened to Roglič was highly unusual.”

In addition to the narrow-wide chainring, a chain guide is often used as a fail-safe, to prevent the chain from bouncing or falling off the ring. The chain guide is arguably the most important part of the whole system (Aqua Blue didn’t use a chain guide back in 2018).

The final part of the single-chainring setup is a rear derailleur that has a clutch system to maintain chain tension. This can, depending on the design, add some drag to the drivetrain system.

Enter, Uno-X

Jumbo-Visma and Lidl-Trek aren’t the only teams to have used 1x in 2023.

Casper von Folsach is an Olympic and World Championship medallist on the track. He’s also currently a performance coach at Uno-X Pro Cycling, a team not afraid to push technical boundaries, having adopted 1x in the Classics and also experimented with the use of Classified’s front-derailleur-replacing, hub-based system .

His main role is product development and equipment selection for the team. Talking to BikeRadar, he tells us that Uno-X uses Shimano products, but is not a sponsored team, which enables greater freedom in component selection.

“With an appropriate chainring and a well-designed chain guide, it is much less likely to drop your chain than with a double setup,” says von Folsach of the improved chain retention of 1x. “I’ve tried myself but I cannot get the chain to come off the bike, even with your hands it is nearly impossible.”

1x for the road first arrived in 2015 with the launch of SRAM Force 1 and Rival 1 , which followed the Force CX1 cyclocross drivetrain .

While uptake was quick on the cyclocross scene, with the same later applying to gravel riding , road adoption, as we’ve learnt, has lagged behind. That, however, hasn’t stopped the technology from maturing significantly.

In recent years, improved technological development and a greater understanding of drivetrain performance have given 1x drivetrains a fresh start. Uno-X’s von Folsach tells us that growing demand has also pressured manufacturers into making better equipment.

“There has been a lot of change,” he says. “In the past, you saw a lot of chain drops due to less than ideal setups. Before it was as widely adopted, a lot of manufacturers didn’t make these wide-narrow chainrings, that has now changed.”

1x can be lighter and more aerodynamic than a traditional system, even if the differences can be small, and the theory says they can offer greater chain retention and efficiency.

“It’s really hard to measure aerodynamics on a moving bike, but on a stationary bike then it is advantageous,” says Watt. It’s impossible to put an exact figure on the aerodynamic benefit of a single chainring due to the range of speeds and yaw angles, he adds.

But why van Aert and Vingegaard on stage one of the Tour de France? The opening stage of the 2023 race was one of the most challenging Grand Départs in living memory, with more than 3,000m of climbing in the Basque Country on the 182km loop from Bilbao.

After an attritional day, fireworks were let off on the Côte de Pike, a 2km climb with an average gradient of 9.4 per cent and ramps of more than 15 per cent. The Yates twins, Adam and Simon, escaped from a select group at the summit and descended as a duo, before Adam won on the uphill finish in the city centre.

“Everyone has a different job in the race, and some riders finish their job with 150km still to go,” says Watt. “It’s not as if we don’t supply enough products, the system is available to every rider and is the team’s decision.

“Jonas [Vingegaard] is the prime example, they’re riding full-gas up the final climbs. Whereas, someone like Christophe Laporte, who has done a lot of work early on, he just needs to spin up that final climb to make the time cut.”

By our reckoning, Jumbo-Visma’s use of 1x at the Tour was limited to the opening and closing stages of the race, but Mads Pedersen used a 1x drivetrain on stage seven, when he finished 10th in the bunch sprint, and stage eight, when he won.

Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek team has been an early-adopter of 1x – Lizzie Deignan won the Paris-Roubaix Femmes for the women’s squad on 1x in 2021 – but Jumbo-Visma’s use is key in turning heads, according to Watt.

“Jumbo-Visma are a huge influence, they’re the world’s number one team,” adds Watt. “They’re not the first, Lidl-Trek have been using 1x since the first year that we had access to it, but as soon as you see Wout van Aert or Jonas on it, the media attention increases.”

Why aren’t more teams using 1x?

Pedersen’s sprint victory on stage eight saw 1x leave its mark on the Tour de France. The former world champion overpowered the race's dominant fast-man, Jasper Philipsen, and van Aert, on the uphill finish into Limoges.

But one swallow does not make a summer, as far as 1x is concerned. For the vast majority of stages, SRAM-equipped riders opted for 2x drivetrains, and, as we’ve already covered, all Shimano and Campagnolo teams had 2x and 2x only at the Tour.

SRAM got the jump in mountain biking, bringing the first 1x groupset to market in the form of XX1 in October 2012 , and single rings now dominate there. Shimano soon followed – but the Japanese brand has stuck resolutely to 2x on the road.

The key, according to Bert Roesems, Shimano’s technical sports manager, is in reducing jumps between gears and enabling riders to maintain their preferred cadence .

“Within our range, you have a better-divided gear ratio,” says Roesems. “Bigger steps in your cassette make for less efficient pedalling.”

That’s particularly key in the mountains, and Jumbo-Visma and Lidl-Trek’s use of 1x at the Tour was limited to the hilly roads of Bilbao or flat sprint stages, with 2x preferred in the Alps and Pyrenees.

Von Folsach and Uno-X’s approach is an interesting one. In almost every circumstance, Von Folsach says a 1x system is more efficient – but the team didn’t use 1x on their road bikes at the Tour.

“One thing is what looks correct in a spreadsheet, and the other is what can be carried out in practice,” he says. “Then there’s the effort in changing behaviours,” he adds.

“So far, we’ve only used it in one-day races, apart from when using Classified, as there’s more [time for] preparation both before and after. We’re not at the point where mechanics would be happy to change 24 bikes from 1x to 2x or vice-versa in between stages.”

What about sponsor pressure?

Uno-X aside – and, remember, that team uses Shimano groupsets, but isn’t officially sponsored – we’ve seen a difference in the approach of (or options available to) Shimano and SRAM teams.

Ultimately, it’s always difficult to know if riders are using equipment because they want to, or because they have to, whether that be through team or sponsor pressure. In rare cases, we see riders and teams go against what sponsors want, but otherwise, cycling is a sport that survives on sponsorship.

However, when asked, SRAM’s Watt is unequivocal in explaining the role of the component supplier, even if the final stage into Paris provided an attractive photo opportunity.

“There’s been absolutely zero pressure [to go onto a 1x system],” says Watt. “We supplied the team with every option available in our catalogue, they tested and chose everything themselves.”

For Shimano-sponsored teams, it’s a different matter. “Our sponsored teams don’t have the option to use 1x,” says Roesems. “We don’t offer that technology and the derailleur isn’t equipped to handle a single chainring.”

The Tour de France is over, so what’s next for 1x?

With the Tour de France over, and Jonas Vingegaard sealing an eventually dominant victory over Tadej Pogačar, the shutters have come down on cycling’s biggest shop window. So what now?

“I don’t think 1x is going anywhere,” says Watts, although SRAM, of course, has skin in the game. “The feedback has been unbelievable and people are starting to realise its full capabilities. Jumbo-Visma have proved that if you get the gear ratios correct then it’s versatile. I truly believe we will see more and more of it.”

New technological developments, such as the Classified system, may hasten the winds of change, too. The upstart’s PowerShift hub replaces the front derailleur but offers the range of a 2x system. Classified is undoubtedly gaining momentum – and winning investment – but there are drawbacks. What’s more, neither Shimano nor SRAM directly endorses the new system.

However, the Classified system has already been tested at the highest level. Victor Campenaerts rode it during the Classics season, and Uno-X trialled it in the Tour of Hungary. We wouldn’t be surprised if Classified stepped things up with a bid to sponsor a pro team in the near future.

As for Shimano, when pushed, the brand remained tight-lipped on whether any single-chainring options would be coming to its road range.

“We are always developing new products and looking for new innovations, where we listen to the feedback we get from our sponsored teams and the market,” says Roesems.

No surprises there, either. The Japanese manufacturer rarely hops on trends, instead waiting to see how they play out. Remember how long it took for Shimano to respond to SRAM and Campagnolo’s move to 12-speed?

Ultimately, Shimano’s next move, as the dominant player in the road groupset market, and the supplier to 14 of the 18 men’s WorldTour teams (to SRAM’s three and Campagnolo’s one), is key.

However, if you’d have told Adam Blythe five years ago that both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France would be won by a rider using, at least in part, a 1x system, we’re not too sure what his response would have been. Perhaps 1x has a future on the road, after all.

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