POGACAT MAKES HISTORY| MEN'S TOUR DE FRANCE 🇫🇷 2026 | STAGE 21

 

TOUR DE FRANCE 🇫🇷 2026 | INDIVIDUAL RANKING | AFTER STAGE 21

 

TOUR DE FRANCE 🇫🇷 | STAGE WINNERS | ALL-TIME RANKING

 

THE PARTICIPANTS LIST OF THE 2026 TOUR DE FRANCE,.THE BIB NUMBERS AND THE STARTING ORDER OF THE TEAM TIME TRIAL IN BARCELONA

 

The Tour de France 2026 kicks off this Saturday, July 4, with the team time trial in Barcelona 🇪🇸 (see the detailed Tour de France route).

Twenty-three teams of eight riders each will form a peloton of 184 riders for this Tour de France 2026, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) naturally the top favorite, but the field also includes Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), who has clearly shown he’s in top form by winning Paris-Nice, the Tour of Catalonia, and the [[Giro d’Italia]], as well as Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), who is making a fresh start with his new team and would like to put the bitter taste of the Tour de France 2025 behind him, when he withdrew on Stage 14. Also in the field is the young and promising Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), though perhaps he should start by simply getting a feel for the Tour de France during his first appearance at age 19, before thinking about the general classification?

Statistics on the riders and teams participating in the 2026 Tour de France

To begin with, let’s first look at some statistics regarding the riders set to compete in the Tour de France 2026. The 184 riders represent 27 countries in this 113th edition of the Tour de France:

for the first time since 1980, Belgium leads the nations’ ranking with 31 riders

France, the host country, ranks second with 30 riders, and this is the first time since 2007 that it has not been in the lead

the Netherlands rounds out the top three with 17 riders

The average age of the peloton is 29 years and 16 days, and the youngest rider, as mentioned above, is Paul Seixas, who is 19 years and 283 days old today. He is the youngest rider to compete since Adrien Cento in 1937 (19 years and 118 days).

There are 50 riders making their Tour de France debut, including Seixas (bringing the total number of riders to have started in the history of the Tour de France to 5,509).

41 riders are in contention for the white jersey as best young rider, reserved for riders born in 2001 or later.

The oldest rider in the peloton is Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), who will be making his 8th start at the age of 38 years and 265 days. But the riders with the most starts are Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Warren Barguil (Team Picnic PostNL), and Luke Durbridge (Team Jayco AlUla), who are each making their 12th appearance.

There will be three Yellow Jersey winners at the start: the riders who have won the last seven editions — Tadej Pogacar (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025), Jonas Vingegaard (2022, 2023), and Egan Bernal (2019).

Following last weekend’s national championships, 11 national road championship titles and 11 national time trial championship titles will be represented at the start, accounting for 20 different riders (Isaac del Toro (Mexico) and Mathias Vacek (Czech Republic) hold both titles for their respective countries).

Participating teams, riders, and jersey numbers

Here are the 23 teams competing in the Tour de France 2026 along with their riders and jersey numbers:

UAE Team Emirates XRG

1/ Tadej POGACAR

2/ Isaac DEL TORO

3/ Felix GROSSSCHARTNER

4/ Brandon MCNULTY

5/ Nils POLITT

6/ Florian VERMEERSCH

7/ Tim WELLENS

8/ Adam YATES

Team Visma | Lease a Bike

11/ Jonas VINGEGAARD

12/ Edoardo AFFINI

13/ Bruno ARMIRAIL

14/ Victor CAMPENAERTS

15/ Per Strand HAGENES

16/ Matteo JORGENSON

17/ Sepp KUSS

18/ Davide PIGANZOLI

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

21/ Remco EVENEPOEL

22/ Mattia CATTANEO

23/ Nico DENZ

24/ Jai HINDLEY

25/ Florian LIPOWITZ

26/ Jan TRATNIK

27/ Tim VAN DIJKE

28/ Maxim VAN GILS

Lidl-Trek

31/ Juan AYUSO

32/ Derek JAMES GEE

33/ Mads PEDERSEN

34/ Quinn SIMMONS

35/ Mattias SKJELMOSE

36/ Toms SKUJINS

37/ Mathias VACEK

EF Education-EasyPost

41/ Richard CARAPAZ

42/ Kasper ASGREEN

43/ Alex BAUDIN

44/ Ben HEALY

45/ Sean QUINN

46/ Georg STEINHAUSER

47/ Michael VALGREN

48/ Max WALKER

Decathlon CMA CGM Team

51/ Paul SEIXAS

52/ Tiesj BENOOT

53/ Cees BOL

54/ Daan HOOLE

55/ Olav KOOIJ

56/ Aurélien PARET PEINTRE

57/ Nicolas PRODHOMME

58/ Matthew RICCITELLO

XDS Astana Team

61/ Sergio HIGUITA

62/ Davide BALLERINI

63/ Aaron MURRAY GATE

64/ Max KANTER

65/ Harold TEJADA

66/ Mike TEUNISSEN

67/ Simone VELASCO

68/ Nicolya VINOKUROV

Bahrain Victorious

71/ Lenny MARTINEZ

72/ Phil BAUHAUS

73/ Damiano CARUSO

74/ Kamil GRADEK

75/ Matej MOHORIC

76/ Robert STANNARD

77/ Antonio TIBERI

78/ Vlad VAN MECHELEN

NetCompany INEOS Cycling Team

81/ Egan BERNAL

82/ Thymen ARENSMAN

83/ Tobias FOSS

84/ Filippo GANNA

85/ Dorian GODON

86/ Michal KWIATKOWSKI

87/ Joshua TARLING

88/ Kévin VAUQUELIN

Soudal Quick-Step

91/ Tim MERLIER

92/ Pascal EENKHOORN

93/ Valentin PARET PEINTRE

94/ Jasper STUYVEN

95/ Dylan VAN BAARLE

96/ Bert VAN LERBERGHE

97/ Ilan VAN WILDER

98/ Louis VERVAEKE

Alpecin-Premier Tech

101/ Mathieu VAN DER POEL

102/ Ramses DEBRUYNE

103/ Silvan DILLIER

104/ Tim MARSMAN

105/ Jasper PHILIPSEN

106/ Edward PLANCKAERT

107/ Jonas RICKAERT

108/ Emiel VERSTRYNGE

Team Jayco AlUla

111/ Ben O’CONNOR

112/ Pascal ACKERMANN

113/ Luke DURBRIDGE

114/ Felix ENGELHARDT

115/ Michael MATTHEWS

116/ Kelland O’BRIEN

117/ Luke PLAPP

118/ Mauro SCHMID

Uno-X Mobility

121/ Tobias JOHANNESSEN

122/ Jonas ABRAHAMSEN

123/ Anthon CHARMIG

124/ Magnus CORT NIELSEN

125/ Anders JOHANNESSEN

126/ Anders SKAARSETH

127/ Torstein TRÆEN

128/ Søren WAERENSKJOLD

NSN Cycling Team

131/ Biniam GIRMAY

132/ Lewis ASKEY

133/ George BENNETT

134/ Marco FRIGO

135/ Matis LOUVEL

136/ Krists NEILANDS

137/ Jake STEWART

138/ Tom VAN ASBROECK

Movistar Team

141/ Cian UIJTDEBROEKS

142/ Pablo CASTRILLO

143/ Jefferson CEPEDA

144/ Raul GARCIA

145/ Michel HEßMANN

146/ Nelson OLIVEIRA

147/ Javier ROMO

148/ Einer RUBIO

Lotto Intermarché

151/ Arnaud DE LIE

152/ Huub ARTZ

153/ Jenno BERCKMOES

154/ Lars CRAPS

155/ Liam SLOCK

156/ Lennert VAN EETVELT

157/ Baptiste VEISTROFFER

158/ Georg ZIMMERMANN

Cofidis

161/ Ion IZAGIRRE

162/ Piet ALLEGAERT

163/ Alex ARANBURU

164/ Jenthe BIERMANS

165/ Milan FRETIN

166/ Alex KIRSCH

167/ Hugo PAGE

168/ Benjamin THOMAS

Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team

171/ Tom PIDCOCK

172/ Xabier AZPARREN IRURZUN

173/ Christopher HARPER

174/ Quinten HERMANS

175/ Damien CRAIG HOWSON

176/ Xandro MEURISSE

177/ Brent VAN MOER

178/ Fred WRIGHT

Groupama-FDJ United

181/ Romain GREGOIRE

182/ Clément BERTHET

183/ Clément BRAZ AFONSO

184/ Ewen COSTIOU

185/ Lorenzo GERMANI

186/ Guillaume MARTIN GUYONNET

187/ Quentin PACHER

188/ Clément RUSSO

 

Tudor Pro Cycling Team

191/ Julian ALAPHILIPPE

192/ Arvid DE KLEIJN

193/ Marco HALLER

194/ Marc HIRSCHI

195/ Rick PLUIMERS

196/ Michael STORER

197/ Matteo TRENTIN

198/ Yannis VOISARD

TotalEnergies

201/ Jordan JEGAT

202/ Nicolas BREUILLARD

203/ Joris DELBOVE

204/ Alexandre DELETTRE

205/ Thibault GUERNALEC

206/ Mathis LE BERRE

207/ Anthony TURGIS

208/ Matteo VERCHER

Team Picnic PostNL

211/ Warren BARGUIL

212/ Frits BIESTERBOS

213/ Pavel BITTNER

214/ John DEGENKOLB

215/ Robbe DHONDT

216/ Niklas MÄRKL

217/ Julius VAN DEN BERG

218/ Frank VAN DEN BROEK

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

221/ Fernando GAVIRIA

222/ Abel BALDERSTONE

223/ Sebastian BERWICK

224/ Alex MOLENAAR

225/ Joël NICOLAU

226/ Stefano OLDANI

227/ Jakub OTRUBA

228/ Jose FELIX PARRA

The starting order and times for the teams in the 2026 Tour de France team time trial in Barcelona

Here is the starting order and times for the first stage of the Tour de France 2026, a team time trial through the streets of Barcelona:

01 - 5:05 p.m. - CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA 

02 - 5:10 p.m. - TEAM PICNIC POSTNL 

03 - 5:15 p.m. - TOTALENERGIES 

04 - 5:20 p.m. - TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM 

05 - 5:25 p.m. - GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED 

06 - 5:30 p.m. - PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM

07 - 5:35 p.m. - COFIDIS 

08 - 5:40 p.m. - LOTTO INTERMARCHE 

09 - 5:45 p.m. - MOVISTAR TEAM 

10 - 5:50 p.m. - NSN CYCLING TEAM 

11 - 5:55 p.m. - UNO-X MOBILITY 

12 - 6:00 p.m. - TEAM JAYCO ALULA 

13 - 6:05 p.m. - ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH 

14 - 6:10 p.m. - SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 

15 - 6:15 p.m. - NETCOMPANY INEOS CYCLING TEAM 

16 - 6:20 p.m. – BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 

17 - 6:25 p.m. – XDS ASTANA TEAM 

18 - 6:30 p.m. - DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM 

19 - 6:35 p.m. - EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST 

20 - 6:40 p.m. - LIDL-TREK 

21 - 6:45 p.m. - RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE 

22 - 6:50 p.m. - TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 

23 - 6:55 p.m. - UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG 

- Tour de France 

VISMA | LEASE A BIKE HITS BACK AT POGACAR: ‘IT’S NICE THAT HE DOESN’T GET IT’

Cor Vos

The Dutch team lift the temperatures in the war of words, fighting back after Tadej Pogačar criticised their stage 6 tactics.

The Tour de France is hotting up in every way. Not only are the riders set to endure 30º temperatures for today’s race to Mûr de Bretagne, with red hot racing almost guaranteed, but the war of words is becoming too hot to handle as well.

This morning Visma | Lease a Bike’s head of sport Grischa Niermann responded to Tadej Pogačar’s criticism of their tactics, telling the gathered press, “It’s a good thing he doesn’t get it. We followed our own strategy and did exactly what we set out to do. Period.”

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had been well up the road in a breakaway during Thursday’s stage, and it was expected the Dutchman would reclaim the race leader’s yellow jersey. However, that was threatened when Visma | Lease a Bike upped the pace in the closing kilometres. In the end Van der Poel took yellow by a single second, relegating Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to second place, albeit probably temporarily.

Afterwards Pogačar questioned the Dutch team’s tactics, saying they were rubbish and suggesting they wanted to keep him yellow. 

This morning Niermann fought back.

“Did we want him in yellow? Absolutely not. I think UAE rode until six kilometres from the finial and they set the lead, so they also decided to keep Pogačar in yellow. What doo I think of the criticism? I think it’s a compliment that he’s interfering with us. We look at ourselves, determine out own tactics and we don’t interfere,” the German concluded.

Visma’s leader, Jonas Vingegaard is seen as the only real challenger to Pogačar’s crown but the Dane lost time on Wednesday’s time trial, losing well over a minute to the Slovenian, and he now sits fifth overall, 1.13 behind his rival.

Friday’s stage to 197km Mûr de Bretagne takes in two ascents of the fabled climb and is likely to see more aggressive, entertaining racing. And maybe some interesting tactics.

- Owen Rogers

'NOW THE ROAD TO RECOVERY BEGINS' - JASPER PHILIPSEN UNDERGOES COLLARBONE SURGERY FOLLOWING TOUR DE FRANCE CRASH

Tadej Pogačar 'super sad' to see sprinter abandon the Tour, while other stage 3 crash victims race on with minor injuries

Jasper Philipsen in hospital following surgery to his broken collarbone (Image credit: Alpecin-Deceuninck/Instagram)

Jasper Philipsen has undergone successful surgery on his collarbone and acromioclavicular joint after suffering fractures in the stage 3 crash that saw him forced out of the Tour de France, his Alpecin-Deceuninck team have announced.

Stage 1 winner and green jersey holder Philipsen was gearing up to contest the intermediate sprint during Monday's stage from Valenciennes to Dunkerque before he was inadvertently taken down by Bryan Coquard (Cofidis). Coquard, who himself crashed twice, subsequently apologised for the incident.

Philipsen hit the ground hard, sliding for some distance along the tarmac on his back. His withdrawal was quickly confirmed as he was tended to by team and race doctors at the roadside, and he was later confirmed to have suffered a broken collarbone.

"Stage 3 of the Tour de France delivered us a tough day and a heartbreaking moment, as Jasper Philipsen was forced to leave the race after a heavy crash during the intermediate sprint for the green jersey," Alpecin-Deceuninck announced in a post to Instagram on Tuesday morning, accompanied by a photo of Philipsen giving a thumbs up.

"In the meantime, he underwent a successful surgery last night at AZ Herentals to repair his collarbone and AC joint. Thank you to Dr. Steven and Dr. Tom Claes for their excellent care. Now the road to recovery begins, and we’ll be behind him all the way."

The Belgian team had dominated the Tour's opening weekend, helping Philipsen to score his 10th stage win and first yellow jersey during the opening stage in Lille before Mathieu van der Poel powered to victory and into the race lead on stage 2's uphill finish at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Kaden Groves, seventh on stage 3, will now take over the flat sprint duties for the squad, while Van der Poel could spy another opportunity as early as today, a Classics-style hilly stage from Amiens to Rouen.

Van der Poel, who will be leading out Groves going forward as well as taking his own chances for more wins, told Het Nieuwsblad that the atmosphere in the team has taken a hit following the loss of Philipsen.

"The disappointment is enormous. It is a great shame, especially for Jasper. When I saw him sitting on the ground, I immediately saw that it did not bode well," he said.

"We're all very sad to lose Jasper – not only on the bike, either He's a friend and always lightens the mood in the team with his great sense of humour.

"But I think he can be proud of his victory in the first stage and of wearing the yellow jersey. Knowing Jasper, he must be very disappointed, but he will quickly turn the corner and concentrate on his next goal.

"The mood in the team has taken a hit. I hope we can regain our concentration and have another great day."

Tadej Pogačar, who lies second overall at four seconds from Van der Poel, wrote that he was "very sad" to see his friend and former UAE teammate Philipsen leave the race.

"Another crazy day done. I started honoured and happy with the polka dot jersey for a day, but super sad to see Jasper Philipsen hit the deck so hard – you will be back in no time," the defending champion wrote.

Philipsen's crash was one of many during an otherwise uneventful day of racing. Coquard was also caught up in a crash during the sprint finish, somersaulting over several other riders during a hectic final.

The Frenchman, one of four riders handed a yellow card for irregular sprinting during stage 3, "has a burn all over his left flank, multiple superficial wounds, and burns," according to his Cofidis team.

Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), and Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) also went down in the late crash. De Lie and Penhoët both escaped unscathed, while Astana directeur sportif Mark Renshaw said that Ballerini was "in a fair amount of pain" after going down hard.

Jeannière suffered "a facial trauma with no signs of severity, multiple contusions, particularly to the shoulder, and stitched wounds", his team reported.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders Jordi Meeus and Laurence Pithie were caught in an earlier crash, though inside the final kilometres and so covered by the new 5km rule. All escaped with scrapes, avoiding any serious injury.

Despite the numerous crashes that marked stage 3, no further abandons have been reported at time of writing, with Philipsen the only loss heading into stage 4.

- Dani Ostanek

TOUR DE FRANCE: DOES PRIMOZ ROGLIC STILL HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

Cor Vos

Not only did he lose time on the opening stage, but Primož Roglič has been surprisingly downbeat about his chances of Tour de France success. Is he just realistic or is he about to call time on a glittering career?

One of this year’s second tier of favourites, Primož Roglič has given a series of downbeat interviews suggesting a lack of conviction in his chances at this year’s Tour de France.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe star ranks alongside the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-step) in a second tier of riders likely to fight for the podium, with nailed on favourites, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) sharing the top steps. Both himself and Evenepoel lost time on stage one, but the Roglič’s attitude has been considerably less bullish than his Belgian counterpart.

Before the Tour, his team was upbeat about the Slovenian’s chances; “When Primož Roglič lines up for a Grand Tour, the podium is always the goal,” said the German squad’s head of sport, Rolf Aldag.

But the rider has seemed surprisingly downbeat. “If I’m honest, I don’t care, you know really,” he told ITV Cycling. “Having 10 Tour de Frances or one or no, with my phase of career you know it will not change it. I won some races, I mean I’m f**king proud, so I try to enjoy it.”

That response drew somewhat of a backlash on Sunday’s TNT Sport coverage and elsewhere, even if he’d said much the same in the pre-race press gatherings before the Grand Depart, telling French sports paper, L’Equipe; “If I win the Tour de France, I won’t have this life anymore. Do I want to change my life? No.

“We all know which races I have won and which races I haven’t won. With the Tour de France, I have a bit of unfinished business but on the other hand winning it or not winning it… I’m 36 years old, so winning it won’t change my life.”

One of the best stage racers of his generation, Roglič could be among those described as the best never to have won the Tour. It’s not for lack of trying though. He can closest in 2020, capitulating on the penultimate stage mountain time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, losing 1.56 to Pogačar, dropping from the race lead to finish second overall. 

With four GC wins at the Vuelta, one at the Giro and a host of victories at top quality races, his palmarès is the envy of the vast majority of professionals, but the Tour has been somewhat of a nemesis, having failed to finish the last three editions he started.

After the stage one time loss the team seemed relatively unconcerned. “The stage didn’t go perfectly, but Primoz still finished alongside several other GC contenders. We consciously chose not to take risks,” Aldag said. 

Stage two was an improvement, on the feisty, technical finish of stage two in Boulogne he finished safely in the leading group, even if he was close to the back. However, his post race comments were curious, telling the Slovenian media; “I didn’t have the desire to go any faster.”

Roglič is a champion, of that there is no argument. He’s lost time in grand tours before and ground his way back to victory, just look at last year’s Vuelta. But Vignegaard and Pogačar are highly unlikely to allow that at this year’s Tour, and overall victory seems far away.

Maybe Roglič is just being realistic in his dealings with the press, he’s known for that. Perhaps he’s trying to divert attention from himself. His words may also be those of someone who knows time’s up, his contract is up at the end of the year, and perhaps he knows it's his last.

- Owen Rogers

NOMINEES FOR THE 2025 LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

 

🎙️ The Nominees for the 2025 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award are:

🎾 Carlos Alcaraz

👟 Mondo Duplantis

🏊‍♂️ Léon Marchand

🚴‍♂️ Tadej Pogačar 

🏎 Max Verstappen

#Laureus25

CYCLING STAR TADEJ POGACAR WINS MEN'S ROAD RACE AT WORLDS

Tadej Pogačar continued his dominant 2024 by winning the men's road race at the world championships Sunday. AP Photo/Peter Dejong

ZURICH -- Tadej Pogačar cemented his status as cycling's biggest star with a devastating solo attack to win the men's road race at the world championships Sunday.

The three-time Tour de France champion surged ahead just over 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the end. The 26-year-old Slovenian appeared to be in tears after crossing the line in Zurich, putting his hand on his mouth then covering his face with both hands before pumping his arms in the air.

He crossed the line 34 seconds ahead of Australian Ben O'Connor and 58 clear of defending champion Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, who finished third in a sprint to the line ahead of Latvian Toms Skujins and Belgian contender Remco Evenepoel in fifth place.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself for today. The race unfolded pretty quickly," Pogačar said. "I never gave up. It was an incredible day. I cannot believe what just happened."

Pogačar achieved the rare treble of winning the worlds, the Tour and the Giro d'Italia in the same year. He also won the prestigious Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic and the Strade Bianche, both with similar solo attacks.

"After many years fighting for the Tour de France and other races, I never had the world championship as a clear goal, but this year everything went smoothly," Pogačar said. "After the perfect season, it was a really big goal to win the world championship, and I can't believe it happened."

On Sunday, he had a prestigious teammate on the road: Primož Roglič, the record-equaling four-time Spanish Vuelta champion.

But he didn't need him, and it was Pavel Sivakov of France who joined Pogačar as he made a breakaway 100 kilometers (62 miles) out.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Pogačar said. "But I went with the flow, and luckily I made it."

The peloton, led by a determined Van der Poel, tried to counter them with about 70 kilometers left.

The front two maintained their lead of around 40 seconds, with Van der Poel now joined by Evenepoel, the 2022 world champion and reigning Olympic champion. But Evenepoel, who won last weekend's time trial, had no teammates with him.

After Pogačar dropped Sivakov, he rolled through the countryside leading to Zurich and the title after finishing third last year.

He completed the 274-kilometer (170-mile) route, which started from Winterthur and had elevation gains of 4,470 meters, in 6 hours, 27 minutes, 30 seconds.

Two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe of France went out of the race early on. The Soudal Quick-Step rider was caught in a crash and hurt his left shoulder.

- Associated Press