tour de france top sprinters

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The tour de france’s greatest ever sprinters, from pelissier to cavendish, the fast men forever etched into tour de france history.

Mark Cavendish started the Tour de France for the tenth time this year, and with four stage wins reminded everyone of just how good a sprinter he is.

Cavendish was named the Tour’s greatest ever sprinter by L’Equipe in 2012 with no other sprinter winning as many stages of the race as the Manxman – in fact, following his stage six victory in Montauban, the only man with more Tour stage wins than him is the great Eddy Merckx with 34.

Add to that his points classification win in 2011, and the yellow jersey he finally pulled on after stage one of this year’s race, and you can see why L’Equipe afforded Britain’s most successful male professional cyclist such an honour.

But if Cavendish is the greatest ever, how do all the other great sprinters to have raced the Tour de France in its 103 editions compare?

We’ve picked out nine of the greatest fast men ever to take on the Tour. Are there any you would add to the list?

Mark Cavendish (GBR) – 2007 to present

Mark Cavendish made his Tour de France debut in 2007, during which he suffered two crashes and abandoned as the race headed into the mountains. It was an inconspicuous start given what was to follow.

Despite only riding the first 13 stages of the following year’s Tour – due to training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics – Cavendish picked up his first four stage wins in the race before bagging six in 2009 and five apiece in 2010 and 2011.

Riding for the HTC-HighRoad team, he and his lead-out train were simply untouchable at their best as Cavendish bagged the green jersey in 2011, crowning his win with a victory on the Champs-Elysees.

His era of dominance ended thereafter, but – in the jersey of world road race champion – he won three times in his solitary season with Team Sky, twice in his debut year with Omega Pharma-QuickStep and last year went clear into third place on the list of all-time wins thanks to his 26 th career triumph.

And just as he was being written off in some quarters, the Manx Missile  added four more wins to his  palmares in 2016, to go second in that list behind Merckx and pull on the yellow jersey for the first time.

Tour de France stage wins: 30* Tour de France points classification wins: one (2011)

Andre Darrigade (FRA) – 1952 to 1966

Frenchman Andre Darrigade has been dubbed the greatest French sprinter of all time by Raphael Geminiani with his phenomenal speed (and stamina) earning him 22 stage wins in his illustrious career.

Darrigade’s sprinting style meant he could win sprints from far back, often opting to lead out bunch finishes and ‘challenging others to pass him’, according to journalist Rene de Latour.

Darrigade’s sprinting ability didn’t just earn him stage wins either, with him wearing the yellow jersey 16 times in all too – winning the opening stage of the Tour in four consecutive years between 1956 and 1959, and again in 1961.

The Frenchman also twice won the points classification, in 1959 and 1961, and remains one of only six riders to have bagged 20 or more stage wins at the Tour.

Tour de France stage wins: 22 Tour de France points classification wins: two (1959, 1961)

Mario Cipollini (ITA) – 1993 to 1999

Exuberant Italian Mario Cipollini’s sensational sprinting exploits may have been more centred on the Giro d’Italia, but he still found time to win 12 Tour de France stages and spend time in the yellow jersey.

Cipo ’s well-publicised dislike of the mountains meant he never contested the green jersey, and his teams not being invited from 2000 to 2003 – despite him being world champion at the time of the latter race – also didn’t help.

He sits in the Tour record books, however, having won the race’s fastest ever stage in 1999 as part of his post-war record four consecutive stage wins.

But regardless of the bare statistics, few can doubt Cipollini was one of cycling’s greatest ever sprinters, not just at the Tour.

His 42 Giro d’Italia stage wins remain a record, and with his Tour and Vuelta a tally added to that, his career tally stands at 57 Grand Tour stage wins.

Tour de France stage wins: 12 Tour de France points classification wins: none

Erik Zabel (GER) – 1995 to 2008

Where Cipollini opted not to contest the green jersey at the Tour de France, Erik Zabel monopolised the points classification at the turn of the millennium.

The German won the green jersey six years in a row, from 1996 to 2001, and also celebrated 12 wins in all – picking up two on debut in 1995 and collecting his final victory in 2002.

Like Peter Sagan today, Zabel picked up points with a serious of consistent finishes on the sprint stages and could climb better than his fellow sprinters too.

But where Sagan has struggled to win stages, Zabel had no such problems – no German rider has won more stages, despite Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel closing in fast.

Tour de France stage wins: 12 Tour de France points classification wins: six (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)

Freddy Maertens (BEL) – 1972 to 1981

With Eddy Merckx and Roger de Vlaeminck dominating the Belgian cycling scene, it was going to take somebody pretty special to steal the limelight.

And while Merckx’s achievements on the road remain unparalleled, Maertens at least gave the Belgian faithful a new hero to celebrate – when he was not feuding with the more popular Cannibal at least.

Maertens was primarily a sprinter, but versatile enough to win the 1977 Vuelta a Espana – where he won 13 stages – and his Tour de France record stacks up well too,

Three times he claimed the green jersey, with his 1976 victory arriving courtesy of a record-equalling eight stage wins – five of which were from sprints and three against the clock.

Tour de France stage wins: 16 Tour de France points classification wins: three (1976, 1978, 1981)

René Le Grevès (FRA) – 1933 to 1939

René Le Grevès’ 16 Tour de France stage wins are all the more remarkable when you consider how short his professional career proved to be.

Journalist Jean-Paul Ollivier has dubbed him the Tour’s greatest sprinter, and he was certainly the greatest of the later interwar years – not least between 1934 and 1936 when he collected 14 of those 16 victories.

He was also crowned French champion in 1936, his annus mirabilis as he won six times at that year’s Tour before his star began to wane a little.

Le Grevès’ final stage win came in 1939 before the Tour was cancelled due to the war. The Parisian-born sprinter survived the war but died in 1946 in a skiing accident.

Tour de France stage wins: 16 Tour de France points classification wins: N/A (not run until 1953)

Robbie McEwen (AUS) – 1997 to 2010

Australian fast man Robbie McEwen was the first of his countrymen to win the points classification – something he achieved three times in his career.

McEwen relied on tactical nous and all-out pace rather than a sprint train as such, but that didn’t stop him clocking 12 Tour de France stage wins in all.

His first arrived on the Champs-Elysees in 1999, while his victory in Paris again in 2002 was enough to see him usurp six-time points back-to-back points classification winner Zabel.

He also wore the yellow jersey for a single day in 2004, before recovering from two bad crashes to win a stage and bag his second green jersey.

McEwen’s final stage win in 2007 was all the more remarkable because he recovered from a late crash to return to the bunch and win the kick to the line – proving not only his resilience but his sprinting speed.

Tour de France stage wins: 12 Tour de France points classification wins: 2002, 2004, 2006

Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (UZB) – 1990 to 1997

Uzbekistani sprinting legend Djamolidine Abdoujaparov did not earn the nickname “The Tashkent Terror” for nothing.

Abdoujaparov’s sprinting style was unorthodox to say the least – at worst, it was erratic and dangerous – but it was also clearly effective as he clocked nine stage wins.

Winner of the points classification three times, in 1991, 1993 and 1994, Abdoujaparov claimed the green jersey on the first of those occasions despite a now infamous, high-speed crash during which he hit the barriers on the Champs-Elysees and had to beat the pain barrier to win the stage unaided.

Not all of Abdoujaparov’s victories came from sprints – in fact his last at the Tour, in 1996, was a breakaway in the mountains – but there was no doubting where is best ability lay until his 1997 retirement.

Tour de France stage wins: nine Tour de France points classification wins: 1991, 1993, 1994

Charles Pelissier (FRA) – 1922 to 1939

Former French ‘cross champion turned sprinting extraordinaire Charles Pelissier reached his zenith in the 1930 Tour de France, one year on from his first Tour stage win.

Now, some 86 years on from that 1930 race, there is still no rider who has bettered his eight stage wins – despite Merckx and Maertens both matching it.

Pelissier’s record is all the more incredible when you consider he also finished second on seven occasions that year – there was no green jersey at the time, but you can guarantee the Frenchman would have won by a country mile had there been.

The following year he ‘only’ won five – wearing the yellow jersey for the second time in consecutive years early in the race.

Pelissier won twice more, at the 1935 Tour de France, before at the age of 36 the war curtailed his professional career.

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Top 10 Sprinters - Tour de France 2023

Pro Cycling Bets

Who's going to take the most number of stages of the sprinters for this year's Tour de France. Are there enough sprint stages that Cavendish will be able to nab one to claim the record over Mercx? As he wants us all to know, and fairly so, that he has the record for the most stage wins at the Tour, it just so happens Mercx got their first. But they're on equal footing he wants us to know 🙃

Suffice to say, according to PCS Cavendish isn't even in the top ten sprinters headed to the Tour, which makes a lot of sense given the abysmal form, lack of sprint train or combination of both he's shown in the early season. The Giro win seems to have cured everyone's mind of that though. Not PCS though, and not us. We're not silly enough to fall prey to recency bias. Said us never. We're human. PCS isn't.

That being said, this ranking has a bias in the fact that PCS will lean to promote riders who have raced more this season. So sprinters like Biniam Girmay who just recently started their comeback (nice 4th @ Brussels Classic Girmay!) after a nasty sprint crash, won't be making this list despite their calibre.

Sprinters should stick around to at least either stage eight or stage twelve depending on how good they are at hill climbing. Stage nine has Puy de Dôme on it, and it's not the toughest climb in the book, but not every sprinter can climb like Pedersen proved remarkably adept at in the Giro. Stage thirteen has Grand Colombier, and if any sprinter wanted to bow out before the classic Tour climb we wouldn't blame them.

After doing all the research for this article we also decided that we should probably also do a top ten best victory poses. Some of these riders can really bust a move on the line. But on with the show! We were told by multiple people to do these backwards now to build up the suspense so let's do just that.

Number 10 - Wout van Aert (28) - Jumbo Visma

Coming in at number ten is good ol' Wout van Aert. Potentially the best all arounder in the peloton today if you count cyclocross as well. But otherwise then Pogačar's got the upper hand on him just like everyone else. Apparently though Pog has done some cyclocross at the start of season, so maybe he'd best Wout van Aert there too? Regardless Wout van Aert's coming at the tour after a strong classics season despite "Woutgate" after gifting a slot to Christophe LaPorte at Gent Wevelgem.

Wout van Aert will likely be targeting the green jersey again, and winning sprints helps in that regard. But if push comes to shove with Vingegaard and he's facing the heat, then WVA will most likely have to place his Jumbo Visma domestique duties above la maillort vert. Not the worst thing, as he could just become a stage hunter at that point and win even more spints.

Number 9 - Bryan Coquard (31) - Cofidis

Cofidis may not have the strongest team, specifically the strongest general classification contender, going to the Tour, but that could prove to be their benefit, allowing them to focus on winning stages with Coquard and Geschke trying to do a repeat of basically winning KOM of the non GC riders.

Coquard has faired rather well this year taking three wins, finishing second twice, and a few top tens. Coquard did the Vuelta last year instead of the Tour, having last completed the nine stages of the sprinters Tour de France, also known as "all the stages the sprinters could do before the hills came".

And we mean, he's French, so that's got to give him a 10% boost to his stats, especially on the first day when the French come out in numbers.

Coquard doesn't necessarily like a lead out, and manages to perform well regardless of whether he gets one or not, managing to slipstream himself through the final bunch.

Number 8 - Jordi Meeus (24) - BORA

Why is BORA bringing two top sprinters to the same tour? Are they going to swap every day who's leading out who? Probably not going to work super well given that being a solid lead out bae like Danny van Poppel isn't the same as being the top sprinter.

We'll see BORA's strategy when the action kicks off, but we're still a little surprised. Through out the entire season BORA has actively tried to ensure the two's (Meeus and Bennett's) program's don't overlap.

The Belgian has performed well though this season, but never quite managed to nag the top slot other than a 1.1 one day race at Circuit de Charleroi Wallonie. Given it's below World Tour and Pro level we're not lending much weight to that. Trying to prove us wrong today at the Brussels Classic 1.Pro he almost snagged 1rst, but lost to a competitor further down the list.

Recently at the end of April he's managed to pick up two third slots at the Tour of Norway (which didn't have the strongest start list however). Earlier in the year he had a couple podium finishes at Volta Algarve, but his two big world tour stage races of Tirreno - Adriatico and Santos Tour Down Under (the latter he DNS to be fair) never performed superbly.

Number 7 - Sam Bennett (32) - BORA

BORA's second hotshot, the Irish sprinter has been performing decently after his little hop back and forth between BORA and Quickstep. This year, Bennet's had one win, the first race he did for the season, a Vuelta San Juan, following it up with a 4th and 3rd directly after, and then a 2nd placed finish on the penultimate stage.

Since then he's started to drag his feet a little - but not by much. Bennett followed up his performance at San Juan with a strong UAE tour, narrowly missing out winning a stage twice. Once again at Paris Nice, he almost secured the first stage and was in the running on the fifth, but never managed to take a win.

Overall though, on the stages where sprinter's could perform, he's almost always ended up on the podium or close there to it.

So we think if BORA can figure out who is riding for who, Bennett could prove to be a hot commodity in those bunch sprints.

Number 6 - Caleb Ewan (28) - Lotto Dstny

Ah, the small yet powerful Caleb! We wonder if he'll be wearing that distinctive black helmet with white dots. Or is it a white helmet with black dots? We can't remember, regardless though it's distinctive and you'll be able to pull Caleb out from the crowd. We bet that Caleb also hopes he can pull himself out from the crowd, specifically the final sprint crowd.

We were concerned with Caleb's performance earlier in the year but he's been coming into supreme form in the later season and could be peaking at just the right time. Maybe it was getting sick from all his kiddos that through him on training plan at the start.

Caleb still started decently with a 2nd at the Tour Down Under and being in contention for a few stages. He also got the short end of the stick, or short end of the bike if we dare say, at the first stage of the UAE Tour where the photo finish was 100% equal with Tim Merlier. We still stand by they should have done a 1km sprint as the UCI rules state for ties.

With decent performances at Tour de Hongrie, and finally a win at Van Merkstejin Fences Classic, followed by a second at Ronde van Limburg we're excited to see if he can translate his recent form to the Tour. At worst he can lead out Cavendish for fun 🙃

Number 5 - Arnaud Démare (31) - Groupama FDJ

Groupama is coming to the Tour with an incredibly promising team with the likes of Pinot, Madouas, Gaudu and Küng. We're really only seeing one domestique of Geniets. But what is he going to do, pull the entire stage? We guess if Küng isn't time trialing to save his contract he'll help out. And if Pinot's not too worried about his pregnant cows and sheep, and not wanting to battle Geschke for King of the Mountain he'll throw in a pull or two for Gaudu.

But we're getting sidetracked. A little bit. Because who's going to lead out Démare? Probably Küng. But we'll see. Should prove to be interesting.

Just as interesting as Démare's recent year, with him slowly building and getting up to speed it looks like, just in time for the Tour. Démare had a weak showing at the tour down in UAE at the start of the year, but has since then been in the running in a few sprints at Pays de la Loire Tour, and had a standout performance at Boucles de lay Mayenne, winning a stage, and being in the top six in all other stage, taking the green jersey to boot.

Demare tends to like to go long in sprints, which may be beneficial for the Tour given the number of quality sprinters headed there. It also may be just the opposite however, allowing the other sprinters to draft off his wheel before punching through for the win at the line.

Today, the day of writing, he managed to secure a win at the Brussel's classic with strong competition and defeated number 7 Jordi Meeus on the line. It was the 98th win of his career. Looking solid for the Tour, especially as a Frenchman.

Number 4 - Fabio Jakobsen (26) - Soudal - Quick Step

Jakobsen, the 26 year old Dutchman from Quick Step has had a strong showing at least once in almost all of the races he's entered this season. Jakobsen achieved a win at his second race of the season in San Juan and the followed that up with a second and fourth later in the stage race.

At Volta Algarve he got a fourth, at Tirreno - Adriatico a win on stage two, and at Tour de Hongri took the win, also on the second stage.

Number 3 - Mads Pedersen (27) - Lidl - Trek

Boy oh boy, has Pedersen been having a season. Not only that, but he's shown he can somewhat climb, surviving until Stage 13 at the Giro this year, the stage they had to modify due to "extreme weather". Really they modified it because the rider's were tired. We're being slightly facetious. There's a lot of gray area that needs to be dealt with respect to the CPA voting process.

And while the Giro didn't have a strong sprint crowd, he did manage to win a stage along with a second, third and two fourth place finishes. Pedersen had a strong showing at each of the spring classics he attended, which cannot be said for everyone else on this list. Pedersen finished 4th at Paris Roubaix, 3rd at RVV, 5th at Dwars door, 5th at Gent Wevelgem, and 6th at Milano San Remo. An impressive palmares already, but to top it off at the Paris Nice stage race took a stage at each spot of the podium respectively (1/2/3).

At his first stage race of the year, Tour du Gard he took a win and second on the first race of his calendar year.

Number 2 - Dylan Groenewegen (29) - Jayco Alula

What can we say about Groenewegen other than this Dutchman is fast when he gets going. Groenewegen has won five Tour de France in his career and we're sure he'd like to take even more as a newly minted 30 year old (his birthday's on the equinox).

Groenewegen took the points jersey, a stage, and a few other top slots at the sprinter's Tour de France, aka the Saudi Tour, aka the echelon Tour, Groenewegen's first stage race of the year.

Groenewegen followed that up with a win at that UAE Tour against strong competition, and almost always being in the running for every other potential sprint stage that followed.

At Tirreno Adriatico he narrowly missed taking stage seven, being just behind the next sprinter on this list. Another strong highlight was finishing fourth at Scheldeprijs. Fourth you say? That's out of the top three. Not even a podium. We wouldn't win anything on our each way bets. Fair enough, but it is colloquially known as the sprinter's World Champs, and fourth isn't too shabby.

Groenewegen most recent performances have looked strong as well, with a 1rst on stage one of Tour de Hongrie, and a win at the Veenendaal classic.

Number 1 - Jasper Philipsen - Alpecin (25) - Deceuninck

The man, the myth, the legend. Not quite. But Philipsen has had an superbly strong season thus far. He may not have completed a whole bunch of races compared to his competitors on this list, but as Matteo Jorgenson said in a recent interview, "being close doesn't matter". And that's true. Especially for our bets. And if you're concerned about your bets then Philipsen is your man.

When it's possible for a sprint, and he's in the running, he has achieved a podium in all but one event, narrowly missing it at Dwars door Vlaanderen and finished fourth.

Otherwise he's had four wins, one being at Scheldeprisj, the World Champs for sprinters. On top of that he's finished 2nd 3 times, with one of those coming at the renowned Paris Roubaix.

And the results have been at high calibre events with high calibre competitors like at Tirreno Adriatico a World Tour stage race.

Oh yah - Mark Cavendish

Yah we'll give a shout out to Cavendish. Mainly to satisfy the English speaking audience who probably only have heard of him and potentially Ewan on this list. Maybe Bennett, but that's more likely to the kerfuffle with Patrick Lefevere in the media the prior years.

At the end of the day though, we hope Cavendish picks up his thirty fifth win and solely takes the record on hit shoulders rather than Mercx. This new era of cycling needs a new champion sprinter in our opinion. Even if he is headed out the door in a few months.

Cavendish has proved remarkably adept at squeaking in to potentially close wins despite the lack of a lead out train. Cees Bol is going, unlike the Giro, and we hope the two of them can finally work their kinks out and that Cav is flying. Or Kwiatkowski can take the reins from G and lead him out on the final day.

Want more analysis of the caveats of professional cycling? Want to learn about cycling race tactics with play by play diagrams? Grab a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Modern Cycling .

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Top 10 Sprinters at 2021 Tour de France

Mathew Mitchell

• Published on June 22, 2021
• in Men's Cycling

Mark Cavendish

Team: Deceuninck-Quick Step 2021 Victories: 5 Tour de France Stage Wins: 30

Table of Contents

Mark Cavendish is back! 2nd only to Merckx in terms of stage wins and 1st when you take out time trials, Cavendish is statistically the best sprinter in the Tour de France ever. His last stage victory came back in 2016 and it’s been a hard road back to form for the British rider. He needs 4 stages to catch Eddy Merckx which feels ambitious, it could be his last chance.

Peter Sagan

Team: Bora-Hansgrohe 2021 Victories: 4 Tour de France Stage Wins: 12

The king of the green jersey was dethroned in 2020 for the first time since a controversial disqualification in 2017. Sagan has won the green jersey 7 times, including 5 straight from 2012 to 2016. Despite reports that he’d lost a yard of pace compared to his rivals, Peter Sagan continues to win races. He took the points jersey at the Giro d’Italia this season and will want to repeat that at the Tour de France.

Team: Lotto Soudal 2021 Victories: 5 Tour de France Stage Wins: 5

Ewan is a tough sprinter to rely on. At times he appears to be the world’s best but then will suddenly go missing in action. He took 2 Giro d’Italia stages earlier in the year before controversially (to some) leaving the race. Caleb Ewan won 2 stages in 2020’s Tour de France but would dearly like to win in Paris again like he did in 2019’s race.

Wout van Aert

Team: Team Jumbo-Visma 2021 Victories: 5 Tour de France Stage Wins: 3

Free Wout! It feels like Van Aert has a great shout to stroll to victory in the green jersey competition. However, he’s been press-ganging into service for Primoz Roglic’s GC ambitions at the Tour de France. The cyclocross world champion took his first Tour de France in 2019, beating the likes of Viviani, Ewan and Sagan in a straight sprint. He got let off the leash to perform a similar job in Stage 5 last season before taking advantage of the absence of sprint specialists to win the lumpy Stage 7. We’ll certainly see brief flashes of what Van Aert can do.

Arnaud Demare

Team: Groupama-FDJ 2021 Victories: 8 Tour de France Stage Wins: 2

Demare is some people’s top tip for the green jersey in this year’s Tour de France. He’s been more successful in the Giro d’Italia previously, with 5 stages in the last two years thereafter eschewing the Tour since 2018. The 2020 Giro d’Italia points jersey winner has been in good form in 2021, taking 8 victories and will take on Sagan in the battle for green. Demare won 3 stages at Boucles de la Mayenne, which also saw him win the GC and points jersey.

Tim Merlier

Team: Alpecin-Fenix 2021 Victories: 6 Tour de France Stage Wins: 0

There’s a bit of a battle for sprint supremacy on the Alpecin-Fenix team. Merlier has been successful with 6 wins this season, although they’re largely in tough Belgian one-day races rather than stage races. He’s got the small matter of Mathieu van der Poel on his team who will want opportunities and also Jasper Philipsen will be knocking on the door too. In an ideal world all 3 would combine into an amazing lead-out train but that feels unlikely.

Sonny Colbrelli

Team: Bahrain-Victorious 2021 Victories: 3 Tour de France Stage Wins: 0

Colbrelli is being seen as a great shout for the green jersey in this year’s Tour de France despite not taking a stage victory in 4 previous editions. His impressive form at the Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine saw Colbrelli take the points jerseys at both races and a stage victory in each race. His consistency is what people have noted though, with 4 more second places. That used to be the preserve of Peter Sagan at his peak at the Tour, where numerous 2nd places would set up a tilt at the green jersey in Paris.

Mads Pedersen

Team: Trek-Segafredo 2021 Victories: 1 Tour de France Stage Wins: 0

The former World Champion is coming into his own as a similar but better version of Tim Merlier. After winning Gent Wevelgem last season he followed that up by winning Kuurne Brussels Kuurne at the start of 2021. That run of form continued with podiums of 2 stages at Paris Nice and then 2nd at the Bredene Koksijde Classic. Pedersen is a better shout on tough days for the sprinters rather than the flat, drill to the line.

Bryan Coquard

Team: B&B Hotels p/b KTM 2021 Victories: 0 Tour de France Stage Wins: 0

Bryan Coquard is a bit of a budget Peter Sagan. He does a great job in the Coupe de France races but has never taken a grand tour stage victory. His best run was in 2016 where he hardly seemed to be out of the top-10 in the first week and looked to be giving Sagan a run for his money. A switch of teams meant he wasn’t seen at the tour de France until 2020. He returned to his old ways with 6 top-10 finishes.

Nacer Bouhanni

Team: Team Arkea Samsic 2021 Victories: 0 Tour de France Stage Wins: 0

It’s somewhat surprising that Nacer Bouhanni has never won a Tour de France stage. He’s taken 3 stages each at the Giro and Vuelta but circumstances have intervened at the Tour. Bouhanni famously missed the 2016 Tour de France after getting into a hotel altercation that needed an operation. His last Tour was in 2017 as Cofidis favoured other riders. Bouhanni also got into trouble in 2021, getting suspended for 2 months after sticking Jake Stewart in the barriers back in March. He’s only just returned to racing and was 5th behind Cavendish and Merlier in the Belgium Tour.

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Tour de France 2023 – Robbie McEwen’s sprinter rankings as Mark Cavendish given 1% chance of stage win

Updated 30/06/2023 at 11:30 GMT

Eurosport expert and 12-time Tour de France stage winner Robbie McEwen ranks the top sprinters at the 2023 Tour de France. But anyone hoping for a Mark Cavendish victory on his swansong appearance are about to have their bubble of optimism burst, with McEwen claiming there are a group of fast men more likely to win a stage than the Manx Missile. Still, he’s happy to be proved wrong…

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1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck)

Jasper Philipsen.

Image credit: Getty Images

2. Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal–Quick-Step)

Fabio Jakobsen.

3. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco–AlUla)

Dylan Groenewegen beats his compatriot Fabio Jakobsen for the third stage of the Tour de France

4. Caleb Ewan (Lotto–Dstny)

Image credit: Eurosport

5. Mads Pedersen (Trek–Segafredo)

Mads Pedersen wins Stage 6 at the Giro

6. Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan)

Mark Cavendish of Astana Qazaqstan during the team presentation of the 110th Tour de France 2023 at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao / #UCIWT / on June 29, 2023 in Bilbao, Spain

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Tour de France 2022 sprinters: Analysing the form of the fast-men so far

A closer look at the form of the key sprinters at the 2022 Tour de France

Words: Stephen Puddicombe

There's still a long way to go in the Tour de France 2022, but there could be quite a wait until we see the next full-on bunch finish if the sprint teams can't get it together on stage four. Until week two in fact.

Stages two and three in Denmark gave us two sprint showdowns, with two Dutch winners; Fabio Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen. Both looked back to their best, while others languished in chaotic finishes or simply didn't have the strength to match them.

Here we'll analyse the form of the sprinters of the Tour so far, and who looks best set to take the victory the next time the peloton reaches a sprint finish.

Fabio Jakobsen

It’s been a tale of two final corners for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl in the sprints so far — the first on stage two, when Yves Lampaert and Michael Mørkøv led the peloton to help deliver Fabio Jakobsen to victory; and the second the following day, when the team once again made it to the decisive bend at the front with Florian Sénéchal and Mørkøv, only for Jakobsen to lose their wheel and fall out of contention.

Fabio Jakobsen celebrates victory on stage two of the 2022 Tour de France (Getty Images)

Despite looking so strong to get into these front positions, the famed Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl lead-out hasn’t been firing on all cylinders come the final metres of the sprints by their own very high standards. Usually so aware and attentive, Mørkøv confessed to not realising that Jakobsen wasn’t on his wheel when he proceeded to lead out the sprint on stage three, and even when Jakobsen won the day before he had to come from a few wheels behind to do so.

>>> Tour de France 2022 route: everything you need to know

The way the Dutchman stormed past the riders ahead of him to take his first ever Tour stage win that day regardless suggests he’s in flying form, and you sense that if Quick-Step can perfect the lead-out, then he’ll be very difficult to beat in the future sprints. 

Dylan Groenewegen

When Dylan Groenewegen abandoned the Critérium du Dauphiné last month, having been unceremoniously dropped on all three of the stages he might have hoped to sprint for victory on, the prospects of taking a stage at the Tour de France looked remote. But having struggled so much there, Groenewegen suddenly looked like his old self on stage three, where he produced a lethal acceleration to take his first WorldTour victory since his ban in 2020. 

Dylan Groenewegen sprints to victory on stage three of the 2022 Tour de France  (James Startt)

The flat parcours in Denmark certainly helped his chances, and he’ll have a harder time during the hillier potential sprint stages to come. But BikeExchange-Jayco’s decision to prioritise leading him out for the sprints rather than target the green jersey with Michael Matthews has been justified, and Groenewegen can at last be counted among the world’s elite pure sprinters once again. 

Wout van Aert

Though the rather fanciful notion that all-rounder extraordinaire Wout van Aert could in theory win every stage of the Tour de France has become impossible this year, he is currently on track to finish second-place in every stage. 

Wout van Aert in yellow after stage two of the 2022 Tour de France  (James Startt)

This string of runner-up finishes might be frustrating the Belgian, who dearly wants a stage win to his name, but it does mean he’s well on his way to achieving his target of winning the green jersey. His ability to always be in the mix and position himself every sprint despite the unpredictable rough and tumble of a bunch finish is reminiscent of Peter Sagan during his run of seven victories in that classification, and his grip on the jersey — as well as his chances of a stage win —should be strengthened by the parcours of the more selective sprint stages to come. 

Peter Sagan

Due to the emergence of new stars and his own underwhelming form, Peter Sagan entered this Tour de France with perhaps the least amount of fanfare of any of his nine appearances. But it hasn’t taken him long to be back among the headlines, particularly when he directed an accusatory finger wag towards Wout van Aert after the stage three sprint, followed by his Jose Mourinho-esque ‘I cannot comment” post-race interview.  

Peter Sagan at the start of stage two of the 2022 Tour de France (James Startt)

His form has looked good too, sprinting for sixth in Nyborg and fourth in Sønderborg in the manner in which he used to hoover up points in the points classification. The real test for him will come in the hillier terrain, considering that he was routinely dropped at the recent Tour de Suisse on the kind of climbs he used to relish. If he can, then he’ll be a contender to regain his points classification crown, and a mouth-watering contest between him as the old master against new pretender Van Aert could be on the cards.  

Jasper Philipsen  

Having been selected ahead of Tim Merlier, who won stages in both of his Grand Tour appearances last year, Jasper Philipsen is under pressure to perform for Alpecin-Deceuninck. So far he hasn’t made much of an impression, finishing fifth in Nyborg and third in Sønderborg, but the amount of ground he made up sprinting from far back in the latter suggests the 24-year-old has strong legs. 

He hasn’t been contesting the intermediate sprints, indicating that stage wins are his sole ambition this Tour. If he can position himself better in the future sprints — perhaps with the assistance of the one and only Mathieu van der Poel, whose match was burnt a little early on stage three in a drag race against Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's lead-out a few kilometres from the finish — that feat is certainly attainable. 

Mads Pedersen

More than anything, Mads Pedersen would have dearly loved to have either taken a stage or wore the yellow jersey while still on his home Danish roads. He seriously threatened to do so on stage two when he opened up the sprint and remained at the front until the very last metres, when Van Aert and then Jakobsen edged him out of victory.

Mads Pedersen finishes third on stage two of the 2022 Tour de France (Getty Images)

But while his primary ambition for this year’s race has been left unfulfilled, his ride that day proves he can mix it up with the very best sprinters in a pure bunch sprint. He’ll still be on the hunt for stage wins, and opportunities await not just in the classics specialist-friendly stages, but also the flat sprinter stages. 

Ewan must have felt he was due a break after his string of misfortune recently, but whichever Gods he has displeased are clearly not yet appeased. On stage two he suffered yet another ill-timed mechanical during the sprint, and was then denied a smooth run to the line the following day when he was boxed into the barrier by Peter Sagan.

Caleb Ewan at the 2022 Tour de France (Getty Images)

Still, this constitutes a better start than either of his last two Grand Tours, in which by this point he had already suffered a bad crash. In truth we still don’t know what kind of form he’s in, but the fact he’s been chasing green jersey points at the intermediate sprints suggests he believes himself to be in good nick, and intends to make it all the way to Paris.  

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Race information

• Date: 18 July 2021
• Start time: 16:30
• Avg. speed winner: 40.748 km/h
• Race category: ME - Men Elite
• Distance: 108.4 km
• Points scale: GT.A.Stage
• UCI scale: UCI.WR.GT.A.Stage - TM2022
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• ProfileScore: 14
• Vert. meters: 699
• Departure: Chatou
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• Won how: Sprint of large group
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Tour De France: Top 5 Sprinters To Watch

(Photos: Bettini)

With the cycling’s premier race starting this Saturday, July 4, we take a look at the fast men of the peloton and pick the top 5 riders who should be taking victories in the sprint stages…

MARK CAVENDISH, ETIXX-QUICK-STEP The “Mank Missile” has won more stages in the Tour de France than any other rider in history, save for the great Eddy Merckx. Mark Cavendish knows how to win in practically any sprint situation, but the Tour is his pride and joy, the main event in which he also aims to do well. Cavendish is at his best, too, when he has his formidable lead-out train on good form, and fans saw that a few weeks ago at the Tour of California, where Cavendish bagged a staggering 4 stage wins. Barring a crash or a stellar performance from one of his rivals, Cavendish seems poised to come away from this year’s Tour with the most sprint stage wins.

ANDRE GREIPEL, LOTTO-SOUDAL Andre Greipel should be Mark Cavendish’s chief rival among the pure sprinters at this year’s Tour de France. Greipel is one of the biggest and strongest riders in the field, and he consistently puts that power to good use in the fast finishing straights. He’s had a good season overall thus far, taking wins at Paris-Nice, the Tour of Turkey and the Giro d’Italia. But the Tour de France is always the premier event of the year, the one race where everyone wants their shot at glory. With a strong lead-out train to help guide him to the finish, look for Greipel to be banging handlebars with Cavendish as they fight for several stage wins.

ALEXANDER KRISTOFF, KATUSHA Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff has been one of the most prolific race winners of the past two seasons after having amassed a staggering amount of wins in both sprints and one-day Classics. The Norwegian heads to the Tour de France after a 2015 season that has seen him take victory at the Tour of Flanders, the overall title at Three Days of De Panne, as well as stage wins at the Tour of Oman, Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse. His lead-out train isn’t typically as reliable as Cavendish’s or Greipel’s, but Kristoff has proven that he can win in any situation with a fast finish.

JOHN DEGENKOLB, GIANT-ALPECIN With last year’s top sprinter, Marcel Kittel, sitting out this year’s Tour de France due to illness, his Giant-Alpecin team will no doubt be turning to John Degenkolb to go after some stage wins. Degenkolb is not a true sprinter in the classic sense, but he’s consistently one of the fastest riders in the world when the finish line nears. He’s been developing into more of a one-day Classics rider this past season, and he’s already achieved monumental success in that regard by winning both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year. Look for Degenkolb to grab a stage win or two, especially if it’s a particularly hard day with some rolling terrain that may weaken some of the other sprinters.

PETER SAGAN, TINKOFF-SAXO Like John Degenkolb, Tinkoff-Saxo’s Peter Sagan can no longer be considered the pure sprinter that he was made out to be earlier in his road racing career. The Slovakian has evolved into one of the most complete bike racers in the peloton today, capable of winning in a variety of conditions. His breakout performance this season came at the Amgen Tour of California in May, where he fought tooth-and-nail to take the overall lead, win the short and fast individual time trial, and then put in an incredible effort to keep himself in contention atop the race’s queen stage—a brutally steep summit finish atop Mount Baldy. Sagan won the overall in California, but a three-week long stage race like the Tour remains out of reach, especially considering that he’ll be partly riding support for teammate and GC leader Alberto Contador. Look for Sagan to go after a few stage wins, however, on both the flat stages with fast finishes and on some of the harder days with a bit of rolling terrain.

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Who Are the Top Sprinters/Stage-Hunters Heading Into the Upcoming Season?

2023 rider tiers part 3.

2023 Rider Tiers Part 3: Who Are the Top Sprinters/Stage-Hunters Heading Into the Upcoming Season? Breaking down where each major grand tour stage win contender stands as we approach the 2023 season.

# You can read about and Who Are The Top Grand Tour Contenders Heading Into 2023? HERE .

– This article is an excerpt from the Beyond the Peloton newsletter. Sign up here for full access. –

As the start date for the 2023 season continues to march closer, we will continue to take stock of who the sport’s elite riders are at each major discipline (grand tours, one-classics & stage winning) heading into 2023 to give us a clearer view of what to expect when these major events roll around.

Ranking the Top 2023 Grand Tour Stage Contenders

To build off the last two weeks of tiering of the top 2023 Grand Tour and one-day contenders, this week we are separating the top grand tour stage-winning riders into five tiers.

Initially, I wanted this to be a breakdown of the sport’s top sprinters, but, after sorting their grand tour stage results from recent seasons, it became clear that the most prolific modern winners don’t necessarily fall into a pure ‘sprinter’ category (i.e. Wout van Aert) and some, like Tadej Pogačar, have been able to become the sport’s top stage hunters while balancing GC ambitions. Since the ultimate point of employing a sprinter is to maximize your team’s chances of winning the largest possible volume of races, it only seems fair to weigh sprinters against all other potential stage winners. Unfortunately, outside of making this project much more difficult, this expansion meant that a lot of talented (especially young) riders had to be left off.

Why This Is Helpful

As I outlined last week, the purpose of this exercise is to attempt to objectively cut through the noise and see who the best riders in each discipline are. This is especially important in the modern landscape since there is an odd inversion where the less a rider produces, the more media coverage they receive.

The Criteria

To delineate them into tiers, I am taking into account 1) top three results in grand tour stages over the past four seasons, with results generated recently given greater emphasis, 2) their age, and, most importantly 3) their likelihood to generate results (wins) in grand tour stages across the 2023 season.

While there is a nearly endless array of both established and emerging stage-winning talents, to qualify for the top four tiers, a rider must have won a grand tour stage in the past four seasons. While some of these younger riders, like Olav Kooij, Quinn Simmons, and Arnaud De Lie, may go on to win multiple grand tour stages in 2023, for the sake of this exercise, and to keep the list from ballooning to an unhelpful size, we are only focusing on riders who have already racked up a stage win. Additionally, since every grand tour doesn’t have the same level of competition, Tour de France stage wins are weighted above wins at the two other ‘lesser’ grand tours (Giro & Vuelta).

One major thing that stood out while pouring over these results was the undeniable trend in the modern iteration of the sport where sprinters struggle to dominate the stage-win count as the rise of more challenging courses, and more versatile superstars squeeze their opportunities for stage wins. This is especially prevalent at the Tour de France, where the higher level of talent, increasing stakes, ever-challenging courses, and, for the most part, the death of the pancake-flat transition stage, have made it tougher and tougher for pure sprinters to rack up wins.

Below, each rider is listed in their BTP designated tier along with the age they will be racing at in 2023:

Tier 1: Reserved for riders who have proven an ability to win multiple stages at the sport’s top grand tours against the toughest competition, and, most importantly, have the ability to do so in 2023. This is obviously an incredibly elite group made up of riders who have the rare combination of elite talent and recent real-world results to back that talent up.

Tadej Pogačar (24)

• 2022: 3xTdF win (5xTdF podium)
• 2021: 2xTdF win (3xTdF podium)
• 2020: 2xTdF win (4xTdF podium)
• 2019: 3xLaVuelta win (3xLaVuelta podium)
• Totals: 10xGT stage wins (7xTdF), 15xGT total stage podiums

Wout van Aert (28)

• 2022: 2xTdF wins (6xTdF podium)
• 2021: 2xTdF wins (3xTdF podium)
• 2020: 2xTdF wins (4xTdF podium)
• 2019: 1xTdF win (2xTdF podium)
• Totals: 7xGT stage wins (7xTdF), 15xGT stage podiums

Primož Roglič (33)

• 2022: 1xLaVuelta wins (2xLaVuelta podiums), 1xTdF podium
• 2021: 2xLaVuelta wins (6xLaVuelta podiums), 2xTdF podiums
• 2020: 3xLaVuelta wins (6xLaVuelta stage podiums), 1xTdF stage win (4xTdF podium)
• 2019: 5xLaVuelta podiums
• Totals: 7xGT stage wins (6xLaVuelta, 1xTdF), 26xGT stage podiums

Jasper Philipsen (24)

• 2022: 2xTdF wins (5xTdF podiums)
• 2021: 2xLaVuelta wins (3xLaVuelta podiums), 6xTdF podiums
• 2020: 1xLaVuelta win (2xLaVuelta podiums)
• Totals: 5xGT stage wins (2xTdF 3xVuelta), 16xGT stage podiums

Tier 2: Riders who have both won in the past, and could again in 2023, multiple grand tour stages, but, their Tour de France success either lacks the required volume (Démare), year-over-year consistency (Vingegaard), or recency (Ewan) to land them in the top tier. Still, these riders will be considered serious potential stage winners across any grand tour they take part in during the 2023 season.

Arnaud Démare (31)

• 2022: 3xGiro win (4xGiro podium)
• 2021: 1xLaVuelta podium
• 2020: 4xGiro win (4xGiro podium)
• 2019: 1xGiro win (4xGiro podium)
• Totals: 9xGT stage wins (8xGiro, 1xLaVuelta), 13xGT stage podiums

Caleb Ewan (28)

• 2022: 1xGiro podium
• 2021: 2xGiro win (2xGiro podium)
• 2020: 2xTdF win (3xTdF podium)
• 2019: 3xTdF win (7xTdF podium), 2xGiro win (4xGiro podium)
• Totals: 9xGT stage wins (5xTdF, 4xGiro), 17xGT stage podium

Fabio Jakobsen (26)

• 2022: 1xTdF win (1xTdF podium)
• 2021: 3xLaVuelta wins (5xLaVuelta podiums)
• 2019: 2xLaVuelta wins (2xLaVuelta podiums)
• Totals: 6xGT stage wins (1xTdF, 5xVuelta), 8xGT stage podiums

Richard Carapaz (29)

• 2022: 3xLaVuelta wins (3xLaVuelta podium), 2xGiro podiums
• 2021: 2xTdF podiums
• 2020: 3xLaVuelta podiums, 2xTdF podiums
• 2019: 2xGiro wins (2xGiro podiums)
• Totals: 5xGT stage wins (3xLaVuelta, 2xGiro), 14xGT total stage podiums

Jonas Vingegaard (26)

• 2022: 2xTdF stage wins (4xTdF podium)
• 2021: 2xTdF podium
• Totals: 2xGT stage wins (2xTdF), 6xGT stage podiums

Tier 3 The level of talent in this tier is absurdly high as evidenced by world-class sprinters like Bennett and Groenewegen, a former world champion in Mads Pedersen and a superstar in the form of Mathieu van der Poel, and while they are all capable of winning multiple stages at any grand tour they enter, up until this point, they have lacked either the volume and recency of success at the Tour de France needed to crack a higher tier. And in the case of Van der Poel, his over-loaded schedule has siphoned off a significant portion of his stage-winning potential. The 2023 season will present a major opportunity for every rider in this tier to increase their standing, but, with so much quality occupying the tiers above them and the youth in the ranks below them, this will prove to be no easy feat.

Sam Bennett (32)

• 2022: 2xLaVuelta win (2xLaVuelta podium)
• 2020: 1xLaVuelta win (2xLaVuelta podium), 2xTdF win (5xTdF podium)
• 2019: 2xLaVuelta win (6xLaVuelta podium)
• Totals: 7xGT stage wins (5xLaVuelta, 2xTdF), 15xGT stage podiums

Mads Pedersen (27)

• 2022: 3xLaVuelta win (7xLaVuelta podium), 1xTdF win (3xTdF podium)
• 2020: 2xTdF podium
• Totals: 4xGT stage win (3xLaVuelta, 1xTdF), 12xGT stage podiums

Mathieu van der Poel (28)

• 2022: 1xGiro win (2xGiro podium)
• 2021: 1xTdF stage win (1xTdF podium)
• Totals: 2xGT stage wins (1xTdF, 1xGiro), 3xGT stage podiums

Dylan Groenewegen (29)

• 2022: 1xTdF win (2xTdF podium)
• 2019: 1xTdF win (4xTdF podium)
• Totals: 2xGT stage win (2xTdF), 6xGT stage podiums

Tier 4 These are riders who are either veterans holding onto their past dominance (Cavendish), solid stage-hunting careerists who have emerged as consistent performers in the past few years (Cort), and young riders who make up for their lack of volume with scorching-hot upward trajectories (Evenepoel/Girmay) that indicate they will continue to build on their existing stage win palmares in 2023.

Mark Cavendish (38)

• 2022: 1xGiro stage win (3xGiro podium)
• 2021: 4xTdF stage win (5xTdF podium)
• Totals: 5xGT stage wins (4xTdF, 1xGiro), 8xGT stage podiums

Magnus Cort (30)

• 2022: 1xTdF win (1xTdF podium), 1xGiro podium
• 2021: 3xLaVuelta win (4xLaVuelta podium), 1xTdF podium
• 2020: 1xLaVuelta win (1xLaVuelta podium)
• Totals: 5xGT stage win (4xLaVuelta, 1xTdF), 8xGT stage podium

Remco Evenepoel (23)

• 2022: 1xLaVuelta stage win (3xLaVuelta podium)
• Totals: 1xGT stage win (1xLaVuelta), 3xGT stage podiums

Biniam Girmay (22)

• 2022: 1xGiro win (2xGiro podiums)
• Totals: 1xGT stage win (1xGiro), 2xGT podiums

Tim Merlier (30)

• 2022: 2xLaVuelta podiums
• 2021: 1xTdF win (1xTdF podium), 1xGiro win (2xGiro podiums)
• Totals: 2xGT stage win (1xTdF, 1xGiro), 5xGT podiums

Tier 5 A collection of the sport’s top stage winners who either are struggling to win at the same rate they have in the past (Yates, Matthews, Sagan, Alaphilippe) but are still amongst the elite group of riders capable of winning Tour stages and up-and-coming talents (Pidcock and Groves) who have opened up their account at grand tours at extremely young ages but will be under pressure to increase their production in 2023.

Simon Yates (30)

• 2022: 1xGiro win (1xGiro podium)
• 2021: 1xGiro win (2xGiro podium)
• 2019: 2xTdF stage win (2xTdF podium), 2xGiro podium
• Totals: 4xGT stage wins (2xTdF, 2xGiro), 7xGT stage podiums

Julian Alaphilippe (30)

• 2021: 1xTdF win (1xTdF podium)
• 2020: 1xTdF win (1xTdF podium)
• 2019: 1xTdF win (3xTdF podium)
• Totals: 3xGT stage win (3xTdF), 5xGT stage podium

Michael Matthews (32)

• 2022: 1xTdF win (3xTdF podium)
• 2021: 2xLaVuelta podium, 2xTdF podium
• 2020: 2xGiro podium
• 2019: 1xTdF podium
• Totals: 1xGT stage win (1xTdF), 10xGT stage podiums

Peter Sagan (33)

• 2021: 1xGiro win (3xGiro podium)
• 2020: 1xGiro win (5xGiro podium), 2xTdF podium
• Totals: 3xGT stage win (2xGiro, 1xTdF), 13xGT stage podiums

Tom Pidcock (23)

• Totals: 1xGT stage win (1xTdF), 1xGT stage podium

Kaden Groves (24)

• 2022: 1xLaVuelta win (1xLaVuelta podium)
• Totals: 1xGT stage win (1xLaVuelta), 1xGT stage podium

Five Key Takeaways

1) Just like the last two weeks, Tadej Pogačar, lands in the top tier, and not only that but is the most decorated rider on the list.

• This highlights the absurd depth of his skills and why he has to be considered the best rider in the peloton at the moment.
• Few riders can win both one-day Monuments and grand tour overalls, but almost no one outside the all-time greats can combine those two disparate skills with the ability to become the most prolific modern grand tour stage winner.
• If Pogacar can continue his current run of dominance for a full decade (no easy feat), he has a real opportunity to match the palmares of the seemingly untouchable Eddy Merckx.

2) Jasper Philipsen being in tier 1 shows us the Tour de France sprinting game has changed.

• Having Philipsen as the only sprinter in the top tier of this list might seem an odd, if not downright incorrect, assertion, but when we weigh the quality of each sprinter’s wins, Philipsen is the only one of the big six (Philipsen, Jakobsen, Ewan, Bennett, Démare, and Groenewegen) to have won multiple Tour de France stages in the past 24 months.
• This claim shouldn’t diminish the impressive achievements of riders like Démare and Jakobsen at races like the Giro and the Vuelta, but in terms of grand tour stage wins, the Tour is the gold standard due to the far higher level of competition.
• The fact that Philipsen, a young and extremely versatile rider who lacks the pure power/speed of his bigger, more traditional competition, has had the most recent success at the Tour de France shows us just how hard life has become for traditional sprinters as the sport’s main event has made their sprint stages harder and more selective. Due to this trend creating more interesting stages and eliminating the dreaded five-hour stage that slowly rolls to a pancake flat finish, it is unlikely to reverse anytime in the near future and means that younger sprinters will need to be far more well-rounded than those who dominated in the recent past.

3) However, even factoring in these changes in the sprinting landscape, and the rise of mega-talents who can dominate every discipline, traditional sprinters remain the most effective way to win grand tour stages outside the Tour

Tier Breakdown by Rider Type:

• Sprinter: 9
• 1xTier 1, 3xTier 2, 2xTier 3, 2xTier 4, 1xTier 5
• One-Day Specialist: 8
• 1xTier 1, 2xTier 3, 1xTier 4, 4xTier 5
• 2xTier 1, 2xTier 2, 1xTier 4, 1xTier 5
• Pure Stage-Hunter: (Magnus Cort): 1

4) These tier breakdowns once again show the depth of Jumbo-Visma’s dominance over every facet of the sport

• Teams with multiple riders: BikeExchange: 4 (1xTier 3, 3xTier 5) Jumbo-Visma: 3 (2xTier 1, 1xTier 2) QuickStep: 3 (1xTier 2, 1xTier 4, 1xTier 5) Alpecin: 3 (1xTier 1, 1xTier 3, 1xTier 4) EF: 2 (1xTier 2, 1xTier 4)
• Just like the last two breakdowns (GC & one-day), the Dutch team has multiple riders in the top two tiers, providing even more evidence that they are a superteam in every sense of the word.
• However, two interesting names here are BikeExchange, which leads the way with four total riders in the top five tiers, and EF, with two.
• Notable single-rider teams: UAE: 1 (1xTier 1) Ineos: 1 (1xTier 5)
• Ineos’ roster atrophy is once again highlighted with only a single rider present in the top five tiers.
• While this likely highlights problems behind the scenes at the team, the effect is that the organization is aggressively shedding high-priced veteran riders and is instead doubling down on untested, but extremely high-upside youth.

5) Mathieu van der Poel needs to focus on leaner race schedule management if he wants to increase his stage-win record

• The soon-to-be 28-year-old Van der Poel, who is one of the most explosive and exciting riders on the planet, has had an extremely good run of success in one-day races, but at least up until now, his grand tour stage-winning record leaves something to be desired.
• This is mainly due to his overly expansive race schedule, which, as we saw in 2022, stretched him thin and left him exhausted by the time the Tour de France rolled around mid-season.
• This upcoming season will mark a major career point for Van der Poel. With slightly better race management, it isn’t difficult to imagine him significantly closing the gap to the elite riders in the top tier.

# Spencer Martin is the author of the cycling-analysis newsletter Beyond the Peloton that breaks down the nuances of each race and answers big picture questions surrounding team and rider performance. Sign up now to get full access to all the available content and race breakdowns. #

Spencer Martin authors the cycling-analysis newsletter Beyond the Peloton that breaks down the nuances of each race and attempts to bring a logic-based approach to cycling coverage. He is also a partner in cycling business publication The Outer Line, and in the past, has written for cycling outlets such as Velonews and CyclingTips. He has raced at a high-level in the past and still enjoys participating in a wide variety of races as well as riding in the mountains surrounding his residence in Boulder, Colorado. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @spencersoward.

EUROTRASH Monday: More Cross and Everything Else you Need to Know!

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10 Tour de France top tips to sprint like a pro

First Published Jul 23, 2023

Going fast is what attracts many people to cycling with the feeling of speed being addictive. Tour de France sprinters are a unique type of rider and they not only possess tremendous speed but are also willing to take some big risks. But, what can you learn from the sprinters at the Tour de France about how to get really fast and how to set up your bike for pure speed?

Pic above: Zac Williams SWpix.com

Sprinters are capable of generating explosive speed over short distances but having the best sprint at the end of a road race is about more than just having the highest peak power. 

Tour de France sprinters must also have the endurance to climb the high mountains and complete every stage if they want to be in with a chance of winning on the Champs-Élysées.  

Your bike setup, positioning and tactics all have a part to play so here are 10 top tips to sprint like a pro and get you the win at that next town sign sprint. 

1. Gears that work properly 

> All the gear? Check out the gearing choices of the pros at the Tour de France

First and foremost, to be able to unleash the best sprint you can you're going to need to trust your drivetrain. A drivetrain that's in good working order should shift seamlessly with silky-smooth pedalling. 

However, this isn't always the case because your chainrings, cassette and chain can all wear which leads to poor shifting and lost efficiency. If you find your chain skipping a gear this could also be because your gears aren't indexed properly. 

You need to be able to trust your drivetrain fully so that when you decide to put the power down, you can 100% go for it. 

Even the pros sometimes have problems. On Stage 7 of this year's Tour de France, Mark Cavendish reported that he had a problem with his gears while sprinting, eventually finishing second to Jasper Philipsen.

2. Choose the right gear for the job

> Should you run a 1x set-up on your road bike?

After ensuring your gears are working properly, you're going to want to choose the right gear for the job. When you're coming into the final few hundred metres of a road race you'll often hear people changing down their gears which is a good indication they could be about to launch something. 

Sometimes it's better to choose a gear sooner rather than later so that you have time to react and can start putting the power down as soon as possible. The gear you choose should have enough resistance in the drivetrain to allow for the burst but you will likely have to shift down the cassette once you get on top of the gear. 

Many recreational riders will have a 50x11 or 52x11 as their largest gear ratio, (it'll depend on the brand of groupset used as well as the individual's preference) but the pros these days normally ride with a 54-tooth outer chainring with the sprinters often going for something even larger.

3. Decide where the wind is coming from 

> Beat the wind on your bike: 7 route planning hacks to increase average speed and make windy rides more enjoyable

Wind conditions can significantly affect sprinting performance, and adapting accordingly is vital. Sprinters at the Tour de France will employ strategies to navigate windy conditions during sprints and are fortunate in that they often have a team around them who they can draft. 

If, like most of us, you don't have a team around you, you'll need to decide where the wind is coming from before you start your sprint. If there's a headwind you should leave your sprint late and if there's a tailwind you can risk going earlier.  

4. Get yourself a Van der Poel 

> Canyon unveils Mathieu van der Poel edition Aeroad CFR

Jasper Philipsen has been powering to stage victories at this year's Tour de France, but this wouldn't have been possible without his lead-out man Mathieu van der Poel. 

Speaking of lead-outs, getting yourself a sprint train is a great way to go faster. Rope in a few friends and set them to the task. They might not be too keen at first, but you can usually bribe them with cake.

Doing some lead-outs with friends is great fun with each person’s turn getting shorter and faster until you finish it off with a glorious dash to a random sign on the edge of town.

5. Deep wheels 

> Are expensive carbon wheels worth it? Testing deep carbon rims vs classic aluminium

Switching to deeper wheels isn't always necessary but Tour de France sprints happen at speeds of over 60km/h so aerodynamics are exponentially more important and the margins of victory are small. 

If you take a look at a photo finish image from a sprint stage, you’re unlikely to see any wheels under 40mm deep in the top 10.

Using deeper wheels can be more aero, making it easier to hold onto speed. Deep wheels can also be far stiffer than shallower-section wheels, and that comes in handy when bikes are getting thrown around in a sprint finish.

6. Get low at the front

The easiest way to make yourself faster and bring up your speed is to get more of yourself out of the wind. The most aero bike on the planet isn't going to help a great deal if your body – which is responsible for the vast majority of drag – is acting like a giant sail to hold you back.

Sprinters often have long and low front-end setups that allow them to get head low when going for the line. Mark Cavendish (who has crashed out of the Tour this year) has a lower peak power than some of his sprint rivals, but he is able to tuck himself down very low to reduce resistance.

Be careful with going low. You might be far faster for 100m, but throwing your back out just to reach the drops won't do you any good. If you are moving your position, take things slowly with incremental changes.

7. Tighten up your shoes 

> Check out the best road cycling shoes 2023 

Many riders have rituals and something you see many sprinters doing is turning the dials on their shoes a few clicks before a big sprint. 

This isn't necessarily the most comfortable for a full day in the saddle, but a more secure shoe is favoured at higher power outputs.

8. Grippy bar tape

> Check out the best bar tapes for cycling 2023 

Grippy bar tape provides a secure and firm hold on the handlebars, improving the control and handling of the bike which is essential for Tour de France sprinters when they're manoeuvring through non-existent gaps at high speeds. 

A stable grip on the handlebars also facilitates efficient power transfer and so grippy bar tape allows you to exert force without worrying about your hands slipping. 

9. Specific training

> Can you get fit by cramming all of your riding into the weekend?

You can also do efforts on and off the bike to increase your peak power. On the bike, work can consist of a mix of high-speed sprints with a fast cadence and standing starts where you power a big gear up from almost stationary to top speed. Throw in a few sprints for town signs and you've got yourself a basic training session.

Off the bike, you can head to the gym to pump some iron. You can walk past all the big boys doing bicep curls and head straight for the squat rack and leg press machines.

Seeing as most of us are rather useless at lifting weights, you'll want to work on technique first to avoid injury before building the weight slowly.

10. Momentum is your friend 

A sprint can come down to millimetres so it might seem crazy to hear that leaving a gap between you and the rider in front could be exactly what you need to win a sprint. 

Whilst there's a time and a place for sitting tight on the wheel in front to hide from the wind, there are also times when it's good to leave a gap, often referred to as 'rushing the gap' or 'a slingshot'. 

A gap between you and the person in front gives you the opportunity to launch your sprint while still in their draft and by the time you need to come out of the wind to go past them, you will have reached a far greater speed and likely be moving too fast to be caught. 

Which tips will you be using to help you win your next town sign sprint? Let us know in the comments section below... 

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Without doubt, the best way to make my bike go faster in a sprint is to get someone else to ride it.

This also applies to climbing and, indeed, any other type of cycling or terrain.

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Preview: Tour de France. World's best climbers and sprinters go head to head in a seasonal climax

From the 1st to the 24th of July the peloton will be in the roads of France, Denmark and Switzerland for the 109th edition of the Tour de France . The most iconic, popular and one of the most important races for most of the riders and teams, who will be fighting for meaningful wins over the course of three weeks.

Over the course of the three weeks there will be several classifications that the riders will be fighting for. The General Classification will see the race's best stage-racers go head to head on every single stage as they attempt to take time on each other - specially in the mountains, as will the Youth Classification contenders. In the Points Classification, the sprinters will go head to head in the bunch sprints, aswell as the intermediate sprints spread throughout the 19 road stages. As for the King of the Mountain Classification, it will be decided in the race's highest mountains, toughest Alpine and Pyrenean passes between those who go over them first.

You can check the profile and details of every stage here , the updated startlist with all the names expected to be in the race here , and the prize money that will be distributed between all teams here .

General Classification battle

The preliminary startlist will see general classification contenders as follows: Ben O'Connor, Rigoberto Urán, Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig, Jakob Fuglsang, Michael Woods, Giulio Ciccone, Louis Meintjes, Daniel Martínez, Adam Yates, Geraint Thomas, Aleksandr Vlasov, Alexey Lutsenko, Primoz Roglic , Jonas Vingegaard , Tadej Pogacar , David Gaudu, Guillaume Martin, Enric Mas and Nairo Quintana.

Important Stages

The fifth stage is a highly antecipated day. A short stage with only 153 kilometers on the menu, however 19.4 of those will take place over cobbled roads. 11 sectors to be exact, all of which in the second half of the stage. It will be an important day for the overall classification, as the tension will rise to an all-time high and crucial losses can be had if something goes wrong.

Stage seven will have the riders race into the Vosges. As is traditional the Planche des Belles Filles (7Km; 8.7%) will be the first real summit finish of the race. It will be the first opportunity for the climbers to make differences in their terrain, and will be a good gauge to measure who will be capable of fighting for the win and podium in the end.

Stage 11 will see the first big high-mountain stage. The menu isn’t complicated, with the Lacets de Montvernier (3.4Km; 8.2%), Col du Telegraphe (11.9Km; 7.1%) and Col du Galibier (17.7Km; 6.9%) taking the riders through high altitude. It will be a brutal day, as the riders will descend into Briançon and climb the Col du Granon (11.3Km; 9.2%) for the highest stage finish in the race.

Stage 12 will be the final in the Alps, as a hattrick of ascents will mark the day. The riders will early on climb the Col du Galibier (23Km; 5.1%) via the opposite direction, followed by the Col de la Croix the Fer (29Km; 5.2%), and the return of the Alpe d’Huez (13.8Km; 7.9%) for the stage finish.

Stage 17 will have a pan-flat first half, and a very hard second half. A very short stage with only 129 kilometers on the menu, however featuring the Col d’Aspin (12Km; 6.5%), the Hourquette d’Ancizan (8.2Km; 5%) and the Col de Val Louron-Azet (10.7Km; 7.7%) before the final climb. That will be into Peyragudes (8Km; 7.2%), where more gaps will be established, with the finale in the brutal ramps of the local airfield.

The final mountain day comes right after. The formula is exactly the same as the day before, with a flat first half, short distances and a combination of similar climbs in the second half with a summit finish. Here however they will be longer, with the Col de Aubisque (16.4Km; 7.1%) opening things up for the day, the Col de Spandelles (10.3Km; 8.3%) dealing further damage and then the summit finish at Hautacam (13.6Km; 7.8%) being the last ascent where the climbers can do real differences.

The final time-trial of the race will come on it’s penultimate day. The 40.7-kilometer individual challenge will be ridden between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour, a rolling time-trial which is far from ideal for the specialists, with a hilly finale. Rocamadour is no stranger to high-level pro races, and the final hilltop is a familiar sight, albeit with added importance on this day.

Cycling UpToDate prediction:

**** Tadej Pogacar

*** Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard

** Daniel Martínez, Aleksandr Vlasov, Enric Mas

* Jack Haig, Geraint Thomas, Jakob Fuglsang, Adam Yates

Points Classification battle

As for the sprinters who will be hunting stages and the green jersey: Magnus Cort Nielsen, Mads Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen, Alexander Kristoff, Caleb Ewan, Wout van Aert , Fabio Jakobsen , Bryan Coquard, Dylan Groenewegen, Michael Matthews and Peter Sagan.

The two first bunch sprints will come in Denmark, after the initial time-trial. The cities of Nyborg and Sønderborg will host the finales, although tension will be sky-high and the second stage is particularly vulnerable to crosswinds.

In the fourth day of racing the peloton returns to familiar French roads. This will be a day for the sprintes, however it includes quite a few hilltops throughout the day that may spark some surprises in northwestern France.

Stage 13 will have the peloton travel from the Alps into the Massif Central. A day for the sprinters, likely, however a lot can happen and besides the possibility of a breakaway succeeding, the several rolling hills will provide platforms for attacks to surge.

The final day of the second week will see the riders travel south, from Rodez into Carcassonne. It is another day designed for the sprinters however with plenty obstacles that may see a surprise pop out.

Stage 19 will be a transition day, as the riders head north for a flat stage. It is a day on paper for the sprinters, however this late into the race it will always be more complicated to chase down breakaways.

And as traditional, the final day will feature soft distances and the classic final circuit inside of Paris, where the riders will finish the race off within the Champs-Élysées.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:

**** Wout van Aert

*** Fabio Jakobsen, Mads Pedersen

** Jasper Philipsen, Michael Matthews, Peter Sagan

* Caleb Ewan, Alexander Kristoff, Bryan Coquard, Dylan Groenewegen

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Mon 29 Apr 2024

Tue 30 Apr 2024

How Does a Tour de France Sprint Work?​

​Your guide to the organized chaos that is a Tour de France sprint finish

(For more cycling tips and secrets explained, subscribe to Bicycling magazine today!)

Catching the Break

We have a whole separate piece on the breakaway , but we’ll recap shortly here: primary responsibility for holding a steady gap to a breakaway lies with the race leader’s team. But protocol, sportsmanship, whatever you want to call it, holds that on days that are likely sprint finishes, sprinters’ teams also contribute a rider each to the chase. They may contribute more than one as the race goes on, particularly if the break is proving more unruly than expected and harder to catch.

The riders who perform this thankless task are as essential as they are invisible –sturdy rouleurs like Lotto-Soudal’s Adam Hansen, who can put out dependably high power for hours on end.

RELATED:  How to Watch the Tour de France

The 2017 Tour is the first in history to have all stages broadcast start to finish; typically, broadcasts would show only the final two or so hours, meaning that the yeoman’s work of holding a steady gap takes place entirely outside the TV audience’s view. When you see riders from teams like Lotto-Soudal, Quick Step and Katusha finishing far down the standings in the “grupetto” even on flat stages , remember: they’re not out of shape or sick; they just did a lot of work early in the race that you didn’t see.

As the race gets closer to the finish, the pace creeps up. An ideal catch comes with roughly 10-20 km to go. Once the catch is made, the sprinters’ teams will keep the pace very high, to discourage counterattacks from developing. At this point, the race will be traveling at about 50 kilometers an hour.

Catching a Train

With about 10km to go, you'll see the team “trains” start to form. These are four-to-six rider pacelines that move to the front of the peloton and lift the pace even higher. There are three goals: discourage breakaways by holding a pace so fast that solo riders can’t get clear; keep their team’s designated sprinter protected up front, where there’s less risk of crashes; and keep that sprinter in good position for the final showdown.

RELATED: Peter Sagan Disqualified from Tour de France After Crash with Mark Cavendish

Early on in a train, the sprinter’s teammates will rotate through a paceline, trading pulls, but from 10km down to about 1km to go is a chaotic time in the race. One team will hit the front hard with five riders, and things will briefly organize behind them. Then another team’s train will come forward and overhaul the first. Or the first train will somehow disintegrate as one or more riders discovers that they don’t actually have the legs that day to produce the supra-threshold efforts they need to.

Power files, which you’ll sometimes see posted to training sites like Strava or TrainingPeaks or SRM, can be fascinating ways to understand this crucial point in the race. In 2016, SRM analyzed Stage 1 power for Christophe LaPorte, the leadout man for Cofidis who became the team’s sprinter when Nacer Bouhanni didn’t start; LaPorte’s mean power for the last three kilometers was 499 watts, with an average speed of 68 kph. In the last 2km, it jumps to a massive 607 watts— and keep in mind that as a leadout rider those values are largely before the final, frenzied 30-second bunch sprint.

RELATED: Every Stage of the 2017 Tour de France Analyzed  

Catch the Right Wheel

As these trains duel, crashes are a constant risk as riders jostle and bump for position. Remember that one of the roles of a train is to keep a sprinter in protected position, especially in the final two kilometers, when the train leads out the sprint. A leadout works like a single-pull paceline, where each rider in line does a max-effort pull and then swerves off and fades back into the pack— kind of like segments coming off of a launching rocket when their fuel is spent. At the end of the line is the sprinter, who will sit relatively protected from the wind until the final 200 meters, when he opens his own sprint. (Again, protection from the wind is relative here, as you can see from LaPorte’s power numbers the last few minutes of the race.)

RELATED: The 2017 Tour de France's Green Jersey Competition Is Wide Open

Leadout trains can seem like fine-tuned machines, but there’s a lot that can go wrong. A sprinter can get bumped off the wheel of his teammate and lose contact with his train. He can get squeezed and have to brake, and lose precious position in the pack (sprinters want to be in the top 20 or so riders entering the final kilometer). Or the train itself may lose momentum if even one rider is tired and can’t sustain quite the same pace. And of course, there’s also usually a fight to get on the back wheel of whichever sprinter is thought to have the best form or chance that day.

Trains can form and fall apart in the matter of seconds, even as the race shifts and morphs all around like a murmuration of starlings. Complicating things is that not all sprinters have leadout trains. You’ll see BMC’s Greg Van Avermaet , for example, mixing it up in some sprint finishes, but his team is focused on protecting overall contender Richie Porte , not delivering him to the front.

RELATED: Stage 5 Daily Dish: Why Was BMC on the Front?

When the television coverage switches to an overhead shot, particularly right after the finish when they show a slow-motion replay, watch for the green jersey as he looks for the right wheels to follow and tries not to get boxed in between two slower riders, or between a rider and the barriers. Watch also for the way that these riders fight to defend a position, or take it from another rider. Live and at full speed, it’s easy to miss; it’s often easier to see during the replay. But the little nudges with the head, dropping an elbow over another rider’s elbow to assert position, or shouldering past another rider are, as much as raw power, the stuff of which great sprinting is made. Sprinters' bike-handling skills are literally marvelous.

Catch a Win

Into the last 500 meters, typically the trains have been reduced to maybe one teammate, in the throes of a final, desperate, hypoxic lunge. This is the leadout rider. The leadout is a decent sprinter (like LaPorte, or Dimension Data’s peerless Mark Renshaw), but their value lies in producing an acceleration that is almost as high as their teammate can muster. At the last possible moment, the sprinter slingshots out of the draft and goes around the leadout for the win. That’s the theory, anyway. If everything in your leadout train goes perfectly to plan, you might win 30 percent of the time (that’s according to Rolf Aldag, a former leadout man who’s now a director at Dimension). That’s what riders like Quick Step’s Marcel Kittel look for; Kittel in particular benefits from a textbook leadout; his team has one of the best and when it’s clicking, he’s tough to beat. (So is Lotto-Soudal’s Andre Greipel.)

RELATED: Marcel Kittel Wins 2017 Tour de France Stage 7 in Photo Finish

But leadout riders aren’t robots, and all sprints are different. Sometimes the train fizzles too far from the line, leaving a sprinter exposed to the wind. Or the sprinter mis-times his or her jump, going to early and flaming out, or going too late running out of real estate before the finish line comes. That’s when things get messy. Stages that finish on slight climbs , or into headwinds, are notorious for messy sprints. At that moment, it’s every sprinter for himself, and that’s where riders like Sagan and Cavendish excel.

The winning margins in sprints are sometimes so small that photo-finish cameras must be used to determine a winner. Stages have been won and lost by less than the width of a tire, which is why in the final few meters, you’ll see the riders throw their bikes forward toward the finish line.

Sprint stages overall aren’t always the most exciting to watch; sometimes the action can seem static, the tactics inscrutable. But there’s little in sports that surpasses the thrill of those last few frenzied kilometers: the catch, the leadouts and the final dash to the line.

RELATED: 14 Questions You've Always Had About the Tour de France

Sprint Trivia

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Highlights & Lessons From the 2024 Spring Classics

A Comprehensive Guide to the 2024 Giro d’Italia

Wout van Aert Is Back to Outdoor Training

How to Watch La Vuelta Femenina 2024

Nairo Quintana Will Focus on Stage Wins at Giro

Kopecky Won’t Be Racing the Tour de France Femmes

UAE Team Emirates Secures Isaac Del Toro’s Future

MvdP and Tom Pidcock Eat Humble Pie at LBL

Pogačar Dedicates Liège Victory to Urška’s Mother

2024 Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL Race Results

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Tour de France

Tour de france stage 5: a likely bunch sprint, but opportunists will try regardless, another big opportunity for the fastmen of the peloton..

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Stage 5 — Wednesday, July 3 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas Distance: 177.4km (110 miles) Profile: Flat stage

Stage 5: Another chance for the fastmen

The hilly nature of the opening week will put the sprinters under pressure but they have a second chance at success on day five.

Starting in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and concluding 177km later in Saint-Vulbas, the stage is mostly flat and will likely see an early break trying to hold off a hard-chasing bunch as they thunder towards the finish.

The GC contenders will be focused on staying out of trouble, avoiding any crashes or splits in the bunch.

The view of Tour de France race director Cristian Prudhomme: “The race’s temporary exit from the Alps will be made via Chambéry. Soon after, the peloton will be in La Bridoire, where the finish of the Classique des Alpes Juniors is regularly held. That’s a race for climbers, but they won’t get a look-in here as they head for Saint-Vulbas.

“After the Côte de l’Huis, tackled with 34km remaining, the wide roads beyond will be ideal for keeping a close eye on the breakaway riders. The winner’s bouquet looks destined to go to a sprinter.”

A Comprehensive Guide to the 2024 Giro d’Italia

[table-of-contents] stripped

It’s late April, which means it’s almost time for one of the sport’s hardest races in one of the world’s most beautiful locations: the Giro d’Italia , the first of pro cycling’s trifecta of three-week “grand tours.” While not as prestigious as the Tour de France , the Tour of Italy is considered by many to be the hardest grand tour of the season, a race known for its challenging terrain, stunning scenery, and the iconic maglia rosa , the “pink jersey” that’s awarded each day to the leader of the Giro’s General Classification.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 Giro d’Italia:

Dates: Saturday, May 4 - Sunday, May 26

How to Watch

If you’re a Max subscriber ($9.99/month), then you have access to the streaming platform’s B/R Sports package, which is the only legal way to stream the Giro d’Italia in the USA. For now, the package is free to all regular Max subscribers, but at some point, it will cost an additional $9.99 each month. That’s not as affordable as GCN+ used to be, but considering everything else you get with the B/R Sports package (such as MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA Men’s March Madness, U.S. Soccer, and 24 Hours of Le Mans coverage) it’s a pretty good deal.

Max has a user-friendly app for smartphones, streaming devices, game consoles, and smart TVs. There’s also an easy-to-navigate website, which is a helpful option for streaming the race from work. (Don’t worry, we won’t tell your boss.)

You could cancel your monthly subscription at the end of the race, but remember that Max will be offering live streams of many road, mountain, track, and cyclocross races throughout the rest of the year. If that floats your boat, consider getting an annual subscription for $99.99 (or $149.99 for ad-free streaming).

The 107th edition of the Giro d’Italia covers 3,386.7K (2,138 miles) over 21 stages, with two individual time trials, seven stages with uphill finishes, and six to eight stages expected to end with field sprints.

This year’s Grande Partenza takes place in Piemonte, near the French-Italian Alps, with two challenging road stages that will force the Giro’s GC contenders to be at their best right away. Stage 1, a 136K stage from Venaria Reale to Torino, features three categorized climbs–including the Superga and the Colle Maddalena–but it’s a short, punchy, uncategorized ascent just before the finish that could determine the stage winner.

Stage 2 begins in San Francesco al Campo and ends after 150K with this year’s first summit finish–on the Category 1 Santuario di Oropa, the climb on which deceased Italian legend Marco Pantani took one of his most famous stage wins in 1999. By the end of the first weekend, the GC battle will already be in full swing.

The race then begins working its way south, and Stages 3, 4, and 5—which finish in Fossano, Andora, and Lucca, respectively—should be days for the Giro’s sprinters. (Although the finishes of Stages 3 and 4 feature ramps inside the final 10K that could thwart the fast men.) Stage 6 brings the race from the coast into Tuscany (it finishes in Rapolano Terme) and features 12K of the strade bianche (“white gravel roads”) that give March’s Strade Bianche road race its name. If there’s one stage during the first week that has the potential to cause a few surprises, it’s this one.

Stage 7 is the first individual time trial of the Giro, and it’s a tough one: beginning in Foligno, the 37.2K race against the clock starts with over 30K of flat roads. But there’s a nasty sting in the course’s tail: a 6.5K climb to the finish line that starts steep and then ascends more gradually to the line. Riders who don’t pace themselves on the flat part of the course could explode on the final climb. There could be large time gaps here.

Starting in Spoleto, Stage 8 brings the second summit finish of the first week–on the Category 1 Prati di Tivo, a 14K climb in the Umbrian Apennines with an average gradient of 7%. With a field sprint expected in Napoli at the end of Sunday’s Stage 9 (after a 214K stage that starts in Avezzano), Stages 7 and 8 will determine which rider will wear the maglia rosa into the Giro’s first Rest Day.

The second week begins in Pompeii with Stage 10, a 142K stage that features a summit finish on a new climb, the Category 1 Bocca della Selva, a 20.9K climb with a deceiving 4.6% average gradient. The first few kilometers are actually downhill, so the climb is actually harder than its statistics suggest.

We expect Stage 11 (207K) to end with a field sprint in Francavilla al Mare, and Stage 12—with a jagged 190K stage through the Marche region (an area known for its muri or “walls”)—looks like the perfect day for a breakaway filled with puncheurs and riders who perform well in the spring classics. Friday’s Stage 13 is the flattest stage of this year’s race, which is probably a good thing considering the next two stages. This 179K stage from Riccione to Cento will be an active rest day for much of the peloton.

And they’ll need one because the third weekend begins with Stage 14–the Giro’s second individual time trial–a generally flat, 31K course from Castiglione delle Stiviere to Desenzano del Garda. This is a day for the Giro’s time trial specialists; the pure climbers will struggle to stay within shouting distance of their more powerful colleagues.

But they’ll have a chance for revenge on Sunday, when the race heads into the Alps for Stage 15, a 220K monster stage (the longest in this year’s race) with five categorized climbs, including back-to-back 2000m summits (both Category 1 ascents) at the end of the day, with a summit finish at the Mottolino ski resort just above Livigno. This weekend should blow the Giro wide open, leaving just a handful of riders still in contention to win the race overall.

The third week begins the same way the second week ends, with a 200K, high-altitude mountain stage. Stage 16 features the granddaddy of them all: the Stelvio, this year’s “Cima Coppi” as the highest summit in the race. Topping out at over 2700m, the climb comes early in the stage but will nonetheless offer a rude awakening to a peloton that’s coming out of the second Rest Day. After a long ride down into and through a valley, the day ends with the Category 1 Passo Pinei and then a summit finish on the Category 2 Monte Pana, in Santa Cristina in Val Gardena.

At “just” 159K, Stage 17 is much shorter than the previous two mountain stages, but it’s jammed with five categorized climbs, including the Category 2 Passo Sella and the Category 1 Passo Rolle. The day ends with two ascents of the Category 1 Passo Brocon, which the riders climb for a second time on their way to the finish line. This will be an intense stage, and it could pose a challenge for the team defending the pink jersey to control. The riders will be either climbing or descending from start to finish and if someone’s going to stage a third-week ambush, it could come here.

The next two stages offer a break from the mountains. Stage 18 brings a 166K downhill ride from Fiera di Primiero to Padua that should end with a field sprint. Stage 19 looks like the perfect chance for a small group of opportunists–who have likely been saving themselves in the high mountains–to escape and fight for a breakaway stage win in Sappada.

The 154K stage begins in Mortegliano and climbs steadily throughout the day, culminating with three categorized climbs in the second half stage, the last of which the riders summit just 7K from the finish. After so many days of intense climbing–and with one more day in the mountains still to come–the peloton could just sit back and let the break go all the way to the finish.

That sets the stage for Stage 20, the last chance for anyone hoping to steal the 2024 Giro d’Italia from whoever's been leading it. And–as the last two editions have shown us–that’s a realistic possibility. Starting in Alpago, the stage rolls along for about 85K before the first of two ascents of the Monte Grappa, an 18K climb with an average gradient of 8.1%–that’s steep . This isn’t a stage with a summit finish–the race finishes in Bassano del Grappa after a long descent from the top of the Monte Grappa down into the valley below–but even without one, the stage should still provide a dramatic conclusion to the Giro’s GC battle.

The race concludes Sunday in Rome with a 122K road stage featuring several circuits through the Eternal City. The day will begin with clinking glasses of prosecco, and end with one last chance for the sprinters to grab some glory.

You can find the elevation profiles and course maps for each 2024 Giro d’Italia stage here .

What Happened Last Year

For the second year in a row, the 2023 Giro d’Italia was decided on the grand tour’s penultimate day. In 2022, Australia’s Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) took the pink jersey from Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) on Stage 20. Hindley won a mountain stage at the end of the grand tour’s first week, then hung around near the top of the General Classification before seizing his moment late in the Giro’s final mountain stage and winning the race overall.

In 2023, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) followed the same formula, albeit without an early-stage win. After Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step)—who had won two stages and was wearing the pink jersey as the Giro’s overall leader—was forced to abandon the race after testing positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the Giro’s first Rest Day, Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) took the maglia rosa . With the exception of the two days straddling the second Rest Day, Thomas held the jersey for much of the second and third weeks.

But he cracked on Stage 20, an 18.6K uphill time trial from Tarvisio to the summit of the Monte Lussari. Roglič, who entered the day just 26 seconds behind Thomas on GC, won the stage by 40 seconds, taking the pink jersey–and the 2023 Giro–by a slim margin.

Thomas held on to finish second, and Portugal’s João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) finished third. Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious) won the Points Classification, France’s Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) won the King of the Mountains Classification, and Almeida was the Giro’s Best Young Rider.

Riders to Watch

Tadej pogačar (uae team emirates).

With most of the sport’s best grand tour riders (including Roglič) racing the Tour de France this summer, this year’s Giro has a short list of overall contenders, a list that’s headlined by one of the sport’s true superstars: Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

The 25-year-old has never raced the Giro, and he takes the starting line this year as the favorite to win and dominate it. Then he’s planning to head to the Tour, where he’s hoping to become the first rider since Italy’s Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and the Tour in the same season.

Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers)

Pogačar’s biggest challenger will likely be Geraint Thomas, who’s coming back to the Giro after last year’s disappointment. The 37-year-old (he’ll turn 38 during the race) will have a strong and experienced team supporting him–and the course suits him–but he’ll have a hard time overcoming Pogačar.

Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike)

We’ll also be keeping an eye on Belgium’s Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike), who made headlines last December when it was announced that he was breaking his contract with BORA-hansgrohe (who had recently signed Roglič away from Jumbo) to join the Dutch superteam.

The winner of the Tour de l‘Avenir in 2022, Uijtdebroeks just turned 21 and is widely considered to be a future grand tour contender. Without Belgium’s Wout van Aert, who’s skipping the Giro due to injuries he sustained in a crash at a race in Belgium a few weeks ago, Uijtdebroeks becomes the focus of the team’s Giro plans. And with a strong squad alongside him, he could finish on the podium and is the easy pick to become the Giro’s Best Young Rider.

Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)

Other GC contenders include Australia’s Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), a former fourth-place finisher at the Tour de France and Giro stage-winner; Italy’s Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), a former Giro podium-finisher; Colombia’s Daniel Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe), a former fifth-place finisher at the Giro; Great Britain’s Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), a two-time top-10 finisher; and France’s Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), a former Tour de France podium finisher who was seventh at the Giro in 2021 but might be more of stage hunter this year.

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)

Other stage hunters include Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), a three-time stage winner who was the Giro’s King of the Mountains in 2019; France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step), who’s riding his first Giro; and Canada’s Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech), who’s hoping to complete a hat-trick of grand tour stage victories with a win in Italy.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

One of the most controversial riders in this year’s Giro will be Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Movistar), winner of the Giro in 2014. But the 34-year-old hasn’t raced since finishing sixth overall in the 2022 Tour de France and then having his results disqualified after testing positive for tramadol, a painkiller that’s banned by the UCI (but not banned by WADA). He’s now back in the WorldTour with the team that made him famous. His return has not been a popular one , though, and it will be interesting to see how he’s received in Italy.

The Giro also offers several stage win opportunities for field sprinters, and that–plus the fact that the Tour de France is very not sprinter-friendly–means there will be lots of them taking the start, including Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek); Belgium’s Tim Merlier (Soudal–Quick Step); Dutch sprinters Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), and Australia’s Sam Welsford (BORA-Hansgrohe), Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck); and Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).

Last but not least, the Giro will see several North Americans taking the start, with Americans Larry Warbasse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers), and Will Barta (Movistar) joining Woods on the starting line, with more expected to join them as teams finalize their rosters.

Mark Cavendish continues Tour de France build-up in Hungary as Lutsenko leads Astana at Giro d'Italia

Manxman to ride Tour de Hongrie alongside Peter Sagan as three-time World Champion returns to road racing

Astana Qazaqstan have split up their leaders Alexey Lutsenko and Mark Cavendish for the upcoming races in May, with the Kazakh climber taking on the Giro d’Italia as the Manxman gears up for his final Tour de France in Hungary.

Cavendish will start the Tour de Hongrie instead of the Giro as he continues to build up to the Tour where he will take aim at a record 35th stage victory which would place him alone at the top of the win list above Eddy Merckx.

The five-day Tour de Hongrie usually provides multiple sprint opportunities, ideal for the Manxman to find his best form after struggling with illness and not scoring a win since the Tour of Colombia in February.

The hilly profile of many of the stages at last week's Tour of Turkey meant Cavendish was unable to contest the sprints. The closest he came to success was on stage 7 when a mechanical problem meant Cavendish wasn't able to finish off the work of the Astana Qazaqstan lead-out. 

‘Sprinting is not an addiction to me’ – Mark Cavendish prepares to return at Tour of Turkey Alexey Lutsenko wins Giro d'Abruzzo as Sivakov triumphs on final stage Peter Sagan to undergo second heart surgery

Lutsenko will ride only his second Giro and lead an Astana squad also featuring Italian national champion Simone Velasco, former Giro stage winner Lorenzo Fortunato and Max Kanter after the German took his first pro win at the Tour of Turkey.

The Kazakh national champion pulled out of his last race at the Tour de Romandie due to illness after the first stage but has looked strong in 2024 with the overall win and a stage victory at the Giro d’Abruzzo alongside a top 10 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

If Lutsenko takes a stage win, he will complete the set of Grand Tour victories after scoring victories at the Tour in 2020 and Vuelta in 2017.

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Also facing off with Cavendish in Hungary will be top sprinters Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor), Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers).

Perhaps the most interesting name on the start list is Peter Sagan , who will be making his return to road racing after retiring from the discipline at the end of 2023. The three-time World Champion will race for Continental team Pierre Baguette Cycling, where his brother Juraj Sagan is a sports director.

Sagan underwent two heart surgeries and had a cardiac recording device implanted in 2024 after suffering a tachycardic episode while racing in Spain for the Specialized Factory Racing mountain bike team. His ambition for 2024 is to qualify for the MTB cross-country event at the Paris Olympics.

The Slovakian icon was one of Cavendish’s key rivals throughout his career with the paid often facing off at the Tour de France alongside the likes of Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel.

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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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Tour de Romandie 2024: live stream cycling online

The 77th Tour de Romandie packs in 11,000m of climbing across six stages in Switzerland

• FREE live streams
• Watch from anywhere
• Route & stages

Last year's winner Adam Yates and third-placed Damiano Caruso both return to this six day-stage race in Romandie, the French speaking area of west Switzerland to battle again in the region's beautiful mountain scenery.

Read on and we'll show you how to watch the Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams from anywhere with a VPN , and potentially for FREE .

Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams take place between Tuesday, April 23 and Sunday, April 28. Start times vary. • FREE STREAMS —   Watch on SRF (Switzerland) •   U.S. — Watch on FloBikes •   U.K. — Watch on Discovery+ • Watch anywhere — Try NordVPN

Starting with a minuscule 2.3km prologue in the town of Payerne, the 77th Tour de Romandie will cover a total of 657km and pack in over 11,000m of climbing with a time trial on stage three and summit finishes on both stages two and four at Les Marécottes and Leysin.

Favourite to repeat his victory of last year will be Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) who will be backed up by a strong team including Pavel Sivakov, Felix Großschartner and Juan Ayuso. Leading the challenge will be the ever improving Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) winner of the recent Giro d’Abruzzo Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and young French star Lenny Martinez (Groupama - FDJ).

The course isn’t just for the climbers though as with a prologue and a mid-race time trial many TT specialists are on the start sheet too including Josh Tarling and Ethan Hayter from (INEOS Grenadiers) and Rémi Cavagna (Movistar Team).

Stage four, the Queen stage of the race lived up to all the hype providing a pulsating finale on the finishing climb. The win and race lead were both up for grabs and it was Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost) who took the stage, but only just from the fast approaching Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Behind the race for the overall was just as exciting as overnight leader Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) cracked opening the door for another young Spaniard Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) to pull on the yellow jersey.

The final stage, stage five sees the race cover 150km around the town of Vernier so read on to find out where to watch the Tour de Romandie 2024 cycling action live, wherever you are in the world.

FREE Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams

If you live in Switzerland then you can look forward to a FREE Tour de Romandie live stream in 2024. 

Switzerland's SRF is set to serve up a free stream of this six-stage stage race.

But what if you're based in Switzerland but aren't at home to catch that free Tour de Romandie coverage? Maybe you're on holiday and don't want to spend money on pay TV in another country, when you'd usually be able to watch for free at home?

Don't worry — you can watch via a VPN instead. We'll show you how to do that below.

Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams around the world

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching the cycling on your usual subscription?

You can still watch the Tour de Romandie 2024 live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN . It's the best on the market:

There's a good reason you've heard of NordVPN. We specialize in testing and reviewing VPN services and NordVPN is the one we rate best. It's outstanding at unblocking streaming services, it's fast and it has top-level security features too. With over 5,000 servers, across 60 countries, and at a great price too, it's easy to recommend.

Get 60% off NordVPN with this deal

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice . As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view a Swiss service, you'd select Switzerland from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to SRF or another streaming service and watch the action.

How to watch 2024 Tour de Romandie live streams in the U.S.

Cycling fans in the U.S. can watch the 2024 Tour de Romandie on  FloBikes . A subscription will set you back US$149.99 for the year or US$29.99 on a monthly basis.

And if you're currently out of the U.S. but still want to watch the race, then don't forget to explore  NordVPN  set out above.

How to watch Tour de Romandie 2024 live streams in the U.K.

Live coverage of the 2024 Tour de Romandie will be broadcast on Eurosport and Discovery+.

A 'standard' subscription to Discovery+ which includes Eurosport's cycling coverage will set you back £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. The package includes year-round cycling streams as well as other live sports including snooker, tennis, motorsports, the Paris Olympic Games, and more.

A premium subscription, which includes all that plus TNT Sports ( Premier League , Champions League and Europa League football plus rugby, wrestling, UFC, and MotoGP) costs an additional £29.99 per month.

If you're currently traveling overseas, don't worry, as you can use NordVPN to watch from abroad.

How to watch Tour de Romandie live streams in Canada

Cycling fans in the Canada can watch the 2024 Tour de Romandie on  FloBikes . A subscription will set you back CAN$150 for the year or CAN$29.99 on a monthly basis.

Not at home right now? Use NordVPN or another VPN service to trick your device into thinking you're still in Canada.

Tour de Romandie 2024 stages

The race starts with a very short 2.3km prologue which will be contested by the overall favorites, keen to install a pecking order early on, and the short TT specialists looking for a chance to gain a leaders jersey in a big stage race. 

Stage one follows the next day and it’s a lumpy 165.7km from Château d’Oex to Fribourg which will likely end in a sprint finish, although there are very view big name sprinters on the start sheet.

Stage two is where the GC action will really kick off with two huge mountains and a summit finish at Salvan/Les Marécottes. This 10km final ascent, averaging 7.3%, has slopes maxing out at 14% so will be a proper test for the climbers.

Those same climbers will the next day have to take on the 15.5km continuously undulating time trial around Oron and utilise another skill needed to win a stage race.

Stage four from Saillon to Leysin is 151.7km and takes the riders into higher territory with five classified climbs including the 10km summit finish at the end.

After this the GC battle should be stitched up with just the laps around Vernier to contend with on the final stage which will likely end in a sprint.

Prologue | Tuesday April 23, | Payerne - Payerne. 2.3km

Stage 1 | Wednesday April 24, Château d’Oex - Fribourg. 165.7km

Stage 2 | Thursday April 25, Fribourg - Salvan/Les Marécottes. 171km

Stage 3 | Friday April 26, Oron - Oron. 15.5km

Stage 4 | Saturday April 27, Sailion - Leysin. 151.7km

Stage 5 | Sunday April 28, Vernier - Vernier. 150.8km

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Simon Warren has been obsessed with cycling since the summer of 1989 after watching Greg Lemond battle Laurent Fignon in the Tour de France. Although not having what it took to beat the best, he found his forte was racing up hills and so began his fascination with steep roads. This resulted in his 2010’s best-selling  100 Greatest Cycling Climbs , followed to date by 14 more guides to vertical pain. Covering the British Isles, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain he has been riding and racing up hills and mountains for over 30 years now. He hosts talks, guides rides, has written columns for magazines and in 2020 released his first book of cycling routes,  RIDE BRITAIN . Simon splits his time between working as a graphic designer and running  his 100 Climbs brand  and lives in Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District with his wife and two children.

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