best tour de france moments

The 30 Greatest Moments in Tour de France History

The most memorable scenes from cycling’s premier event.

1905 – The First Climb

The first two editions of the Tour de France were primarily flat affairs. So in an attempt to make the race more exciting, organizers introduced the Tour’s first major climb, the Ballon d’Alsace, in 1905. Riders were allowed to change their fixed-gear bikes at the base and again at the summit so they had appropriate gearing for the climb and descent. France’s René Pottier reached the top first, making him the first (albeit unofficial) King of the Mountains in Tour history.

1910 – The Circle of Death

Inspired by the success of the Ballon d’Alsace, the Tour started including even higher summits. After a reconnaissance trip to the Pyrenees, it was decided that the 1910 edition would include a mountain stage of 326K sending the riders over the Peyresourde, Aspin, Tourmalet, and Aubisque—four summits later known as the “Circle of Death.” (This is perhaps because while walking his bike up the Tourmalet, eventual 1910 winner Octave Lapize shouted “You are assassins, yes, assassins!” at the organizers.) More than 100 years later, these climbs still strike fear into the hearts of Tour competitors.

1919 – The First Yellow Jersey

What would the Tour be without the yellow jersey ? Midway through the 1919 race, organizers heeded to pressure from the press to make the race leader more visible. Fittingly, they chose yellow as the distinctive jersey’s color, a nod to French newspaper and then-Tour owner L’Auto . The first jersey went to Eugene Christophe, one of the top riders of his generation.

Related: Watch How the Tour’s Yellow Jerseys Get Made So Quickly

1934 – Vietto's Great Sacrifice

Bicycle racing is nothing without sacrifice, and in 1934 Rene Vietto set the standard in an incomparable beau geste . Starting as a support rider for the legendary Antonin Magne, Vietto proved to be the revelation that year. Easily the best climber in the field, Vietto won four stages and rivaled Magne, who dealt with mechanical problems throughout the race. When Magne crashed on the descent of the Portet d’Aspet, his chances to win a second Tour (after his first victory in 1931) seemed slim. But once again, the 20-year old Vietto came to the rescue. Doubling back from the break, Vietto climbed up again to give Magne his front wheel. He then sat on the stone fence, waiting for the support car to finally arrive—and cried, knowing his own Tour chances were over.

1934 – The First Time Trial

On July 27, 1934, organizers introduced a new kind of stage, one that has shaped the outcome of just about every Tour since: the individual time trial (ITT). Team time trials had been a race fixture since the 1920s, but ITTs were too hard to run due to the sheer number of vehicles needed. So the Tour saved its first ITT for the penultimate day of the 1934 edition, after much of the field had dropped out or been eliminated. At 90K, it was incredibly long by modern standards, but given the frequency of 300K-plus stages back then, it probably felt just right to riders at the time.

1949 – The Coppi-Bartali Duel

Cycling is all about competition and camaraderie, defined best by Italians Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi in the 1949 Tour. The aging Bartali was the reigning champion, but Coppi was the rising star, having just won Milano-San Remo and the Giro d’Italia. For much of the race Coppi appeared jinxed, losing nearly half an hour to crashes and mechanical mishaps. But he showed his superior climbing in the Alps. On an epic stage to Briançon, the duo charged away on an early climb. But on the final Izoard ascent, Bartali began to struggle. Finally Coppi said, “Now Gino, I’m going.” But Bartali pleaded, “Let’s finish together... Let me win the stage. Tomorrow you will win the Tour.”

1955 – Louison Bobet on Mont Ventoux

At the peak of his career, popular French rider Louison Bobet sealed his legacy with a memorable solo ride over the infamous Mont Ventoux . Attacking with Charly Gaul in the final kilometers, Bobet then soloed to victory. Winning the stage in Carpentras, he would exchange his rainbow world champion’s jersey for yellow, assuring his third Tour de France victory.

1956 – Unknown Roger Walkowiak

Unknowns rarely win the Tour de France. Three weeks is just too long for an unheralded rider to sustain any flashes of brilliance. But in 1956, Roger Walkowiak surprised just about everyone as he stole the headlines, not to mention the yellow jersey, from the top favorites. Attacks were nonstop throughout the ’56 Tour as the major national teams failed to control the race. Without fanfare, and without winning a stage, “Walko” nonetheless rode consistently. Once he grabbed the lead, he held up under pressure to take it all the way to Paris. Many disregarded his victory, and in fact he would never win again. But for three weeks in July he racked up a historic win for the little guy.

1958 – Charly Gaul Breaks Away

Ever since Ottavio Bottecchia won in 1924, a pure climber had been unable to ride home in yellow. But Luxembourgish rider Charly Gaul turned the situation around in the final days of the 1958 Tour. Known as the “Angel of the Mountain,” Gaul won a stage on Mont Ventoux but only grabbed the lead on the final day of climbing in the Alps. Attacking in the Chartreuse Mountains, he soloed to victory in Aix-les-Bains, leaving Frenchman Raphael Geminiani and his yellow jersey well behind.

1961 – Anquetil Leads From Wire to Wire

Heading into the 1961 Tour, Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil, who first won in 1957, boasted that he would take the yellow jersey on the opening day and keep it all the way to Paris. It was a bold prediction, as Charly Gaul, winner of the 1958 Tour, was racing that year as well. But Anquetil stood by his word, dominating the afternoon time trial on the first day and defending his lead throughout the rest of the race. He went on to win the next three Tours to become the race’s first five-time winner.

1964 – Anquetil and Poulidor Duel on Puy de Dôme

For years Raymond Poulidor was Anquetil’s greatest rival, and in 1964 he narrowly missed his best chance to seize victory from the defending champion. The final climbing stage that year took on the Puy-de-Dôme volcano in central France. At the base, Anquetil held a 56-second lead on Poulidor and knew his rival would attack. With each acceleration, Anquetil marked Poulidor as the two rode shoulder to shoulder up the narrow, fan-packed road. Finally, Poulidor broke free in the last 1,500 meters and gained ground with each pedal stroke. Delirious, Anquetil forged on, trying to cut his losses. At the finish he maintained a 14-second lead. Days later he would become the first five-time Tour winner, and Poulidor would never even wear the yellow jersey.

1969 – Merckx Raids the Pyrenees

Eddy Merckx entered his first Tour de France in 1969 with a chip on his shoulder after being thrown out of the Giro d’Italia for a positive drug test that he still swears was rigged. But by the end of the first day he had the yellow jersey, and when the race hit the Pyrenees two weeks later he had a lead approaching eight minutes. On Stage 17 riders faced the Circle of Death, and when Merckx attacked on the Tourmalet 140K from the finish line in Luchon, his competition thought he was just stretching his legs. But Merckx persisted alone, descending the Tourmalet, climbing and descending the Aubisque, and then cruising over the rolling roads to the finish. He won the stage by nearly eight minutes, doubling his overall lead. It was one of greatest days in the career of cycling’s greatest athlete.

1971 – Ocana Defies Merckx

Ever since his overwhelming first Tour victory, Merckx looked untouchable. But in 1971 he found a real challenger in Spaniard Luis Ocana. When Ocana attacked early on the mountain stage to Orcieres-Merlette, Merckx could not respond. Throughout the 77K solo breakaway, Ocana continued to take time out of the two-time champion, grabbing a nearly 10-minute advantage and the yellow jersey at the finish. Merckx, it seemed, had finally met his match. But soon he regained his lead in the Pyrenees, when Ocana crashed out of the race. Ocana, however, would finally win his Tour in 1973, the one year Merckx did not enter.

1975 – Thévenet Breaks Merckx

For most, it’s a sleepy ski resort in the Alps. But for cycling fans, Pra-Loup remains a monument, for it was here where Merckx wore yellow for the last time. The greatest rider of all time seemed primed for a record-setting sixth Tour victory. All day long, he exchanged attacks with up-and-coming Frenchman Bernard Thévenet. On the final climb to Pra-Loup, Merckx bolted away. Soon, however, his pedal stroke stiffened and the Cannibal ran out of gas. Without hesitating, Thévenet counterattacked, catching and dropping Merckx. He then grabbed three minutes on Merckx in the final 6K and went on to win his first of two Tours de France.

1975 – The First Champs-Élysées Finish

What would the Tour de France be without its famous ending on the Champs-Élysées? For decades, in fact, there was no such fanfare at the finish. But in 1975, organizers reached an agreement with Paris to host the final stage in the heart of the city, a sign that the race had finally become a landmark of its own. Belgian sprinter Walter Godefroot won the first mass finish, while Thévenet won the race and a new Tour tradition was born.

1978 – Bernard Hinault Leads Rider Protest

He may have been a Tour rookie, but Bernard Hinault was already the boss. Not only did he win the first Tour de France he entered, but “The Badger” already held the respect of the entire peloton. He showed it on a stage between Tarbes and Valence d’Agen, when he led riders in protest against the growing number of long transfers and early starts. It seemed only fitting when he finally took the yellow jersey and won the race.

1986 – Slaying the Badger

After Greg LeMond helped his teammate Hinault win a fifth Tour title in 1985, the Frenchman promised the American that he would return the favor in 1986. Well, promises are made to be broken, and Hinault fought LeMond tenaciously before the latter finally took the lead on Stage 17. The next day, the two teammates dropped everyone on Alpe d’Huez, with Hinault winning the stage and LeMond adding to his overall lead. It looked like a truce had been declared, but Hinault told a journalist after the stage that the Tour “wasn’t finished.” Despite Hinault’s best efforts, though, LeMond held on to win his first Tour.

1989 – LeMond’s Eight Seconds

Two years after nearly dying in a hunting accident, LeMond returned to the Tour to face two-time champion Laurent Fignon. The pair exchanged yellow four times throughout the race, with Fignon wearing it heading into the final stage: an individual time trial in downtown Paris. Fignon held a 50-second lead over the American at the day’s start, but LeMond got the better of him, beating Fignon by 58 seconds while winning the stage—and the overall field. LeMond’s eight-second margin of victory remains the slimmest in Tour history.

1990 – Claudio Chiappucci Almost Steals The Win

Four riders grabbed a 10-minute lead on the first stage of the 1990 Tour. But it was the least-known among them, Italian Claudio Chiappucci, who nearly stole the race. With the yellow jersey on his shoulders, he maintained a seven-minute lead over defending champion LeMond exiting the Alps. He kept it until the last time trial in Lac de Vassiviere, when LeMond finally overcame the surprise upstart to win a third Tour. Chiappucci’s tenure in yellow, however, made him one of the most popular riders of his generation.

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The 30 Greatest Moments in Tour de France History

THE MOST MEMORABLE SCENES FROM CYCLING’S PREMIER EVENT.

BY WHIT YOST

Over its 116-year history, the  Tour de France  has challenged, disgraced, and immortalized the world’s greatest cyclists. But while each year brings fresh triumphs and heartbreaks, these are the 30 moments we will never forget.

1905 – The First Climb

The first two editions of the Tour de France were primarily flat affairs. So in an attempt to make the race more exciting, organizers introduced the Tour’s first major climb, the Ballon d’Alsace, in 1905. Riders were allowed to change their  fixed-gear bikes  at the base and again at the summit so they had appropriate gearing for the climb and descent. France’s René Pottier reached the top first, making him the first (albeit unofficial)  King of the Mountains  in Tour history.

Read Full Article here . 

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Bike Finder

Results have arrived, the bikes behind our favorite tour de france moments: 2010-2019.

Check out the bikes used by Chris Froome, Peter Sagan, Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Greg Lemond, and more. These are our favorite bikes behind iconic Tour de France moments.

Written by: Bruce Lin

Published on: Jul 15, 2021

Posted in: Bikes

Bike racing is nothing without drama. I love scrappy breakaways, daring long-range attacks, chaotic high-speed sprints, heart-breaking crashes, and heated rivalries. It’s all part of what makes the Tour de France the most amazing spectacle in sport.

But it wasn’t drama that first drew me to bike racing. It was the machines. My passion for bike racing grew out of an impulse to drool over  road bikes  and to watch them go as fast as possible.

Cycling is special because anyone can purchase the same bikes and equipment used by pro riders. I’ve had the pleasure of buying, photographing, and selling many of the same top-of-the-line models that were ridden in the Tour. Every time I see one of these bikes, I like to think back to all the Tour de France moments that it was part of.

[button] SHOP ROAD BIKES [/button]

You may remember the great moments of the Tour. You may remember the riders. But do you remember the bikes? I picked out the seven most memorable Tour de France moments from the previous decade, and took a closer look at the bikes that propelled them:

1. Chain-gate - Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL3 2. The underdog from Down Under - BMC Teammachine SLR01 3. The rise of the Sky bots - Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think2 4. The Tourminator - Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod 5. Froome's footrace - Pinarello Dogma F8 6. Dutch duel - Scott Foil RC 7. 'Cross-over success - Bianchi Oltre XR4 Vintage bonus: Eight seconds - Bottecchia TT  

1. Chain-gate

Contador attacks schleck after a mechanical - 2010.

There are lots of unspoken rules in professional cycling that revolve around sportsmanship and tradition. Alberto Contador broke one of these rules on stage 15 when he attacked Andy Schleck after a mechanical on the Port de Balès. Schleck initiated an attack before the summit but moments later he came to a screeching halt with a dropped chain. As Schleck desperately tried to fix his bike at the side of the road, Contador flew past. 

Should Contador have waited for Schleck until his bike was fixed? Would Schleck have waited if the roles were reversed? Chain-gate, as it became known, was the most talked-about racing incident of the year. After some fumbling, Schleck was able to replace his chain and put in a powerful surge, but he lost 39 seconds and the yellow jersey to Contador.

The bike: 2010 Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL3

[product-block handle="2011-specialized-tarmac-sl3-l"/]

The S-Works Tarmac SL3 “module” (frame, fork, headset, crankset, seatpost) weighed 2,047 grams, shaving an impressive 153 grams off of the already light Tarmac SL2 module. Full builds were capable of getting into the 13-pound range. Despite the weight loss, Specialized still managed to increase front triangle torsional rigidity and rear triangle stiffness by 18 percent.

Both Schleck and Contador had bikes equipped with lightweight SRAM Red drivetrains. Back then, the titanium caged Red front derailleurs were a bit finicky. Did Schleck ham-fistedly shift the front and cause the chain to drop? Did his team mechanic screw up the limits? Would a Shimano drivetrain have done the same? We may never know.

2. The underdog from Down Under

Cadel evans becomes the first australian tour de france winner - 2011.

Despite two second-place TDF finishes in 2007 and 2008, and a world championship, Cadel Evans was not really seen as a challenger to the likes of Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck. Many believed he would lose time to the favorites in the high mountains.

Evans managed to win stage 4 in a sprint finish, but for the most part, the 2011 edition of the Tour was animated by the likes of Thomas Voeckler and Schleck. On stage 18, Schleck launched a daring long-range attack, winning the stage and putting himself in a position to take the overall (Voeckler held on to yellow by 15 seconds but would lose it to Schleck the next day).

But the steady, reliable diesel that is Cadel Evans, kept his head down and stayed within a couple of minutes of the lead. When Schleck attacked on stage 18, Evans never gave up the chase and dragged an exhausted train of the world’s best climbers up the Galibier behind him. In the final time trial before the Champs-Élysées, Evans pulled off the upset, beating Schleck by two and a half minutes to become the Tour’s first Australian winner.

The bike: 2011 BMC Teammachine SLR01

[product-block handle="2014-bmc-teammachine-slr01-s-1"/]

The Teammachine features dropped seat stays, and BMC was one of the earliest brands to embrace this design, which improves compliance. It has since caught on across the industry as more manufacturers place a greater emphasis on rider comfort.

Many of Evans’s teammates in 2011 chose to ride the more aerodynamic Timemachine Road TMR01, but as a GC contender, Evans needed a lighter bike for climbing. Fortunately, BMC had just revamped the Teammachine for 2011 and shaved 100g off the frameset.

To save a little more weight, Evans rode a 51cm bike which is small for his height (5’8”). The Teammachine already has a very aggressive low stack height, and sizing down only makes the saddle to bar drop even more severe. One other odd detail: Evans liked to chop two centimeters off the end of his handlebars to get his fit perfect.

Evans's drivetrain choice was also cutting edge — Shimano Dura-Ace Di2. Di2 was released two years prior, but many pros were hesitant to go electronic, fearing reliability issues. Evans had no such concerns and suffered no Di2-related mechanicals. Now, electronic drivetrains are standard across the pro peloton. 

3. The rise of the Sky bots 

Bradley wiggins becomes the first british tour de france winner - 2012.

Though overshadowed in later years by his former domestique, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins still has the distinction of being the first Brit to win the Tour.

This decade will be remembered as the time of Team Sky. With a massive budget, a performance philosophy centered around “marginal gains,” and a legion of world-class riders, it won seven out of the last 10 editions of the Tour (and counting). It’s become a common sight to see a mob of Sky (now Ineos) jerseys controlling the front of major bike races.

In fact, in 2012 Wiggins’s biggest challenger was his teammate Froome. Team Sky went so far as to hold Froome back on the major climbs so Wiggins could ride to Paris in yellow.

The bike: 2012 Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think2

The Pinarello Dogma stood out thanks to Pinarello’s “ONDA” design. Onda means “wave” in Italian, and the Dogma uses asymmetric wavy fork legs and rear stays. Some loved the bold and unique look. Others thought it was strange and alien. Many found the ride to be punishingly stiff. It is a race bike after all.

[product-block handle="2014-pinarello-dogma-65-1-think2-m"/]

Pinarello began experimenting with wavy carbon forks the decade prior. They reportedly were popular with Pinarello’s pro riders like Erik Zabel because they had more rigidity for cornering, especially on fast descents. The asymmetric design was said to balance the unequal strain from pedaling forces on the rear end, caused by having the drivetrain on one side.

In the 2012 Tour, the Dogma 65.1 was not only the overall winner, but it was also the winningest bike of the Tour. Sky’s sprinter, Mark Cavendish, won three stages, Chris Froome took a mountaintop win on stage 7, and Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde also took a win aboard a Dogma on stage 17.

In the search for maximum weight savings, Team Sky mechanics supposedly weighed all the ball bearings to be installed and only chose the lightest ones. A tiny difference, but in the science of "marginal gains" it all adds up.

Notably, the Dogma came in a whopping 12 different sizes (most brands offer five or six sizes). Medium sizes were offered in one-centimeter increments. For riders seeking the perfect fit, dropping the coin for a Pinarello is often worth it.

4. The Tourminator

Peter sagan's explosive tour de france debut - 2012.

In 2012, Tour fans were introduced to the phenom that is Peter Sagan. He won the opening road stage and then won two more stages against established sprinters like Andre Griepel and Matthew Goss. By the end, he’d won the points classification's green jersey. Most impressive of all, he was only 22 years old and riding his first Tour de France.

When Sagan won, his celebrations were unlike any others — Forrest Gump impersonations, the chicken dance, and more. The 2012 Tour was just a preview of the amazing wins and goofy antics we’d enjoy over the coming years. After seven green jerseys, three consecutive world championship wins, and 100+ other major victories, Sagan has proven he is the best all-around rider of the decade.

The bike: 2012 Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod

[product-block handle="2015-cannondale-supersix-evo-hi-mod-m-2"/]

This generation of SuperSix was also one of the lightest production road frames at 695 grams. The weight savings were achieved through Cannondale’s new carbon molding technique. Carbon fiber material was laid around an EPS core (similar to the foam in helmets). This core allowed an extremely precise assembly and carbon layup that maximized weight savings by reducing excess material. When paired with an ultra-light SRAM Red drivetrain, it meant Liquigas-Cannondale had to add a significant amount of ballast to meet the UCI minimum weight requirement.

While other companies were experimenting with airfoil tube shapes, sloping top tubes, and dropped seat stays, Cannondale stuck to classic bike design. The tubes were mostly round and the frame used a level top tube. For bike aficionados, it was one of the few carbon bikes that had a classic profile.

Despite the tube shape, Cannondale claimed that the SuperSix Evo still had excellent aerodynamic properties, especially in crosswinds, thanks to subtle tube-shaping. Clearly, Sagan had no problem launching into the wind and out-sprinting the world’s best so maybe Cannondale was onto something. Unfortunately, for the lovers of this classic design, Cannondale has fallen in line with the rest of the industry and produced the latest SuperSix with truncated airfoils and dropped seat stays. 

5. Froome's footrace

Chris froome is forced to run up ventoux - 2016.

Yes, Team Sky again. The most dominant team accounts for a good number of the Tour’s greatest moments in recent history. But this one needs to be included not because it’s a special victory, but because it’s one of the strangest and most memorable yellow jersey moments ever.

Chris Froome and Baulke Mollema were chasing Froome’s former teammate, Richie Porte, up Mount Ventoux. The camera motorcycle in front of the riders suddenly stopped and the riders all crashed into the back of the stalled motorcycle.

Mollema remounted and continued, but Froome’s bike was broken. In the panic, he started running. The image of Froome frantically trotting uphill in his cycling shoes will stick with fans forever. The Team Sky car was blocked in the chaos so Froome took a spare bike from the Mavic neutral service car but it had the wrong pedals, and it was the wrong size. Eventually, he got a team bike and raced to the line, losing almost two minutes. Fortunately, the jury was kind to Froome and Porte, giving them the same finishing time as Mollema.

The bike: 2016 Pinarello Dogma F8

For the aero side of things, Pinarello partnered with Jaguar, one of Team Sky’s Sponsors, for extensive wind tunnel testing. The first finished Dogma F8 first appeared beneath Froome and his Sky teammates just before the 2014 Tour de France. Froome crashed out of the race so it wouldn’t win the Tour until 2015.

[product-block handle="2015-pinarello-dogma-f8-l-3"/]

The down tube, seat tube, seat stays, and seatpost all feature Pinarello’s “Flat Back” shaping, which is essentially another name for the popular truncated airfoil design (you may be familiar with Trek’s Kammtail or Scott’s FO1 designs). The wavy fork legs and stays were ditched to optimize their aero shape, but they retained Pinarello’s asymmetric design (the drive side is thicker than the non-drive side) to balance out pedaling forces and increase lateral stiffness.

With the redesign, the Dogma F8 claimed to be nine percent lighter and 28 percent stiffer than the previous Dogma 65.1. But the massively improved comfort was the most noticeable difference. The F8 became a bike that regular riders with soft backsides could ride for hours without complaint.

Otherwise, the geometry for the Dogma F8 is exactly the same as the Dogma 65.1, and the huge range of sizes remained. The exorbitant $5,000 price tag (for the frame only) also didn’t change.

6. Dutch duel

Annemeik van vleuten's nail-biting la course sprint victory - 2018.

The Tour de France organizers introduced La Course in 2014, a one-day women's race that is loosely affiliated with the men's event. (Now, since 2022, the one-week  Tour de France Femmes  directly follows the men's race.) For the first three years, the race was held on the Champs-Élysées, a flat course for sprinters. Fortunately, they went into the mountains for 2017 and 2018 and it resulted in far more exciting racing.

Annemeik van Vleuten is one of the best female racers of the decade with big wins at the Giro Rosa and road world championships. Her 2018 ride at La Course ended in a nail-biting sprint. She and fellow Dutch rider, Anna van der Breggen, separated themselves on the Col de la Colombière. At the summit, van der Breggen had gained three seconds on van Vleuten and the pair raced down the descent. Within sight of the finish, van Vleuten pounced on the exhausted van der Breggen, and managed to snatch victory in the final 20 meters.

The bike: 2018 Scott Foil RC

[product-block handle="2016-scott-foil-10-l"/]

Scott was one of the first brands to adopt large volume, truncated aero tubes. Rather than use conventional airfoil profiles, it employed a truncated teardrop shape with a 3:2 aspect ratio. This balanced stiffness, weight, and aerodynamics. It was similar to Trek’s Kammtail concept, but Scott removed more trailing edge material and used a more rounded “cut line” on each tube. Scott claimed the less aggressive shape reduced drag numbers at higher yaw angles and had better ride quality.

Like many new aero road bikes, the Foil also uses an integrated aero stem. These are always a huge pain to set-up, although Shimano’s Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrains reduce some of the cable routing headaches.

In 2018, Scott introduced disc brake versions of the Foil and Addict road bikes. But in true roadie fashion, most pros were slow to adapt. Van Vleuten and the rest of her Mitchelton-Scott team chose to ride the more traditional rim-brake Foil for La Course.

7. 'Cross-over success

Cyclocross champ wout van aert’s first tour de france win - 2019.

This is my personal pick. There was so much drama in the 2019 Tour — Thibaut Pinot abandoning with a torn muscle; Julian Alaphillipe losing yellow on a shortened stage due to a mudslide and hailstorm; Egan Bernal becoming the youngest Tour winner. But forget all that.

Van Aert is one of my all-time favorite riders, which made stage 10’s sprint finish the most exciting finish of 2019 for me. I’ve been a huge van Aert fan since 2016, his early cyclocross days, and I felt proud seeing my boy finally make it big. The joy wouldn’t last though. A favorite to win the Stage 13 time trial, van Aert clipped a barrier and suffered a season-ending crash.

Since then he’s recovered and has shown that, along with longtime rival, Mathieu van der Poel, he is one of the best riders of the new generation. He's won many more Tour stages and shown he can time trial well, sprint with the fastest sprinters, and climb with the best climbers. He'll be lighting up the Tour for years to come!

The bike: 2019 Bianchi Oltre XR4

Bianchi has been making bikes since 1885, the world’s oldest bike manufacturer. The Oltre XR4 is painted in Bianchi’s signature celeste color. There are many stories about the color’s origin. Some say Edoardo Bianchi was so captivated by the eyes of Regina Margherita of the Savoia Royal House that he tried to reproduce their color on a bike he gifted to her. Or maybe it was made to mimic the beautiful skies of Milan. Or perhaps it’s the result of mixing together surplus military paint. Whatever the truth is, it is cycling’s most iconic color.

[product-block handle="2017-bianchi-oltre-xr-1-s"/]

Wout van Aert’s 2019-2020 road victories have been achieved on the Oltre XR4, suggesting that Bianchi’s flagship bike, which at the time, hadn’t seen a major update since its release in 2016. Under a ride like van Aert though, it can still hack it with the latest and greatest.

Since 2018, the Oltre XR4 has been available with disc brakes, but van Aert and his Jumbo-Visma teammates stuck to the rim brake model. 

For the XR4, Bianchi revamped the XR2 frame using computational fluid dynamics and flow visualization for aerodynamics. The seat stays are positioned wide of the rear wheel to help reduce drag, and this has the added benefit of giving more tire clearance.

The Oltre XR4 uses “Countervail" technology, a feature that has been used on other, more comfort-focused bikes in Bianchi's range. It was originally developed for the US military and NASA (bike companies love saying their stuff is aerospace-grade) and it’s a composite-material system that combines viscoelastic carbon material within a unique fiber preform to cancel out road vibrations.

Bianchi’s reasoning is that your body is the biggest contributor to aerodynamic drag when you’re riding, so anything that keeps you comfortable enough to stay in a low, aero position is going to benefit your overall speed more than an aero frame or wheels.

Vintage bonus: Eight seconds

The closest finish in history. greg lemond vs. laurent fignon - 1989.

Greg LeMond’s 1989 Tour win is a year older than Tour legend Peter Sagan and five years older than rising star, Wout van Aert. (Do you feel old yet? It might be time to buy a mid-life crisis road bike!)

From 1986 to 1989, LeMond went from Tour winner to gunshot victim. Many questioned if he would ever return the same caliber of rider after his hunting accident. Coming into the final stage of the 1989 Tour, LeMond was riding well, but trailed French rider Laurent Fignon by 50 seconds. The traditional sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées was replaced with an individual time trial, but he was not expected to be able to make up the deficit.

Lemond had a plan though. He put a set of triathlon-style aero bars on his bike, and an aero helmet on his head. His critics called these devices ugly, unnecessary, dangerous, and even maybe illegal. But LeMond had nothing to lose. They’ve since become standard equipment for time trialing.

LeMond won the stage, but more importantly, Fignon finished 58 seconds slower, costing him the victory. LeMond won his second Tour title by only 8 seconds — the smallest winning margin in history. It is still the most exciting and dramatic Tour finish ever.

Bike: 1989 Bottecchia TT Bike

Greg LeMond’s steel-framed Bottecchia was similar to most other time trial bikes in the 1989 Tour de France. It was set-up as a “funny bike” with a 650b front wheel and Mavic rear disc wheel. Funny bikes earned their name because their aggressive, raked stance drew comparisons to American funny car dragsters.

Funny bike designs emerged in 1984 with Francesco Moser’s hour record bike. The reduction in height at the front (typically achieved with a 24” or 650c front wheel) was intended to reduce aerodynamic drag. The rear generally kept the standard 700c size as it had less rolling resistance and didn’t require oddly large chainring tooth counts to obtain the desired gear ratios. Eventually, the UCI outlawed such designs in 1996.

Greg LeMond making use of his aero bars. Photo courtesy of Mavic.

LeMond’s bike was equipped with a massive 55x12t top gear, which he used to achieve an average speed of 54.545 km/h (34.52 mph). At the time, this was the fastest time trial ever ridden in the Tour de France.

What really set LeMond’s Bottecchia apart was the addition of the Boone Lennon-designed Scott clip-on aero bars. His victory ushered in a new era of time trialing, where aerodynamics are as important as strength and skill. It started a technological arms race that’s still being fought today as companies make each new bike slightly more aero than the last.

What do you think? Did we miss any of your favorite Tour de France moments or bikes? Let us know what you think in the comments!

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5 BEST MOMENTS TO WATCH FOR AT THE 2022 TOUR DE FRANCE

The Tour de France gets back underway Tuesday after a successful three days in Denmark with a series of testing stages that will shape the destiny of the 2022 yellow jersey. Here, we take a look at five things worth watching out for in the next seven days:

Van der Poel’s yellow jersey bid

With three hilly stages, two mountain days and the treacherous cobbles, attack-minded Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin will be straining at the leash to once more claim the overall leader’s yellow jersey after a fine run in 2021. He can probably not do it in the mountains, but the one-day specialist sits just 20 seconds off Wout van Aert’s lead and may even go for the gun between Dunkirk and Calais on Tuesday.

Cobbles could shake up pecking order

The Tour takes on 20km of the old mining roads that led the Paris-Roubaix to gain its nickname ‘the Hell of the North’. That stretch could provide a shake-up in the overall standings and may also reveal the true nature of the pecking order inside the teams with more than one leader. If Tadej Pogacar’s hand injury is worse than he is showing, it will be put to a rude test. Ineos could protect Adam Yates, or opt to allow Geraint Thomas to plough on if he is in difficulty. Primoz Roglic would appear stronger for Jumbo, but they also have Jonas Vingegaard as a possible leader and will also consider how long to try and keep Wout van Aert in yellow.

Skirmish at La Planche des Belles Filles

The last time the Tour took on this climb in the Vosges mountains to the storied summit finish, Thomas gained time on all his key rivals on the punishing upper reaches contested over gravel. The Tour winner will likely not be revealed here, with time differences between the overall contenders expected to remain within 30-40 seconds. But this is the Tour’s first summit finish, first mountain stage and will provide major form pointers ahead of the crucial Alpine stages ahead.

Alpine slog to test Pogacar

The 10th stage in the Swiss Alps is potentially the most grueling test of the week, with over 20 miles of tough ascents. It will put Ineos’ promise to race aggressively to the test. They have two climbers in their ranks capable of a bid to put time into defending champion Pogacar, or at least wear him out on a Tour thin on traditional mountain challenges.

Survival mode or attack mode

Ineos were talking up a fight ahead of the Tour, suggesting they would race aggressively in their bid to end Pogacar’s reign. Their two leaders are climbers Daniel Martinez and Yates who will have to wait for the mountains to launch an attack. Jumbo-Visma, said they would be concentrating on just surviving the opening stages. The merits of those differing strategies will be put under the microscope this week.

RBA/AFP Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency

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​​Five moments that defined the 2023 Tour de France

Through the phases of the Vingegaard-Pogačar duel

The Tour de France again produced a duel between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar , though few could have anticipated the gap that would ultimately form between the two outstanding favourites in the final week.

Then again, perhaps a race as attritional as this one was always likely to take a toll. Peter Sagan was riding his final Tour de France and he suggested he had never competed in one as intense as this, with only two days where the racing wasn’t full-throated from the very outset.

Indeed, Vingegaard and Pogačar’s running duel was such that they even found themselves on the attack in the opening kilometres of stage 10, which had been ostensibly billed as a transition stage, a day for an early break to sally clear. The Tour of 2023, however, rarely afforded such respite.

It was still, of course, a race of a thousand stories. Thibaut Pinot’s farewell in the Vosges will endure in the memory. Pello Bilbao and Matej Mohorič scored fine breakaway wins and spoke poignantly of the loss of Gino Mäder and the realities of their lives as bike riders. Jasper Philipsen dominated the sprints, while Mark Cavendish came close to adding to his own history in the race.

The dominant thread, however, was the remarkable contest between Vingegaard and Pogačar. Cyclingnews looks back at some of the moments that defined the race.

Fast start sets the tone

Just days before the Grand Départ, when UAE named Adam Yates as Tour de France co-leader for their team, it was widely regarded as a way of easing pressure on Tadej Pogačar given his uneven build-up.

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The real limits on Yates’ role remained blurry until deep into the third week when UAE made a concerted effort to keep on the podium. However, that was just one rider in a bigger picture: back in Bilbao on the opening stage, right from the gun UAE’s collective gung-ho attitude to the Tour made itself very clear.

If any confirmation had been needed that it was the UAE squad who’d give Jumbo-Visma the biggest run for their money, in the three weeks to come, on the gritty, technical ascents in the Bilbao industrial hinterland, Mikkel Bjerg, Adam Yates and Pogačar provided that evidence in abundance. 

When the UAE push came to shove towards the summit of the Pike, the last and most hotly disputed climb of all, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard was almost duty-bound to be up there in person. But in fact only he and stage 2 winner Victor Lafay (Cofidis) could follow UAE’s two co-leaders, Adam Yates and Pogačar.

As more riders then came across to the leading quartet on the false flat and fast descent that followed, Adam Yates soared away towards a solo victory and the first yellow jersey with only his brother Simon (Jayco-AIUIa) for company.

But the big news was that thanks to UAE, the main peloton had definitively shattered, ultimately leaving a group of 12 top favourites ahead at Bilbao. When Pogačar crossed the line with his arms held aloft at the celebration of UAE’s first of three stage wins, there was more satisfaction that he’d taken third and stolen a march on Vingegaard with bonus seconds. Yet perhaps most importantly of all, stage 1 was a day where UAE had made it plain that in their much stronger lineup compared to 2022, they meant serious Tour business.

The war from the gun wasn’t just at the front end of the bunch. The frenetic approach to the Pike saw the first GC contender, Enric Mas (Movistar) crash out with a broken shoulder blade, and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) suffered injuries that would see him lose 15 minutes then leave the race on stage 2 as well. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) showed that any dreams of a return to the GC battle needed putting on hold for now, while both Romain Bardet (DSM) and Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroën) found themselves in trouble.

The fallout from UAE’s constant presence on the front was less severe on stage 2 over the Clásica San Sebastián’s most emblematic climb, the Jaizkebel. But as there were bonus seconds on offer at the summit, Bilbao’s display of strength had been so impressive it felt almost inevitable that a hyper-active Pogačar would zip off the front, then snatch yet more seconds at the finish with third place behind stage winner Victor Lafay (Cofidis).

This fussy, snappy, adrenalin-fuelled, all-out approach by UAE helped set the general tone of the next two weeks. It was instantly plain that Pogačar was determined to fight Vingegaard for every second on offer and would look to test his rival at every point possible. And with the glorious benefit of hindsight, it would be possible to read feelings of general insecurity over his underlying form into his persistent quest to gain even the slightest advantage.

At the same time, Vingegaard’s persistent trekking of Pogačar both on the Pike and again on the Jaizkibel strongly suggested that Jumbo-Visma’s policy of wearing down the Slovenian in the first two weeks rather than crushing him was in operation from the get-go.

But on stages 1 and 2, the way UAE were racing just felt like the suggestion of an even bigger Slovenian whirlwind to come.

But for whatever reason, the toughest Tour de France start in history also produced one of the most nervous, exciting opening chapters as well.

Pogačar bounces back in the Pyrenees

It’s very easy to forget, given the way the cards finally fell for Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar in this year’s Tour, that less than a week into the race it had all looked like it was already over for the Slovenian.

Long before Pogačar’s now famous utterance of “I’m dead, I’m gone” on race radio on the Col de la Loze confirmed his surrender in GC battle, the first stage in the Pyrenees over the Col de Marie-Blanque had strongly indicated that the UAE Team Emirates leader was nowhere near the form of Jonas Vingegaard. On stage 5, the defending champion gained more than a minute on a struggling Pogačar, whose Basque Country fireworks fizzled out on a murky Pyrenean day. Even if the lead fell into the hands of Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), Pogačar’s falling to sixth place and time loss seemingly gave Vingegaard the kind of momentum and advantage not even the Dane suspected he could gain.

However, just when the most pessimistic observers were predicting two and a half weeks of tedium as Vingegaard simply took control of the race whenever suited him, 24 hours later Pogačar bounced back. Big time.

In what was to prove the Dane’s most important defeat of the entire race, in the closing kilometres of stage 6 to Cauterets Pogačar laid down a devastating acceleration that Vingegaard simply could not match, and gained 24 seconds by the finish line.

It wasn’t a massive time gain, and Vingegaard actually took the yellow that day and never relinquished it over the following 15 stages. But Cauterets proved that Pogačar was not a spent force even before the Tour had really begun, and his process of chipping away at Vingegaard’s lead over the next two stages was underway as well.

Pogačar’s defiance gained even greater credibility given it had been Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team, principally in the shape of Wout van Aert , that appeared to have wanted to lay down the law all the way over the Tourmalet. Vingegaard had laid down a searing acceleration towards the summit of the Pyrenees’ hardest climb that only Pogačar could follow, and then again some five kilometres from the summit. After Pogačar’s defeat on the Marie-Blanque stage, it felt like Vingegaard wanted to take a stranglehold on the race.

Instead, 2.6 kilometres from the finish, Pogačar lifted himself out of the saddle and instantly opened a sizable gap on the Dane. Ultimately this proved to be the high point of his battle against Vingegaard - but at the time it felt like a tide had turned.

Motorbikes block Pogačar’s sprint on the Col de Joux Plane

Everybody on the mountain knew what was coming when Pogačar lifted himself from the saddle 550 metres or so from the summit of the Col de Joux Plane on stage 14, not least Vingegaard, who could sense the Slovenian moving up on his shoulder.

An attack from a similar position the previous day on the Grand Colombier had seen Pogačar prise four seconds – plus another four in bonuses – from Vingegaard, and UAE Team Emirates directeur sportif Andrej Hauptman suggested afterwards that this kind of explosive effort was precisely where his rider could tip the balance of the contest.

At that point, their duel seemed destined to be decided by seconds, and Pogačar was diligently chipping away at his early deficit. Unlike in 2022, when he simply couldn’t shake off Vingegaard, Pogačar’s accelerations were now consistently achieving a degree of separation on this Tour, even if the Dane always managed to limit the damage.

It all meant Pogačar was just nine seconds down coming into stage 14, and although Jumbo-Visma dictated terms for most of the day, it was UAE Team Emirates who seized the initiative on the Joux Plane, where there were precious bonus seconds on offer at the top. Vingegaard withstood Pogačar’s initial onslaught, but he was braced for a more severe impact as they approached the bonus sprint at the summit.

The pair of motorbikes travelling a small distance in front of the two leaders, however, were unprepared for Pogačar’s sudden launch. Or perhaps more accurately, the sheer volume of fans and lack of barriers meant they were simply unable to get out of the way quickly enough. When Pogačar reached them, barely 40m into his effort, he was forced to brake and desist .

Worse was to follow for Pogačar, who was then caught flat-footed in the closing metres of the mountain, where Vingegaard outkicked him for the full quota of bonus seconds at the summit, temporarily adding three seconds to his advantage in the overall standings. Pogačar would outsprint Vingegaard for second place in Morzine to cut the overall deficit to ten seconds once again, but that did little to temper the furore.

In the moment, with the Tour being billed as the tightest since Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon’s eternal 1989 duel, the Joux Plane motorbike incident felt as though it might distort the outcome of the entire race. Vingegaard, mind, continued to quietly insist the race would be decided by minutes rather than seconds.

Vingegaard’s time trial exhibition

When the Tour route was announced last October, the mountain stages drew the eye. The Pyrenees came early, the Massif Central and the Jura featured ahead of some redoubtable days in the Alps, and there was a potentially explosive grand finale in the Vosges. It was all too easy to overlook the significance of the meagre ration of 22.4km in time trialling, all concentrated in stage 16 to Combloux .

As the race drew on, however, it became increasingly likely that the individual test would serve as something of a tiebreaker between two men who seemed to have one another’s measure, more or less, when the road climbed. Pogačar had a 6-3 head-to-head record in time trials against Vingegaard over the years, but it wasn’t clear how relevant that track record would be to this hybrid test, which included the Côte de Domancy.

Most observers reckoned that Vingegaard and Pogačar would place first and second in the time trial, but it was hard to say in what order. The gap, most agreed, would still be measured in seconds rather than minutes.

And then Vingegaard went out and showed that everything we thought we knew about cycling was false.

He was already 16 seconds ahead after 7km, almost doubling his lead to 31 seconds by the 16km mark. On the short Côte de Domancy, which he tackled on his time trial, Vingegaard put another 34 seconds into Pogačar. In just 22.4km, he gained 1:38 on Pogačar, dominating his rival in every facet of the course.

All told, Vingegaard was almost 2kph quicker than his rival, and Pogačar wasn’t exactly standing still. The Slovenian took second on the stage, while third-placed Wout van Aert – hardly a slouch against the watch – was 2:51 down. Vingegaard’s performance was from an entirely different stratosphere. Or, as L’Équipe’s loaded headline the following day put it: “From another planet.”

By then, Vingegaard and Pogačar’s supersonic climbing displays had already raised questions given that they had beaten the 30-year-old record for the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet. “I fully understand the scepticism and I think we have to be sceptical because of what happened in the past,” Vingegaard said in Saint Gervais after stage 15, striking a conciliatory note.

Jumbo-Visma manager Richard Plugge was a little more indignant on Vingegaard’s behalf, insisting that the hefty winning margin was the result of the team’s season-long focus on the stage. He also claimed his team had already demonstrated their bona fides. “We open our doors always, and I think that especially journalists should put a little more effort into [analysing] what’s happening,” he said.

But perhaps the key questions should be directed elsewhere, namely to the UCI. Since the governing body put doping controls in the hands of the ITA at the start of 2021, not a single rider has tested positive in the men’s WorldTour, while the biological passport has not successfully prosecuted a top-level rider in years.

In short, it begs the same question we asked this time last year: does this mean doping has been eradicated or is the testing simply not adequate?

Until such doubts are assuaged, the robust and repeated questioning of Tour winners’ credibility will inevitably continue.

‘I’m gone. I’m dead’ – Pogačar’s challenge ends on the Col de la Loze

In truth, the race was already over after the Combloux time trial, but Pogačar’s remarkable gifts – and his refusal to lay down arms – meant that there was still the prospect that he might at least make things uncomfortable for Vingegaard in the final days of the race.

Those illusions faded about 8km or so from the summit of the Col de la Loze on stage 17 , when Pogačar reached for the radio and told his team the dream was over: “I’m gone, I’m dead.” Vingegaard, seeing his rival floundering, didn’t need a second invitation to pile on the pressure.

The remainder of the day was an ordeal for Pogačar. A 50m deficit became five minutes by the top of the climb and almost six at the finish over the other side in Courchevel. At one point, even his place on the podium looked at risk. He endured defeats on the Col du Granon and Hautacam at last year’s Tour, but this was the heaviest yet.

The eternally upbeat Mauro Gianetti preferred to focus on Pogačar’s resilience in completing the course and saving the podium spot, and the UAE Team Emirates manager had further reason for calm when his rider won at Le Markstein on stage 20 and Adam Yates secured the third step of the podium.

Pogačar’s second straight Tour defeat does, however, beg questions about his approach to the 2024 race. The Slovenian’s remarkable dexterity carried him to victory at the Tour of Flanders , Flèche Wallonne, Amstel Gold Race and Paris-Nice in the Spring, but it’s hard to shake off the feeling that he later paid a price for those unsparing efforts in July.

UAE have understandably pointed to the broken wrist Pogačar suffered at Liège-Bastogne-Liège as the biggest hindrance to his preparation, but it will be fascinating to see if they also consider diverting him towards a more traditional Tour build-up in 2024. Pogačar remains the best cyclist in the world, but Vingegaard is the best cyclist in July. He might have to do something different to change that dynamic.

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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