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Tour de France 2021: full team-by-team guide

Our in-depth look at every team, the main riders to watch and the cast of characters tearing through France

Stage-by-stage guide: our lowdown on the 2021 Tour route

AG2R-Citroen (Fr)

Mainstays of the Tour since the 90s, transformed this winter with arrival of iconic car company sponsor, departure of long-time leader Romain Bardet and signing of several pricey foreign imports. Ben O’Connor has provided best value so far and Benoît Cosnefroy is one of France’s up and coming names.

Main man Greg van Avermaet. Belgium’s Olympic champion, a big transfer over the winter, won stages and wore yellow in 2015 and 2016. Yet to deliver for his new team.

Team Benoît Cosnefroy, Dorian Godon, Oliver Naesen, Ben O’Connor, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Nans Peters, Michael Schär, Greg van Avermaet.

Alpecin-Fenix (Bel)

Second division pacesetters who punch way above their budget thanks to star rider Mathieu van der Poel, whose Tour debut could be high-octane viewing. But they are about more than him: Tim Merlier, Jonas Rickaert and Jasper Philipsen have ridden strongly all year, with Merlier’s Giro d’Italia stage win the highlight.

Main man Van der Poel. Cyclo-cross star who can switch to road racing to devastating effect. Going for a stage win at least, possibly a tilt at the green points jersey.

Team Sylvain Dillier, Tim Merlier, Xandro Meurisse, Jasper Philipsen, Jonas Rickaert, Kristian Sbaragli, Petr Vakoc, Mathieu van der Poel.

Arkéa-Samsic (Fr)

Second division team who bought in home star Warren Barguil, climber Nairo Quintana and sprinter Nacer Bouhanni but haven’t yet seen a great deal for the investment. Britons Dan McLay and Connor Swift – winner of Breton classic the Tro Bro Léon this year – can win in their own right but should have support roles on this Tour.

Main man Barguil. Breton climber who had a stellar 2017 Tour but has yet to truly kick on; fourth in the French championship looks promising.

Team Warren Barguil, Nacer Bouhanni, Anthony Delaplace, Élie Gesbert, Dan McLay, Nairo Quintana, Clément Russo, Connor Swift.

Astana-Premier Tech (Kaz)

Founded to promote Kazakhstan, but have now expanded with Canadian co-sponsor and a multinational line-up. Good bets for at least a stage win somewhere; Alexey Lutsenko is an outside chance for the time trials, while old lag Jakob Fuglsang had a strong run-in to the Tour.

Main man Fuglsang. Danish former mountain biker who can win hilly Classics such as Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He’s tactically astute and a definite candidate for a stage win.

Team Alex Aranburu, Stefan de Bod, Omar Fraile, Jakob Fuglsang, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Hugo Houle, Ion Izagirre, Alexey Lutsenko.

B&B Hotels-KTM (Fr)

The dream is a stage win for climber Pierre Rolland or sprinter Bryan Coquard, the reality will be figuring in daily doomed escapes. For many WorldTour teams winning a stage equals Tour success, so it’s way harder for the second division squads – but the race does go through Lourdes so miracles do happen.

Main man : Rolland. Eternal attacker whose best days were 10 years ago. Will show in the mountains, but it’s long odds on getting the third Tour stage of his career.

Team Cyril Barthe, Franck Bonnamour, Maxime Chevalier, Bryan Coquard, Cyril Gautier, Cyril Lemoine, Quentin Pacher, Pierre Rolland.

Bahrain Victorious (Bah)

Rocked by manager Rod Ellingworth’s departure to Ineos over the winter, they bounced back with a strong Giro and Dauphiné. Leader Mikel Landa is injured but his underlings can deliver a stage win, or maybe more: Jack Haig, Sonny Colbrelli and Matej Mohoric are all in form, while young Brit Fred Wright is in there for experience.

Main man Colbrelli is the new Italian champion, a strong climber who shines when other sprinters struggle to hang on, so has a chance of the green points jersey.

Team Pello Bilbao, Sonny Colbrelli, Jack Haig, Marco Haller, Matej Mohoric, Wout Poels, Dylan Teuns, Fred Wright.

BikeExchange (Aus)

Australia’s finest look slightly underpowered after Adam Yates’s departure to Ineos. They are out for stages with Simon Yates but also Esteban Chaves, a world class climber on his day, plus they have a former green jersey in Michael Matthews, a good bet if it gets hilly and the pure sprinters are left behind.

Main man Simon Yates. The laconic Lancastrian salvaged third and a mountain stage at this year’s Giro. Strong climbing legs plus good tactical brain and decent sprint makes him the consummate stage hunter.

Team Estaban Chaves, Luke Durbridge, Lucas Hamilton, Amund Grøndahl Jansen, Chris Juul-Jensen, Michael Matthews, Luka Mezgec, Simon Yates.

Bora-Hansgrohe (Ger)

The German team leave out sprinter Pascal Ackermann, but have a formidable line-up led by prolific world champion Peter Sagan, and strong climbers Emanuel Buchmann, Wilco Kelderman and Patrick Konrad. That’s a lot of leaders, but between them they can target stages on all terrains and perhaps get close to the podium.

Main man Sagan. The serial points prize winner is out to make it eight this year. He’s bound to win a stage somewhere, but the green jersey may be more of a challenge.

Team Emanuel Buchmann, Wilco Kelderman, Patrick Konrad, Daniel Oss, Nils Politt, Lukas Pöstlberger, Peter Sagan, Ide Schelling.

Cofidis Solutions Crédits (Fr)

A mix of home grown and imported talent in this long-standing French team backed by a loan company. It’s all about one man: Guillaume Martin can target the top 10 while the rest can make merry in the breakaways. They landed a stage in the Giro and can hope for the same at the Tour.

Main man Martin. Strong climber who has stalled somewhat after writing a book on philosophy and cycling. It’s time he fulfilled his potential.

Team Simon Geschke, Jesús Herrada, Christophe Laporte, Guilluame Martin, Anthony Perez, Pierre-Luc Périchon, Jelle Wallays.

Deceuninck-Quickstep (Bel)

Cycling’s winning machine is targeting a stage and a spell in the yellow jersey for Julian Alaphilippe and a sprint win for Davide Ballerini or comeback man Mark Cavendish, who is now 36 but will work off the back of a sprint-centred squad that can provide the best lead-out in cycling

Main man Alaphilippe. The world champion and very new father is expected to win at least one stage in the opening weekend and ride well in the Laval trial. Luckily he thrives on pressure.

Team Kasper Asgreen, Julian Alaphilippe, Davide Ballerini, Mattia Cattaneo, Mark Cavendish, Tim Declercq, Dries Devenyns, Michael Mørkøv.

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The Germans work a hydra tactic, a different “head” at the front every day, and it functioned brilliantly in 2020 – three stage wins thanks to some perfect tactical riding. They will place riders in the breaks on every hilly day and it should succeed at least once. Brit Mark Donovan gets a first Tour start.

Main man Søren Kragh Andersen. The Dane managed a brace of stage wins last year, but pulling that off again will be a tougher proposition.

Team Tiesj Benoot, Cees Bol, Nils Eekhoff, Søren Kragh Andersen, Joris Niewenhaus, Mark Donovan, Casper Pedersen, Jasha Sütterlin

EF Education-Nippo (US)

Cycling’s marketing dream, clad in lurid pink and making headlines with every radical jersey they wear. There’s real substance here too though, as they have a happy knack of landing prestigious wins with the likes of Stephen Bissegger, Magnus Cort and Rigoberto Urán

Main man Urán. The evergreen Colombian landed a stage and second overall in 2017; he hasn’t hit those heights recently but is coming to the boil at just the right time.

Team Stephen Bissegger, Magnus Cort, Sergio Higuita, Neilson Powless, Rigoberto Urán, Michael Valgren, Ruben Guerreiro, Jonas Rutsch.

Groupama-FDJ (Fr)

A team that is indelibly French, but fields a multinational string of support riders behind its two leaders. With mainstay Thibaut Pinot out with back issues, David Gaudu and sprinter Arnaud Démare will step in, with Stefan Küng targeting the time trial stages.

Main man Gaudu. Breton climber who broke through at last year’s Vuelta with two mountain stage wins, and will have ample opportunity at the Tour.

Team Bruno Armirail, Arnaud Démare, David Gaudu, Jacopo Guarnieri, Ignatas Konovalovas, Stefan Küng, Valentin Madouas, Miles Scotson.

Ineos Grenadiers (GB)

The prolific Grand Tour winners field a lineup of galacticos, with Richie Porte, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Richard Carapaz ready to step in if anything happens to accident prone Geraint Thomas. They have the strongest support riders in Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski and Dylan van Baarle, and will be expected to win overall. Given their lineup and budget, anything less equals failure.

Main man Thomas. The Welshman won in 2018 but struggled in 2020. His form on such a mountainous course is hard to read but if he can stay upright anything is possible.

Team Richard Carapaz, Jonathan Castroviejo, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Michal Kwiatkowski, Richie Porte, Luke Rowe, Geraint Thomas, Dylan van Baarle.

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert (Bel)

Belgian squad who went up to WorldTour this year and promptly landed a stage at the Giro. They may not have the pure talent in their ranks to repeat that in cycling’s toughest arena, but they will place riders in the escapes every day. It’s all part of the learning curve.

Main man Louis Meintjes. Unpredictable South African who will fly or flop. He can climb well enough to make the top 10, but don’t put the mortgage on him.

Team Jan Bakelants, Jonas Koch, Louis Meintjes, Boy van Poppel, Danny van Poppel, Lorenzo Rota, Loïc Vliegen, Georg Zimmerman.

Israel Start-Up Nation (Isr)

The big investment in Chris Froome may never mature with the four-times Tour winner still struggling after serious injury. Froome’s place at the Tour was in doubt until the last minute, but Dan Martin – a recent stage winner at the Giro – and Michael Woods are good bets to win on any day in the mountains.

Main man Woods. Former ice hockey player and middle distance runner, the Canadian turned to pro cycling late at 29, but took stages in the Vuelta in 2020 and 2018.

Team Guillaume Boivin, Chris Froome, Omar Goldstein, Andre Greipel, Dan Martin, Reto Hollenstein, Michael Woods, Rick Zabel.

Lotto-Soudal (Bel)

The Belgians field the fastest sprinter in cycling at the moment in Caleb Ewan so it’s a simple plan. Former world champion Philippe Gilbert and indefatigable attacker Thomas De Gendt will show on their chosen days, but it’s all about the flat stages and getting Ewan to the final 200m in the perfect position.

Main man Ewan. The Aussie is targeting stage wins in all three Grand Tours this year, and with a fair wind he will land at least a brace in France.

Team Jasper de Buyst, Thomas De Gendt, Caleb Ewan, Philippe Gilbert, Roger Kluge, Brent van Moer, Tosh van der Sande, Harry Sweeny.

Jumbo-Visma (Neth)

The Dutch squad had a strong spring but went quiet until last weekend when Wout van Aert won the Belgian national title. In Robert Gesink, Steven Kruijswijk, Sep Kuss, Van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard they have one of the strongest climbing units, so if they pull together and Roglic is at his best they are capable of shaking Ineos and UAE.

Main man Roglic. The Slovene fell at the final hurdle last year then bounced back to win the Vuelta. A definite podium contender, hasn’t raced since April, but that doesn’t mean he’s off form. Not by any means.

Team Robert Gesink, Steven Kruijswijk, Sep Kuss, Tony Martin, Primoz Roglic, Mike Teunissen, Wout van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard.

Movistar (Sp)

Movistar have an illustrious four-decade pedigree and always field a raft of good climbers, but recently they’ve not delivered at the Tour. The arrival of Miguel Ángel López and Enric Mas can change this; they have an obvious focus for their domestiques, and evergreen Alejandro Valverde could land a surprise stage win at 41 years young.

Main man López. The pint-sized Colombian took last year’s toughest mountain finish, and has won this year over Mont Ventoux, so is a definite podium candidate.

Team Jorge Arcas, Imanol Erviti, Iván García, Miguel Ángel López, Enric Mas, Marc Soler, Alejandro Valverde, Carlos Verona.

Qhubeka-Assos (SA)

Cobbled together as 2020 closed, Qhubeka were the surprises of the Giro d’Italia, netting three stage wins. The Tour is a tougher proposition, and while they will place riders in the daily escapes, they will struggle to translate that into stage wins, because so many other teams will have the same plan.

Main man Belgian Victor Campenaerts landed a fine Giro stage win and can target both time trials, but it’s not clear if he can hold his form into mid July.

Team Carlos Barbero, Sean Bennett, Victor Campenaerts, Simon Clarke, Nic Dlamini, Michael Gogl, Sergio Henao, Max Walscheid.

TotalEnergies (Fr)

French stalwarts with a long and honourable record now looking short of focus; they lost strongman Alexis Vuillermoz to injury just before the Tour started. Edvald Boasson-Hagen is past his best and Pierre Latour not quite the finished article so it will be the traditional plan: get in breaks, target the mountains jersey, and hope for the best.

Main man Latour. The 2018 Tour’s best young rider took a stage recently at the Vuelta Asturias, but will need a perfect day to back that up in the toughest race in the world.

Team Edvald Boasson-Hagen, Jérémy Cabot, Fabien Doubey, Victor de la Parte, Pierre Latour, Cristian Rodriguez, Julien Simon, Antony Turgis.

Trek-Segafredo (US)

There’s a wealth of talent here. Vincenzo Nibali’s record speaks for itself, Bauke Mollema and former world champion Mads Pedersen can win big when required, and Jesper Stuyven is as strong as they come. They will target stage wins; Mollema on a big day in the mountains looks like the best bet.

Main man Mollema. Ungainly Dutch climber who is always at the front when it matters and picks off the odd big win such as a Tour stage in 2017, and Il Lombardia in 2018.

Team Kenny Elissonde, Bauke Mollema, Vincenzo Nibali, Mads Pedersen, Toms Skuijns, Jesper Stuyven, Edward Theuns.

UAE Emirates (UAE)

Last year, UAE didn’t need to give Tadej Pogacar much support; he flew under the radar then struck hard at the close. There’s no hiding now, so they have invested in strongmen such as Rafal Majka and Marc Hirschi; even so, collectively they still don’t look the climbing equals of Ineos or Jumbo, so it may all depend on “Pog” at key times.

Main man Pogacar. Surprise winner last year, and has backed up extremely well this season. The Tour favourite, but can he match Ineos’s strength in depth if he ends up on his own?

Team Mikkel Bjerg, Rui Costa, Davide Formolo, Marc Hirschi, Rafal Majka, Brandon McNulty, Tadej Pogacar, Vegard Stake Langen.

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Tour de France 2022 start list: Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič and Wout Van Aert all line up for the 109th edition

The squads of all 22 teams starting in Denmark in the battle for the yellow jersey

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The 2022 Tour de France begins on Friday 1 July, with 176 riders taking to the start line at the Grand Départ in Denmark before finishing, as usual, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday 24 July. 

Reigning champion, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is returning to try and win the title for the third successive year over the 21 days of racing to Paris, but he and his team will face a tough battle for the Maillot Jaune. 

His compatriot Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) is expected to provide him the most difficult test at the Grand Tour, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) ready and waiting for any opportunities in the general classification. 

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Tour winner from 2018, also lines up, but he will likely ride for his teammates rather than making an attempt at the yellow jersey himself, despite recently winning the Tour de Suisse. After twice finishing second at the Tour de France before, and once in third, Nairo Quintana (Arkéa Samsic) is no doubt desperate to stand on the top step of the podium this time around, though his chances in doing so look slim.

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) is starting at the 2022 Tour de France, and while a GC challenge is extremely unlikely, the four-time Tour winner will still believe he can produce consistently over the three weeks.

Romain Bardet (Team DSM) perhaps offers France's greatest opportunity at a home win, though he has previously stated stage wins are the main goal at this Tour, rather than the overall victory. 

Plenty of other riders are aiming for stage wins and the different jerseys on offer, too. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will resume battle in France. While the latter has claimed he is only targeting stage wins, rather than the points classification, it is likely he will still have to beat Van Aert on a few occasions to achieve that goal.  

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Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl are placing their sprint hopes on Fabio Jakobsen, opting not to bring Mark Cavendish into the fold - a stage win for the Manxman would give him the most stage wins in Tour history, allowing him to overtake Eddy Merckx as the pair both sit on 34. 

Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) also join Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) in lining up for the Grands Départs in Denmark, adding their names to an already stellar start list of some of cycling's biggest names.

The full start list for the 2022 Tour de France is below.

Tour de France 2022 start list

UAE Team Emirates

1. POGAČAR Tadej 2. BENNETT George 3. BJERG Mikkel 4. LAENGEN Vegard Stake 5. MAJKA Rafał 6. MCNULTY Brandon 7. SOLER Marc 8. HIRSCHI Marc 

Jumbo-Visma

11. ROGLIČ Primož 12. BENOOT Tiesj 13. KRUIJSWIJK Steven 14. KUSS Sepp 15. LAPORTE Christophe 16. VAN AERT Wout 17. VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan 18. VINGEGAARD Jonas

Ineos Grenadiers

21. THOMAS Geraint 22. MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe 23. CASTROVIEJO Jonathan 24. GANNA Filippo 25. PIDCOCK Thomas 26. ROWE Luke 27. VAN BAARLE Dylan 28. YATES Adam  

AG2R Citroën

31. O'CONNOR Ben 32. BOUCHARD Geoffrey 33. CHEREL Mikael 34. COSNEFROY Benoît 35. DEWULF Stan 36. JUNGELS Bob 37. NAESEN Oliver   38. PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien

Bora-Hansgrohe

41. VLASOV Aleksandr 42. GROßSCHARTNER Felix 43. HALLER Marco 44. KÄMNA Lennard 45. KONRAD Patrick 46. POLITT Nils 47. SCHACHMANN Maximilian 48. VAN POPPEL Danny 

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl

51. JAKOBSEN Fabio 52. ASGREEN Kasper 53. BAGIOLI Andrea 54. CATTANEO Mattia 55. HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich 56. LAMPAERT Yves 57. MØRKØV Michael 58. SÉNÉCHAL Florian

61. MAS Enric 62. ERVITI Imanol 63. IZAGIRRE Gorka 64. JORGENSON Matteo   65. MÜHLBERGER Gregor 66. OLIVEIRA Nelson 67. TORRES Albert 68. VERONA Carlos 

71. MARTIN Guillaume 72. PERICHON Pierre-Luc 73. GESCHKE Simon 74. IZAGIRRE Ion 75. LAFAY Victor 76. PEREZ Anthony 77. THOMAS Benjamin 78. WALSCHEID Max

Bahrain-Victorious

81. HAIG Jack 82. CARUSO Damiano 83. GRADEK Kamil 84. MOHORIČ Matej 85. SÁNCHEZ Luis León 86. TEUNS Dylan 87. TRATNIK Jan 88. WRIGHT Fred

Groupama-FDJ

91. GAUDU David 92. DUCHESNE Antoine 93. GENIETS Kevin 94. KÜNG Stefan 95. LE GAC Olivier 96. MADOUAS Valentin 97. PINOT Thibaut 98. STORER Michael  

Alpecin-Deceuninck

101. VAN DER POEL Mathieu 102. DILLIER Silvan 103. GOGL Michael 104. KRIEGER Alexander 105. PHILIPSEN Jasper 106. PLANCKAERT Edward 107. SBARAGLI Kristian 108. VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume    

111. BARDET Romain 112. DAINESE Alberto 113. DEGENKOLB John 114. EEKHOFF Nils 115. HAMILTON Chris 116. LEKNESSUND Andreas 117. TUSVELD Martin 118. VERMAEKE Kevin

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

121. KRISTOFF Alexander 122. BYSTRØM Sven Erik 123. GOOSSENS Kobe 124. MEINTJES Louis 125. PASQUALON Andrea 126. PETIT Adrien 127. VAN DER HOORN Taco 128. ZIMMERMANN Georg  

Astana Qazaqstan

131. LUTSENKO Alexey 132. RIABUSHENKO Aleksandr 133. DOMBROWSKI Joe 134. FELLINE Fabio 135. GRUZDEV Dmitriy 136. MOSCON Gianni 137. VELASCO Simone 138. ZEITS Andrey

EF Education-EasyPost

141. URÁN Rigoberto 142. GUERREIRO Ruben 143. BETTIOL Alberto 144. BISSEGGER Stefan 145. DOULL Owain 146. CORT Magnus 147. POWLESS Neilson 148. RUTSCH Jonas 

Arkéa Samsic

151. QUINTANA Nairo 152. BARGUIL Warren 153. BOUET Maxime 154. CAPIOT Amaury 155. HOFSTETTER Hugo 156. LOUVEL Matis 157. OWSIAN Łukasz 158. SWIFT Connor 

Lotto Soudal

161. EWAN Caleb 162. FRISON Frederik 163. GILBERT Philippe 164. JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt 165. KRON Andreas 166. VAN MOER Brent 167. VERMEERSCH Florian 168. WELLENS Tim

Trek-Segafredo

171. PEDERSEN Mads 172. CICCONNE Giulio 173. GALLOPIN Tony 174. KIRSCH Alex 175. MOLLEMA Bauke 176. SIMMONS Quinn 177. SKUJINS Toms 178. STUYVEN Jasper

TotalEnergies

181. SAGAN Peter 182. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald 183. BODNAR Maciej 184. BURGAUDEAU Mathieu 185. LATOUR Pierre 186. OSS Daniel 187. TURGIS Anthony 188. VUILLERMOZ Alexis  

Israel-Premier Tech

191. FROOME Chris 192. BOIVIN Guillaume 193. CLARKE Simon 194. FUGLSANG Jakob 195. NIV Guy 196. HOULE Hugo 197. NEILANDS Krists 198. WOODS Michael

BikeExchange-Jayco

201. MATTHEWS Michael 202. BAUER Jack 203. DURBRIDGE Luke 204. GROENEWEGEN Dylan 205. JANSEN Amund Grøndahl 206. JUUL-JENSEN Christopher 207. MEZGEC Luka 208. SCHULTZ Nick

B&B Hotels-KTM

211. BONNAMOUR Franck 212. BARTHE Cyril 213. GOUGEARD Alexis 214. LECROQ Jérémy 215. LEMOINE Cyril 216. MOZZATO Luca 217. ROLLAND Pierre 218. SCHÖNBERGER Sebastian

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Ryan is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly, having joined the team in September 2021. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before making his way to cycling. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer. 

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The Team-by-Team Guide to Who Will Win the 2021 Tour de France

Who’s that guy and why’s he off the front? Which teams will count a stage win as a smashing success and which will say just one stage is a failure? And, of course: Who actually IS going to win the Tour?

Namely: who’s gonna win? The insoluble math of sport means that of 184 starters, 183 won’t be on the top step of the podium. But in stage racing, there isn’t just one winner, no one way to define success. Teams come to the Tour with all kinds of objectives, from winning stages or minor jersey competitions to just putting on a good show for the sponsors in the one race that gets major international media coverage.

That variety makes for some interesting subplots. But it also makes racing confusing as hell for casual fans. That’s what we’re here to fix with our annual, pull-no-punches team guide. As always, we’ve divided this into four sections, from favorites to also-rans.

Who’s that guy and why’s he off the front? Which teams will count a stage win as a smashing success and which will say just one stage is a failure? And of course: of 184 starters, who actually IS going to win the Tour?

Wild Cards and Stage Hunters | Surefire Stage Winners | Outside GC Contenders | Favorites

Unless things go very, very pear-shaped at the Tour, it’s almost a lock that the top step of the podium (and maybe all three) will come from riders on these three teams. They’re simply the deepest and strongest teams in the race.

In recent years, Tour organizers have de-emphasized time trials in favor of climbs, but this year’s Tour is exceptionally balanced, with a number of tough mountain stages and two individual TTs of significant length. That’s the other reason these riders will shine: in most cases, they’re all-around contenders, as able to climb to a stage win as time trial to one.

UAE-Emirates

Top Riders: Tadej Pogačar, Tadej Pogačar, and Tadej Pogačar

What To Watch For: Tadej Pogačar. I’ve only written 20 words on this team so far and eight of them have been this guy’s name. That should tell you what’s up. The defending champion turned pro in 2019 and, after getting his rookie jitters out of the way at the Tour Down Under, has finished no lower than sixth overall in every stage race since. What’s more, his win rate is accelerating; this year he has won three of the four stage races he entered. He can climb. He can time trial. His Tour squad is better than last year’s outfit. He is the most talented stage racer in the sport in just his third pro season, and he won’t even turn 23 until September.

Why They Won’t Win: The flaw in the conceit of this preview is that, well, one team is going to win the Tour, right? And it’s most likely UAE. But I have to make the devil’s advocate case, so here it is: it’s really, really hard to win consecutive Tours. Just 14 riders have ever done it. Last year, Pogačar had a perfect Tour: he stayed close to the yellow jersey, but never took a lead that would’ve forced his weak team to defend. Then he capitalized on a rare off day in the TT by rival Primoz Roglič. Pogačar not only won’t sneak up on anyone this year; other teams will race more aggressively, which was widely seen as Jumbo’s big mistake last year (albeit only in hindsight). If there’s any weak spot in Pogačar’s game, it might be flatter TTs. Last year’s unforgettable ride included a steep finishing climb, so it’s a different kind of effort. And Pogačar was surprisingly slow at the Slovenian national championships, finishing just third; with longer, flatter TTs this year and the durable strength of riders like Roglič and 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas in the discipline, that’s not a weakness Pogačar can afford.

Jumbo-Visma

Top Riders: Primož Roglič, Wout van Aert

What To Watch For: Arguably the most balanced team at the Tour, Jumbo is exquisitely constructed to dominate the race. It has one, clear leader in Roglič; there will be no intra-team tension. It has rock-solid climbers to support him, from the deeply experienced Stephen Kruiswijk to the young talent Jonas Vingegaard, not to mention American Sepp Kuss , the MVP of Jumbo’s 2020 Tour. Mike Teunissen, Tony Martin, and Wout van Aert can pull back almost any gap and keep Roglič out of trouble. For Roglič, it’s all about the unfinished, unpleasant business of last year’s Tour, where he lost the yellow jersey on the second-to-last day with one subpar (by his standards) time trial.

Why They Won’t Win: Roglič is a complete racer; he can climb, he can TT, and tactically he’s attentive at the right moments. But he sometimes has trouble closing the deal, as we saw last year. Pogačar had a superb final TT, but Roglič was clearly off his game and I’ve never seen a real explanation for what happened. Other screw-ups: crashes that knocked him out of this year’s Paris-Nice and last year’s Criterium du Dauphiné while in the lead; and a 2019 Giro where he was dominant early and then just seemed to lose his grip. His response to that, this season, has been basically not to race. He enters the Tour with just 17 days of competition, and hasn’t raced since late April, skipping traditional June tune-up events. Depending on how his Tour goes, that’ll either be the new strategy for other contenders, or the worst idea since Delta brakes.

Finally, his team is strong on paper, but there are cracks. Kuss hasn’t yet showed the climbing form he had in 2020, and Kruiswijk had an erratic performance at the Dauphine. Van Aert, a major star in his own right, had acute appendicitis in May, which has slowed his efforts to build form after a fantastic spring. And the media and fans at least will want to see the Van Aert vs. Mathieu van der Poel rivalry play out on the Tour’s stage for the first time; can he resist the temptation to use valuable energy contesting sprints? Jumbo is still a very good team. But to win the Tour, they’ll need to be great .

Ineos Grenadiers

Top Riders: Richard Carapaz, Geraint Thomas, Richie Porte

What To Watch For: There are ten Grand Tour winners taking the start in the Tour. Three of them are on this team, easily the deepest in the race. Thomas (2018 TdF) and Carapaz (2019 Giro) come as co-leaders, with Tao Geoghegan Hart ( Giro 2020 ) and Dauphiné winner and last year’s third-place Tour finisher Porte in lead support roles, plus top domestiques like Jonathan Castroviejo and the best road captain in the sport, Michal Kwiatkowski. No team has been a win factory in stage races like Ineos, and last year’s uncharacteristic absence from the Tour podium is likely an anomaly. Thomas and Carapaz both have fantastic form, and are well-suited to the course (albeit different aspects of it).

Why They Won’t Win: Count on at least a bit of tension between the two leaders. Despite being recruited from Movistar after his Giro win, Carapaz hasn’t gotten the respect he deserves within the team, and I suspect he rode so hard to win the Tour of Switzerland to make it impossible to deny him a leadership role at the Tour. This may come to a head because he and Thomas have different strengths. Thomas is a diesel-style climber, best on long, steady grades like we’ll see in the Alps, which come first this year. And he’s a superlative time triallist, so he has the advantage in the early and late TT stages that bookend the climbing. But he’s a somewhat sketchy descender with a history of crashes, and rides best when Ineos controls the pace.

Carapaz, by contrast, thrives on the punchy stuff we’ll see in the Pyrenees and is comfortable on the attack. He’s a solid descender and few in the peloton are better tactically. But he’s only the fifth- or sixth-best TT rider on his own team, and so he’ll feel pressure to race aggressively early to keep a high GC position. That could sap his strength for a three-week Tour. Ineos has proved adept at managing intra-team rivalries in the past, but suffice to say if the hierarchy isn’t sorted by the first rest day, team meals could be a tense affair.

Outside GC Contenders

Just as with teams hunting stage wins, there are two categories of teams with designs on the final podium in Paris: the ones who expect to be there, and these guys. These guys are the ones who—if the pre-Tour training has gone exactly right, and every little moment breaks their way in terms of avoiding crashes and flats and echelons, and getting the luxury hotel for the rest days and not the Campanile—could get that magical, once-in-a-lifetime result like Carlos Sastre did back in 2008.

Is that likely to happen? Nah. Every one of these teams is an outside threat, emphasis on outside. They all have flaws and weaknesses, some of them likely fatal to their chances. But hope springs eternal, and maybe, just maybe, this is the year one of them ends up with the yellow jersey.

Astana – Premier Tech

Top Riders: Jakob Fuglsang, Alexey Lutsenko

What To Watch For: Few riders have more experience than Fuglsang; this will be his 16th Grand Tour. Lutsenko, a stage winner last year, is riding superbly at the moment, with a TT stage win and second-place overall at the Dauphine. They have solid climbing support in Alex Aranburu and Omar Fraile, and all the pieces for a serious shot at the podium, including Ion Izagirre, perhaps the ultimate outside shot.

Why They Won’t Win: Astana swears they're going for stage wins, but this roster seems built around more of a GC effort, and it would be easy to point to Lutsenko, a Kazakh champion on a team that’s basically a national-pride project, as the guy. But maybe Astana is not kidding. Lutsenko rides well in shorter stage races, but seems to lack the recovery capacity to excel in Grand Tours and typically fades later in the race. The tell will be how he races up to the first rest day. Izigirre is a solid stage-win threat, as is Fuglsang, a former top-10 Grand Tour finisher whose best GC days, at 36, are well behind him.

BikeExchange

Top Riders: Michael Matthews, Esteban Chaves, Simon Yates

What To Watch For: Another team with a solid GC option that says it’s focused on stage wins. Normally, Yates would be the leader, but he went deep at the Giro to finish third overall, and anymore it’s rare for riders who target the Giro to try for a high finish at the Tour instead. He could well be going for stages. He could also be here to support Esteban Chaves, a two-time podium finisher at Grand Tours whose promising career dropped off significantly in past years due to both injury and illness. He seems healthy again and is showing signs of his old abilities. Matthews is the insurance policy: able to win different kinds of stages, but no threat for the overall.

Why They Won’t Win: Yates is probably rueing the Giro, where he seems to have timed his form just a bit too late to win. But even without that, he has a highly erratic record at the Tour and a big ride would be a surprise. Chaves’s return to form is tantalizing, but it’s just too soon to tell whether it’s lasting. Slightly built and made for climbing, his time trial is a liability, in a year when that can’t be a weak spot for a podium hopeful. He’ll have to go into the final TT with a healthy lead over rivals like Primož Roglič or Geraint Thomas to have any hope of protecting his spot.

Top Riders: Miguel Ángel Lopez, Enric Mas

What To Watch For: There’s no more intriguing an outside contender for GC than Movistar. The team has two possible GC threats in Lopez and Mas, both of whom have past podium finishes at Grand Tours on their palmares. The roster is deep, with Marc Soler and the seemingly ageless Alejandro Valverde—41 years old, with 28 (!) Grand Tours in his legs—to back them up. Lopez is going slightly better than Mas at the moment, with a win at the recent Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge, on a course that’s highly similar to a crucial Tour stage this year. And both are decent, if not spectacular, at TTs.

Why They Won’t Win: Well, it’s Movistar—there’s not a more dysfunctional team in stage racing. Every team has tension and personality clashes. But it’s telling that, in Season 2 of its all-access Netflix documentary ( The Least Expected Day ), team staff admit to having deleted GoPro footage during filming that would have portrayed the team in a bad light. Movistar often comes to a Grand Tour with multiple GC options, only to see infighting kill their chances. Despite all the talent, it’s won just three GTs in the past decade, and the guys responsible for those victories both left the team two years ago.

Bora-Hansgrohe

Top Riders: Wilco Kelderman, Patrick Konrad, Emanuel Buchmann, Peter Sagan

What To Watch For: Like Movistar, this is another multi-leader team that could parlay those options into a fantastic finish. Kelderman, third overall in the Giro last year, is likely Option 1A given his encouraging form in the runup to the Tour. But Konrad wasn’t far off. Buchmann is maybe most intriguing: he was in sixth overall at the Giro and said his form was improving late race when a stupid, horrific crash knocked him out of the race. He was fourth overall at the 2019 Tour and may feel he has some unfinished business from his abruptly ended Giro.

Why They Won’t Win: Intra-team friction. Sprinter Pascal Ackermann is pissed at being left off the roster and was not shy about venting. Then there’s the guys who were selected. At last year’s Giro, Kelderman made no secret of his dislike for Sunweb’s team strategy not to protect his late lead, which might have cost them the race. That’s why he switched teams to Bora this season. But his Tour record is, honestly, awful and he is prone to the “bad day” that you can’t have in three-week races. Konrad, similarly, has ridden well in other GTs but not the Tour. He’s a homegrown prospect at Bora and may not love having a newcomer usurp his role. Another born-and-raised Bora rider, Buchmann’s form is a question mark. And that’s all to say nothing of Peter Sagan, who will be trying his hand at stage wins and diverting crucial team resources for sprint finishes.

EF Education-Nippo

Top Rider: Rigoberto Uran, Sergio Higuita

What To Watch For: One last shot at glory for Rigo, and perhaps the rise of the Higuita Monster. Uran is a hugely talented rider who is best-known for his almosts: three runner-up finishes at Grand Tours, including the 2017 Tour de France, and that heartbreaking loss in the 2012 Olympic road race when he looked back on the wrong side and missed the winning attack. Rigo is known as a diligent pro who never shows up to big races undertrained, and his form going into the race is excellent, including a TT win at the Tour of Switzerland. Higuita, just 23, doesn’t have much GT experience, but is a fantastic climber and could be a threat for the best young rider competition.

Why They Won’t Win: I wonder if Rigo hit his form a bit too early. He was flying at Switzerland, but in every high GC finish he’s had in a Grand Tour, his last race beforehand wasn’t spectacular. He’s also 34, and a high-mileage 34 at that; he’s been racing in Europe so long he had to fake his age to sign his first pro contract. Higuita, meanwhile, is still quite raw; he joined EF only in May of 2019. He’s raced just one TT of significant length and his skills in the discipline are a question mark at best. And EF has a decent support core, but lack the depth to defend a lead for long against powerhouses like Jumbo and Ineos. They’ll need to keep Rigo in close contention until late in the race and then steal the lead to have a shot, and that’s a very small needle to thread.

Groupama-FDJ

Top Riders: David Gaudu, Arnaud Démare, Stefan Kung

What To Watch For: Gaudu, the team’s young project, has for several years ridden in the shadow of team leader Thibaut Pinot. But Pinot’s ambivalence about his home-country Tour is well-known, as are the back issues that have sidelined him since late April. So it’s all Gaudu now. He wants to build on his eighth place at last year’s Vuelta, and his results this year are the best he’s had in his short career. If Gaudu makes the leap, this is where we see it. Elsewhere, Démare will try to win his third Tour stage in the sprints, while Kung is a decent bet for both time trials.

Why They Won’t Win: They’re spread too thin, for one. Trying to support Démare in the sprints and Gaudu for the overall is a big task, and the roster is skewed pretty heavily to Démare’s side of the ledger, with little climbing support to speak of. That will leave Gaudu to essentially ride on his own on big mountain stages, with no teammates to get supplies from the car or pace him if he’s gapped. A top five for Gaudu would be a fantastic result at just 24 years old, although it will saddle him with the weight of French hopes of ending a now 36-year drought of French Tour winners – the exact same pressure that Pinot felt so heavily.

Surefire Stage Winners

The teams at the Tour that are targeting stage wins, not the overall, can fairly be divided into two groups: the ones for which a single stage win would be storybook material (Wild Cards and Stage Hunters), and this group.

This group is the teams that don’t have a strong GC leader to make a run at the podium, but should be expected to get out there and contend almost every day. They’re built for versatility and opportunity. They’ll race aggressively (and sometimes even smartly). And some of them will go home with a lot of hardware, while others will wonder just what the hell went wrong out there. Here are the teams that, as Homer said , we expect to win a stage, or you’re out of the family.

Trek-Segafredo

Top Riders: Mads Pedersen, Vincenzo Nibali, Jasper Stuyven

What To Watch For: Ye gods, look at this lineup of absolute killers. Nibali is one of just two active pros to have won all three Grand Tours, but as he showed at the Giro d’Italia , he’s no longer vying for the overall. That makes him super-extra dangerous because he’s got the ability to win on all kinds of stages, and GC riders will let him go. Stuyven is a stone-cold beast in Classics-style racing. Pedersen has a wicked sprint; thrives when the odometer ticks past 200km; and loves cold, wet weather like I love cheese.

Why They Won’t Win: Speaking of odometers, Nibali is likely gassed from the Giro, and, at 36, looks positively mortal this season—a far cry from the fearsome Shark of Messina we saw in the mid-2010s. Also old: Bauke Mollema. In fact, this entire team is pretty AARP compared to some other squads, with former World Champion Pedersen its only rider under 29. They also have just a couple of standout wins this year, although one of them was Stuyven’s superb ride at Milano-Sanremo. The Tour is a race that rewards experience, but there’s a fine balance, and it’s worth wondering if Nibbles and Mollema are past their expiration date.

Bahrain Victorious

Top Riders: Sonny Colbrelli, Jack Haig

What To Watch For: Ordinarily, we’d rate Pello Bilbao as an outside threat for the GC. But he’s already raced 43 days this season—far more than most riders targeting the Tour—and is coming off the Giro where he went deep in the red supporting Damiano Caruso’s second-place finish. He may contend for a stage win, but we’d look to others on the team first. Sprinter Sonny Colbrelli is on fire lately, with wins in his last two stage races. And keep an eye on Jack Haig, a 25-year-old all-arounder who rode strongly there as well.

Why They Won’t Win: Colbrelli might have a hot hand, but he’s never won a single Grand Tour stage across nine entries. His wins this year aren’t against top competition, and the field at the Tour this year is stacked with fast guys. Haig looks promising, but doesn’t have a ton of results and has mostly ridden conservatively in the wheels. The most curious move is who's not on the roster: double Dauphine stage winner Mark Padun, who was trending to be one of the Tour's breakout stars, but for some reason was left at home.

Israel Start-up Nation

Top Riders: Michael “Rusty” Woods, Dan Martin

What to Watch For: Ostensibly they’ll support Woods’s bid for the podium, but ISN would be super smart to focus on stage wins instead. In Woods and Martin, they have a pair of climbers perfectly suited for the plethora of summit finishes in this Tour, which range from short, punchy climbs like Stage 1 and 2, to arduous Hors Categories summits in the Alps and Pyrenees. Andre Greipel is a bit of a surprise addition to the team, but between him and Rick Zabel there are two sprint options.

Why They Won’t Win: They’re often not smart, starting with management, which tends to get googly-eyed over stars who are past their peak. Example 1: Chris Froome, who clearly doesn’t have the form to merit a start spot, but he got one. Example 2: Greipel, who was once automatic in GTs and has won 11 Tour de France stages, but at 38, his production is nowhere near what it once was. I also fear too much energy will be spent on supporting Woods for GC; he’s a talented climber, but even he admits that his racecraft isn’t what it needs to be. He tends to make strategic errors and, while he can out-descend any of us jokers in the cheap seats, his handling skills are, by WorldTour standards, a hot mess. Oh, and he’s bad at time trials, of which there are two long, flat ones this Tour. Love me some Rusty Woods, but there are a lot of obstacles to a top finish for him. Stage wins are forever, though.

AG2r Citroen

Top Riders: Greg Van Avermaet, Ben O’Connor

What To Watch For: They’re, uh, still figuring that out? Few teams have seen as much roster upheaval the past few years as Ag2r. They finally parted ways with perennial podium finisher Romain Bardet, and in his place picked up Classics rider Greg Van Avermaet, who for years was the rare rider who could really go head-to-head with Peter Sagan in both sprints and uphill finishes. Younger riders Ben O’Connor and Aurelien Paret-Peintre have some GC promise, but they’re more likely to be stage-win threats.

Why They Won’t Win: Van Avermaet is 36 now, his last win almost two years ago. These days, he’s mostly notable for leveraging his 2016 Olympic road race victory into becoming (sartorially, at least) the peloton’s version of Goldfinger. O’Connor and Paret-Peintre are interesting talents, but both are Tour debutants; O’Connor has the better results sheet in three-week races, but the Tour is … the Tour. It’s just a different kind of meat grinder than the Giro or Vuelta.

Lotto-Soudal

Top Riders: Caleb Ewan, Thomas de Gendt, Philippe Gilbert

What To Watch For: On paper, this team is legit. Ewan is a bona fide beast in sprints. Thomas de Gendt will just keep hammering away in the break. And Philippe Gilbert is, well, Philippe Gilbert. Read that however you like. Ewan is the clear team leader. He has the best, most consistent run of results the past few years, and is almost always a top-five finisher in sprints. It’s amazing to realize, given that he seems like he’s been in the pack forever, but he’s only 26.

Why They Won’t Win: As rival teams focused on stages and one-day races, Lotto always seems to play the Washington Generals to Deceuninck’s Harlem Globetrotters. If Lotto’s smart, they’ll make Ewan their primary lottery ticket, because he’s flying right now. De Gendt’s long-range moves are fun to watch, but his success rate is about one stage for every four Grand Tours he enters. Gilbert is 38 and is coasting because it’s not a contract year.

Deceuninck-Quick Step

Top Riders: Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Mark Cavendish

What To Watch For: Recall that classic Roddy Piper line in the zombie movie They Live : “I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum; and I’m all outta bubblegum.” That’s DQS: 28 wins so far this season alone, from 11 different riders. They can kill you so many different ways: Kasper Asgreen’s TT skills in the break; a rotating cast of plug-and-play sprinters; Julian Alaphilippe in almost any way on any stage. Alaphilippe is probably the most reliable individual rider on the roster and is a serious threat for a Stage 1 or 2 win and an early yellow jersey. The loss of top sprinter Sam Bennett (more on that below) is a big blow, but no team executes the "next man up" ethos in sprinting better than DQS, and for one big reason: Michael Mørkøv, arguably the best leadout man in the history of the sport. No matter who's coming off his wheel, Mørkøv is the key to DQS’s victory factory.

Why They Won’t Win: Bennett had a knee issue in early June. The team claims it's better, but that it chose not to bring him citing how it had set back his training makes us question whether things are as sanguine as portrayed. In his place, however, we get what might be the best story of the 2021 Tour: the return of sprinter Mark Cavendish, who's revived his career by returning to a former team. Cav has 30 Tour stage wins and was once automatic, but suffered a three-year dry spell as he battled health issues. While he's back on his winning ways and seems to have decent chemistry with Mørkøv, just one of Cav's wins this year was over a top field. There will be lots of attention on him, which he doesn't always relish, and that puts more pressure on Asgreen and Alaphilippe.

Top riders: Tiesj Benoot, Soren Kragh Andersen

What To Watch For: For the second year in a row, DSM comes to the Tour without a contender for the general classification. Instead, there’s a collection of solid stage hunters, if not quite on the level of a Deceuninck. Tiesj Benoot has transformed from pure Classics racer to all-arounder, but he has smartly resisted the lure of trying to transform into a Grand Tour guy. Cees Bol is at that moment in a sprinter’s career where he might start to put it all together. And Soren Kragh Andersen was one of the breakout stars of the 2020 edition with two bold stage wins out of breakaways.

Why They Won’t Win: After a number of years of fielding top GC riders, DSM curiously became the Oakland A’s of pro cycling, constantly rebuilding and retrenching, dumping high-price talent in favor of projects. Two years ago it let 2017 Giro winner Tom Dumoulin walk. Last year, it parted ways with budding star Marc Hirschi in a saga that got nasty at times, and sprinter Michael Matthews. What’s left may not get it done. Benoot is streaky, and Bol is at that moment in a sprinter’s career where he better start to put it all together, or he’s never going to. Kragh Andersen? Jeez, who knows. The guy is anonymous for long stretches and then rips off amazing rides seemingly out of nowhere. He’ll either be your fantasy team superstar or drop out on Stage 4.

Alpecin-Fenix

Top riders: Mathieu van der Poel, Tim Merlier

What To Watch For: Mathieu van der Poel and his King Kong act. Alpecin is technically a wildcard team, but got an automatic entry as the top Pro Continental team in last year's rankings. That was largely on the work of van der Poel, who accounted for roughly a third of its wins, and on a shortened, partial season since he also races World Cup mountain bike events. Van der Poel is, simply, the most exciting racer in the sport today. He can win field sprints. He can win on short, sharp finish climbs; from long breakaways; whatever, whenever, however. It’s virtually a lock that he’ll win at least one Tour stage, and if for some reason he doesn’t, the team has Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen, both highly capable field sprinters.

Why They Won’t Win: The only thing more sure for van der Poel than a stage win is an early exit. Because he’s racing the mountain bike event at the Olympics (July 24), he likely won’t finish the Tour, which essentially limits him to the first two weeks of chances. And if there’s one knock on van der Poel, it’s that he sometimes has a tendency to quit when things aren’t going his way. He’s perhaps the biggest talent in bike racing in a generation, but the Tour is a different beast, and if he gets shut out and frustration builds, he may just shut down and start thinking ahead to Tokyo. Merlier and Philipsen are solid sprinters, but this team is built around helping van der Poel win. Rejiggering things to support one of them isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Wild Cards and Stage Hunters

The bottom tier of Tour teams is a motley gang, composed of wildcard invitees and scrappy WorldTour teams that exist on a budget a quarter of the size of the favorites. None of them are gonna win the Tour. They’re likely not even going to sniff the podium. They have other objectives, but for all of them, winning even a single stage would be a dream come true.

Qhubeka-Assos

Top Riders: Victor Campenaerts, Michael Gogl

What To Watch For: As one of the lower-budget teams in the WorldTour—they were in danger of folding last year until Assos stepped in as a co-title sponsor—Qhubeka-Assos has to pick its spots carefully; it doesn’t have the firepower to be aggressive every stage. But it brings a diverse squad of breakaway threats. Campenaerts is a solid time triallist, but he tends to use those skills more adeptly in long-range breaks, where he won a stage at the recent Giro. Then there are intriguing prospects like Gogl and American Sean Bennett, thin on results but often in the mix. Of note: Nic Dlamini becomes the first Black South African to start the Tour; that’s a major achievement for a team with a mission of developing African riders.

Why They Won’t Win: Qhubeka outperformed massively at the Giro, with three stage wins. But its best rider—sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo—isn’t on its Tour roster. His replacement, Max Walscheid, simply isn’t at Nizzolo’s level. Climbers like Sergio Henao were once feared but neither has won a WorldTour race in four years. Breakaways in general are a roll of the dice, but the chances of Qhubeka getting as lucky at the Tour as they did the Giro are slim; the Tour is simply a different level from any race.

Intermarché-Wanty

Top Riders: Louis Meintjes, Danny Van Poppel, Loïc Vliegen

What To Watch For: Breakaway every day. Intermarché nominally competes on the same level as fellow WorldTour teams Jumbo and Ineos, but there’s a world of difference in budget and roster quality. These guys are going to have to be aggressive to have a shot at a stage. I do wish Taco van der Hoorn was taking the start, and not just because he’s taken their lone win this season in a stage of the Giro d’Italia. I mostly just want to say “Taco van der Hoorn.”

Why They Won’t Win: Intermarché is a perfect example of the fact that a WorldTour license is just a piece of paper. In the current UCI teams rankings, they’re 22nd, below every other WorldTour team and two second-division Pro Continental teams. They swapped former GC guy Guillaume Martin for Louis Meintjes, who, despite being only a year older, is ... not an upgrade. Sprinter Danny Van Poppel is the kind of guy who gets close a lot of times, but can’t quite close the deal, and that’s in races with less-deep fields. Honestly, the guy you’re going to see the most is breakaway specialist Loïc Vliegen, who was out on the attack pretty much all spring in the Classics. It’s the team’s first year on the WorldTour, but they’ve been around since 2009. That’s what you call a slow build, and don’t expect it to accelerate this July.

Top Riders: Guillaume Martin, Christophe Laporte

What To Watch For: An attempt to finally break through. Cofidis has Martin, who’s a kind of durably dependable option for a top-10 GC finish but will need a big jump to rise past that ceiling. Elia Viviani, their coveted 2020 signing, has been a disappointment, unable to replicate nearly the success he had at Deceuninck, and isn’t racing because he’s focused on Olympic track events this year. In his place is Christophe Laporte, a serviceable enough sprinter who will appreciate not having to share the team’s slight leadout resources.

Why They Won’t Win: Martin has never shown he has the goods to fight for a podium across three weeks. Laporte has won 19 races, but none of them at the WorldTour level. Cofidis has had good sprinters, like Viviani and formerly Nacer Bouhanni; it just has terrible luck delivering them to the finish first. Like a lot of teams, they’re poking around the margins of the Grand Tours, hoping for things to break their way on a mountain stage or reduced-bunch sprint. But here’s the thing: historically, they just haven’t. Cofidis hasn’t won a Tour stage since 2008, the longest dry spell of any active team. Chances that ends this year? That’s a long bet, friend.

Total Energies

Top Riders: Edvald Boassen Hagen, Pierre Latour

What To Watch For: It’s no surprise that three of the four wildcards are French, including this team. In fact, the only non-French wildcard, Alpecin-Fenix, is here by virtue of an automatic invite for being the top Pro Continental team in 2020, so they’re not really a wildcard. Anyway, Total Energies: a scrappy bunch of strivers who are going to scrap and strive with the scrappiest of the strivers. Scrappily. You’ll see them out front on breakaways, mixing it up in a few sprints with Boassen Hagen, and hovering at the back of the favorites group on climbs (Latour).

Why They Won’t Win: I hate to sound like a broken record, but bike racing is a sport stratified by budget, and Total Energies, despite being sponsored by a multinational petroleum giant, just doesn’t have a lot of gas. They have good riders, like Boassen Hagen, and underrated ones, like Classics-style rider Anthony Turgis, who should really just sign with Deceuninck already. But as currently constructed, Total Energies is going to get a lot of close-but-not-quites at the Tour.

Arkea-Samsic

Top Riders: Nairo Quintana, Elie Gesbert

What To Watch For: Of all the teams in this section, Arkea-Samsic has the most plausible argument for a shot at the podium. That starts with Quintana, who’s won both a Giro d’Italia and a Vuelta España. The dude knows how to ride a three-week race. But the more intriguing talent might be Gesbert, who is just 25 years old and riding well in stage races this year. He’s also from Saint-Brieuc, in Brittany where this year’s Tour starts, which means he’s motivated to excel for his home fans and familiar with the tiny-ass roads of Brittany that are almost assuredly going to knock at least one contender out of the race with a crash.

Why They Won’t Win: I hate to say it, but Gesbert aside, Arkea is kind of like the Old Cyclists Home, where former stars go to live out their final years. Let’s take a look at the roster, shall we? Nacer Bouhanni, sprinting’s former enfant terrible , who’s now just a terrible old dude—all the drama and immaturity without the results. Then there’s Warren Barguil, who—outside of a 2019 national road title—hasn’t won anything since that magical 2017 season where he took two Tour stages and finished 10th overall. And of course Quintana himself. Can you believe Nairo Quintana—little Nairo! The three-time Tour podium finisher and former best Young Rider!—is 31? But he is, and he’s not finished better than eighth in a Tour since 2016. Much as I’d love to see Quintana complete the Grand Tour trilogy, I have to channel Billy Crystal in The Princess Bride here on his chances: “It’d take a miracle.”

B&B Hotels-KTM

Top Riders: Bryan Coquard, Pierre Rolland

What To Watch For: Why are these guys in the race? Sigh. French team, wild card. “Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!” As a comparatively low-budget Pro Continental team, B&B Hotels focuses mostly on races that matter to the French market, with a few journeys further afield (like the Tour du Rwanda). They’re mostly experienced vets, and grizzled campaigners like 34-year-old Pierre Rolland, a two-time Tour stage winner and twice a top-10 overall finisher, are certainly capable off ripping off another strong result. Bryan Coquard is a quietly talented sprinter with 45 career wins. What’s French for underdog, anyway?

Why They Won’t Win: Coquard has those 45 victories, but not one is in a WorldTour race. Chances that changes this Tour? Eh, don’t bet the house. Rolland is a top-10 GC guy … seven years ago. He’s won just one race—a stage of this year’s Tour du Rwanda—in the past four seasons. Past that, there’s zero roster depth. In fact, B&B Hotels’ most meaningful contribution to the race last year was the presence of Kevin Reza, one of the few Black riders at the sport’s top level. Reza has been outspoken about the fact that pro cycling has largely ignored racial equity. Alas, Reza didn’t make this year’s team and has announced he’s retiring at the end of the season.

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Tour de France: Stage 21 Preview

Tour de France: Stage 20 Preview

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Tour de France: Stage 14 Preview

Vincenzo Nibali Forced Out of Tour de France

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Result of Stage 21

• Wim Van Dessel (sjoekeloekes)
• Stefanie Harinck (Forza Stef)
• Enya Herman (Enya)

Standing after Stage 21

• Sammy Van Cauwenberghe (Sammy)
• Maarten Boogaerts (GIRO>tour)
• Daan Vanden Driessche (Team Nithium)

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The startlist for Giro 2024 is almost final and available via our website. Deadline to submit/edit your Tour team is May 4th 14.00 CET.

The game is all about honour. The winner will be mentioned in the Hall of Fame.

We wish you good luck ! Every evening once alle riders have finished, the results will be updated.

Vuelta 2023 was won by GIRARDENGO (GEORGES DEBRABANDERE). Congratulations! He was added to the Hall of Fame.

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The winner of the TourTeamTime Tour de France 2018 was Jan Desmedt (Boeddha's TTT Beukers)! He received the Yellow Jersey, signed by Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas. He was also added to the Hall of Fame.

The winner of the TourTeamTime Giro 2018 was Pieter van Vliet (TomDumoulinfan). He won a Giro Pink Jersey signed by 2017 Giro winner Tom Dumoulin!

His team was: Chirs FROOME (A), Simon YATES (B), Robert GESINK C, Michael WOODS (C), Sam BENNETT (D), Elia VIVIANI (D), Ryan GIBBONS (E), Richard Antonio CARAPAZ MONTENEGRO (E), Pello BILBAO LOPEZ DE ARMENTIA (E).

TourTeamTime is a free online sports game that is all about cycling, time and honour. You can easily select 9 riders. The riders are divided in 5 different categories, based on their qualifications. You may only select 1 rider per Pro Cycling Team.

Unlike many other online cycling games we don't use points to rank the riders/team. We use the actual time a rider finishes a stage. The Classification is determined by adding the times of the best three riders of your team in each stage. This is comparable with the team classification in races like the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

David Spysschaert (INDUSTRIA) was the winner of the TourTeamTime Tour de France 2017, congratulations! He received a Yellow Jersey signed by Tour de France 2017 Winner Chris Froome. He is also added to the Hall of Fame.

His winning team was: FROOME Chris (A), VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro (B), YATES Simon(C), KISERLOVSKI Robert (C), DE GENDT Thomas (D), SAGAN Peter(D), URAN URAN Rigoberto(E), BAKELANTS Jan (E), DE MARCHI Alessandro(E).

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His winning team was: FROOME Chris (A), ZAKARIN Ilnur (B), YATES Simon(C), COSTA Rui Alberto Faria (C), DE GENDT Thomas (D),CLEMENT Stef(D), WOODS Michael(E), FRAILE MATARRANZ Omar (E), DE MARCHI Alessandro(E).

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Tour de France 2022

Latest news from the race.

Tour de France: Unchained review - An addictive and entertaining Netflix series

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Tour de france 2022 overview, vingegaard crowned tour de france champion while philipsen wins stage 21.

Tour de France stage 21 - How it happened

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) blasted across the finish line on the Champs-Élysées in Paris to take his second stage victory at this year's Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won the Tour de France after finishing safely in the main field with his Jumbo-Visma teammates .

Results powered by  FirstCycling

Stage 20: Wout van Aert, Vingegaard go one-two in stage 20 time trial of Tour de France / As it happened

Stage 19: Laporte completes Jumbo-Visma domination with Tour de France stage win in Cahors / As it happened

Stage 18: Vingegaard soars to victory on Tour de France stage 18 to Hautacam / As it happened

Stage 17: Pogacar triples up on stage 17 mountain mayhem at Tour de France / As it happened

Stage 16: Hugo Houle wins stage 16 of Tour de France with solo attack in Pyrenees / As it happened

Stage 15: Philipsen blazes to victory in Tour de France stage to Carcassonne / As it happened

Stage 14: Michael Matthews takes solo win in Mende on Tour de France stage 14 / As it happened

Stage 13: Pedersen jumps from breakaway to win sprint on Tour de France stage 13 / As it happened

Stage 12: Pidcock claims sensational L'Alpe d'Huez victory on stage 12 of Tour de France / As it happened

Stage 11:   Vingegaard wins stage 11 of Tour de France as Pogacar cracks on Col du Granon / As it happened

Stage 10 : Cort takes breakaway sprint to win Tour de France stage 10 at Megève / As it happened

Stage 9: Jungels solos to stage 9 Alpine victory in 2022 Tour de France / As it happened

Stage 8: Van Aert surges to stage 8 victory in Lausanne / As it happened

Stage 7: Pogacar snuffs out Vingegaard's attack to win stage 7 / As it happened

Stage 6: Pogacar wins uphill sprint, takes yellow jersey / As it happened

Stage 5: Simon Clarke conquers cobbles to win stage 5 / As it happened

Stage 4: Wout van Aert takes stunning solo win in yellow jersey / As it happened

Stage 3: Groenewegen wins stage 3 sprint in Sønderborg / As it happened

Stage 2: Fabio Jakobsen wins crash-marred sprint stage 2 in Nyborg / As it happened

Stage 1: Lampaert stuns favourites to take yellow jersey / As it happened

Tour de France 2022 teams

• AG2R Citroen Team
• Astana Qazaqstan Team
• Bahrain Victorious
• Bora-Hansgrohe
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
• Israel-Premier Tech
• Jumbo-Visma
• Lotto Soudal
• Movistar Team
• QuickStep-AlphaVinyl
• BikeExchange-Jayco
• Trek-Segafredo
• UAE Team Emirates
• Alpecin-Fenix
• Arkea-Samsic
• B&B Hotels-KTM
• TotalEnergies

• Tour de France past winners
• Tour de France 2022 route
• Tour de France 2022 – The Essential Preview

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The Black Keys Split With Management Team After Arena Tour Cancellation

By Emily Zemler

Emily Zemler

The Black Keys have parted ways with their management team, Irving Azoff and Steve Moir of Full Stop Management, following the last-minute cancellation of their North American arena tour last month. A representative for Azoff confirmed the split to  Billboard , saying it was an “amicable parting.”

The rock band initially signed with Azoff and Moir in 2021 after leaving their longtime manager John Peets at Q Prime South. The news of the split was initially reported by The New York Times in an article about recent high-profile tour cancellations that also focused on Jennifer Lopez .

In late May, the Black Keys abruptly canceled  the upcoming North American leg of their International Players Tour , with dates for the jaunt abruptly erased without explanation from the band’s social media pages and official website. The trek was set to begin Sept. 17 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and run through Nov. 12 in Detroit.

The Black Keys’  official website  scrubbed all of the band’s upcoming tour dates except for a single one-off show, a July 6 gig at Chicago’s NASCAR Street Race. Band members Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney later confirmed they were “alive and well,” and that the North American tour was scrapped in order to make it more like those smaller European gigs.

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The Keys added, “Thank you for your understanding and apologies for the surprise change… We’re pretty sure everyone is going to be excited when you see what we have in mind though, and look forward to seeing everyone soon.”

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Lopez pulled the plug on her This Is Me…Live Tour only a month before it was set to kick off in Orlando, citing the decision to spend time with her family. “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down,” Lopez said in a statement. “Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary. I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time…”

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2023 Edition

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• "Maillot Jaune" Collection
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The 22 teams

The peloton of the 110th edition of the Tour de France will include 22 teams at the start in the Basque country on 1st July 2023 . 18 UCI WorldTeams and 4 UCI ProTeams , with one unprecedented participation.

Details of the selection:

18 teams UCI WorldTeams: 

• AG2R Citroën Team (Fra)
• Alpecin Deceuninck (Bel)
• Astana Qazaqstan Team (Kaz)
• Bora-Hansgrohe (Ger)
• EF Education-Easypost (Usa)
• Groupama-FDJ (Fra)
• Ineos Grenadiers (Gbr)
• Intermarché-Circus-Wanty (Bel)
• Jumbo-Visma (Ned)
• Movistar Team (Esp)
• Soudal Quick-Step (Bel)
• Team Arkea-Samsic (Fra)
• Team Bahrain Victorious (Brn)
• Team Cofidis (Fra)
• Team DSM (Ned)
• Team Jayco AlUla (Aus)
• Trek-Segafredo (Usa)
• UAE Team Emirates (Uae)

4 teams UCI Proteams:

The two teams qualified by right:

• Lotto dstny (Bel)
• TotalEnergies (Fra)

  The two teams invited by the organiser:

• Israel-Premier Tech (Isr)
• Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (Nor)

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Jason Gore teams up with Grayson Murray's former caddie to seek ‘normalcy’ at American Family Insurance Championship

Jason Gore (left) makes his PGA TOUR Champions debut this week with Jay Green, the former caddie of Grayson Murray, on the bag. (Ben Gavlik/PGA TOUR Champions)

Gore debut is first tournament since Grayson Murray tragedy for caddie Green

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Every golf shot asks a question, and every tournament invites a series of them.

There will be one abiding sentiment, however, for Jason Gore and Jay Green, player and caddie, respectively, at this week’s American Family Insurance Championship:

What was this life I led, and what will it feel like to go back to it?

Gore, who turned 50 last month, is making his PGA TOUR Champions debut. He’s the winner of a record seven Korn Ferry Tour titles and the 2005 84 LUMBER Classic on the PGA TOUR, where he now serves in an administrative role as Chief Player Officer and no longer competes.

Jason Gore wins 2010 Miccosukee Championship

“I just felt like it was the right thing to do; it felt right to have Jay here,” Gore said. “We’ll both be nervous, for me just because it’s been a long time, and he’s just a young kid who had something awful happen. It’ll be good for both of us.

“Hopefully we’ll keep it all in perspective,” he continued, “and it’ll be a good healing process for him. It’s been an emotional two days. I’m spent.”

Added Green, fresh off of three memorial services for his friend, “It’s only been a couple days, but it feels like a month. We’ve both said this is exactly what we need, just some normalcy.”

Murray was open about his struggles with depression and alcohol but seemed to be on a better trajectory after his victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. He was sober and building a supportive community around him, and his death, after he’d withdrawn in the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, has devastated his family and that of the PGA TOUR itself.

Everyone has been ground under repair since then. A rolling celebration of Murray’s life began with Green carrying his staff bag onto the first tee at the Korn Ferry Tour event at Raleigh Country Club on Sunday, when Murray was announced as the day’s honorary last tee time. His parents, Eric and Terry Murray, plus brother Cameron Murray and sister Erica Robinson, were there, as were several others, including Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin, who spoke.

A more formal remembrance came Monday at Raleigh’s Providence Church, and then came the Tuesday ceremony at Muirfield Village and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, where world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was among the speakers, as was PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan. In the middle of all that, on Monday night, Gore got a phone call.

Nate Pokrass, the tournament director of the American Family Insurance Championship, had just learned that Scott Verplank had withdrawn, leaving an open spot. Did Gore, who made 132 cuts in his PGA TOUR career, want to come to Madison, Wisconsin, as a sponsor exemption?

“It was 4:51 p.m. Monday,” Gore said. “I said, ‘When do you need to know?’ He said, ‘In nine minutes.’ I said, ‘Hang on. Let me call my wife.’”

A married father of two, Gore had thought he was going to be with family and friends in New Jersey. (He used to work for the USGA.) His Los Angeles Dodgers would be in town playing the New York Yankees, and he had planned to go to a game, most likely with good seats, given his friendship with Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe. (Both belonged to Hamilton Farm G.C.)

All of those plans would have to wait, though, because when it comes to golf, Gore said, “I’m a complete sicko. I love the game. My wife asked if I wanted to go, and I said of course I do.”

With her blessing, Gore now had to figure out logistics. He had his golf bag, fortunately, since he had planned on going from Ohio to the U.S. Open. But he did not have a caddie, nor did he have enough golf balls or gloves, and he also needed new grips. He wasn’t geared up in terms of shoes and clothing, either, but would figure it out on the fly, and in the equipment trucks.

For a caddie, he looked to Green.

“I kind of knew him but not really,” Gore said. “We really just met Monday, and I was like, I want this guy to loop for me. I texted him: ‘How many clothes did you bring?’ He said he’d brought a few outfits. I was like, ‘Do you want to caddie on the Champions Tour this week?’

“He’s like, ‘For who?’ ‘For me, dude! I just got a sponsor exemption!’ Getting back to normalcy will be good for him. I’ll hit a bad shot and it’s just golf, man.”

Green, who is married and lives in Jacksonville, Florida, was anticipating going home to his native Alma, Michigan, outside of Lansing, in order to grieve, organize his thoughts, and figure out his next move. He said yes immediately to the prospect of getting back to work.

“I think that’s what Grayson would want, what his family would want,” Green said. “I don’t know Jason’s game. I know he’s long. He and I have talked about our motto, which is zero expectations . He’s been practicing, getting ready for the Senior Open. It’s not like he hasn’t played in five years. I saw some good things today while we were practicing.”

Next week, Gore will be back at North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, where he played in the last group Sunday with Retief Goosen at the 2005 U.S. Open but shot 84 and finished T49.

It was still his career highlight.

“When they announced my name on Sunday, the roar of the crowd, just took me aback,” he said. “They were basically sitting on top of you on that first tee. It was just overwhelming.

“It was a very memorable day because I learned so much,” he continued. “I don’t think I would have won four out of the next seven or eight tournaments I played without that day.”

Playing this week, he added, will mean getting over a 3-foot putt that means something. He does not figure to play much else other than the Senior Open presented by Rolex, July 25-28.

As it happens, Murray asked if Green was “a watch guy” on the Tuesday of the Sony in January. Green said he was and had designed the very Rolex he coveted on the company’s website.

“Sure enough, after we won, we were heading back to the hotel and Grayson said, ‘Jay gets a Rolex,’” Green said. “Two weeks later at Pebble Beach, he gave me that exact Rolex that I’d wanted. He was incredibly genuine, cared about me, asked questions about me, and was very adamant that my wife come to tournaments and travel.

“He’s like, ‘I’ll buy flights, I just want her there supporting you,’” Green continued.

All of it was a gift; most of it was unplanned. Green played golf for Division II Tiffin University in Ohio, then hoped to go to dental school but didn’t get in. Tapping his connections, he got a job working for Will Gordon on the Korn Ferry and PGA TOUR. A mutual friend connected Green to Murray in December, and they started together at the Sony, winning immediately.

Murray’s passing, the golf world’s loss, is sure to come up this week, and that’s fine. It will be a comfort, though, for Green and Gore to be able to focus on something as normal as golf.

Well, that and whether or not they will run out of clothes.

“I think Jason got ahold of someone from Peter Millar,” Green said, “who is going to be sending us both a little care package because we both weren’t expecting this.”

Gore, whose wife and son will watch him play in Wisconsin while his daughter rides horses with friends in New Jersey, will be fine with whatever happens this week. He’s almost more focused on Green being OK. They flew up together, are staying at the same hotel and will likely eat together, too, for there is strength in numbers, and Gore was always tight with his caddies.

Life goes on. Golf connects us all. You get the sense that Murray would approve.

Cameron Morfit is a Staff Writer for the PGA TOUR. He has covered rodeo, arm-wrestling, and snowmobile hill climb in addition to a lot of golf. Follow Cameron Morfit on Twitter .

Cycling team soldiers on despite having race bikes stolen at Tour of Britain

Sport Cycling team soldiers on despite having race bikes stolen at Tour of Britain

Competing in a multi-stage bike race is hard enough at the best of times.

But for UK-based team Lifeplus-Wahoo, things got a whole lot more difficult at the Tour of Britain when thieves stole all 14 of their race bikes ahead of the second stage.

"We woke this morning to find all 14 of our Ribble Endurance SLR bikes stolen from our mechanic's van," the team wrote on Twitter/X.

"We are hoping to find a solution to enable us to start in Wrexham today."

The bikes, with a combined value of more than $107,000, were stolen out of the van which was parked in a hotel car park in Whitechurch, Shropshire.

Fortunately, the rest of the teams at the race rallied together to cobble together enough bikes to start the second stage — a hilly 140 kilometre ride around Wrexham/Wrecsam in Wales.

"All of our thanks and appreciation goes out to the many teams that offered and gave their spare team bikes and their mechanics time to get our girls on the road," the team wrote.

"We wouldn't be starting without them."

The team rode an assortment of other team's bikes on the second stage, before its sponsor provided a new set of bikes ahead of stage 3.

Rider Maddie Leech even ended up being a part of the breakaway, riding her daily training bike as opposed to her race bike, although she lost contact due to a mechanical issue.

West Mercia Police appealed for witnesses in a statement, saying an investigation has been launched.

The four-stage race finishes in Leigh, Greater Manchester, on Sunday, local time.

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Taylor Swift performs Eras Tour in Edinburgh, Scotland: 'What a way to welcome a lass.'

Taylor Swift is beginning her United Kingdom adventure performing three sold out nights at the Scotland Gas Murrayfield stadium.

"The last time I was here was almost 10 years ago," she said holding her sky blue "Lover" guitar in front of nearly 73,000 screaming fans. The last time the Eras Tour star performed within the Scottish borders was her "1989 World Tour" in Glasgow in 2015.

"I had someone pull me aside and say, 'Hey we checked this 20 times and we swear it's accurate, 'This is the highest attended concert in Scottish history,'" she added. "What a way to welcome a lass to Scotland."

Harry Styles held the record with 65,000 fans on at his Love on Tour show in 2023, according to The National. The news site said the stadium capacity was increased by 8% for the Eras Tour.

Scottish lake renamed Loch Tay Tay

In a warm gesture to the singer's arrival, the First Minister or head of the Scottish Government hosted a renaming ceremony at Loch Tay, a freshwater lake two hours north of Edinburgh.

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"The first thing I want to say to Taylor and to all of her Swifties is they’re really really welcome here in Scotland," said Scottish First Minister John Swinney during a media event at the lake on Wednesday. "I’m so thrilled and the fact that Loch Tay is being renamed Loch Tay Tay is just fabulous."

'My one regret' is...

Swift's massive tour schedule is slated to visit 22 countries over the course of two years with 18 European cities on the itinerary. She has performed some cities in the past like London, Paris and Madrid. Other cities are new to her world tour including Lyon, France and Stockholm, Sweden.

In a similar message during her "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)," Swift told the Scottish audience how she loves that the Eras Tour showcases her extensive discography.

“My one regret in terms of the tours that we’ve done is that I really should have come to play in Scotland more," she said. “Look at what you’ve done. You made us feel so welcome. You’ve been so beautifully generous to us."

Swift's three plus hour show boomed out of the open-roofed stadium in Scotland to fans sitting outside the Murrayfield walls. Known as "Taylor"gating, fans sat on the grass attempting to watch livestreams on their phones of the show inside while listening to the music live. However, different from other concert cities, the livestreams inside the stadium were incredibly spotty and unreliable.

The Eras Tour heads next to Liverpool, England on Thursday when Swift will perform her 100th Eras Tour show on June 13.

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Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on  Instagram ,  TikTok  and  X as @BryanWestTV .