This is your comprehensive team-by-team guide of all 22 teams and 176 riders competing in the 2023 Tour de France, which starts in Bilbao on Saturday, July 1.
All 18 WorldTour teams and the two best-ranked ProTeams, Lotto Dstny and TotalEnergies, are automatically invited. Race organisers ASO also gave wildcard entries to Israel-Premier Tech and Uno-X.
Budgets, calibre of riders and pre-race goals vary immensely. UAE-Team Emirates, led by their superstar Tadej Pogačar, are squarely focused on Tour de France glory.
Other teams, such as Trek-Segafredo and Alpecin-Deceunick, are gunning for stage victories. There are those, like Uno-X and Cofidis, who will regularly be up the road in breakaways, dreaming of an unlikely Tour stage triumph. Then there’s Jumbo-Visma, the team of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and green jersey winner Wout van Aert, who could feasibly challenge for every stage.
Circumstances such as crashes, COVID-19 positive and mechanical problems can quickly change pre-race ambitions.
Whatever happens on the road between Bilbao and Paris, every team will want to make an impression and enjoy success. We look through every squad, assessing their leaders, objectives and chances of success.
AG2R-Citroën
- Team leader: Ben O’Connor
- Objective: GC and stage wins
- Rider to watch: Benoît Cosnefroy
It’s a big test for Ben O’Connor as he seeks to back-up his breakthrough fourth place from 2021. Last year’s Tour was crash-addled, most damagingly for his ambitions on the cobbled stage to Arenberg where he dropped over three minutes to his fellow contenders. He abandoned before stage 10 with a torn glute.
This season has gone more smoothly. The man from Perth was sixth at the Tour Down Under and finished third at June’s Critérium du Dauphiné, coming into form at the right time.
The 27-year-old will be shepherded in the winds and on the flat by Belgian bodyguards Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen.
Meanwhile, there is a Tour debut for former junior world champion Felix Gall. The Austrian climber shone at the Tour de Suisse, winning a stage.
In the French team’s 30th Tour appearance, stage wins will not be sacrificed in the name of GC ambitions. A triumph in the race’s final week, on a stage close to their Alpine base in Chambéry, would send them into raptures.
Alpecin-Deceuninck
- Team leaders: Jasper Philipsen, Mathieu van der Poel
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: The leaders
Alpecin-Deceuninck only joined the WorldTour this season, but they’ve been outperforming most top-tier teams for years, including in their two previous Tour de France performances.
No GC rider? No worries. In Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel, they have two of the sport’s stars and prime candidates for a stage win.
The flying Dutchman was the man of the spring with his Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix triumphs. He was unusually off colour at last year’s Tour, but after a lighter racing schedule this time round, missing out on the Giro d'Italia, we can expect a different Van der Poel. He will be hoping for another stage win or spell in the yellow jersey to match his 2021 performance.
Additionally, Van der Poel can be an ultimate domestique deluxe and lead-out supporter for Philipsen. The Belgian sprinter has six wins in the bag this year, including a recent one outgunning rival Fabio Jakobsen at the Baloise Belgium Tour. In a closely-matched field of fast men, he’s a nose ahead of the rest.
Philipsen broke his Tour duck with sprint wins in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Elysées last year. There ought to be more victories this time round and a clearer shot at the green jersey, given Wout van Aert’s uncertainty about finishing the Tour due to the forthcoming birth of his second child.
New to the team this season, Søren Kragh Andersen could also threaten on rolling breakaway days. His paymasters would no doubt love a repeat of his Tour stage brace from 2020.
Astana Qazaqstan
- Team leaders: Mark Cavendish, Alexey Lutsenko
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: The leaders
It’s the last dance for Mark Cavendish, a final Tour de France before retiring, one more chance to add to his prolific tally of stage wins. However, twelve months ago, few would have expected his partner to be the Kazakhstani boys in blue.
Cees Bol will serve as a guiding light in the hectic bunch sprint finales. If the Giro d’Italia is anything to go by, there will be times the “Manx Missile” is surfing other lead-out trains in the final kilometres too.
Cavendish took a hard-fought stage win in Rome after fighting over the mountains. There ought to be more opportunities for sprint success here than the Giro, but an even higher level of rival too.
Taking a 35th Tour de France stage win to move above Eddy Merckx in the all-time list would be a fairytale achievement, fourteen years since his first triumph. The 38-year-old is just as determined as day one, even if the super-powered lead-out and devastating acceleration of his heyday are not quite there. Whether Cavendish achieves it or not will likely define Astana Qazaqstan’s race.
Alexey Lutsenko will be the team’s GC man, looking to improve on his seventh and eighth place finishes in 2021 and 2022.
Things surely can’t go worse than last year’s anonymous performance. Astana Qazaqstan featured in few breakaways or stage top-10s. They finished bottom of the race-ending prize list, earning a meagre €15,000 – barely enough to cover the team bus petrol expenses.
Bahrain Victorious
- Team leaders: Mikel Landa, Pello Bilbao
- Objective: GC and stage wins
- Riders to watch: Fred Wright, Matej Mohoric
Bahrain Victorious have a variety of different options in their well-rounded line-up. Experienced leader Mikel Landa will be leading their challenge. A fourth place finisher in 2017 and 2020, he’ll be in the fight for a similar finish this time round. The lack of time-trial kilometres plays into his hands.
This squad won the team classification in 2021 and they have one of the most formidable climbing line-ups here. Landa’s fellow Basque, Pello Bilbao, offers back-up and a Plan B, showing his good legs at the Tour de Suisse.
They’ll be gunning for a stage win or two, having gone away empty-handed from a 2022 edition damaged by Jack Haig’s race-ending crash on the cobbles.
Affected by COVID-19 last summer, Matej Mohorič is nearer his best and attacking Briton Fred Wright offers another versatile option for breakaways.
Bahrain Victorious are grieving the loss of their Swiss rider Gino Mäder. They will be riding for him after his death following a crash at the Tour de Suisse.
Bora-Hansgrohe
- Team leader: Jai Hindley
- Objective: GC and stage wins
- Rider to watch: The leader
A year after winning the Giro d’Italia, Jai Hindley heads to the 2023 Tour de France with ambitions of adding a maillot jaune to his maglia rosa. He will lead the German team, Bora-Hansgrohe, on a route that suits his qualities perfectly.
Hindley narrowly missed out on a podium place at the Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing 20 seconds behind Australian compatriot Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroën), but he was pleased with his form leading into his main goal of the season.
Acting as key mountain domestiques will be Bob Jungels, winner of stage 9 at last year’s Tour and Emanuel Buchmann, who finished fourth overall at the 2019 edition of the race. The German squad is yet to announce their final rider but has said it will be another climber.
They will also be hunting stages, after failing to win one in the 2022 Tour de France, through Jordi Meeus. He has been given the nod as the sprint option, ahead of former two-time stage winner at the Tour and green jersey winner, Sam Bennett.
Meeus will make his debut at the Tour and will benefit from the luxury of having the best lead-out rider in the world, Danny van Poppel, working to launch him to the line on the eight possible sprint stages. Van Poppel has succeeded at delivering Bennett into winning positions throughout the last two seasons, but the Irishman has failed to deliver consistent results since claiming a brace of wins at last year’s Vuelta a España.
Cofidis
- Team leaders: Guillaume Martin, Bryan Coquard
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: Simon Geschke
The French squad are part of the race furniture, making their 27th appearance. But it’s 15 years and counting since their last Tour de France stage win, a breakaway by Sylvain Chavanel.
Last year, they came close. Solo attacker Benjamin Thomas was caught 400 metres from the finish in Carcassonne and Simon Geschke lost the King of the Mountains jersey to Jonas Vingegaard on the last significant mountain stage.
Who can end the drought and heartache? Guillaume Martin is a trusty candidate for a top-10 finish. He has a history of following breakaways and yo-yoing up and down the general classification, gaining time one day, losing it the next. A stage win would arguably be more valuable than a peripheral GC finish.
This is a team geared for breakaways. Veteran climbers Simon Geschke and Ion Izaguirre have won past Tour stages up the road.
There’s also Bryan Coquard to mix it in the punchier bunch sprints. He’s got unfinished business after missing out last year due to a COVID-19 positive.
EF Education-EasyPost
- Team leader: Richard Carapaz
- Objective: GC and stage wins
- Rider to watch: Neilson Powless
Olympic Champion Richard Carapaz joined EF Education-EasyPost as a proven Grand Tour winner and contender. The Ecuadorian finished third at the Tour in 2021 behind both of this year’s favourites, Pogačar and Vingegaard and can live with the very best on his day.
He’ll ride in the Ecuadorian national champion’s jersey after winning it on debut for Jonathan Vaughters' team but hasn’t been in the best form throughout 2023. He’s only won two races and, despite trying to race aggressively at the Dauphiné, wasn’t able to follow Vingegaard or the rest.
Carapaz finished a discouraging 36th overall and appeared far from his Giro d’Italia winning form in 2019 or his triple stage-winning best from last year’s Vuelta.
He’ll be backed up by a team focused on solidifying his GC position alongside trying to get into breakaways and capture stages. Alberto Bettiol, Magnus Cort and Neilson Powless are capable of winning on a multitude of parcours.
Cort took a wonderful win into Megève in 2022 and always seems to perform at the biggest races when his team needs it most. Powless rode a great Classics, finishing in the top seven of Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders and will be eyeing up a maiden stage win at the Tour. The American also has great memories in the Basque Country, having won the Clásica San Sebastián in 2021, so should be on show in the first week.
Groupama-FDJ
- Team leader: David Gaudu
- Objective: GC and stage wins
- Rider to watch: Thibaut Pinot
Groupama-FDJ had a controversial initial roster announcement for the Tour de France, due to the omission of top French sprinter, Arnaud Démare, and the focus placed primarily on David Gaudu’s general classification hopes. Team manager Marc Madiot’s decision to leave Démare out was curious given how there could be as many as eight chances for the sprinters.
Gaudu finished a career-best 4th in last year’s Tour and will be hoping to go one better and reach the podium. His form has, however, fluctuated throughout 2023 with an impressive 2nd place finish at Paris-Nice being offset by an underwhelming 30th at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné.
Stefan Küng will be on domestique duty as a rouleur and versatile puncheur Valentin Madouas will play a key support role in the mountains.
The French team will still hunt stages through the likes of Quentin Pacher, who was excellent at last year’s Vuelta a España and finished in the top six on four stages.
Inspirational fan favourite Thibaut Pinot will start his final Tour de France after announcing his retirement in January. Cycling fans will be willing him to chase stages with the hope he sits atop the podium at the Tour once again. Despite narrowly falling to win a stage at the Giro d’Italia, Pinot won the mountains classification and finished fifth overall on GC, showing he’s more than capable of performing well in the Tour.
If Pinot is unable to achieve a fairytale ending and Gaudu doesn’t replicate his top-four finish, Madiot may rue the decision to snub Démare.
Ineos Grenadiers
- Team leader: Dani Martínez and Carlos Rodríguez.
- Objective: GC
- Rider to watch: Tom Pidcock
We’ve reached a strange moment in the British team’s history as they again lack a clear leader or a top-five favourite. They are set to line up in the Basque Country with former winner Egan Bernal after his long journey back to recovery following his life-threatening crash in 2022, but it’s still too soon to expect a charge for the yellow jersey.
The Colombian has performed well in the lead-up, despite recurring knee issues and crashes plaguing his 2023 season and it was a delight to see Bernal back in the front group in at the Dauphiné where he finished 12th overall.
Bernal’s Colombian compatriot Dani Martínez is likely the strongest overall candidate for Ineos and did appear to be in fine form at the Dauphiné before dropping from sixth to 23rd overall after the final stage.
Ineos should experiment with young GC hopes in Tom Pidcock and Carlos Rodríguez. Pidcock rode an exciting debut Tour last year with the highlight of course his victory atop the legendary Alpe d’Huez, but he should be set for a prolonged attempt at cracking the general classification top ten alongside Rodríguez who finished ninth and Best Young Rider at the Dauphiné.
Racing Director Rod Ellingworth should also have the experienced trio of Luke Rowe, Michał Kwiatkowski and Jonathan Castroviejo to protect the leaders across the three weeks. The latter two won their respective national time trial championships in Poland and Spain a week before the start in Bilbao.
Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
- Team leaders: Biniam Girmay and Louis Meintjes
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: Biniam Girmay
Biniam Girmay is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated debutant at this year’s Tour de France. The Eritrean made history for African cycling by winning Gent-Wevelgem and a stage of the Giro d’Italia last year, and it would be no surprise if he were to write another chapter at the Tour.
A rapid finisher with the ability to hang tough on some rugged terrain, Girmay won’t lack opportunities on this Tour, and he warmed up for the main event with a stage victory at the Tour de Suisse. It was a reassuring win for the 23-year-old after a Classics campaign beset by bad luck, and he travels to France with justifiable confidence.
Louis Meintjes quietly rode himself into 7th overall at last year’s Tour, the third top-ten finish of his career, and the South African has the ability and the form to replicate that showing in 2023. His last outing before the Tour came at the Dauphiné, where his consistency carried him to 7th overall.
Georg Zimmerman, a stage winner at the Dauphiné, also features, alongside former World Champion Rui Costa and Lilian Calmejane. Mike Teunissen, winner on the opening day in 2019, lines up as part of Girmay’s lead-out train with Adrien Petit.
Jumbo-Visma
- Team leader: Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert
- Objective: Win the Tour
- Riders to watch: Christophe Laporte, Sepp Kuss
It was a surprise when Jonas Vingegaard decisively cracked Tadej Pogačar on the Col du Granon last year, but he went on to show that he was the strongest in the Tour. The Dane was steely, sportsmanlike and unbending in the face of the Slovenian’s numerous attacks. Is there yet more to come from the defending champion this summer?
He has kicked on from his victory, dominating at O Gran Camino and Itzulia Basque Country. Confidence will be high after two stage wins and an emphatic victory at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné. The only blot on his copybook this year is his third place at Paris-Nice, beaten by Pogačar, who could be affected by his fractured wrist.
The Dutch-registered team were the stand-out performers at last year’s race. They became the first team in 25 years to win both the yellow and green jersey. While they have gone from being the hunters to the hunted after their first Tour de France title, the same core team returns in 2023.
Wout van Aert is on board as a Mr. Do-It-All, a leading light for bunch sprints, time-trials, punchy hill finishes and dream helper for Vingegaard.
As the recent Netflix Tour de France documentary Unchained showed, it’s not always easy for this star-studded squad to accommodate multiple lofty ambitions. However, the Belgian has suggested he might not target the green jersey, expecting to abandon the race to be present for childbirth.
Fresh off his lieutenant role to Primož Roglič at the Giro d’Italia, American Sepp Kuss will offer invaluable support as last man in the mountains, aided in support by Tiesj Benoot.
Christophe Laporte was a candidate for most improved rider last season. He can climb the hills, protect on the flat, ride in the wind, sprint and attack to victory, as we saw with his poacher’s stage win in Cahors. A powerful new face in the engine room for the team is 2022 Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle.
Overall, Jumbo-Visma can win on several fronts. Rather than sitting back, they will likely look to capitalise on their strength-in-depth with race-making, proactive moves.
Movistar
- Team leader: Enric Mas
- Objective: GC
- Rider to watch: Matteo Jorgenson
It will be a special 41st appearance for the long-running Spanish squad with the Grand Depart in the Basque Country, and they will be hoping Mas can bounce back from his underwhelming performance at the 2022 Tour that eventually ended in him abandoning due to COVID-19.
Mas has been far from his best in one-week stages throughout 2023, but he’s rarely entered a Grand Tour with a whole host of big results behind him and tends to bring it together in the three-week tests.
The 28-year-old has on three occasions been runner-up at the Vuelta a España and has finished in the top six of the Tour twice. Mas will be relishing a great chance to podium the Tour with the only time trial being 22km and hilly.
Alongside Mas will be the versatile Matteo Jorgenson. The young American has been a stand-out in 2023, taking his first professional wins at the Tour of Oman, securing a top ten at the Tour of Flanders and coming second at the Tour de Romandie.
Jorgenson came painstakingly close to a stage win at last year’s Tour, finishing in the top five three times from the break. He could play a support role for Mas while hunting stages if given the freedom.
Movistar are yet to formally announce their team but have shown off a special ‘iceberg’ kit for the 2023 race which will be auctioned to raise funds for ocean protection.
Soudal-QuickStep
- Team leader: Fabio Jakobsen and Julian Alaphilippe
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: the leaders
The Belgian team have long been a stage-hunting side at the Tour, often lining up with the best sprinter in the world, be that Mark Cavendish or Marcel Kittel. Fabio Jakobsen is the next sprinter to take up the mantle and secured his first win at the Tour on debut last year after coming back from a life-threatening crash in 2020.
Jakobsen is one of the outright fastest sprinters but hasn’t quite clicked as well with the normally uber-efficient Quickstep lead-out as riders such as Cavendish in 2021. Michael Mørkøv is renowned as one of the best in the lead-out business, however, Jakobsen has on occasion opted to follow his rivals' wheels.
The Dutch sprinter took two wins at the Baloise Belgium Tour ahead of the Tour against a top-tier sprint field and will be hoping for much more than his solitary win at the 2022 race.
They would’ve arguably been disappointed with the 2022 Tour with only two stage wins, both of which came at the Grand Depart in Denmark. Outside of Jakobsen, they’ll look to their superstar that missed out last year due to a crash-marred season, Julian Alaphilippe.
The two-time World Champion returned to winning ways at World Tour level at the Dauphiné and sent a message to everyone with his celebration. Calm down, he signalled after sprinting easily to victory.
The swashbuckling Frenchman is a hero for many and should light up the opening stage in the Basque Country with dreams of another stint in the yellow jersey.
Arkéa-Samsic
- Team leader: Warren Barguil
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: Clement Champoussin
The French team have long been a recipient of one of the wildcard invitations to the Tour de France but after being promoted to World Tour status at the end of the 2022 season, they automatically qualified for their home race.
Significant moves were made in their ambitions after signing French star Warren Barguil to lead them at the Tour from 2018 onwards, but the talented climber hasn’t yet won them a stage. He’s more than capable and twice finished in the top-four of stages at the Giro d’Italia this season, so there’s still hope for fan-favourite Wawa.
They haven’t yet announced their team, but expect one (or a few) of their many sprinters to start the Tour and with eight possible chances at a bunch sprint, the likes of Hugo Hofstetter and Luca Mozzato will be hoping to use their consistent ability to finish in the top ten of flat stages and extend that to a win.
Elie Gesbert and Clément Champoussin are on the provisional team list alongside Barguil and will also be hunting stages and supporting their leader. Champoussin won a memorable stage at the Vuelta two years ago after attacking from the GC group and if he is present during the break on a hilly day, could have a great chance of victory.
Jayco-AlUla
- Riders to watch: The leaders
- Team leader: Simon Yates, Dylan Groenewegen
- Objective: GC and stage wins
Altitude training is de rigueur for any serious Tour de France contender, but Simon Yates is taking it to an extreme. Favouring that preparation, he will have not raced since stage two of the Tour de Romandie in late April when he lines up in Bilbao on July 1.
The 30-year-old will hope less is more in his challenge for the podium. His busier spring ticked all the boxes, with a stage win and second at the Tour Down Under and fourth in Paris-Nice.
He’ll be sharing some limelight with sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, an early stage winner last year.
With six victories so far, including a brace at the recent Tour of Slovenia, he’ll have the belief that he can add to his Tour tally. Luka Mezgec can help guide the Dutchman and Luke Durbridge will call the shots as road captain.
DSM-Firmenich
- Team leader: Romain Bardet
- Objective: GC and stage wins
- Rider to watch: Sam Welsford
They come to the Tour with a new team name and potentially new stars to be made. In his second season on the WorldTour, bunch sprinter Sam Welsford has gone up a level, winning two races and regularly featuring on the podium. It would be a whistlestop journey to the top if he can taste glory in France.
DSM-Firmenich have a reputation for bringing through new talent, as well as a challenging leadership style.
Theirs is a young team with a savvy, battle-hardened leader in Romain Bardet. The 32-year-old has been inside the top ten of every stage race he’s completed this season.
Last summer, he finished sixth at the Tour; it might have been more, had he not lost several minutes on a sweltering stage to Foix. Extra motivation comes in the shape of stage finishes in his home city of Clermont-Ferrand and on the nearby Puy de Dôme.
Lidl-Trek
- Team leader: Giulio Ciccone and Mads Pedersen
- Objective: Stage wins and green jersey
- Rider to watch: Mattias Skjelmose
Having missed out on his home race due to a COVID-19 positive, Giulio Ciccone will lead a talented Lidl-Trek side riding under that name for the first time. The Italian recently extended his contract with the US team until 2027 and has more than earned the leadership spot with a blistering start to the season.
Ciccone won the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné and has consistently performed on GC at each race this season. The 28-year-old is very punchy and could also snap up bonus seconds in the first week.
Mattias Skjelmose should be there as support and after his mature ride that saw him take victory at the Tour de Suisse, the 22-year-old could also challenge for stage wins on some of the hardest days from the break if given the opportunity by his team.
The real push for stages in the Lidl-Trek camp will come from former World Champion, Mads Pederson. The powerful Dane took his first Tour de France win from the break in 2022, and he may have to adopt similar tactics if he is to claim another.
The sprint field is set to be stacked with as many as eight possible chances for a bunch sprint. Pedersen is, of course, no slouch in a sprint, but his top-end speed may not be as high as Jakobsen, Philipsen or Groenewegen. He’ll likely put his team to work to make stages as hard as possible and sap the legs of the pure sprinters, but if that doesn’t work, look out for him in the break.
UAE Team Emirates
- UAE Team Emirates
- Team leader: Tadej Pogačar
- Objective: Yellow jersey
- Rider to watch: The leader
The team has one clear goal, winning the Tour de France with Pogačar. The Slovenian superstar was denied his third yellow jersey in as many years after being well-beaten by Vingegaard in the high mountains and will be looking to bounce back at the 2023 Tour.
Pogačar produced a spring classics campaign for the ages and dominated with an air of invincibility. Paris-Nice, The Tour of Flanders, Fleche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. You could be mistaken for reading out the spring calendar when looking through his wins this season.
His onslaught of wins was halted however, by a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he fractured his wrist and was forced to take some time off the bike. This may have been timely after such an arduous spring and his training schedule hasn’t been overly disrupted.
It’s difficult to find a parcours that doesn't suit Pogačar’s abilities and he will want to maximise his bonus seconds on the punchier stages, especially in the first week.
Pogačar returned to racing at the Slovenian national time trial championships where he took an emphatic victory, albeit against a weak field, 5:14 ahead of the runner up on a 15.7km route.
UAE Emirates have not yet announced their full team, but expect loyal lieutenant Rafał Majka to start and provide the final pull for Pogačar on the toughest climbing days.
The Polish super-domestique has worked well with Adam Yates in 2023, helping the Brit win the Tour de Romandie and finish second at the Critérium du Dauphiné, behind only Vingegaard. Yates is provisionally set to take the start and would be another luxury domestique to help Pogačar.
Lotto-Dstny
- Team leader: Caleb Ewan
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: Maxim Van Gils
The Belgian team were relegated from the UCI World Tour at the end of 2022 but still received an invitation as one of the two top-ranked ProTeams. They haven’t won a stage of the Tour de France since 2020 and will be desperately trying to rectify that in 2023 with their headline sprinter Caleb Ewan.
It’s no surprise to see Ewan backed up by Jasper de Buyst, who will be his last man in the lead-out and veteran lead-out specialist, Jacopo Guarnieri, who they signed from Groupama-FDJ at the end of the season to bolster their train.
Ewan won three stages in 2019 and two in 2020. Since then, he’s been without luck or a consistent lead-out, however, doesn’t appear to have lost his top-end speed. He should not be overlooked if he can get a clear run to the line.
The Australian fast man had a tough 2022 season, crashing in the opening stage of the Giro and on the gruelling cobbled stage at the Tour. He suffered another setback at the Baloise Belgium Tour after crashing and staying down for some time before getting back on his bike.
Outside of Ewan, one of their riders to watch is young star Maxim Van Gils, who has impressed throughout 2023. The 23-year-old finished in the top eleven of all three Ardennes Classics and fifth in stages one and two of the Dauphiné. Look to see him feature in the punchy days or alongside another of Lotto Dstny’s new signings, Pascal Eenkhoorn, in the breakaway.
TotalEnergies
- Team leader: Peter Sagan
- Objective: stage wins
- Rider to watch: Anthony Turgis
This is one of the oldest line-ups in the race. Several squad members have Tour de France success in their past and will be looking to show that they aren’t yesterday’s men: Alexis Vuillermoz, Maciej Bodnar, Edvald Boasson Hagen and, last but certainly not least, Peter Sagan.
It will be the last Tour de France for the retiring, but not shy, Slovakian. He has seven points jerseys and a dozen stage wins to his name. While his best days are behind him, you can never write off Sagan. Several fourth and fifth places in bunch sprints at the 2022 race showed the legs are still there.
TotalEnergies will be active in breakaways, but a stage win would make their year. They need a pick-me-up after a fallow year too, with only one victory in Europe so far.
Uno-X Pro Cycling
- Team leader: Alexander Kristoff
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: Torsten Traæn
The Norwegian squad are the fresh-faced debutants in the pack. Gaining a wild card from the race organisers in January was a first victory for them.
They are on a journey of discovery at the sport’s top level and there is no more brutal testing ground than the Tour de France to show where they belong.
Expect these underdogs to light up the race with many attacks while also working to set up veteran sprinter Alexander Kristoff.
Uno-X have several promising youngsters, waiting to make a name for themselves. U23 TT world champion Søren Wærenskjold packs a powerful sprint. Then there’s mountain men Tobias Halland Johannessen, who won the 2021 Tour de l’Avenir and Torsten Træen, who was eighth at the Critérium du Dauphiné. They could surprise a fair few observers.
Israel-Premier Tech
- Team leader: Michael Woods and Dylan Teuns
- Objective: Stage wins
- Rider to watch: Corbin Strong
Despite their relegation from the UCI World Tour at the end of the 2022 season, Israel-Premier Tech were one of the two teams that received an invitation to the Tour de France as a wildcard. It’s their fourth participation at the Tour and they will have high expectations after securing two emotional and inspiring victories in 2022 through Simon Clarke and Hugo Houle.
As a whole, the Israeli team impressed fans at the Giro d’Italia with their mainly young squad riding an attacking race where they targeted the majority of breakaways. Their Tour team features much of their older contingent, but hopefully, the same style of racing will be adopted. Clarke and Houle have both been selected again to get into breaks.
Michael Woods and Dylan Teuns have shown the best climbing form in recent weeks with Woods winning the Route d'Occitanie and Teuns finishing ninth at the Tour de Suisse, despite barely figuring on the radar for much of the race.
Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome was expected to start, ten years after he won his first Grand Boucle for Team Sky. Finally, though, he was left out for a squad the team believed was better suited to their goals.
Stage hunting will be the agenda for the whole three weeks with Corbin Strong and Nick Schultz making the eight-man roster. Strong is a quick finisher with a great track-racing background and could be very dangerous from a break, while Schultz came agonisingly close to a stage win in Megève at last year’s Tour, so he’ll be hoping for another chance at victory here.
