They will compete in their final Tour de France, fight for a distinctive jersey, or necessarily win stages. Several riders should write the history of the Tour de France 2023 which starts on Saturday from Bilbao, in the Spanish Basque Country. Thibaut Pinot, Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Biniam Girmay, Julian Alaphilippe, Valentin Madouas, Christophe Laporte and Egan Bernal… France 24 presents its selection of runners to watch.
There is the quest for the yellow jersey and there are the little stories that write the great of the Tour de France. The last Grande Boucle of Pinot, Sagan and Cavendish, the announced exploits of van der Poel and van Aert or even the French to watch… Here is a selection of riders whose stories about the 110th edition which could constitute fertile ground for a new season of the Netflix documentary on the mysteries of the greatest cycling race in the world.
Read also”Talking to purists and tourists”: F1, Tour de France… Everyone wants their Netflix series
• One last round and then go away
Thibaut Pinot finally happy on the Tour de France? Before his retirement announced for the end of the season, the 33-year-old rider is preparing to compete in the last Grande Boucle of his career. An event with which he has a complicated history, between prestigious victories at Tourmalet or Alpe d’Huez, and great disappointments, like 2019 where he gave up, when he seemed destined for the final victory .
“Well” physically and “liberated” in his head, after a successful Giro (fifth overall and best climber’s jersey), Thibaut Pinot wants to take his last Tour de France “like a party”, while hoping to “raise his arms a last time”. Cycling fans are waiting for two images: Thibaut Pinot who would catapult his leader, David Gaudu [équipe Groupama – FDJ]during a mountain stage, four years after the reverse scenario, and “Thib” winner at home for the twentieth stage in the Vosges.
Thibaut Pinot will leave inconsolable fans when he retires. © Marco Bertorello, AFP
Peter Sagan is also about to bow out at 33. The Slovak rockstar of the peloton will leave the world of road cycling and devote himself to mountain biking for eight months to compete in the Paris Olympics in 2024. The triple world champion, winner of Paris-Roubaix (2018) and the Tour of Flanders (2016 ), also left his mark on the Tour with seven green jerseys for the best sprinter won, a record. The public also retains its ability to put on the show, between whimsical celebrations, a rising front wheel and a constant smile. While an eighth green jersey seems out of reach, cycling fans are hoping to see him win a stage one last time, which would also be good for the TotalEnergies team which hasn’t won a stage since 2017.
Peter Sagan likes to put on a show at each of his public appearances. © Tom Goyvaerts, AFP
The British legend Mark Cavendish, 38, has set himself an ultimate goal: to claim a 35th stage victory to beat the record he shares with Eddy Merckx. The Astana team is built around this objective, notably with the Dutchman Cees Bol as pilot fish.
The Belgian cycling legend, never stingy with a small tackle towards his successors, has already let it be known what he thinks of a possible record for the “Isle of Man missile” in 2021: “We cannot compare . I did 2,800 kilometers in the lead, Cavendish did six,” he explains cynically. Just for a new spade “Cannibal”one would almost hope that Cavendish would break the record.
Question about the possible record of 35 stages on the TDF. very long silence #Cavendish, moved, before answering. “I have no idea…I’m here to win…but what that means, I don’t know what to tell you” #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/WdOqHRV9w8
— Nicolas Georgereau (@ngeorgereau) June 29, 2023
• They will inevitably be talked about.
The Belgian Wout van Aert won three stage victories, finished second four times and won the green jersey hands down in the 2022 Tour. Jumbo Visma, Dane Jonas Vingegaard, to win the final general classification. This year, he announced that he would not be aiming for the best climber’s jersey, but that he would try to multiply stage victories and why not wear the yellow jersey at the end of the first stage, cut for a puncher like him.
Wout Van Aert, all-terrain monster from the Jumbo-Visma. © Dirk Waem, Belgian, AFP
When we talk about Wout van Aert, his eternal rival Mathieu van der Poel of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team is never far away. His best enemy since the youth cyclocross categories follows him everywhere, and vice versa. The Tour de France 2023 is therefore no exception. Raymond Poulidor’s grandson has several goals in mind for this Tour: first of all to put on the yellow jersey again, and why not at the end of the first stage. Then, do everything to shine during the ninth stage dedicated to his grandfather, which will start from Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat – village where the eternal second died – on July 9 and will end at Puy de Dôme, place of his mythical duel with Raymond Anquetil. Finally, seeing Paris for the first time: Mathieu van der Poel has indeed never managed to complete a Grande Boucle, which is an anomaly for this extraordinary runner.
Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel wins the Paris-Roubaix cycling race on April 9, 2023 in Roubaix. © Anne-Christine Poujoulat, AFP
The most beautiful hope of African cycling, Biniyam Girmay, will discover the Tour de France with the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty team. Outstanding puncher, at 23, Girmay plays in the same court as the two names mentioned above. Originally from Eritrea, Girmay draws huge crowds of compatriots waving their flag wherever he runs. The Grande Boucle should be no exception. After his victory in the Ghent-Wevelgem, and the tenth stage of the Giro 2022, he can hope for a new prestigious success for his young career.
Read alsoBiniam Girmay, symbol of rising African cycling
The joy of Biniam Girmay after his victory in the tenth stage of the Giro. © Luca Bettini, AFP
• French people to watch
He had not been selected to compete in the Tour 2022 after a heavy fall on the Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2022, Julian Alaphilippe is back this year on the Grande Boucle, an event where he has already worn the yellow jersey 17 times. After two complicated seasons, he finally seems to be back in shape and dreams of putting on the yellow tunic again after the first stage and the Pike wall. In difficulty with his Soudal Quick-Step team which he could leave at the end of the season, “Julian” certainly dreams of setting the record straight and offering himself a new epic with the leader’s jersey.
Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe riding in the lead during the men’s elite road cycling race from Antwerp to Leuven during the eighth day of the UCI Flanders 2021 Road Cycling World Championships on September 26, 2021, in Leuven. © Kristof Ramon, AFP
Valentin Madouas, who will celebrate his 27th birthday on July 12 during the race, became French champion in Cassel and will therefore wear the tricolor jersey on the Tour de France where, like Thibaut Pinot, his mission will be to support David Gaudu in the Groupama-FDJ team. “The Breton tractor” will be able to transcend itself with its new tunic on the shoulders. With the enthusiasm of the public and a difficult course in the first week, which correspond to its qualities, all the ingredients are there for a feat. He wants to “do great things on the Tour”. Enough to easily see him succeed Arnaud Demare, the last French stage winner with the tricolor jersey in 2017.
Christophe Laporte was the only Frenchman to win a stage in the 2022 edition. The Jumbo-Visma sprinter could do it again this year, even if, on paper, his teammate Wout van Aert is supposed to compete in the massive sprints.
French Jumbo-Visma team rider Christophe Laporte celebrates as he pedals to the finish line to win the 19th stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France, between Castelnau-Magnoac and Cahors, July 22, 2022 © Marco Bertorello, AFP
• The beautiful story?
Let’s go back to 2019, Egan Bernal becomes the first Colombian and the youngest rider to win the Tour de France since 1909. The cycling prodigy is then promised to reign over cycling for many years. An impression confirmed by his victory in the Giro 2022.
However, a road accident in January 2022 brought his career to a sudden halt. During training in Colombia, he crashed head-on into a stationary bus. Victim of fractures to a vertebra, to the right femur, to the patella, as well as a perforation of the lung and a cranial trauma, the question was first of all whether he was going to survive.
Patiently, he resumed competition, even if his performances are not yet at the same level as before. In 2023, after obtaining two eighth places in the Tour de Romandie and the Tour of Hungary, he finished twelfth in June during the Critérium du Dauphiné.
“I am grateful to be alive and to be here with you. I try to be positive. cycling. I wake up every day with this goal in mind”, he explained during a press conference. “It would be fantastic to arrive in Paris, to finish my first Grand Tour after my accident. It would be a big step forward for me,” he set himself the goal.
The little Colombian “beetle” of the Ineos Grenadiers is likely to have immense popular support to encourage him towards this objective.
The arrival of the Tour de France 2019, on July 28, 2019, in Paris. © Gonzalo Fuentes, Reuters
