It’s one of the highlights of the year. The Tour de France starts this Saturday, June 29. 22 teams made up of eight riders are getting ready to crisscross the roads of Italy and France. Among the big names in this 2024 edition, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) could engage in a new epic battle, having won the last four Tours de France (2023 and 2022 for Vingegaard, 2021 and 2020 for Pogacar).
Bernal’s feat in 2019
If the Slovenian and the Dane are among the headliners, the 2024 version of the Tour de France, like last year, will take place without Christopher Froome. The Briton, four-time winner of the Tour (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) was not selected by his team Israel Premier Tech. At 39, Froome is no longer the champion he once was, notably following a very serious accident in 2019 during the Dauphiné, a race he passed through like a shadow this year.
In 2019, Egan Bernal created a sensation by winning both the yellow jersey and the white jersey. He is the only Colombian to have won the Grande Boucle, at 22 years and 196 days old. Julian Alaphilippe still remembers it, he who lost his yellow jersey at the end of the 19th stage to the Latin American.
Winner of the Tour de France in 2018, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) is there this year. Dominant on the mountain stages six years ago, Thomas had asserted himself within the Sky team, he who was initially a lieutenant of Christopher Froome. Among the other winners, Vincenzo Nibali had won the title in 2014. Winner of the Giro the previous year – twice in total -, the Italian had left it to concentrate on the Tour de France.
Merckx, Anquetil, Hinault and Indurain in the club of the most successful
Long associated with Lance Armstrong and his seven successes obtained between 1999 and 2005, the record for victories on the Grande Boucle has no longer belonged to the American since 2012, the year the UCI (International Cycling Union) deleted it. officially on the list. From now on, four riders share the title record. Jacques Anquetil was the first to dominate the Tour de France, with five titles acquired in eight participations, between 1957 and 1964. His compatriot Bernard Hinault has the same ratio, with five coronations between 1969 and 1974.
Eddy Merckx, for his part, can boast of having only needed seven participations to win so many titles. More recently, the Spaniard Miguel Indurain won five Tour de France in a row, between 1991 and 1995. Just behind, Christopher Froome joins this very tough top 5.
The Tour de France results since 2014
2014 : Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
2015 : Christopher Froome (Sky)
2016 : Christopher Froome (Sky)
2017 : Christopher Froome (Sky)
2018 : Geraint Thomas (Sky)
2019 : Egan Bernal (Ineos)
2020 : Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
2021 : Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
2022 : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
2023 : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
The five most successful riders in the history of the Tour de France
1. Eddy Merckx: five victories in seven appearances (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974)
2. Jacques Anquetil: five victories in eight appearances (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964)
3. Bernard Hinault: five victories in eight participations (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985)
4. Miguel Indurain: five victories in twelve appearances (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
5. Christopher Froome: four victories in eight appearances (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017)
