Cycling
What do riders do after the Tour de France?
The Tour de France may be over, but the season is far from finished. From celebrations in Paris to recovery, post-Tour criteriums and more big races, see what's next for the world's best riders.
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After 21 days of racing, more than 3,000km of riding and 54,000m-plus of elevation gain, the Tour de France is over for another year. But while the dust settles on road cycling’s biggest race, the season isn’t over for the 184 riders who started the 113th edition.
While the main focus of their year might be over, there’s still plenty of riding to go before they can truly take a break with the WorldTour calendar running until mid-October. And with another three-week Grand Tour – August’s La Vuelta – and one-day events like September’s UCI Road World Championships and October’s Il Lombardia Monument still to come, there are plenty of opportunities for riders to clinch victories in the sport’s most iconic races.
From post-Tour exhibition races to chasing rainbows, here’s what riders do after the Tour de France.
01
Celebrating in Paris
Remco Evenepoel celebrates his runner-up finish in Paris
© Baptiste Fauchille/Red Bull Content Pool
Making it to the final stage in Paris is a remarkable feat in itself for the riders of the peloton, and completing the Tour de France is worthy of celebration. The final stage is a more relaxed occasion for all-but-the sprinters, but riders can’t truly shift their focus to what’s next until they safely cross the finish line on Champs-Élyssés.
Once the racing is finally over, riders have a chance to let their hair down, with champagne to toast their success at the finish line. This is followed by the official award ceremony, while the rest of the evening is filled with team dinners, post-race after parties and events hosted by sponsors.
02
Travel, rest and recovery
By the end of the Tour, riders will have been on the move for almost a month, spending most nights in a different bed as they move between each stage start location.
The travelling doesn’t end the day after either, when most will make the long trip back to their respective homes to start their rest and recovery.
The journey doesn't end once the finish line is crossed
© Baptiste Fauchille/Red Bull Content Pool
From here, the focus is on refuelling and rebuilding their bodies, which although might not have shed a lot of weight over three weeks due to all the carbohydrates they’ve been eating, needs to be rebalanced to help with recovery. Nutrition sees a drop in carbs while protein remains high to aid muscle repair, and fibre and fat can be reintroduced albeit with a view to maintaining race weight for the rest of the season.
Although they won’t completely stop riding their bikes like they might do during the off-season, any sessions in the saddle will initially be light and easy before building back the intensity as they shift their focus to the next race.
The real rest comes mentally, where riders are able to shift from spending hours concentrating and fighting for position on the road to a much easier pace of life.
03
Post-Tour criteriums
The last thing you’d expect riders to be doing after a gruelling three-week Grand Tour is pinning on their race number, but for some Tour de France riders, that is the reality.
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe will be back to business soon after the party
© Baptiste Fauchille/Red Bull Content Pool
The week after the Tour sees a number of unofficial, non-UCI sanctioned city centre criteriums staged in the Netherlands and Belgium, where local fans get a chance to see the stars of the race up close. Historically a way for riders to supplement up their earnings, today’s stars can still demand generous appearance fees.
The first post-Tour criteriums are staged within 24 hours of the Paris finalé, with Daags na de Tour (Boxmeer, the Netherlands) and NaTourCriterium Aalst (Aalst, Belgium) both taking place the day after this year’s edition finished.
The calibre of competition at the criteriums can be high too, and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe’s second-place finisher and two-time stage winner Remco Evenepoel is set to race at Doby Natourcriterium (Roeselare, Belgium)..
04
Back to WorldTour racing
While the post-Tour criteriums are generally pre-determined and low-risk affairs for riders, real WorldTour racing resumes within a week for some with the one-day Classic Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
Remco Evenepoel is targeting history in Spain following his Paris podium
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe’s Evenepoel and Maxim Van Gils are both down to start the race on Saturday (August 1), which features 4,150m cumulative elevation gain across the 221.1km course. A three-time winner at the one-day race already, Evenepoel will be targeting a record-breaking fourth win in northern Spain’s Basque Country.
05
The season isn't over
After this weekend’s one-day Classic in San Sebastian, there are more notable races remaining in the WorldTour season, including the third and final Grand Tour (La Vuelta Ciclista a España) and the fifth and final Monument, Il Lombardia. While Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe are building a team around Primoz Roglic as he targets a record-extending fifth general classification title, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see one or two names from the team’s Tour de France squad line up at the race’s Grand Départ in Monaco.
Primož Roglič will be back in action for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
© Dani Sanchez/Red Bull Content Pool
Outside of the WorldTour, there is also the small matter of the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal, Canada, where Evenepoel is targeting a fourth individual time trial title and second road rainbow jersey. Given the Belgian’s performance in France, he will be a firm favourite on the punchy city circuit.
06
Recovery from injury
Not all riders were fortunate enough to make it to the finish line in Paris, and for the likes of Florian Lipowitz, who crashed on Stage 16 and fractured his collarbone, this period is about rehabilitation and refocusing their goals for the remainder of the season.
Florian Lipowitz is focusing on recovery after his Tour in jury
© Maximilian Fries/Red Bull Content Pool
While collarbone injuries are a common occurrence in the professional peloton and the return-to-racing window can be as little as four weeks, it still requires a period of recovery post-surgery and time spent training on the turbo before a rider is able to bear weight and head outside for a spin.
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