2023 Tour de France

The peloton passing through Vitoria-Gasteiz during stage 2

Jai Hindley (pictured here on the Col de Marie-Blanque during the stage) attacked on stage 5 to win the stage and claim the yellow jersey.

The first stage around Bilbao in the Basque Country saw a crash of several riders, which ultimately forced two pre-race favourites, Carapaz and Mas, to abandon. The race broke into several groups over the two final climbs of the day, with identical twins Simon and Adam Yates breaking away from a select group on the final ascent. The pair held their advantage to the finish, with Adam Yates taking the stage win and the first leader's yellow jersey ahead of his brother. Pogačar won the sprint in the group behind to finish third, and Neilson Powless (EF Education–EasyPost) took the lead in the mountains classification.[20][21] Stage 2 featured the climb of the Jaizkibel, prominently used in the race Clásica de San Sebastián later in the season. On the climb, a select group of favourites emerged ahead of the peloton, with Pogačar taking eight bonus seconds available at the summit ahead of Vingegaard. Victor Lafay (Cofidis) broke clear of the leading group within the final kilometre of the stage and managed to keep his advantage to win the stage ahead of van Aert, while Yates retained the yellow jersey.[22]

Jasper Philipsen won the following two, relatively flat, stages from bunch sprints. On stage 3 into Bayonne, he came in ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Team Bahrain Victorious), following a strong lead-out by teammate Mathieu van der Poel. Yates remained in the leader's jersey while Powless collected more points for the mountains classification as part of the breakaway.[23] Philipsen then won ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto–Dstny) and Bauhaus at the finish of stage 4, which ended at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro.[24] The final part of the stage was marred by several crashes, including Fabio Jakobsen, while Yates retained the yellow jersey for another day.[25] Following two hard opening days and with the high mountains of the Pyrenees to come the day after, the field was taking a slow tempo during stage 4, with no breakaway forming until 100 km (62 mi) into the race. This led to criticism, with some, such as stage winner Philipsen, describing it as "the most boring Tour de France stage for a long time".[26]

On stage 5, the first mountain stage in the Pyrenees, a 36-man breakaway containing multiple pre-race favourites including Jai Hindley escaped from the bunch and established a stable advantage. The maximum lead of the group over the field was four minutes and was still at 2:30 minutes as it began the ascent of the final climb of the day, the Col de Marie-Blanque. Hindley dropped the remaining breakaway riders and rode alone over the top of the climb and into the finish in Laruns to win the stage, taking the lead in the general classification. Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën Team) had gained enough points during the stage to go into the lead of the mountains classification.[27][28] Behind in the group of favourites, Vingegaard attacked 1.5 km (0.93 mi) from the summit of the Marie-Blanque and managed to distance Pogačar. Catching up to several breakaway riders, Vingegaard finished fifth on the day, 34 seconds behind Hindley. Pogačar opted to wait for distanced teammate Adam Yates to try to limit his losses, but eventually arrived at the finish 1:04 minutes behind Vingegaard, dropping to sixth place overall. With him came in other favourites such as Gaudu, Martinez, Rodriguez, and the Yates brothers. Meanwhile, Ben O'Connor and Romain Bardet lost 1:57 minutes to Hindley.[27][29]

Sepp Kuss (right) leading favourites Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar on the Col du Tourmalet during stage 6

On stage 6, Vingegaard employed similar tactics to stage 5, outdistancing Hindley, but was unable to answer Pogačar's attack 3 km (1.9 mi) from the finish line; Pogačar won the stage and narrowed Vingegaard's general-classification lead over him to 25 seconds, while Vingegaard took the yellow jersey and second place on the stage.[30] The seventh stage, another flat stage ending in a bunch sprint, was won by Philipsen again, narrowly beating Mark Cavendish, whose bicycle gears slipped within metres of the finish line.[31] Stage 8 put an end to Cavendish's attempt to break the record for most stage wins, as an injury sustained in a crash forced him to abandon the Tour; the stage was won in a sprint by Mads Pedersen.[32] In stage 9, a 14-man breakaway emerged early; late in the stage, Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) broke away from the breakaway and led the race alone for most of the last 47 km (29 mi) before being overtaken in the last 500 m (550 yd) by Michael Woods (Israel–Premier Tech), who won the stage at the top of the Puy de Dôme. Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey, but lost time to Pogačar, who crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of him.[33]

The group of favourites containing Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar during stage 12

After the first rest day, stage 10 had a chaotic beginning, with many groups of riders—at one point including Vingegaard and Pogačar—attempting to break away before being caught by the peloton; a stable breakaway emerged around the halfway point of the stage. Krists Neilands attacked the breakaway group and was solo leader for much of the last section of the stage, but was eventually caught by other breakaway riders including Pello Bilbao, who went on to win the stage. Bilbao dedicated his victory to his late teammate Gino Mäder, who had died after a crash in the Tour de Suisse the previous month.[34][35] Jasper Philipsen took his fourth stage-win of the Tour in a sprint on the eleventh stage to Moulins.[36] In the twelfth stage, Ion Izagirre of the Cofidis team came in first after he escaped solo in the last 30 km (19 mi) towards Belleville en Beaujolais.[37] Michał Kwiatkowski won stage 13 after breaking away on his own 11 km (6.8 mi) from the finish at the top of the Grand Colombier. Pogačar cut Vingegaard's lead to nine seconds.[38]

In the fourteenth stage, an early 13-rider crash led race officials to suspend the stage for 30 minutes and caused several riders to abandon the Tour. On the climb to the Col de Joux Plane, Pogačar and Vingegaard led the stage. Pogačar attacked about 2 km (1.2 mi) from the top of the climb, but Vingegaard recovered and caught up with him; Pogačar's next attack was stymied by media motorcycles crowding the road. Carlos Rodríguez caught Vingegaard and Pogačar during the final descent and went on to win the stage, moving one second ahead of Jai Hindley into third place overall.[39][40] Wout Poels soloed to victory in stage 15 after he broke away 11 km (6.8 mi) from the finish line on the penultimate climb of the Côtes des Amerands. It was his first Tour de France stage win.[41]

Jonas Vingegaard in the yellow jersey during the Individual time trial on stage 16

The third week began with a time trial of 22.4 km between Passy and Combloux in which Pogačar aimed to reverse the 10 second lead of Vingegaard, but the latter won stage 16 decisively and widened his lead to 1 minute and 48 seconds. Pogačar came in second, over a minute ahead of Vingegaard's teammate van Aert, while Adam Yates moved into third place in the general classification, ahead of Rodriguez.[42][43] On stage 17, which was a mountainous one, a fierce counter-attack from Pogačar was expected.[44] However, Pogačar needed assistance from his teammate Marc Soler in the climb towards the Col de la Loze and lost further time to Vingegaard, who widened the lead to more than seven minutes in a stage won by Gall.[44]

Kasper Asgreen held off the competition to win the eighteenth stage, which entered the Rhone valley. Meanwhile, van Aert left the race to be with his wife, who was about to give birth.[45] On stage 19, Matej Mohorič won by the width of a rim to beat Asgreen in a photo finish in Poligny. After winning the stage, Mohorič paid tribute to his late teammate Gino Mäder, who died in a crash at in the Tour de Suisse in June.[46] In the twentieth stage, Thibaut Pinot, in his last Tour before retirement, attacked the breakaway and was solo leader at the top of the Petit Ballon, which was lined by thousands of fans cheering him on. He was overtaken and dropped by the race leaders on the ascent to the Col du Platzerwasel, and Pogačar won the stage ahead of Gall and his tour rival Vingegaard.[47] In the same stage, the Italian Giulio Ciccone sealed the victory for the mountain classification.[47] He is the first Italian to achieve this feat since Claudio Chiappucci in 1992.[47]

The final stage was traditionally calm and the Belgian Jordi Meeus won just ahead of his compatriot Philipsen, Groenewegen, and Pedersen.[48][49] Philipsen won the green jersey of the points classification for the first time in his career. Vingegaard crossed the finish line at the Champs-Élysées arm in arm with his teammates, finishing 7:29 minutes ahead of Pogačar and 10:56 minutes ahead of Adam Yates to win the Tour de France for the second straight year. His winning margin of 7 minutes 29 seconds was the largest since 2014. Vingegaard's Team Jumbo–Visma won the teams classification. Victor Campenaerts was chosen as the most combative rider. Runner up Pogačar won the white jersey of the young rider classification for the fourth year in a row.[49][50]