Road Gallery: The Tour de France in 100 photos
Our favorite images from a vintage edition.
It’s hard to believe it’s only been a week since the men’s 2023 Tour de France finished. It feels like only yesterday we were in Bilbao, watching riders in txapelas at the teams presentation, and then thrilling to Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar trading attacks in the Pyrenees. Although the time gaps in the final overall standings don’t show it, the 110th edition of the Grand Boucle was one of the most riveting in recent memory. Here’s a look back at some of our favorite moments, as captured by our favorite photographers: Ashley and Jered Gruber and Kristof Ramon.
Two days before the Grand Depart, the atmosphere was all energy and excitement as Caleb Ewan attends the team presentation. Photo © kramon Astana’s Mark Cavendish was as relaxed as maybe we’ve ever seen him, determined to enjoy what he intended to be his final Tour de France even as he sought out a record-breaking 35th stage win. Photo © kramon Whether you bought UAE Team Emirates’ line that Adam Yates was a co-leader, his stage 1 win showed he wasn’t there just to follow wheels. Photo © Gruber Images Yates rode with tactical savvy on the technical first stage, including using excellent positioning to launch an attack that tightly packed fans made hard to follow if you weren’t right on the wheel. Photo © kramon Romain Bardet started out with high hopes and good legs, along with countryman Thibaut Pinot. Photo © kramon Certainly, some people love bike racing as much as the Basques. But nobody loves it more . Photo © Gruber Images A familiar sight in recent Tours. Photo © kramon The 2023 Tour wasn’t Adam Yates’ first stint in yellow, but it was far more satisfying than his first. Photo © Gruber Images Victor Lafay? Victor Lafay. VICTOR Lafay! Photo © Gruber Images Neilson Powless was out early and often hunting for KOM points,but the effort may have cost him late in the race. Photo © Gruber Images Keep your eyes on the road at all times, please. Photo © Gruber Images Stage 3, first bunch sprint, first bunch nerves. Photo © Gruber Images Jasper Disaster? Jasper is faster. Photo © Gruber Images Mads Pedersen had a pretty decent Tour. He had an even better-looking bike. Photo © kramon Would Jumbo’s 2023 Tour be a mirror image of last year? At this point in the race, no one knew. Photo © Gruber Images Biniam Girmay raced his first Tour, accompanied as always by a legion of Eritrean fans. Photo © kramon Into the mountains for stage 5 and it’s time for grupetto face. Photo © Gruber Images Jai Hindley came to the Tour with no publicly stated expectations. Whatever they were internally, stage 5 surpassed them all. Photo © kramon Magnifico, signore. Photo © Gruber Images So fierce was the GC battle between Vingegaard and Pogačar that even Hindley, a Grand Tour winner himself, only held yellow one day. Worth every second though. Photo © kramon Coming off the Tourmalet. Photo © kramon Mathieu van der Poel turned into the world’s highest-paid leadout, and did his job to perfection. Photo © kramon Kasper Asgreen catches up on the news of the day just in time for the descent. Photo © kramon Descents for days, everywhere you look. Photo © kramon The finish of a mountain stage is always a scramble for riders, like Andrey Amador here, to get into dry kit for the descent to the busses. Photo © Gruber Images No privacy from the Netflix crews for James Shaw. Photo © Gruber Images Reflective moods. Photo © Gruber Images Philipsen’s third on stage 7, much to Girmay’s displeasure and Cavendish’s heartbreak. But for a skipping chain … Photo © Gruber Images The Tour de Tietema boys held tryouts for a different sport. Tim Declercq certainly has the height. Photo © kramon Le Tours toujours. Photo © kramon Do you suppose Philipsen is admiring the paint job on that Madone? Nah, probably pretty happy with a green Canyon. Photo © Gruber Images Another Pogi-attack on Puy de Dôme, and nine more seconds pulled back. Photo ™ Gruber Images Tom Pidcock came to his second Tour with cautious hopes of a GC ride. Photo © Gruber Images French hopes confront The Streak. Photo © Gruber Images Pretty good prize, dad; do it again! Photo © Gruber Images It wasn’t all grim on Puy de Dôme; former teammates Wout Poels and Dylan Teuns enjoy a chill ride and unobstructed views. Photo © kramon How hard was the 2023 Tour? These guys have eight stage wins between them, and couldn’t hold Pello Bilbao’s wheel on stage 10. Photo © kramon Fancy a tune while you wait for the riders? Photo © kramon One of our fave pics from the entire race. Photo © Gruber Images Not that the riders appreciated them, but the views off the Grand Colombier are stunning. Photo © Gruber Images Another Gruber masterpiece, all smoke and vibes. Photo © Gruber Images The most efficient position for marginal beer bong gains. Photo © kramon Portable ice baths are all the rage on Tour. Photo © kramon Matej Mohorič (here with Mikel Landa) finished second to last on stage 14. All just in preparation for his efforts to come. Photo © kramon The stare of a dream disappearing up the road – Romain Bardet abandons after his stage 14 crash. Photo © kramon Riding beyond his years, and descending almost past his abilities, netted Carlos Rodriguez a gorgeous victory. Photo © Gruber Images Two weeks in, there was barely a millimeter of daylight between the two Tour favorites. Photo © kramon Far from the TV cameras, Clement Berthet is deep inside the hurt locker, crawling up the Col de Joux Plane after a crash. Photo © kramon “In sum, I argue that Schopenhauer’s dictum that ‘Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim’ is entirely reflective of a pro cyclist’s …” Photo © kramon “Wait, wait, I’m just getting to the transcendental idealism in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason!” Photo © kramon For 2019 winner Egan Bernal, this year’s Tour was a quieter but no less significant milestone: his first Grand Tour since his life-threatening crash 18 months ago. Photo © kramon Was Vingegaard’s stage 16 effort the best time trial in Tour history? It’s almost certainly top five. Photo © kramon “Soler’s eyes. Every time he looked at me on the Col de la Loze with his scary eyes. That was the most terrifying moment,” said Pogačar. Photo © Gruber Images If stage 16 opened a big crack between Vingegaard and Pogačar, stage 17 blew it wide open. Photo © Gruber Images Thibaut Pinot will not go quietly. Photo © Gruber Images Were it not for Soler, there’s no telling how much time Pogačar would have lost on stage 17. Photo © Gruber Images Off the Loze. Photo © Gruber Images Man of many talents: Pedersen drives the break on stage 19. Photo © Gruber Images Last chances for a race selfie with TiboPino. Photo © kramon “The guy who’s pulling is suffering just as much as you do, but it’s cruel to then be able to follow the decisive attack.” – Matej Mohoric on the barbarism of the breakaway. Photo © Gruber Images Health challenges, a fallen teammate: Mohorič has been through so much since his storybook Milan-San Remo win in March 2022. Photo © kramon You want cobbled climbs? Photo © kramon Sepp Kuss soldiers on after a stage 20 crash. Photo © Gruber Images One more stage done, one kilometer closer to home. Photo © Gruber Images A final, cathartic stage to help salve the disappointment. Photo © Gruber Images Dreams of future Tours. Photo © Gruber Images Surprise and shock as Philipsen is dethroned by Jordi Meuss. Photo © Gruber Images Giulio Ciccone narrowly missed a stage win early in the race, but polka dots in Paris was a pretty good consolation. Photo © kramon Smiles and scars for Carlos Rodriguez, fifth overall in his first Tour. Photo © kramon Unlike last year, the four jerseys had four different winners. Photo © kramon Paris means many things to the riders, but one is certainly that it’s finally time to let go a little bit. Photo © kramon
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