The 2023 Tour de France is right around the corner (yes, we see you 2023 Tour de France!) and that means we finally know the identities of all 176 riders who will compete in this year’s edition.
Some of the team leaders have been locked in since the end of last year’s race, while domestiques have spent the first six months of the year fighting to prove they are worth taking for three weeks of unbelievable crowds, frantic racing, and middling French hotels.
Team PR managers have signed off on their elaborate social media announcements, riders of those eight-man squads are making sure they’ve packed all of their chargers and special Tour-issue kits, and team mechanics are checking and re-checking to ensure every piece of requisite team-issue gear entered in the UCI’s new mandatory equipment database is approved for use before driving the truck to Bilbao for the Grand Départ.
Uno-X broke cover first with a simple announcement of who will represent the ProTeam at their first-ever Tour de France. Soudal Quick-Step were last as they had to scramble to replace likely pick Casper Pedersen, who broke his collarbone at the Danish national road championships last weekend. Sadly, Alejandro Valverde is not walking through that door to line up for Movistar, content instead to absolutely thrash fields in gravel events.
Notable absences
As always, there are some big names who for one reason or another will not be present at the biggest race of the year. French sprinter Arnaud Démare was left “angry and depressed” after Groupama-FDJ opted to not spare him a spot as they go all-in on the David Gaudu podium/Thibaut Pinot retirement-tour dream.
Meanwhile, Giro d’Italia champion Primož Roglič has announced he will not form part of Jonas Vingegaard’s title defence despite his integral role in delivering the Dutch squad yellow last year and will instead focus on August’s Vuelta a España. Jayco AlUla’s Michael Matthews has also announced he will not be at the Tour, having also competed (and won a stage) in this year’s Giro. And despite rampant (dare we say wild) speculation that Remco Evenepoel might be a late entry for Soudal Quick-Step, we will not in fact see the reigning World Champion on the start line until August’s Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.
?? 2023 Tour de France line-ups ??
(As of June 27 all rosters are confirmed and complete.)
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