Another Tour de France is over. Another chapter of history is written. And another period of withdrawal has commenced.
Many of us are still experiencing a light buzz after stage 21's spectacular finale on the Montmartre-Champs-Elysées laps, a stage that will likely endure as one of the Tour's highlights even by the time recency bias has subsided. And while the racing action is the main reason for this, the fans lining the Rue Lepic (i.e. the road spanning most of the Côte de la Butte de Montmartre) will last long in the memory, the most moving moments happening towards the back of the race where dropped riders could simply enjoy the last few pedal strokes of their Tour. It's enough to get the tear ducts humming.
The fans have both witnessed and even helped create – not always with a positive outcome – almost every moment of the 2026 Tour. All manner of characters have lined the roads, from Barcelona to the Pyrenees, then to the Haute-Savoie and the Alps, and finally on the historic cobbled streets of Paris.
Every year, you can fill countless hours with perusing the extraordinary photos of the riders that make the Tour. Pained grimaces, twanging muscles, thousand-yard stares and team celebrations. But some of the best scenes happen in the margins, and that's what this gallery is all about, once again highlighting the work of Ashley and Jered Gruber, whose all-encompassing outlook on bike racing gives their portfolio wonderful variety.
Matt de Neef
This gallery from 2023 includes an interview with Ashley and Jered Gruber by Escape's Iain Treloar.
Luckily we don't have to wait long until the next period of big bike racing with the Tour de France Femmes kicking off in Lausanne in just six days. But until then, there's time to get stuck into some memorable scenes from the past three weeks.
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