{"id":689774,"date":"2026-07-13T18:52:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689774\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T18:52:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T18:52:48","slug":"pained-exhausted-and-doused-with-water-faces-of-the-first-week-of-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689774\/","title":{"rendered":"Pained, exhausted, and doused with water \u2013 Faces of the first week of the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first week of the Tour de France<\/a> is never a week, usually taking in nine stages, but it may well have felt particularly long given the heatwave that has engulfed the race pretty much since the start in Barcelona last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Temperatures have risen high into the 30s Celsius and stayed there as the peloton has rolled over the Pyrenees and into the southern French furnace, placing extraordinary demands on the riders.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And it’s not as if the racing has slowed down. Even in the heat, we’ve had aggressive, high-stakes action on most days, so Monday’s first rest day was well earned.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From<\/p>\n

As the peloton pauses and nervously opens their weather apps for week two, we take a look back at the exertions of the opening week of the 2026 Tour, told through the riders’ faces captured by our photographers.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Tadej\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar hunches over his handlebars looking completely spent after a massive solo win on stage 6 over the Col du Tourmalet<\/p>\n

\n

\"Marco\n<\/p>\n

Marco Frigo pours a bottle of water on his face – a common sight at this year’s Tour (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Marco Frigo pours a bottle of water on his face – a common sight at this year’s Tour<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jonas\n<\/p>\n

Not so common are blocks of ice this big, but Jonas Abrahamsen did eventually squeeze this in (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Not so common are blocks of ice this big, but Jonas Abrahamsen did eventually squeeze this in<\/p>\n

\n

\"Arnaud\n<\/p>\n

It was a miserable and short-lived Tour for the unlucky Arnaud De Lie, who got sick again ahead of the start and abandoned on stage 4 (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It was a miserable and short-lived Tour for the unlucky Arnaud De Lie, who got sick again ahead of the start and abandoned on stage 4<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jonas\n<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard suffers on the Col du Tourmalet \u2013 the day his hopes were dashed (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard suffers on the Col du Tourmalet \u2013 the day his hopes were dashed<\/p>\n

\n

\"Olav\n<\/p>\n

Olav Kooij proves Decathlon CMA CGM are not all about the young Paul Seixas with his win on stage 5 (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Olav Kooij proves Decathlon CMA CGM are not all about the young Paul Seixas with his win on stage 5<\/p>\n

\n

\"Mathieu\n<\/p>\n

Mathieu van der Poel feels the heat, but warmed into the race and took out a fine win on stage 9 (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Mathieu van der Poel feels the heat, but warmed into the race and took out a fine win on stage 9<\/p>\n

\n

\"Quinn\n<\/p>\n

Quinn Simmons is not too hot to keep his moustache \u2013 he played a key role in Mads Pedersen’s breakaway victory on stage 4 (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Quinn Simmons is not too hot to keep his moustache \u2013 he played a key role in Mads Pedersen’s breakaway victory on stage 4<\/p>\n

\n

\"Baptiste\n<\/p>\n

Breakaway start Baptiste Veistroffer wears a cool expression \u2013 probably because that bucket hat is full of ice cubes (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Breakaway start Baptiste Veistroffer wears a cool expression \u2013 probably because that bucket hat is full of ice cubes<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jasper\n<\/p>\n

As well as the heat, the body doesn’t want to be using energy to heal wounds, but that’s the reality for Jasper Stuyven (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As well as the heat, the body doesn’t want to be using energy to heal wounds, but that’s the reality for Jasper Stuyven<\/p>\n

\n

\"Mads\n<\/p>\n

Ice lollies are performance nutrition too in these conditions (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Ice lollies are performance nutrition too in these conditions<\/p>\n

\n

\"Collapsed\n<\/p>\n

Tim Merlier collapses on a random set of stairs after his second stage win (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Tim Merlier collapses on a random set of stairs after his second stage win<\/p>\n

\n

\"Surrounded\n<\/p>\n

Amid reports of illnesses, we’ve seen a few riders masking up as a precautious \u2013 19-year-old rising star Paul Seixas was among them (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Amid reports of illnesses, we’ve seen a few riders masking up as a precautious \u2013 19-year-old rising star Paul Seixas was among them<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jonas\n<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard looks blankly into the middle-distance after a day spent in the yellow jersey on stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard looks blankly into the middle-distance after a day spent in the yellow jersey on stage 2<\/p>\n

\n

\"Torstein\n<\/p>\n

Torstein Traaen wore the yellow jersey but that stint – and his race as a whole – was short-lived due to a crash on the descent of the Tourmalet (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Torstein Traaen wore the yellow jersey but that stint – and his race as a whole – was short-lived due to a crash on the descent of the Tourmalet<\/p>\n

\n

\"Remco\n<\/p>\n

Remco Evenepoel gives a questioning look \u2013 his race so far has been dominated by the questions he posed of his teammate Florian Lipowitz, and the leadership tensions that are bubbling away (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Remco Evenepoel gives a questioning look \u2013 his race so far has been dominated by the questions he posed of his teammate Florian Lipowitz, and the leadership tensions that are bubbling away<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

Another bottle of water goes over the head (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Another bottle of water goes over the head<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first week of the Tour de France is never a week, usually taking in nine stages, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-689774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}