{"id":716043,"date":"2026-07-28T20:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/716043\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T20:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:51:22","slug":"what-do-riders-do-after-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/716043\/","title":{"rendered":"What do riders do after the Tour de France?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 21 days of racing, more than 3,000km of riding and 54,000m-plus of elevation gain, the Tour de France is over for another year<\/a>. But while the dust settles on road cycling\u2019s biggest race, the season isn\u2019t over for the 184 riders who started the 113th edition.<\/p>\n

While the main focus of their year might be over, there\u2019s still plenty of riding to go before they can truly take a break with the WorldTour calendar running until mid-October. And with another three-week Grand Tour \u2013 August\u2019s La Vuelta \u2013 and one-day events like September\u2019s UCI Road World Championships and October\u2019s Il Lombardia Monument still to come, there are plenty of opportunities for riders to clinch victories in the sport\u2019s most iconic races.<\/p>\n

From post-Tour exhibition races to chasing rainbows, here\u2019s what riders do after the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a><\/p>\n

Remco Evenepoel celebrates his runner-up finish in Paris<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Baptiste Fauchille\/Red\u00a0Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

Making it to the final stage in Paris is a remarkable feat in itself for the riders of the peloton, and completing the Tour de France is worthy of celebration. The final stage is a more relaxed occasion for all-but-the sprinters, but riders can\u2019t truly shift their focus to what\u2019s next until they safely cross the finish line on Champs-\u00c9lyss\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Once the racing is finally over, riders have a chance to let their hair down, with champagne to toast their success at the finish line. This is followed by the official award ceremony, while the rest of the evening is filled with team dinners, post-race after parties and events hosted by sponsors.<\/p>\n

02<\/p>\n

Travel, rest and recovery<\/p>\n

By the end of the Tour, riders will have been on the move for almost a month, spending most nights in a different bed as they move between each stage start location.<\/p>\n

The travelling doesn\u2019t end the day after either, when most will make the long trip back to their respective homes to start their rest and recovery.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a><\/p>\n

The journey doesn’t end once the finish line is crossed<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Baptiste Fauchille\/Red\u00a0Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

From here, the focus is on refuelling and rebuilding their bodies<\/a>, which although might not have shed a lot of weight over three weeks due to all the carbohydrates they\u2019ve been eating, needs to be rebalanced to help with recovery. Nutrition sees a drop in carbs while protein remains high to aid muscle repair, and fibre and fat can be reintroduced albeit with a view to maintaining race weight for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Although they won\u2019t completely stop riding their bikes like they might do during the off-season, any sessions in the saddle will initially be light and easy before building back the intensity as they shift their focus to the next race.<\/p>\n

The real rest comes mentally, where riders are able to shift from spending hours concentrating and fighting for position on the road to a much easier pace of life.<\/p>\n

The last thing you\u2019d expect riders to be doing after a gruelling three-week Grand Tour is pinning on their race number, but for some Tour de France riders, that is the reality.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/a><\/p>\n

Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe will be back to business soon after the party<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Baptiste Fauchille\/Red\u00a0Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

The week after the Tour sees a number of unofficial, non-UCI sanctioned city centre criteriums staged in the Netherlands and Belgium, where local fans get a chance to see the stars of the race up close. Historically a way for riders to supplement up their earnings, today\u2019s stars can still demand generous appearance fees.<\/p>\n

The first post-Tour criteriums are staged within 24 hours of the Paris final\u00e9, with Daags na de Tour (Boxmeer, the Netherlands) and NaTourCriterium Aalst (Aalst, Belgium) both taking place the day after this year\u2019s edition finished.<\/p>\n

The calibre of competition at the criteriums can be high too, and Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe<\/a>\u2019s second-place finisher and two-time stage winner Remco Evenepoel<\/a> is set to race at Doby Natourcriterium (Roeselare, Belgium)..<\/p>\n

04<\/p>\n

Back to WorldTour racing<\/p>\n

While the post-Tour criteriums are generally pre-determined and low-risk affairs for riders, real WorldTour racing resumes within a week for some with the one-day Classic Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa.<\/p>\n

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

Remco Evenepoel is targeting history in Spain following his Paris podium<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Getty Images\/Red\u00a0Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe\u2019s Evenepoel and Maxim Van Gils are both down to start the race on Saturday (August 1), which features 4,150m cumulative elevation gain across the 221.1km course. A three-time winner at the one-day race already, Evenepoel will be targeting a record-breaking fourth win in northern Spain\u2019s Basque Country.<\/p>\n

After this weekend\u2019s one-day Classic in San Sebastian, there are more notable races remaining in the WorldTour season, including the third and final Grand Tour (La Vuelta Ciclista a Espa\u00f1a) and the fifth and final Monument, Il Lombardia. While Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe are building a team around Primoz Roglic as he targets a record-extending fifth general classification title, it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise to see one or two names from the team\u2019s Tour de France squad line up at the race\u2019s Grand D\u00e9part in Monaco.<\/p>\n

\"Primo\u017e<\/a><\/p>\n

Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d will be back in action for Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Dani Sanchez\/Red\u00a0Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

Outside of the WorldTour, there is also the small matter of the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal, Canada, where Evenepoel is targeting a fourth individual time trial title and second road rainbow jersey. Given the Belgian\u2019s performance in France, he will be a firm favourite on the punchy city circuit.<\/p>\n

Not all riders were fortunate enough to make it to the finish line in Paris, and for the likes of Florian Lipowitz, who crashed on Stage 16 and fractured his collarbone, this period is about rehabilitation and refocusing their goals for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

\"Florian<\/a><\/p>\n

Florian Lipowitz is focusing on recovery after his Tour in jury<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Maximilian Fries\/Red\u00a0Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

While collarbone injuries are a common occurrence in the professional peloton and the return-to-racing window can be as little as four weeks, it still requires a period of recovery post-surgery and time spent training on the turbo before a rider is able to bear weight and head outside for a spin.<\/p>\n

Who is Charlie Allenby?<\/p>\n

Charlie Allenby is a freelance contributor for RedBull.com based in London, UK. He covers a variety of two wheel disciplines for Red Bull including road cycling, mountain biking and BMX, and also writes about cycling for publications such as Rouleur, Bike Radar and the Guardian. When not writing about it, he is a keen cyclist and runner himself, and has completed iconic events such as the Paris Roubaix Challenge sportive and London Marathon.<\/p>\n

Part of this story<\/p>\n

\"\"Remco EvenepoelRemco Evenepoel is one of cycling\u2019s brightest stars. Now competing for Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe, the Belgian champion is chasing the sport\u2019s biggest victories.<\/a>Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe After securing the team’s first-ever Tour de France podium, Red\u00a0Bull – BORA – hansgrohe continue their bold pursuit of Grand Tour success, while shaping the next generation of cycling talent.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 21 days of racing, more than 3,000km of riding and 54,000m-plus of elevation gain, the Tour de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-716043","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\/716043","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=716043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}