23 teams line up in Barcelona for the team time trial around the Catalonian capital that opens the 2026 Tour de France this weekend. Once again the race pits the big budget super teams against the minnows of the sport, getting by on a budget that’s a fraction of the size.
Tadej Pogačar is not only the strongest rider in the peloton, he is supported by the strongest team. But only three teams are starting the race with a realistic goal of taking home the yellow jersey at the end, the rest will be battling for stages, classification jerseys or just some TV time.
Below is our guide to all the teams, what their goals are, and how they might go about achieving them.
Read more: Tour de France 2026 | Tour de France 2026 start list | Tour de France 2026 route
UAE Team Emirates-XRG
UAE Team Emirates-XRG
The world’s number-one ranked team for the last four years is showing no signs of loosening its grip on cycling. In 2025, driven by the exploits of Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates-XRG broke the record for the most wins by a team in a season; in fact, they shattered it, moving the benchmark from 85 to 97. What’s more impressive is the wide spread of those victories. Yes, Pogačar signed his name on 20 of them, but there were also 19 other riders who contributed to that tally, including Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov and Brandon McNulty, all of whom are part of this year’s Tour squad.
Perhaps the most exciting name on the team list, though, is Isaac del Toro, the 22-year-old phenom and obvious heir to Pogačar’s rainbow-clad throne. The Mexican’s 18 victories last season were bettered only by Pogačar and Soudal Quick-Step’s Paul Magnier (19), and he has carried his winning form into 2026, collecting stages and the overall at the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Fans will remember Del Toro as the rider who could have, and probably should have, won the Giro d’Italia last year; he led the race for 11 days but was overhauled by Simon Yates on stage 20. The disappointment of that result is now in the past, and he’s focused on helping Pogačar on his Tour debut. “I’m more worried about this than anything else this year,” he said last month. “Step by step, we will be ready for it.”
Essential info: Nationality: United Arab Emirates. Sponsor: UAE government; Emirates: airline; XRG: energy investment company. Manager: Mauro Gianetti. Head DSs: José Antonio Fernández, Joxean Fernández Matxin. Bikes: Colnago. Web: uaeteamemirates.com. Instagram: @TeamEmiratesUAE
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Visma – Lease a Bike
Visma – Lease a Bike
New year, same mission: beat UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogačar. Ever since 2020 when a fresh-faced Pogačar spectacularly overhauled Jumbo-Visma’s Primož Roglič in the penultimate day time trial, that has been the goal for the Dutch team. Twice they’ve succeeded, but not since 2023. Will Jonas Vingegaard carry on the momentum from winning the Giro d’Italia and deny Pogačar a fifth yellow jersey?
To do so they have to do it without their head of racing and long-time lead sports director, Grischa Niermann, who it was announced in early June would be joining rivals Lidl-Trek in September. That decision shocked, surprised and saddened Visma – including Vingegaard – but they insist that his replacement Marc Reef, will keep the show on the road.
A successful Tour de France is also important to the team’s future: main title sponsor Visma will be reducing their financial support at the end of this season and reverting to a minor backer, having judged that they’re unable to contribute more funding. Team executives want an increased annual budget approaching €60m to keep pace with UAE, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe and other superteams. As things stand, however, no agreement has been reached, leaving the team’s future somewhat in the balance.
The list of riders who will support Vingegaard contains several old favourites: Sepp Kuss is back as the chief mountain domestique, buoyed by completing the Grand Tour trilogy – winning a stage in all three Grand Tours – at the recent Giro d’Italia. He’ll be supported in the Visma mountain train by fellow American Matteo Jorgenson who finished fourth at the newly named Tour Auvergne-Rhône Alpes in early June. Incidentally, where the Dutch team pulled of a nine-second win in the 28.4km team time trial that served as a warm-up for the Tour’s opening TTT in Barcelona. In fact,
Unfortunately for the team and cycling fans in general, Wout van Aert’s bunch sprint on stage five was not a sign of things to come. The Belgian was nursing an elbow injury that suddenly deteriorated. He was taken to hospital, didn’t start the next day and was ruled out of the Tour two weeks before he was due to travel to Barcelona. Visma, and the Tour in general will miss him greatly.
Essential info: Nationality: Dutch. Sponsor: Visma: software provider; Lease a Bike: bike hire for companies. Manager: Richard Plugge. Head DS: Marc Reef. Bikes: Cervélo. Web: teamvismaleaseabike.com. Instagram: @teamvisma_leaseabike
Red Bull – Bora hansgrohe
Red Bull – Bora hansgrohe
After the most successful Tour de France in your team’s history, in terms of the overall, anyway, the obvious thing to do would be to rip up last year’s successful plan and introduce a new leader, right? That is what Red Bull have done, adding Remco Evenepoel to the team for 2026, clearly in the belief that he is better than last year’s third-place, Florian Lipowitz.
The plan, then, is to win the Tour with Evenepoel, with Lipowitz acting as an able counterpart. Both have finished third at the Tour before, so the hope is that together they will be more than the sum of their parts, and be able to challenge Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.
Lipowitz has had the better season in general classification terms, finishing on the podium at the Tour de Romandie, Itzulia Basque Country and the Volta a Catalunya, while Evenepoel won Valenciana and finished fifth at Catalunya. They will be ably backed by a team which contains other GC riders like Dani Martínez and Jai Hindley, both riders who have also finished on Grand Tour podiums before – in Hindley’s case, winning the Giro d’Italia, where he finished third this year. There will be no Primož Roglič this year.
Using numbers late on in the tough stages, and dual leaders, Red Bull will look to tactically outwit their rivals. On this front, there has been a change in the backroom since last year, with Zak Dempster joining, and Rolf Aldag on his way out. With the backing of Red Bull’s science, performance and tech nous, the team have put everything into making Evenepoel and Lipowitz as ready as possible for Barcelona and that team time trial.
The team have had a pretty good year, with 21 victories and a host of podiums at WorldTour races, and will have an abundance of solid domestiques to cram into their eight riders. One thing to watch will be whether they bother bringing a sprinter, which could distract from their big GC objectives through the two leaders.
Essential info: Nationality: German. Sponsor: Red Bull: soft drinks; Bora: cooking fans; Hansgrohe: bathroom fittings. Manager: Ralph Denk. Head DS: Zak Dempster. Bikes: Specialized. Web: redbullborahansgrohe.com. Instagram: @redbullborahansgrohe
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Netcompany-Ineos
Netcompany-Ineos
With a new look, a new name and an old boss, Netcompany-Ineos continue their pursuit of past Grand Tour glories. After the departure of John Allert, Sir Dave Brailsford takes the reins once more as the team that was once ruled over the Tour sets about what is now the seventh edition since one of its riders stood atop the podium.
Their plan to change that hinged on young Scot Oscar Onley who finished fourth last year when riding for Picnic Post NL. Onley however crashed out of the Tour Auvergne Rhone Alpes, injuring his shoulder and pulled out of the Tour soon after.
They will now focus on stage wins, starting with the team time trial. With Filippo Ganna, Josh Tarling and Tobias Foss all in the team, they look odds on favourites to pull on the first yellow jersey. From there it will be over to the likes of Thymen Arensman, Dorian Godon and Kevin Vauquelin to lead the charge.
In April the team – which started out in 2010 as Team Sky, announced a new, five-year deal with Danish tech company Netcompany, which saw the team renamed and rebranded. In its new iteration, the team are set to benefit from their new sponsor’s AI driven PULSE technology in the pursuit of performance – though it feels like it might be too early to use for this year’s Tour de France.
New sponsors aside, the team has enjoyed a positive start to the year, having registered around 50% more victories than it had at the same point last year (21 vs 13 at the time of writing).
Essential info: Nationality: GBR. Sponsor: Netcompany: software company, Ineos: petrochemicals. Manager: Sir David Brailsford. Head DS: Geraint Thomas. Bikes: Pinarello. Web: netcompanyineos.com. Instagram: @ineosgrenadiers
Alpecin-Premier Tech
Alpecin-Premier Tech
With the Spring Classics done and dusted and a Giro d’Italia to forget quite possibly already forgotten, Alpecin-Premier Tech turn their gaze towards France and a race that often provides good hunting for the Belgian team.
Historically, the team does both the Classics and the Tour de France well, thanks to a spread of riders that includes fastman Jasper Philipsen and super-strong Mathieu van der Poel, who excels pretty much everywhere except in the high mountains. Also riding is Kaden Groves, a fast finisher with enough climbing ability to be dangerous in the breakaways and on those lumpy days when the terrain reduces the peloton to club-ride size.
Hitter: Mathieu van der Poel
In just about any other race you could name, the triple Tour of Flanders winner would be the star rather than the second-rung rider to watch. But at the Tour de France he must bow to his faster-finishing team-mate Philipsen, who will benefit from VDP’s superb leadout skills on the flatter stages. Van der Poel will be free to try to win a stage on the days that suit him, though, as he did last year on the Mûr de Bretagne.
Star rider: Jasper Philipse
The Belgian no longer enjoys quite the status he did among the sprinting fraternity – back in 2023 he was near-unbeatable at the Tour with four stage wins and the green jersey. Nevertheless he has won stages every year since 2022 and remains a rider to watch. At the merest sniff of a bunch sprint the team will throw all its resources behind the 28-year-old, whose results so far this year come under the heading ‘quality’, rather than ‘quantity’: In Flanders Fields is the only race that has seen him atop the podium.
Essential info: Nationality: Belgium. Sponsor: Alpecin: hair care; Premier Tech: environmental solutions. Manager: Philip Roodhooft. DS: Christoph Roodhooft. Bikes: Canyon. Web: alpecin-premiertech.com. Instagram: @alpecin.premiertech
Bahrain Victorious
Bahrain Victorious
The Bahrain-sponsored team has a strength in depth that many teams in the World Tour would envy, and yet it doesn’t often live up to its Victorious name on the major stages. The team recorded just 10 wins last season, though it did manage a host of high-placed finishes in both stage races and one-dayers: fifth on GC at the Giro d’Italia with Damiano Caruso and fifth at Strade Bianche courtesy of Pello Bilbao, for example. They will approach the Tour with this multi-pronged strategy, with Martinez aiming for a solid GC supported by a strong cast, albeit lacking in direction.
Hitter: Lenny Martinez
A young French talent (but not that one), Martinez (left) is just 22 but displaying great future Grand Tour potential. He’s having his best season to date, with young rider classification wins at both the Volta a Catalunya and more recently the Tour de Romandie. He’ll have his work cut out in France if he wants to repeat the feat, but a stage win on a tough breakaway day is a real possibility.
Star rider: Matej Mohorič
The Slovenian has struggled to regain the kind of form that brought him stage wins and the Milan-San Remo crown in 2022-23, but he remains the team’s big name rider. Unfortunately, ASO has moved away from the 200km-plus stages that seemed to suit him in favour of shorter, punchier routes. If he can get in the breaks on the harder stages, he’s in with a chance.
Essential info: Nationality: Bahrain. Sponsor: The Kingdom of Bahrain. Manager: Milan Eržen. DS: Gorazd Štangelj. Bikes: Bianchi. Web: bahraincyclingteam.com. Instagram: @teambahrainvictorious
Decathlon CMA CGM
Decathlon CMA CGM
With riders like Paul Seixas and Felix Gall in its roster the Decathlon team is in perhaps the best position it has ever been for the Grand Tours. Fifth at the Tour last year, Gall has already strutted his stuff this season with second at the Giro d’Italia, and now hands over to Seixas.
Ordinarily he’d benefit from able support from Tiesj Benoot, but the Belgian has yet to race this year having had back issues, and his form is an unknown. The same applies to sprinter Olav Kooij, who has been laid low by a virus for much of the year. In better shape are big engines Stefan Bisegger and Daan Hoole, who will serve the team well in the flatter stages, while Aurélien Paret-Peintre will be there to provide all-round support.
Hitter: Aurélien Paret-Peintre
The 30-year-old Frenchman won a Giro stage in 2023 but, unlike his younger brother Valentin, has yet to do the same at the Tour de France. Knowing how that must grate, Paret-Peintre will no doubt be eyeing breakaway-day opportunities that will allow him to add a stage to his palmarès – all while supporting his young leader.
Star rider: Paul Seixas
Possibly the most written-about cyclist of 2026, the young Frenchman’s successes are unlikely to have escaped the attention of many readers. Already one of the best climbers in the world despite his tender 19 years, the Lyonnais turns out a mean time trial too. A stellar future appears to beckon, but as his first ever Grand Tour, this July will be as much a learning experience as a GC podium tilt – a result that may be within his grasp if all goes well.
Essential info: Nationality: FranceSponsor: Decathlon: sports supermarket; CMA CGM: transports solutions. Manager: Dominique Serieys. DS: Sébastian Joly. Bikes: Van Rysel. Web: decathloncmacgmteam.com. Instagram: @decathloncmacgmteam
(Image credit: Getty Images)
EF Education-EasyPost
EF Education-EasyPost
The 2025 Tour de France could hardly have gone better for crowd-pleasers EF Education-EasyPost, especially in the absence of their great GC hope, Richard Carapaz. This year, Carapaz will ride, after he skipped the Giro d’Italia to recover from surgery on a painful-sounding “perineal cyst”.
They will have high expectations, with Ben Healy one of the stars of last year’s race, but they certainly have the squad to do it, with every meaningful breakaway sure to contain a man in pink. The presence of Healy, as well as Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes stage winner and race leader Alex Baudin, might take the pressure off Carapaz to succeed overall, and release him to be at his best on the big mountain days.
Even with injuries sidelining Harry Sweeny and Neilson Powless, things seem bright for the likeable men in pink. They might have just five wins this year, but four have been at WorldTour level, and they know how to pull out the stops on the biggest stage.
Hitter: Alex Baudin
In a line-up full of potential, there are many options to pick from, but Alex Baudin will come into the Tour knowing he’s in form, with his Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes stage win boosting confidence. All French eyes will be on Paul Seixas, but success could come from another man from the edge of the Alps.
Star rider: Ben Healy
Everyone in cycling knew how good Ben Healy was, but the 2025 Tour de France proved it to the world. His stage win in Vire Normandie showed him to be good on the toughest days, and he backed this up four days later with his stage 10 ride which took him into the yellow jersey. 2026 has has been relatively fallow so far, but a top-10 on GC at Tirreno-Adriatico shows that he can still do it.
Essential info: Nationality: US. Sponsor: EF: Education provider; EasyPost: shipping software. Manager: Jonathan Vaughters. Head DS: Charly Wegelius. Bikes: Cannondale. Web: EFProcycling.com. Instagram: @efprocycling
Groupama-FDJ United
Groupama-FDJ United
Things can only get better for the beleaguered French set-up. The French WorldTour team are enduring a slow season, with just seven victories as we write, a fortnight before the big race begins—meaning they’re on track for their worst season this century. Any hope of turning things around at the Tour seems remote, as the team has few standout riders who could possibly win a stage. Fan favourite Thibaut Pinot secured the team’s last Tour stage win back in 2019, but with the part-time goat farmer now retired, they’ll be relying on two other home riders in Guillaume Martin and Romain Grégoire to stamp some national pride. Otherwise it could be a July to forget.
Hitter: Guillaume Martin
This will be Tour number 10 for the 33-year-old French climber (left) who, a little like Gaudu, finds his best results in the race diminishing in the rear view. However, don’t discount him infiltrating a breakaway with a view to taking his first, long-awaited Grand Tour stage win. His best so far is a third place, at his first Tour de France in 2017. He’s being philosophical about it, no doubt.
Star rider: Romain Grégoire
In the absence of David Gaudu, the team will look to France’s newly crowned national road champion Grégoire for something to shout about. British fans might remember Grégoire as the winner of last September’s Tour of Britain. While the 23-year-old isn’t a bona fide GC contender over three weeks, he’s punchy and capable of a stage win, as his recent victory on day two of the Tour de Suisse showed.
Essential info: Nationality: French. Sponsor: Groupama: insurance company; FDJ: French national lottery. Manager: Thierry Corvec. Head DS: Philippe Mauduit. Bikes: Wilier Triestina. Web: equipecycliste-groupama-fdj.fr. Instagram:@equipegroupamafdj
Jayco-AlUla
Jayco-AlUla
It’s been a slow start to the year for Jayco-AlUla. Part of that is due to the departure of Dylan Groenewegen, one of the peloton’s most prolific sprinters, who left for Unibet Rose Rockets in the winter. An even bigger part comes from the injuries to their talisman, Michael Matthews, who only last month returned to competition after breaking both of his wrists in a training crash in March. The 35-year-old missed last year’s Tour because he put his career on pause, having shown signs of a pulmonary embolism – a life-threatening medical emergency that happens when a blood clot blocks the lungs.
Fortunately, Matthews is now back, and eyeing up a fifth Tour stage win, his first since 2022. The punchier stages suit him, while the more undulating days and time trials have Luke Plapp’s name on them. Ben O’Connor’s there for the mountains, Ackermann for the sprints.
Hitter: Mauro Schmid
The Swiss rider burst onto the scene in 2021 when he won a stage of the Giro d’Italia in his first year as a pro. He’s taken victories in every year since then, and is currently enjoying his most successful season to date, his tally already at four. He’ll want to turn last year’s stage second place into a first.
Star rider: Ben O’Connor
Two minutes off the top 10 last year, O’Connor is doing his first Giro-Tour double this season, and will be hoping to improve on the 16th place he scored in Italy. Past performances show he can pull out big results. Don’t forget, in 2024, the 30-year-old finished fourth at the Giro, second at the Vuelta, and second at the World Championships.
Essential info: Nationality: Australian. Sponsor: Campervan retailer; Saudi Arabian tourist destination. Manager: Brent Copeland. DS: Steve Cummings, David McPartland. Bikes: Giant. Web: greenedgecycling.com. Instagram: @GreenEDGEteam
Lidl-Trek
Lidl-Trek
There are major changes around the corner at Lidl-Trek. After 16 years, general manager Luca Guercilena will leave the team after the Tour, having lived with cancer since late 2021. He’ll be replaced by former Tour winner Andy Schleck as CEO, in a management set-up bolstered by two super-team titans: Grischa Niermann from Visma-Lease a Bike and Dan Lorang from Red-Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.
To mark the end of Guercilena’s era, the riders will want to give their boss a Tour to remember. One parting gift could be a stage win, something Quinn Simmons has been hunting for years, or perhaps the green jersey, won by Jonathan Milan last year, and defended this July by Mads Pedersen.
With regards to the general classification, Guercilena last saw one of his riders on the podium in 2020, when Richie Porte finished third. Could Juan Ayuso now repeat the feat? The odds say no, but stranger things have happened at the Tour.
Hitter: Mads Pedersen
A two-time Tour stage winner and former world champion, the Dane was left out of the team last year in favour of Milan, who delivered the sprinting goods. The pair swap places this year, but still with the same goal: win the green jersey. Pedersen has never topped the points classification at the Tour, but did so at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España last year.
Star rider: Juan Ayuso
When a 19-year-old Ayuso rode his way to third place at the 2022 Vuelta a España, his destiny as a Tour contender looked readymade. Inconsistent years followed at UAE Team Emirates, but he’s now found a new home at Lidl-Trek, and opened 2026 with victory at the Volta ao Algarve. The Spaniard was forced to abandon his only previous Tour participation in 2024 with Covid. This year’s race starts in his hometown of Barcelona.
Essential info: Nationality: German. Sponsor: Lidl: supermarket chain; Trek: bike company. Manager: Luca Guercilena. DS: Steven de Jongh, Kim Andersen. Bikes: Trek. Web: racing.trekbikes.com. Instagram: @LidlTrek
Mads Pedersen is back at the Tour and hunting for stages
(Image credit: Getty Images)
NSN Cycling
NSN Cycling
Despite their Swiss racing licence, NSN present themselves as a team with a Catalan heart, with a base in Girona and one of their backers (via NSN) being Barcelona football legend Andrés Iniesta. The fussing over their Catalan identity is deliberate, too: NSN and Stoneweg stepped in to sponsor the team after it became apparent that Canadian-Israeli billionaire Sylvan Adams could no longer continue sponsoring the team that was known as Israel-Premier Tech. Mass protests at last year’s Vuelta a España in support of Palestine heralded change.
In reality, however, they’re a far more anglophone team with 14 of their 30 riders hailing from English-speaking countries, including five from Great Britain.
The team have performed reasonably well back in the WorldTour after a three-year hiatus, ticking off victories across a variety of races, including the WorldTour ranked Volta Catalunya and Tour Down Under.
Hitter: Jake Stewart
The 26-year-old Brit can often be seen charging through the final couple of kilometres on bunch sprint days, with Biniam Girmay on his wheel. But he has the nous and ability to take the spoils for himself when the chance presents, as evidenced by a Critérium du Dauphiné stage win last year on a very lumpy day.
Star rider: Biniam Girmay
Back in 2024 Biniam Girmay dominated the sprint finishes at the Tour de France, walking away with three stage wins and the green jersey. He has struggled to recreate that form in 2026. He hasn’t been winless though, and his three stage wins is a better season-start than he had two years ago, when all went so well at the Tour. Don’t write him off yet, then, but he won’t go in as a top bunch-sprint favourite.
Essential info: Nationality: Swiss. Sponsor: Entertainment company. Manager: Kjell Carlström. Head DS: Steve Bauer. Bikes: Scott. Instagram: @nsncyclingteam
Pinarello Q36.5
Pinarello Q36.5
It’s a Tour de France debut for Pinarello Q36.5, after the ProTeam secured enough UCI points in 2025 to qualify for all WorldTour races. As a result, Tom Pidcock will return to the biggest bike race of them all after a year off. It is hard to look past the team as a vehicle for the Yorkshireman: he has taken three of their four victories this year, and a huge chunk of their UCI points.
There are other options though, including fellow Brit Fred Wright, who has come so close to a stage win (and indeed his first professional victory) in the Grand Tours, but has yet to quite get there.
Star rider: Tom Pidcock
The Brit’s three previous Tour participations have visited the highs (a win on Alpe d’Huez) and the lows (a frustrated GC attempt, and an abandon with Covid). But his tenure at Pinarello Q36.5 has seen him buoyed and ready for another potential GC Tour attempt. If the stars align, a top-five finish overall is not out of reach, after his third place at the Vuelta a España last summer. Look out for him too on the punchy stage finishes that are his speciality.
“The first goal is to enjoy the Tour de France,” his coach, Kurt Bogaerts, said last month. “We all know Tom’s contrasting emotions about riding for the GC in Grand Tours. But I think he got a lot of satisfaction from riding the Vuelta and finishing third overall last year.”
Hitter: Aimé De Gendt
The big engine that has amassed numerous top 10 finishes in tough one-day races this season will make for crucial team support on the flat and rolling stages this July. But the Belgian could also steal a win from a breakaway on the right day.
Essential info: Nationality: Swiss. Sponsor: Pinarello: Italian bike brand; Q36.5: Italian kit maker. Manager: Doug Ryder. DS: Alexandre Sans Vega. Bikes: Pinarello. Web: pinarello-q36-5.com. Instagram: @pinarello_q36.5procycling
Soudal Quick-Step
Soudal Quick-Step
Things are different at Soudal Quick-Step for 2026 at the Tour this summer, but if anything, it’s a return to old ways as opposed to a brand new direction. The departure of Remco Evenepoel has allowed the Belgian team to become a stage-hunting squad once again. Their wins in 2026 reflect this, with 13 wins, mostly coming in sprints. That said, there are still a good couple of GC options in the squad, in Mikel Landa and Ilan Van Wilder should that opportunity present itself. Landa has finished in the top 10 overall five times, but has never won a stage, interestingly. A well rounded line-up, full of attacking brio.
Hitter: Valentin Paret-Peintre
The man from the Haute-Savoie announced himself to the world with victory on Mont Ventoux last year at the Tour de France, but he was already a serious contender on every mountain stage. This season is yet to fire in the same way, but there were near-misses on stages of Paris-Nice, Catalunya, and Romandie, proving the climbing prowess is still there.
Star rider: Tim Merlier
The winner of two stages at last year’s Tour de France, and who’s to say the 33-year-old couldn’t perform again on the biggest stage? The only issue is his shape in 2026, as a knee injury delayed his start to the season until March. He did win Scheldeprijs, the Ronde van Limburg and three stages of the Tour of Hungary, but hasn’t won a WorldTour event so far this year. In Jasper Stuyven, Dylan van Baarle and Bert Van Lergberghe, Merlier has a mean sprint train to set him on his way to success.
Essential info: Nationality: Belgium. Sponsor: Soudal: sealant; Quick-Step: laminate flooring. Manager: Jurgen Foré. Head DS: Tom Steels. Bikes: Specialized. Web: soudal-quickstepteam.com. Instagram: @soudalquickstepteam
Uno-X Mobility
Uno-X Mobility
No longer the plucky underdogs, Uno-X start their fourth Tour de France with a self-assuredness that comes from winning a stage the last time round. The squad is bolstered, too, by its new WorldTour status, having gained promotion at the start of the season. The years of wildcard invites clearly paid off.
Wins this season haven’t been plentiful for Uno-X’s fleet of Norwegians and Danes, but when they’ve come, they’ve been significant; Fredrik Dversnes earned the team’s first Giro d’Italia stage victory, while Anthon Charmig rode away to win a stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, one of the Tour’s key warm-up races. The goal now is to repeat Jonas Abrahamsen’s Tour breakaway heroics, and, if possible, nudge Tobias Halland Johannessen into the top-five on GC.
Hitter: Jonas Abrahamsen
There were doubts about whether Abrahamsen would even start last year’s race, after he broke his collarbone two weeks prior. He went on to be a breakaway constant, and won the team’s first Tour stage, earning him the title of “wonderboy” from DS Christian Andersen. Winless this year, Abrahamsen has spent a lot of time at altitude, and will be raring to get his hands in the air again.
Star rider: Tobias Halland Johannessen
With so much focus on Oscar Onley and Florian Lipowitz’s battle for the podium last year, Halland Johannessen’s sixth place finish went under the radar, but it was notable for being the best Grand Tour GC result ever by a Norwegian rider. The 26-year-old has carried that consistency into 2026, finishing fourth at Tirreno-Adriatico and third at Itzulia Basque Country. A top-five isn’t out of reach.
Essential info: Nationality: Norwegian. Sponsor: Petrol station chain. Manager: Thor Hushovd. Head DSs: Gabriel Rasch, Christian Andersen. Bikes: Ridley. Web: unoxteam.com. Instagram: @unoxteam
Movistar
Movistar
A Spanish Grand Départ might spur Movistar into action as early as the opening weekend. It wouldn’t take much to outdo last year’s Tour performance – or the year before that, come to mention it – which gave the team little to write home about; they won no stages, held none of the classification jerseys, and their best GC result came from the now departed Gregor Mühlberger, who finished 18th, almost an hour and a half down.
Fortunately for one of the longest-standing teams in the peloton, the trends are positive. After tallying eight wins in 2024 and nine in 2025, the team’s already into double figures this year. Now it’s over to their big signing, Cian Uijtebroeks. Much is expected from the 2022 Tour de l’Aviner winner, but Movistar don’t have a great history of fully committing to non-Spanish leaders. Can the 23-year-old Belgian, who has chopped and changed teams twice already in his career, command the team’s backing to mount a top ten challenge? We’ll have to wait and see.
Essential info: Nationality: SpanishSponsor: Telecommunications company. Manager: Eusebio Unzué. Head DSs: José Vicente García Acosta, Pablo Lastras. Bikes: Canyon. Web: movistarteam.com. Instagram: @Movistar_Team
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Second division Caja Rural-Seguros RSA will become the first Spanish wildcard team since Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2003 to line up at the Tour de France. The team from Navarra in the north of Spain will also be making their debut in the Grand Boucle, ensuring that alongside Movistar, Spain has two representatives in the race for the first time since 2013, the last year Euskaltel competed.
Regulars in the Vuelta a España, Caja will be deploying the same playbook as they do in their home Grand Tour: infiltrating as many breakaways as possible. They have other options though: Fernando Gaviria, 31, won two stages of the Tour in 2018 and will be targeting the bunch sprints, while Abel Balderstone (his father’s British, hence the surname) finished 13th at the 2025 Vuelta, just months after becoming Spanish time trial champion. Could he spring a surprise on day one in Barcelona, the city of his birth?
Essential info: Nationality: Spanish. Sponsor: Caja Rural: cooperative Spanish bank; Seguros RGA: the bank’s insurance arm. Manager: Juan Manuel Hernandez Esquisabel. DS: José Miguel Fernández. Bikes: MMR. Instagram: cajarural_rga
Picnic PostNL
Picnic PostNL
It has been a difficult year so far for Picnic PostNL. Just one win by mid-June, and very little else to write home about. To expect this all to change at the Tour de France is a little optimistic, but then stranger things have happened. Last year, they came into the Tour with just four wins, and then ended up finishing fourth on general classification, after all. However, that was with Oscar Onley, who will be riding for Netcompany-Ineos at this year’s Tour.
Things look pretty thin on the ground, especially as their star sprinter, Pavel Bittner, was out with an ankle injury at the beginning of June. If he’s fit, he might be their best hope for a stage win, although Warren Barguil is still there, nine years after he won the polka-dot jersey in 2017. Frank van den Broek also has breakaway prowess, finishing second twice on stages in the last two years, so perhaps there is some hope.
Essential info: Nationality: Dutch.Sponsor: Picnic: Online supermarket; PostNL: Dutch mail service.Manager: Iwan Spekenbrink. Head DS: Matt WinstonBikes: LaPierre. Web: teampicnicpostnl.com. Instagram: @teampicnicpostnl
XDS Astana
XDS Astana
After securing their WorldTour future in 2025, XDS Astana have continued to punch above their weight in 2026, with a motley crew of stage hunters and GC options.
The team impressed at the Giro d’Italia with three stage wins, and will look to continue this Grand Tour momentum into the Tour de France.
Last year, they had a series of near-misses, including second on the final stage in Paris through Davide Ballerini, so will be hoping to go one better this year, taking their first stage win since 2024 and Mark Cavendish.
The Kazakh team will bring genuine climbing talent in Harold Tejada, who won a stage of Paris-Nice earlier this year, Sergio Higuita, a stage winner at the Vuelta a España, and Lorenzo Fortunato, who won the King of the Mountains competition at the Giro last year. They’ll be joined by riders who can mix it on flatter days, including Mike Teunissen.
Essential info: Nationality: Kazakh. Sponsor: XDS: Chinese bike brand; Astana: Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund. Manager: Alexander Vinokourov. Head DS: Alexandr Shefer. Bikes: XDS X-Lab. Web: xds-astana.com. Instagram: @xds_astana_team
TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies
Unless a new sponsor comes in and promises at least €15m in annual backing, this will be the last time the Vendée-based team takes to the start of the Tour de France. Principal backers TotalEnergies are pulling out at the end of this season and instead focusing its attention on its jersey sponsorship of Netcompany-Ineos as well as its partnership with the Tour race organisers ASO.
The uncertainty has affected the team’s results, with few moments of glory to shout about. Expect to see them present in many breakaways – possibly even as lone figures, as has been the case a few times in recent years – as they desperately seek new financial support.
At least in Jordan Jegat they have a rider who could command headlines: the 27-year-old finished a surprising 10th place on GC last year, and in April he scored his first ever pro victory. Him and his teammates are riding for their futures.
Essential info: Nationality: French. Sponsor: Multinational petrochemical giant. Manager: Stéphane Heulot. Head DS: Benoit Genauzeau. Bikes: Cube. Web: teamtotalenergies.comInstagram: @teamtotalenergies
Intermarché Lotto
Intermarché Lotto
Lotto and Intermarché both raced last year’s Tour de France – but as two different teams. But with both teams facing a complicated financial future, a decision was made to merge the two entities.
For the third successive Tour, most of Lotto’s hopes will be pinned on Belgian sprinter Arnaud De Lie. The 24-year-old, who grew up on a bull farm, is one of the fastest finishers among the B-class sprinters, and especially prolific in one-day races. But he’s still waiting for his maiden Grand Tour stage win; he’s finished third three times in the Tour.
His compatriot Lennert van Eetvelt could be an outside candidate for a top-10 GC finish, with the 24-year-old previously winning the UAE Tour and Tour of Guangxi in 2024. He will be a threat in any mountainous breakaway, while Georg Zimmermann, winner of May’s Eschborn-Frankfurt, is an underrated rouleur.
Essential info: Nationality: Belgian. Sponsor: Lotto: the Belgian national lottery; Intermarché: supermarket chain. Manager: Jean-François Bourlart. Head DS: Kurt Van der Vouwer. Bikes: Orbea. Web: lotto-intermarche.be. Instagram: @lottointermarche
Tudor Pro Cycling
Tudor Pro Cycling
Tudor are at their second Tour de France in a row, thanks to the UCI points earned last year. It’s all about the points again this season, and though a Tour stage win would be huge, regular top-10 finishes remain equally important.
A mediocre 2026 has seen just two wins so far, but they did finish seventh overall at the Giro d’Italia through Michael Storer, who is likely to be let off the leash at his second Grand Tour of the year. They will also look to Stefan Küng for the stage 16 time trial.
His biggest results appear to be behind him, but Julian Alaphilippe is still the team’s biggest name. The former world champion has not starred in 2026, but he will still be the man in demand at the team. Supporting him, hard man Matteo Trentin has seven top-10s in the bag this season, and could win from a break or a reduced bunch sprint.
Essential info: Nationality: Swiss. Sponsor: Watch company. Manager: Raphael Meyer. Head DS: Ricardo Scheidecker. Bikes: BMC. Web:tudorprocycling.com. Instagram: @tudorprocycling
Cofidis
Cofidis
Relegated from the WorldTour at the end of last year, and with a new manager stepping in to reverse their fortunes, Cofidis are on a hunt for precious UCI points to ensure that they return to cycling’s top division in 2029. So far, their strategy of targeting success in one-day races and high GC showings with the indefatigable veteran Ion Izagirre has worked; they sit 14th in the UCI team rankings – well inside the top 18 WorldTour teams.
Spaniard Izagirre, 37, is retiring at the end of this season – this’ll be his 12th and final Tour – but he remains their best chance of success, alongside his compatriot Alex Aranburu who enjoyed the best spring of his career, winning a stage of the Itzulia Basque Country and featuring in the front group of the seven one-day races he rode.
Another card that Cofidis have to play is Belgian Milan Fretin who, if the conditions are right, could be a contender in the bunch sprints.
Essential info: Nationality: French. Sponsor: Consumer credit company. Manager: Raphaël Jeune. Head DS: Gorka Gerrikagoitia. Bikes: LookInstagram: @teamcofidis
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