The first nine stages of the 2026 Tour de France are done and dusted, and the familiar figure of Tadej Pogačar is – of course – rolling around in yellow.
Less predictable have been some of the sights, scenes and memes emerging from the various social media accounts of the World-Tour teams as the people around the riders add some depth and perspective to the athletes we mostly see with their heads down, hurtling around the route of the race.
1. The Uno-X Mobility team channeled the Viking vibe around Norway’s Erling Haaland, combining riding with rowing, and the drum-beating battle cry did the trick too (for a while), with Torstein Træen moving into yellow jersey for two stages, before the wheels fell off his race on the Col du Tourmalet during stage six, and he was forced to abandon the Tour with busted ribs – an injury cruelly followed by a broken heart on Saturday when Norway were knocked out of the World Cup by England (and their specially trained spider cam).
2. Meanwhile, Silvan Dillier from Alpecin-Premier Tech revealed that he was not exactly keeping up-to-speed with the World Cup, and that his faith in the world’s worst conspiracy theory was misplaced.
3. Træen, who was shipped off to hospital after his crash, might have been missing from the Uno-X Mobility team bus, but Tobias Johannessen made sure he was not forgotten, by bringing in a banana avatar as an honorary replacement.
4. To shelter their rider’s heads from the unforgiving sun, Lotto Intermarche launched a new summer festival-style bucket hat, precision made for keeping have-a-go breakaway hero Baptiste Veistroffer’s little lugs cool.
5. Everyone on the Tour has been cooking in the conditions, and the Soudal Quickstep riders decided to deal with the apocalyptic heat by crushing ice cubes through the vents in their Specialised helmets.
6. And, flush from victory, Soudal Quickstep sprinter Tim Merlier, winner of stage seven and stage eight, revealed his Mr Bean dance moves.
7. As spotted by Cycling Weekly’s own intrepid on-ground team, Pinarello Q36.5‘s Tom Pidcock was left so knackered after riding a busted bike during stage nine that he had to get a backie from a teammate at the end of stage nine.
8. They will have to wait a little longer for the margaritas, but EF Education–EasyPost celebrated the end of week one with a load of margherita pizzas, courtesy of of team performance chef Owen Blandy.
9. Nobody in the peloton was tempted by a special delivery of kebabs, however, but the cameraman’s motorbike rider wasn’t going to let them go to waste.
