Tour de France: Sizing up the GC picture on the first rest day

Before the start of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf – just 10 days and nine stages ago – there were roughly 20 overall contenders fighting for a place on the final podium in Paris. The early stages revealed a few cracks and the finish at La Planche des Belles Filles caused a minor shake out, but there were 10 riders packed into 60 seconds before Sunday's stage to Chambéry. Then the Mont du Chat climb and especially the descent changed everything, shaking up the race and shaping the list of real overall contenders.

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.