DISCUSSION Tour de France | Who were the biggest disappointments of the Tour?

The Tour de France has given us unforgettable moments. From Pogacar’s dominance in the mountains to Van Aert’s amazing solo win in Paris, the race has been full of historical performances that will remain forever in the history books. But after three weeks of intense racing, iconic mountain stages, and surprising outcomes, it's time to look at the other side of the coin. While some riders exceeded expectations and left their mark on this year’s Tour de France, others fell short, whether due to bad luck, poor form, or unfulfilled potential.

In today’s discussion, we turn our attention to the disappointments of the race: the big names who didn’t deliver, the teams that struggled to make an impact, and the moments where things simply didn’t go according to plan. Not as a way to criticize, but to understand the realities and challenges of performing at the highest level in the world’s biggest cycling race.

As usual in our discussion posts, we have asked some of our writers to share their opinions on this topic.

I don't have many disappointments, but I'll list a few that I think are pertinent. I'll start with the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team. What on earth is going through a SD`s head to send Primoz Roglic to the front when they have third place in the standings to defend? Florian Lipowitz didn't get a metre of help from the Slovenian and that's not just down to Roglic's ego. It's a lack of balls to say that you have to stand by Lipowitz, you have to defend his place.

They can talk about Roglic being a card to play. It's bollocks. Roglic doesn't have the legs for these new guys. Second negative note: Tudor pro cycling team. The UCI has reduced the number of riders to avoid crashes, among other things, and this year, on top of its game, it has increased the number of teams that can take part in the Grand Tours.

All because of Tom Pidcock and Julian Alaphillipe. So Tudor was assured of its place in the Tour de France. But for what? What did they do? Yellow card for the UCI. Third point for the French teams. It's no coincidence that more and more teams are in danger of going out of business because their sponsors are going elsewhere.

There's no turning back and French cycling needs to be rethought. Enric Mas. Why is that? Because no one at Movistar has the balls to look him in the eye and say: "Enric, you're a nice bloke, but get on with your life.

I'll finish with Jonas Vingegaard. But am I crazy? No. A cyclist who spends a whole year thinking about just one race and gets there and doesn't win it... is what? A loser. A guy who earns millions a year, doesn't win a single stage in the Tour and has a team that doesn't attack... because he doesn't want his rival to win another stage.

It's absurd. It's ridiculous. It's a case of saying, sorry Danish mate, but you don't deserve the money you make. I didn't like his wife meddling in team affairs in the first week of the race. Although I'm of the opinion, and try to talk me out of it, but Vingegaard's wife went public and Visma knew about it.

More than knowledge, it was something agreed by the team, Vingegaard and Trina. It's a case of saying, grow up, boy. We've all seen this film and the director is very weak.

Sivakov, Meeus, Cort, Nys, Hirschi, Groenewegen, Demare, Mas, Cofidis, Ackermann, van Eetvelt

A few sprinters really disappointed, for different reasons. You could argue Jordi Meeus really suffered from his early race crash but he was overall absent from the entire race, which was a major bust seeing as Red Bull actually put most of their focus on his leadout. Dylan Groenewegen has a very strong leadout and was in no occasion able to make good use of it whilst Arnaud Démare and Pascal Ackermann were simply not there and showed more signs of life as domestiques then sprinters.

In the topic of illness we can still bring up Thibau Nys who had a free card but never actually was in contention for stage wins; and Magnus Cort Nielsen, who would've had several opportunities to win stages but instead was absent from the action for three weeks as Jonas Abrahamsen and Tobias Johannessen were shining bright. Lennert van Eetvelt abandoned on stage 15 but also due to lacking the best form, he was nowhere to be seen until that day.

On the realm of domestiques, Pavel Sivakov was a big disappointment, he is a rider of such a high level but rarely manages to find his best form. He didn't at this Tour and UAE needed him, but he was never the Sivakov that we've seen in other occasions this year. All-in-all you could also say Marc Hirschi and the entire Cofidis team were barely seen throughout the whole Tour de France and as a whole that was quite the bad surprise.

As a Spaniard, I was personally very disappointed with Enric Mas and Carlos Rodriguez for different reasons. Obviously, seeing them drop out is a disappointment, but it's not their fault. What they are more responsible for is the performances they had when they were in the race.

Enric started very well, but completely fell apart with the first difficulties. He went for the stage win when he no longer had a chance for the overall. He was the best climber on the day of Mont Ventoux and he couldn't make it happen. He said he was here to make the podium and was fighting to stay in the Top 20.

Carlos started very badly. He took too long to wake up. The second week was very good, with breakaways, getting into the Top 10? But this is a guy who 2 years ago was finishing in the top 5 of the final general classification. We wouldn't know what would have happened without the crash, but I expected more from his first half of the Tour.

If we go to a more general level, something similar happened with Remco Evenepoel. But the physical discomfort completely justifies his performance. In his case he even won a stage. And Primoz Roglic can't be said to be a disappointment because he tried, but I expected to see him fighting for the podium.

While I always prefer to focus on the positive surprises of the race, it’s also important to mention the teams or riders that didn’t fulfill expectations, and I know this might be a controversial topic.

I’d like to start pointing out the fact that, for me, a disappointing rider is not the one who doesn’t perform at a high level due to injuries, illnesses, or crashes. I know they are part of the game (and sometimes crashes are avoidable), but I wanted to focus solely on riders whose form fell far short of what we expected. However, the line between misfortune and underperformance can sometimes be thin, and that's where the conversation becomes more complex.

Several riders came into this Tour with realistic ambitions of finishing in the top 10 of the general classification. Names like Joao Almeida, Remco Evenepoel, Enric Mas, Carlos Rodríguez, and Matteo Jorgenson. Some, like Almeida, suffered a crash and had no real chance to show what they were capable of, so in this case, I obviously don't consider him to be a disappointment. But others abandoned without clear explanations, and that ambiguity leaves room for interpretation.

Take Evenepoel, for example. His decline started during the Pyrenean stages and became progressively more visible, especially on the brutal climb to Hautacam. There were vague mentions of illness, but no real transparency from his team, and it’s fair to wonder whether his preparation was good enough. That lack of clarity makes his Tour hard to assess, but based on the expectations and the outcome, he stands out as one of the disappointments of this edition.

The Spanish duo Enric Mas and Carlos Rodríguez disappointed me as well. Again, neither of them finished the race (and both appear to be injured), but their respective performances before they got injured were far from what we expected. Once they realised their GC hopes were over, they tried to hunt stages, but none were particularly close, although Enric Mas had a good performance in Mont Ventoux.

Matteo Jorgenson was my last GC disappointment. After finishing 8th in the last Tour and winning Paris-Nice, I expected him to improve his last year’s Tour result and be Vingegaard’s best domestique once again. His first week of the Tour was really good, but after that, his form dipped, and he never had a real impact in the race for Jonas in the mountains.

Moving on to the sprinters category, it is worth mentioning two riders: Biniam Girmay and Dylan Groenewegen. This year’s edition of the Tour de France had quite a lot of opportunities for sprinters, especially during the first week. That’s why you would expect two riders like them to rack up a few top 10s as the bare minimum.

Dylan was never in contention to win any stage and did not achieve a top 10 finish. His start to the season had been quite underwhelming. Still, with experienced lead-out men like Mezgec and Reinders at his side, one might have expected a bit more from Groenewegen.

Girmay’s case is different. The Eritrean achieved three top-10 finishes (he was second in the opening stage in Lille). But expectations were higher after he won three stages in last year’s Tour. He also tried to fight for the green jersey, but he was never a threat to Jonathan Milan.

Intermarché-Wanty’s Tour has been pretty underwhelming overall. Outside of Girmay, none of the other riders had a particularly outstanding performance. Do you know how many breakaways this team featured in? Just four in total (Louis Barré twice, Laurenz Rex, and Jonas Rutsch once). That’s it. A minimal presence throughout the race, and all things considered, a frankly disappointing Tour de France for the Belgian squad.

Now, I have a couple of puncheurs like Thibau Nys and Marc Hirschi. I know these two riders usually thrive in one-day races, but this edition of the Tour had plenty of opportunities for them, especially during the first week. While Nys crashed during the first stage of the Tour, he also admitted that he didn’t understand why he couldn’t find his perfect form.

Marc Hirschi’s performance was in line with that of his team. The Swiss rider was invisible during the race, and it seems that the change from UAE to Tudor has not been good for him.

My honorable mentions this time go to: Team Cofidis, XDS Astana Team, Aleksandr Vlasov, Jordi Meeus, Geraint Thomas, and Phil Bauhaus

To wrap things up, my final disappointment isn’t about the performance of any rider or team, it’s about something we won’t get to see. One of the biggest letdowns for me is the absence of Tadej Pogacar from the upcoming Vuelta a España. It’s a major loss for the race, especially since many of us were hoping to witness part two of the epic duel between him and Vingegaard. Sadly, that showdown will have to wait. Hopefully, another opportunity will come soon, but this time, it won’t be in Spain.