Winners and losers of the 2024 Tour de France: From peak Tadej Pogacar to the disappointments

The Tour de France 2024 has come to an end after finishing the individual time trial in Nice that closed this year's edition of the world's most prestigious race, with Tadej Pogacar as the flamboyant winner of the general classification and six stages, equaling his performance at the recent Giro d'Italia.

For this reason, or colleagues at Ciclismoaldia have decided to write an opinion article in which the main winners and losers of the Tour de France are discussed. Obviously, the big winner is Pogacar, but there are many riders who can leave the race as satisfied as the Slovenian. Equally, as always, there are others who will have to pick themselves up after a disappointing Grande Boucle. 

- Tadej Pogacar: It's all very clear with Pogacar. The Slovenian makes history and becomes the first cyclist since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve the Giro d'Italia - Tour de France double in the same year. Third Maillot Jaune of the UAE Team Emirates leader's career, who beats Jonas Vingegaard, with 6 stage wins also in his pocket, including the final time trial in Nice beating his storied rival by 1 minute and 3 seconds against the clock.

- Mikel Landa: Another of the biggest winners of this Tour de France is Mikel Landa. The Basque rider arrived as Remco Evenepoel's domestique, and fulfilling his role to perfection he leaves the race with a Top 5 in the general classification. By far the best Spaniard.

- Remco Evenepoel: Landa's leader at Soudal Quick-Step shut up many doubters. Remco Evenepoel leaves the Tour de France with a podium finish in the general classification as the best of the rest behind Pogacar and Vingegaard, and with a stage win in the first week's individual time trial.

- João Almeida: A similar role to Mikel Landa, but with Pogacar in UAE. The Portuguese finishes as the best domestique of the entire Tour de France, with 4th place in the general classification in his pocket. In the Tour de Suisse he already showed his great form, and here he has been the most outstanding helper of the Slovenian to win the race.

- Jonas Vingegaard: Does Jonas Vingegaard come away from the Tour de France disappointed? Surely, but the reality is that the Dane can be considered one of the winners of the race by exceeding expectations after arriving at the Grande Boucle with no competition in his legs following his crash at the Itzulia in early April. The goal was to win the general classification, but realistically it was going to be very difficult. A very top Vingegaard has been seen in the high mountains, and even took a win at the finish from Pogacar. The Dane will surely be back next year with a vengeance, and he will be a very, very tough opponent.

- Biniam Girmay: The best sprinter of the Tour de France 2024. Girmay snatched the points classification from Jasper Philipsen, making history for African cycling. Intermarché - Wanty rider leaves with 3 stage wins from the Grande Boucle. Outstanding.

- Richard Carapaz: Like Girmay, Richard Carapaz leaves the Tour de France having made history: with a stage win, having worn the yellow jersey and becoming the first Ecuadorian ever to win the Mountain Classification.

- Mark Cavendish: Mark Cavendish could not miss out in the group of top winners of the Tour de France 2024. The Astana Qazqastan Team sprinter broke Eddy Merckx's record on stage 5 to become, with 35 victories, the rider with the most wins in the history of the Grande Boucle.

- Derek Gee: To close the winners section, it's worth mentioning Derek Gee who continues to confirm himself as Israel - Premier Tech's best option for the general classifications in grand tours. The Canadian leaves the Tour de France in the Top 9, fulfilling the objective, and after a great performance in practically all the mountain days.

- Carlos Rodríguez: The main loser of the Tour de France, in my opinion, is Carlos Rodríguez. The Spaniard arrived with the minimum goal of the Top 5 and aiming for the possible podium in the overall. However, he never came close to it. "The Lion of Almuñécar" failed completely in practically every high mountain stage, at the level of the overall performance of INEOS Grenadiers. As leader of the British team, he was never up to the task, falling behind domestique riders like Mikel Landa and Joao Almeida.

- Wout van Aert: I'm sure Wout van Aert leaves the Tour de France with a very bad taste in his mouth. Even though he was doing a lot of riding for Jonas Vingegaard, he had the big goal of getting at least one stage win. He hit the post twice, finishing 2nd on stages 12 and 13, and taking 3rd place on the opening day.

- Primoz Roglic: Brought about mainly by his abandonment on stage 13 due to a crash the day before, but Primoz Roglic's Tour de France can't be said to have been a good one. His signing with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe was made to go all out in the Grande Boucle. His withdrawal was a huge blow, and in the previous days he had not been in good shape either, behind his three main rivals: Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel.

- Juan Ayuso: Another bad Tour de France that ended with an abandonment by COVID in stage 13. Even so, Juan Ayuso had already been disappointing in his role as a domestique, which even provoked the anger of UAE and teammates like Almeida and Yates, especially on the Galibier. The UAE team's dissatisfaction with the Spaniard is high, and they have even left him out of the lineup for the Vuelta a España, where he will be the first substitute.

- Enric Mas: It is true that his final week is good as a breakaway rider, but it is motivated because Enric Mas was too early out of the fight for the general classification. The Movistar Team rider is aware of this, as he made it known in the statements he was making in the last days of Tour de France. The Spaniard will seek to redeem himself in the Vuelta a España for the failure of the Grande Boucle.

- Egan Bernal: In addition to being Carlos Rodriguez's support rider (who also couldn't due to his lack of legs), Egan Bernal dreamed of being able to fight for the Top 10 overall in the Tour de France. His poor result is surprising, since he had been having good performances in the last months that were very promising. But he was not up to the task on any day, and the Colombian is aware of this.

- Felix Gall: A serious contender for the Top 10 overall was Felix Gall. But just like the whole Tour de France of his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, which came from being the best team of the year along with UAE Team Emirates in terms of victories, the Austrian ends up not fulfilling the objectives in the race, finishing 14th.