Wout Van Aert has not been in racing action in a little over a month now. His last competitive start was the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes where he won a stage, but otherwise appeared at a shape which left much to be desired with view to the Tour de France. And, ultimately, that appointment was removed...

Fourteen years ago, Josh Tarling stood with his family on the Champs-lyses in Paris for the final day of the Tour de France. He was eight years old at the time, already an avid cyclist himself, watching on in awe as the yellow jersey wearer Bradley Wiggins led out his team-mate Mark Cavendish for the stage victory.That race finale, has since gone down in British cycling legend. For Tarling, its his earliest memory of the Tour a race that, as of this month, the Netcompany-Ineos rider is now part of. His debut, however, has not been smooth sailing.Three weeks before the race opened in Barcelona, the 22-year-old crashed at the Tour Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes, suffering a broken collarbone that threatened to derail his Tour plans. That injury is now mended, thanks to a surgeon in Germany, but theres a pain thats still lingering: hes riding with a cracked rib. I had a rough start, but its coming, Tarling told Cycling Weekly of his form ahead of the first rest day. You just have like a rev limiter, you know? I get to the point where I get out of breath, and then I cant get it back. The heat hasnt helped, either. This years edition of the Tour looks set to be one of the hottest on record, with temperatures already exceeding 40C in the opening week. Theyre conditions that are attritional enough, even for those with all their ribs intact.It hurts when I breathe anyway, Tarling said. With the heat as well, obviously youre breathing harder and the pains catching up. It just feels airless. (Image credit: Getty Images)On stage one, the former European time trial champion helped Netcompany-Ineos to second place in the team time trial just eight seconds off the victory. He has since spent the remaining days within the peloton or the gruppetto, saving his energy perhaps for stage 16s individual test against the clock. How has he found his Tour experience so far? Ive never been in a race where theres constant crowds, Tarling said. Here its just all day crowds. Its crazy. Fourteen years ago, the Welshman would have been at the roadside with them. Its credit to his resolve that hes riding through his discomfort, even finding the joy in it, determined to live out the Tour dream of his eight-year-old self.Hes a tough cookie for sure, his father, Michael, posted on Instagram before the start of the race. His mother, Dawn, shared the same sense of pride. If anyone had any doubt about the sheer grit and determination needed to be a pro cyclist this is it, she said, commending her sons three-week crash comeback. This young man has given us so many reasons to be proud on and off the bike but this is mind blowing.

As riders approach a crucial time trial in the 2026 Tour de France, new research has shown that riders can gain huge amounts in aerodynamics solely based on the team car behind them in the race against the clock. In 2023, the UCI, cycling's world governing body, extended the minimum distance betwee...

The reason the Tour de France is one of the hardest sporting events in the world is that we race in the peak of summer and its all about attrition, Luke Durbridge of Jayco-AlUla, veteran of 12 Tours, says.Three weeks of intense racing, often under the baking hot sun, provides a thrilling spectacle, but it also poses dangers for the 184 riders: injuries, illnesses, burnout and more severe issues such as cardiovascular problems can afflict them.In the past decade, WorldTour riders Nathan Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma, 2023), Wesley Kreder (Cofidis, 2023) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious, 2022) have all suffered cardiac arrests and been forced to retire prematurely from cycling. Others, including Elia Viviani (Cofidis, 2021), Zdenk tybar (Deceuninck Quick-Step, 2021) and Peter Sagan (Pierre Baguette, 2024), have detected problems and had minor heart surgery. Sam Bennett, the Tours 2020 green jersey winner, also had a heart scare recently.Tour de France cyclists are some of the fittest athletes on the planet but what they do is not normal. They require close medical attention to ensure that theyre not pushing beyond their limits. At the start of every season, riders undergo a mandatory heart examination, while additional check-ups take place periodically. Just like the general population at large, cyclists cannot take any chances with their heart. Id say that only checking your heart once a year is not enough, explains Netcompany-Ineoss former world champion Micha Kwiatkowski. Thats what happened in the past but with all the daily checking now I feel much safer. The last thing we want is to not wake up in the morning after not being diagnosed with something.Sonny Colbrelli was forced to retire from cycling just six months after winning Paris-Roubaix (Image credit: Getty Images)A reasonably fit amateur male athlete has, according to the fitness tracker platform Whoop, an average resting heart rate (RHR) of 57 beats per minute (bpm); the average for women, who typically have a slightly higher heart rate than men, is 61.A Tour de France cyclists RHR is even lower. Cycling Weekly spoke with around a dozen riders at the 2026 race, and the common consensus was that the average RHR of a professional cyclist is between 33 and 37bpm. Some are closer to 50, but others are much, much lower.Ive heard rumours of one rider having a resting heart rate of 27, says Pinarello Q36.5s Damien Howson. Jan-Niklas Drost, director of health and performance at Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, corroborates those figures. Ive seen below 30, he says. For the normal population that would be too low, but these athletes are used to it and its something we do see.It does not always correlate, however, that lower is better. I can get as low as 36 on days Im really rested, but that doesnt mean Ill perform well the next day, Bahrain-Victoriouss Matej Mohori tells Cycling Weekly. All of my best performances have been in the last week of a Grand Tour when my body is significantly fatigued but it leads to great endurance performance. Last night [stage five of the Tour] my heart rate was 44, but Im pretty sure in the last week it wont go below 50.Just as a riders physical and mental state evolves during a three-week race, so too does the functioning of their heart. Durbridge explains: My maximum heart rate is 185bpm, but already in the leadout [on stage five] my maximum peak was 164bpm. Ive done final day time trials in the Tour and gone full gas, aiming for a top-10, and averaged 145bpm at threshold. Its just the way the engine goes you get more efficient.Howson reports the same trend. As the race goes on, fatigue creeps into the body and the biggest difference I notice is how my maximum heart rate drops by around 20bpm between stages one and 21, he says. Im pretty confident that by stage 19 or 20 I wont get over 170bpm anymore.A time trial effort sees a rider approach their maximum heart rate (Image credit: Getty Images)As has been well documented, the first week of the 2026 Tour has been blighted by record high temperatures, conditions that affect a riders heart rate. As an imperfect rule of thumb, for every degree the bodys core temperature increases, the heart rate rises by 10bpm. In a sport where significant demand is already placed on the heart through intense exercise, the additional heat is another stress.Riders wear heart rate straps during a race, while various wearables measure a riders pulse 24 hours a day. Another measurement that has become increasingly popular in recent years is heart rate variability (HRV) which tracks beat-to-beat changes in one-thousandths of a second. A higher HRV is typically associated with better health and fitness, while a lower HRV can be expected when the body is more physically or mentally stressed often as a consequence of illness, dayto-day life or exercise.Kwiatkowski notes that on hot days most of the guys in the bunch have lower HRVs. But the riders CW canvassed at the Tour all reported that, except for small differences registered on the more fatiguing days, HRV stays relatively stable during a Grand Tour.Not everyone is as fixated on their cardiac function, though. Both Marco Haller of Tudor Pro Cycling and Cees Bol of Decathlon CMA CGM say that they dont monitor their heart rate as its just one extra data point among many that risks overwhelming them.I dont even wear a heart rate belt when Im racing, Haller says. I know that in the heat its a big stress for the heart and the overall system, but if I tell Pogi to slow down because my heart rate is too high, he wont listen anyway so whats the point!Bol voices a similar, if less frivolous point. Often its quite obvious: if youre sick, you know youre sick; and if youre feeling good, you can feel it. I dont think they [heart rate monitors] are accurate enough for anything else in the middle.The UCI mandates every professional bike rider to sit annual cardiac screening (Image credit: Getty Images)The aforementioned cardiac cases can make it seem like theres a trend of more and more top-level cyclists having heart complications. But Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohes Drost warns against reading too much into such incidents: The ratio is still quite low compared to the amount of athletes and I think everybody has a good awareness of it in this sport. Drost explains that the main cause of heart conditions are due to genetics and illnesses, which then get exposed during sport: The reason why something happens can vary, but its often related to genetics and events, such as infections.We also know there are certain types of stresses that can lead to problems so its super important to educate everyone. If someone is having palpitations or whatever, there would be a fast follow-up with a cardiologist to see if theres something we need to react to and monitor.Cyclings governing body, the UCI, mandates all professional riders to sit an annual cardiac test which consists of an ECG and a cardiovascular risk questionnaire.Teams, including Drosts Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, take additional measures, including putting all riders and staff through CPR training in the off-season. It makes them not feel helpless in what would be a stressful situation as they practice at least once a year, Drost says.When a rider first enters the team, they have a full cardiac assessment we dont only do what the UCI recommends, Drost adds. If theres an indication that theres an issue, we do a long-term ECG, of seven days or more, to get a better understanding. There are also mobile devices that can track the heart for three months.Every heart is different, so we have individualised follow-ups. Thats once a year for every athlete, but for some its every six or three months.Drost clarifies why taking such precautions is necessary. We know that, in general, endurance sport is beneficial for the cardiovascular system, but this is not normal endurance sport, and there are extreme conditions like the heat we have at the Tour de France and extreme load.The cardiac system adapts to that: the heart gets bigger and there are minor changes in how it acts and how blood is pushed out. And thats why we need a good, consistent monitoring system.Kwiatkowski for one is grateful to the level of support and care: You probably hear more about heart problems but that comes from the fact that were checking our heart more often, with wearables and sleep trackers. Im just glad that were doing sport and getting these checks.Its a particularly pertinent topic for Mohori who was a teammate of Colbrelli who retired after collapsing at the 2022 Volta a Catalunya. Were really mindful of it in our team because of the experience with Sonny, the Slovenian says.Im still not sure if what we do is more or less healthy than the alternatives but personally I put a lot of emphasis on it. I dont just do the UCI mandatory checks every year I do a cardiac MRI with contrast so I can be really sure that my heart is in good health. It costs a bit of extra money but its important to invest in yourself and not be surprised by anything as you never know.

Thus far, the 2026 Tour de France has been under full control of Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates - XRG. Except for the opening team time trial, the Emirati team has shown no sign of weakness as they comfortably grabbed three stages and the yellow jersey along the way. In the meatime, we have seen...

Remco Evenepoel is riding what appear to be unreleased Specialized lace-up shoes at the Tour de France. Black Specialized branding on the toe and outside of the shoe, and a black heel cup differentiate them from the American brand's existing lace-up racing shoe, the Torch Lace. They could be an update, a lace version of the S-Works Ares 2, which has similar styling, or an entirely new model. The double Olympic champion, who is currently fourth in the general classification, is wearing these shoes with red laces, potentially to draw attention to the fact that they are new. Remco is known to test unreleased kit in the open, as we saw at the opening team time trial in Barcelona, where we spotted him riding an all-new Specialized S-Works Shiv TT bike.(Image credit: Getty Images)Some of his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammates have gone white-on-white, as have riders from Soudal-Quickstep, which is also sponsored by Specialized, such as 2022 Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle. Despite Specialized having named the S-Works Torch Remco after him, claimed to be one of the peloton's lightest and best cycling shoes at 287g a pair, Evenepoel has worn these shoes at several races this year. Laces are generally considered to be more aerodynamic than Boa dials and straps and can save weight. They are possibly something Dan Bigham, Red Bull's head of engineering, has pushed the already very aero Evenepoel towards. The use of these lace-ups could also be a move to improve ventilation and avoid hot foot and other temperature-induced conditions, in what has been described as one of the hottest Tours de France on record - Stage 9 was shortened due to exceptional heat.(Image credit: Getty Images)In addition to the different branding and heel cup, when seen side by side with the Torch Lace, the unnamed shoe appears narrower, with lace eyelets spaced closer together. This could just be the way Remco has tightened the laces, or it could be an attempt from Specialized to smooth out the front-facing part of the shoe to further cut drag. (Image credit: Getty Images)In the intense heat of this year's Tour de France, the apparent ventilation of these shoes would seem to be advantageous. Like on the Torch Lace, the upper is dotted with tiny holes for airflow. That said, many of Evenepoel's teammates, including his GC rival Florian Lipowitz, are apparently happy with the ventilation and weight of the S-Works Torch and S-Works Ares 2. We have contacted Specialized for comment and will update this article when we have more information.