The 2026 Tour de France will be entering its third week on Tuesday with some of its fiercest battles yet to take place. But before riders head to this year's key venue Alpe d'Huez, let's grab the opportunity to look back at which teams have enjoyed the greatest success - in financial terms. Although...

Although billed as the race of truth, with the rider alone against the clock, the team car following the rider could have an oversized effect on the outcome of the Tour de France stage 16 time trial today.According to a study led by Professor Bert Blocken, head of the aerospace engineering cluster at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, the size and shape of the team car following a rider could make a difference of more than five seconds to a riders time."When a cyclist rides, they create an area of overpressure in front of them that holds them back, and an area of suction behind them that pulls them back, causing resistance, Blocken says.Thats well-known and the foundation of CFD analysis that forms a major component of the design process for any new bike with aero pretensions. The following car can make a difference of seconds to ride times in a time trial, according to the study. Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP via Getty Images "But a car creates the same effect on a much larger scale, Blocken continues. It pushes a big bubble of overpressure ahead of it, and when the car drives close behind a cyclist, that bubble partly cancels out the suction behind the rider, providing the cyclist with a meaningful boost."At a distance of just one metre, a rider's aerodynamic resistance drops by almost 14 per cent, which is massive. The benefit falls away quickly as the distance grows, but it never reaches zero, not at 10 metres, not even at 30.Blockens group has found teams can increase the effect by stacking spare bikes on their cars roofs and has run the numbers to show that a larger, less aerodynamic vehicle has a larger effect than a smaller one with a lower drag coefficient. Netcompany Ineos has the massive Ineos Grenadier as a team car. Tim de Waele/Getty Images Who has the largest following car? Were looking at you, Netcompany Ineos. The teams Ineos Grenadier gas-guzzling Land Rover lookalike is described on its site, without irony, as the driving force behind the team. Looking back at images of its star time triallist, Filippo Ganna, it appears he's usually followed by a slightly smaller estate car, though.Blockens group has modelled the effect of a range of vehicles, including the Grenadier and another seven models from a Smart Fortwo, via a typical estate car/station wagon and an SUV to three vans.Following a rider at 10m distance, the Grenadier would reduce the riders time over the 26.1km course by 5.5 seconds and an estate car by 2.3 seconds when ridden at 50km/h, according to the Heriot-Watt team. At 25m, the calculated numbers are 2.6 seconds for the Grenadier and 0.8 seconds for the estate car, with the SUV lowering ride time by 1 second.That's before you add spare bikes to the vehicle. The UCI has recommended that teams don't over-stack spare bikes on cars, but there's no limit stipulated. There's now a UCI regulation that team cars should be at least 25m behind the rider in a time trial. Luca Tedeschi/LiveMedia/NurPhoto via Getty Images The UCI has already reacted to Blockens groups previous studies, changing the minimum distance to a following car in a time trial from 10m to 25m in 2023, but even at that distance the Ineos Grenadier would add a push of 2.6 seconds.Blocken suggests the UCI should further mandate a maximum CdA figure for team cars, enforce the 25m rule more vigorously and require cars to stay 40m or more behind the rider.

Former Olympic silver medallist Toshiaki Fushimi has died after crashing in a keirin race in his home country of Japan. The 50-year-old was racing in the Matsusaka Keirin, where he struck a barrier at the side of the track, reportedly in an attempt to avoid a pile-up that was unfolding in front of him.He sustained spinal and skull fractures in the crash, according to a report by The Independent, and died the following morning.A celebrated figure in Japanese keirin racing, Fushimi was part of the team sprint trio who won a silver medal for Japan in the Athens Olympics 2004. He racked up 619 career wins, including three Keirin Grand Prix titles Japan's blue riband keirin event.His former track rival Josiah Ng paid tribute to Fushimi on social media, writing: "R.I.P. Fushimi San. Toshiaki Fushimi wasnt just a competitor. He was one of the best keirin riders Japan has ever produced. Grand Prix winner. Olympic Silver Medalist. A true professional on the track. We raced against each other for years. That kind of rivalry builds a respect that doesnt fade."Devastated to hear he lost his life doing what he loved," he added. "My thoughts are with his family and the entire Keirin community in Japan. Rest in peace, champion."Hiroshi Kido, chairman of the Japanese Keirin Autorace Foundation, said that safety measure would be reexamined: It is truly heartbreaking that he lost his life in an accident during a race. We will reconfirm our safety measures and thoroughly ensure fair and safe races.Keirin became an Olympic event in 2000, but originated as a betting sport in Japan in the 1940s. The bikes are steel with smaller gears and, like the kit used, they are standardised, with riders racing in different colours. In Japan it takes place on large, outdoor velodromes made of concrete, meaning the event is part sprint, part endurance. Because of the betting aspect of the sport in Japan, when riders undertake a race they are not allowed to communicate with the outside world, explains Brit Joe Truman, who raced the country's keirin series twice.Because obviously betting is a massive part, when we go to a race, weve got essentially four days where were in lockdown and were not allowed any devices that transmit information to the outside world," he said.

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Il Lombardia 2026 will restore one of its most emblematic settings in 2026. After months of uncertainty over the finish host due to organisational and financial shifts, all signs point to the Race of the Falling Leaves finishing in Como again, a city that has defined the events identity for the p...

It has been a sweltering Tour. In a warming world, in which Europe is heating at twice the global average rate, it could hardly have been otherwise.With water use restrictions in 92 of Frances 96 mainland departments, and the national news full of forest fires, dry rivers, depleted soil and disappearing aquifers, climate change is everyday conversation among ordinary Frenchmen and women, including, of course, Tour fans. Three stages have had to be reorganised, and even Tadej Pogaar, normally so softly spoken, has said, If I had [the] power, Id change the whole calendar. I would not race in July and in August.On one thing, there is no controversy. To avoid even higher temperatures in future, we need to phase-out fossil fuels, and quickly. But fossil fuel sponsored sport has become the twenty-first century's opium of the people. We have just watched a World Cup festooned with sponsorship by the worlds biggest oil company, Aramco. The Tour de France offers much the same thing: a mobile, daily, four-hour advert for petrostates, oil and petrochemicals companies.Understandably, few riders dare speak out, or even publicly acknowledge the awkwardness of their silence. Curious to know what they really think, I was introduced to a male pro, no stranger to winning, on a team with a fossil fuel sponsor. He agreed to talk on condition he could remain nameless, given that his comments could damage his prospects of future employment in the sport. I agreed to his terms, and I started by asking if the subject of fossil fuel sponsors ever came up in conversation with other riders. A lot of people from [the Armstrong era] are still in the sport. Silence is second nature to them.He told me, Were out training and racing even on the hottest days so youd think it would, but it rarely does. Youre never told not to talk about it, but you self-censor without even realising it. Maybe it dates back to the Armstrong era, when no one spoke about doping. A lot of people from those years are still in the sport. Silence is second nature to them.As every cyclist knows, fossil fuel-based sponsors have raised team budgets and riders wages. The general feeling inside the sport is that criticisng the companies who fund it is a bit like what used to be called spitting in the soup. Id go further and say that, concerning the climate crisis, and professional cyclings addiction to sponsorship from oil companies, airlines and car manufacturers, there is a rule of silence, as deeply rooted in cycling culture as the old omert about doping.The entire sport is overflowing with oil company and petrostate sponsors.At the Tour de France, they are ten a penny, but their reach in cycling is deeper than you might imagine. Its not just teams, its events, federations, everything. Its almost imposible to avoid becoming a billboard for them.(Image credit: Getty Images)I think it plays on ignorance too. Cycling is one of the most ignorant sports in the world. Its so demanding that there isnt much space for extra-curricular thinking. Young riders just want to leave school and go pro. They dont have a wider perspective: they arent thinking about socioeconomics, and there are fewer spots in procycling that in most professional sports. Most riders dont even know what their sponsors do, especially in the lower echelons of the sport where you get fifteen sponsors on the jersey. Its probably true in the WorldTour too. I reckon more than fifty per cent of the bunch wouldnt know who Picnic or XRG or CMA CGN are.From my interviewees perspective inside the sport, today's cycling sponsors have broken the old relationship that bound them to wider society.He told me, Ordinary people are very concerned about climate change, but cycling doesnt engage with them. In the old days, sponsoring a team or a race was a form of advertising. It was part of a conversation. The sponsors of many of the top-end teams dont care what the wider world thinks. And cyclings leadership is ready to sell its soul for petrodollars. Its completely rudderless. For that reason, the sport is way behind the general public.The sponsors of many of the top-end teams dont care what the wider world thinks.Aware that he could be accused of hypocrisy, my interviewee conceded, Youre probably asking, if Im so concerned about climate change and carbon emissions, why do I ride for a team sponsored by a fossil fuel producer? Well, in case you were wondering, Im not Tadej Pogaar. Cycling is a small sport, and there are so few opportunities, youre not in a position to turn contract offers down. If there were more options, you could go to a team that shares your ethics. As it is, if you want to be a professional cyclist and youre not the best in the world, you cant pick and choose.In any case, riding professionally is almost impossible without leaving a huge carbon footprint. The race calendar is totally international and all year round, and we fly everywhere, sometimes by ridiculous routes. The influx of Asian sponsors will mean even more air miles. I remember a one-day race in a long-haul location where a French rider on a small team flew for 30 hours to spend three days on the groundmadness from every angle: rider performance, ecological impact and cost. Teams with more money at bigger races do even more brain dead stuff. If they rubbed even two brain cells together they could save money and massively reduce your impact. A sustainability officer alongside the logistics people would make a lot of sense.However, there are signs of change inside the peloton, he told me. The conversation is happening more and more. The Tour has been affected by forest fires. The Giro, where its normally snowing, was held in 30 degree heat.Even so, he told me, Riders further down the food chain wont say anything. In a team scenario, when you want to be taken seriously, people just laugh. Your DS would take you to the side and say, come on, this is our sponsor, you cant be saying that kind of stuff. But maybe at the top level, where they are a bit more comfortable in their salary and job, riders will begin to speak out.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef has provided an update on the condition of their team leader, Jonas Vingegaard, confirming that the Danish rider will undergo surgery on a broken collarbone sustained on Sunday's stage 15 of the 2026 Tour de France. The Visma leader was sat 2nd ove...