The 2021 Tour de France was the 108th edition of Tour de France, one of cycling's

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

. The Tour began in

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...

on 26 June, and Stage 12 from

Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (; oc, label= Vivaro-Alpine, Sant Pau de Tricastin), sometimes known as -en-Tricastin, is a commune, an administrative region, in the Drôme department in southeastern France. Name The settlement is attested as ''Aug ...

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

occurred on 8 July. The race finished on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 18 July.

Classification standings

Stage 12

;8 July 2021 –

, The twelfth stage featured a long course from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes. The undulating course featured only one categorized climb on the route, the third-category Côte du Belvédère de Tharaux, after , and one intermediate sprint in

Uzès Uzès (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon and south-east of Alès. History Originally ''Uc ...

with around left. With to go, there was a long uncategorized climb at an average gradient of 3 percent before a downhill run to the finish. Much like on stage 10, there was a threat of crosswinds along the way. Before the stage,

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak professional road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-country race at the 2008 ...

() abandoned the race due to his recurring knee injury. Immediately from the start, the peloton set a furious pace that began to form echelons, with the peloton being split into three groups and all the GC contenders making it into the first group. After around of racing, a 13-man break went away while the groups who were caught out rejoined the main peloton. Most notable of them was the world champion,

Julian Alaphilippe Julian Alaphilippe (born 11 June 1992) is a French professional road cyclist, former cyclo-cross racer and two-fold UCI World Road Champion, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is the brother of racing cyclist Bryan Alaphilippe. Career E ...

(), who made the break for the second consecutive day. The break immediately extended their advantage, and without any teams chasing behind, it became almost certain that the break would go all the way and contest for the stage win. With to go,

Nils Politt Nils Politt (born 6 March 1994) is a German cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career In September 2015 announced that Politt had signed a two-year contract with the team from 2016, and that he would make his debut for the team as ...

() attacked with

Connor Swift Connor Swift (born 30 October 1995) is an English racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His cousin, Ben Swift, is also a professional cyclist. In 2018 he won the British National Road Race Championships. Career In August 2018 ...

(), but the move was chased down. A few kilometres later, Politt attacked again, this time with Stefan Küng (), Harry Sweeny (), and

Imanol Erviti Imanol Erviti Ollo (born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Erviti was selected to ride the 2012 Tour de France, but crashed on a large pile-u ...

(). The quartet gradually built up their advantage over the rest of their breakaway companions. from the finish, Sweeny launched an acceleration that dropped Küng. With left, Politt was once again on the attack, this time with no response from Erviti and Sweeny. On the downhill run-in to the finish, Politt extended his lead to win his first Tour stage, 31 seconds ahead of Erviti and Sweeny. Küng finished seconds ahead of a group containing most of the other breakaway riders, with

Luka Mezgec Luka Mezgec (born 27 June 1988) is a Slovenian road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . After scoring numerous podium finishes in 2013, Mezgec finally tasted victory on the fifth stage of the Tour of Beijing. He was named in t ...

() winning the sprint for fifth. Stefan Bissegger () was the last of the breakaway members to finish, crossing the line by himself over five minutes behind Politt. About ten minutes after Bissegger,

Mark Cavendish Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Isle of Man, Manx professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialises in the Madison (cycling), madison, po ...

() led the peloton home, sprinting for the few remaining points on offer to slightly extend his lead in the points classification. All the GC contenders finished safely in the peloton and the top ten remained unchanged.

Stage 13

;9 July 2021 – Nîmes to

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

The thirteenth stage saw the Tour continue west across southwestern France towards the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

. With a distance of , it marked the second longest stage of this year's Tour. The undulating route ran roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast, with crosswinds once again being a possibility. The first half of the stage featured both the day's only categorized climb and the intermediate sprint. The fourth-category Côte du Pic Saint-Loup, which is long at an average gradient of 3.7 percent, summitted at into the stage, while the intermediate sprint in

Fontès Fontès (; Languedocien: ''Fontés'') is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Hérault department The following is a list of the 342 Communes of France, communes of the Hérault Depa ...

was at . Three uncategorized climbs preceded a flat run-in to the final kilometre, with a slight uphill drag to the finish line. The first few kilometres were marked by several attacks before a trio of riders broke away with around to go. The break included Sean Bennett (),

Pierre Latour Pierre Latour (born 12 October 1993) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He is a stage winner of the Vuelta a España, and twice the winner of French National Time Trial Championships. Career Latour was born in Romans-sur ...

(), and Omer Goldstein (). After a while,

Georg Zimmermann Georg Zimmermann (born 11 October 1997) is a German racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career He rode for in the men's team time trial event at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships. In August 2019, Zimmermann joined UCI W ...

() attempted to bridge from the peloton to the break, albeit unsuccessfully. The trio built a lead of two and a half minutes before the gap came down due to several riders attempting to bridge over to the break. Eventually, took control at the front of the peloton, allowing the break to increase their advantage once again. The trio led by a maximum of four and a half minutes before the peloton started to chase in earnest. At the intermediate sprint, the break took maximum points before

Sonny Colbrelli Sonny Colbrelli (born 17 May 1990) is a retired Italian professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Desenzano del Garda, Colbrelli has competed as a professional since the start of the 2012 season, ...

() outsprinted Michael Matthews () for the remaining points on offer as

() rode closely behind. With to go, the break started attacking each other as Bennett accelerated off the front. Latour and Goldstein managed to bridge up to Bennett before eventually dropping him as well. At around the same time,

Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three ...

() and

Alex Aranburu Alexander Aranburu Deba (born 19 September 1995 in Ezkio-Itsaso) is a Spanish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . In August 2018, he was named in the startlist for the Vuelta a España. Major results ;2016 : 8th Circuito de Getxo ...

() attempted to attack from the peloton but managed to mark the attacks. With to go, a crash on a descent took out several riders at the back of the peloton, with other riders also falling down a small ravine. All of them managed to get back up, but the crash led to the abandonment of

Roger Kluge Roger Kluge (born 5 February 1986) is a German professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Kluge left at the end of the 2013 season, and joined for the 2014 season. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he won the silver medal ...

() and the duo of Simon Yates and

Lucas Hamilton Lucas Hamilton (born 12 February 1996) is an Australian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Hamilton qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and rode in the Men's Road Race. The men's road racers had a tough time in the conditions an ...

. Among the survivors,

Tim Declercq Tim Declercq (born 21 March 1989 in Leuven) is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His brother Benjamin is also a professional cyclist. Declerq is known to be a powerful rider who generally acts as a domestique. He earned ...

() and

Søren Kragh Andersen Søren Kragh Andersen (born 10 August 1994) is a Danish cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is the younger brother of Asbjørn Kragh Andersen, who was also a professional cyclist, until his retirement in 2022. Career He joined in ...

() seemed to fare the worst, with both riders finishing over 15 minutes down. from the finish, Latour and Goldstein were brought back by the peloton, prompting an attack from

Quentin Pacher Quentin Pacher (born 6 January 1992 in Libourne) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . In August 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Tour de France. Major results ;2012 : 1st Mountains classification Kreiz Br ...

() a few moments later. Pacher was allowed an advantage of a minute and a half while

Jan Bakelants Jan Bakelants (born 14 February 1986) is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career His major wins include the 2008 Tour de l'Avenir and stage 2 of the 2013 Tour de France, claiming the yellow je ...

() also attacked from the peloton. Bakelants was eventually reeled in with to go while Pacher was brought back with left to the finish. Shortly afterwards, several teams attempted to split the peloton into echelons, but the winds were not strong enough to cause such splits. The sprinters' teams soon began to go to the front to prepare for a bunch sprint. In a chaotic sprint to the line, one of Cavendish's lead-out men,

Davide Ballerini Davide Ballerini (born 21 September 1994 in Cantù) is an Italian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . In May 2018, he was named in the startlist for the 2018 Giro d'Italia. He is not related to former two-time Paris–Roubaix winner ...

, managed to get a small gap after

Michael Mørkøv Michael Mørkøv Christensen (; born 30 April 1985) is a Danish professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is the brother of racing cyclists Jacob and Jesper Mørkøv. Career Born in Kokkedal, Mørkøv started as a t ...

briefly lost his wheel.

Iván García Cortina Iván García Cortina (born 20 November 1995) is a Spanish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career García Cortina signed with for the 2017 season. He was named in the startlist for the 2017 Vuelta a España. García Cortina w ...

() soon bridged over to Ballerini with Mørkøv, Cavendish, and

Jasper Philipsen Jasper Philipsen (born 2 March 1998) is a Belgian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Career In July 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Tour de France. In October 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2 ...

() on his wheel. Mørkøv successfully led out Cavendish for the win, his fourth of the race. Mørkøv managed to hold on to second place on the stage with Philipsen finishing in third. With his win, Cavendish equalled

Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...

's record for the most number of Tour stage wins with 34. He also increased his lead in the points classification to 101 over Matthews. All the GC contenders finished safely in the main peloton, leaving the top ten unchanged.

Stage 14

;10 July 2021 – Carcassonne to

Quillan Quillan (; Languedocien: ''Quilhan'') is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. On 1 January 2016, the former commune of Brenac was merged into Quillan. Stage 14, 2021 TDF10058 pogacar (51322016774)

Stage 14, 2021 TDF10058 pogacar (51322016774)

The fourteenth stage took the riders from Carcassonne to Quillan, making its debut as a Tour stage finish, with a terrain that was expected to suit a breakaway. The first few kilometres were on a false flat section before the riders tackled the third-category , a climb with an average gradient of 5.3 percent. Another false flat section led to the intermediate sprint in

Lavelanet Lavelanet (; ''L'Avelhanet'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is a commune in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Population Its inhabitants are called ''Lavelanetiens.'' Tour de France In 2 ...

after before the riders reached the second-category , which is long with an average gradient of 8.7 percent. A short descent led to the second-category , at long with an average gradient of 5.7 percent. A flat section and short descent led to the third-category Côte de Galinagues, a long climb with an average gradient of 9 percent. A long downhill segment led to the final climb of the day, the second-category . The climb, which is long with an average of 7.4 percent, offered eight, five, and two bonus seconds to the first three riders, respectively, to reach the summit at from the line. From there, the descent led to the finish in Quillan. Following the aftermath of the crash the previous day, two more riders abandoned as

() and

Warren Barguil Warren Barguil (; born 28 October 1991) is a French cyclist, who rides for UCI ProTeam . He is best known for winning two mountain stages and the mountains classification of the 2017 Tour de France. Career Early career Born in Hennebont, Britt ...

() did not start the stage. There were several attempts to break away, but it eventually took almost for the breakaway to be fully established. was especially keen on having a representative in the break, with

Toms Skujiņš Toms Skujiņš (born 15 June 1991) is a Latvian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career In 2013 and 2015, Skujiņš received the Cyclist of the Year award presented by Latvian Cycling Federation. In 201 ...

and

Julien Bernard Julien Bernard (born 17 March 1992) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career The son of former professional cyclist Jean-François Bernard, Julien Bernard was initially discouraged from taking up cycle racing by his fa ...

involved in various moves.

Kristian Sbaragli Kristian Sbaragli (born 8 May 1990) is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He rode in the 2014 Vuelta a España and was named in the start list for the 2016 Giro d'Italia. Major results ;2008 : 7th Overall Giro del ...

() kicked off proceedings and built up a lead of almost two minutes before a four-man chase group soon went away in pursuit of him. The quartet managed to bridge over to Sbaragli but their advantage continued to decrease due to the constant attacking from behind. With to go, just after the intermediate sprint, the quintet up front was eventually caught as several riders continued to attack. On the Col de Montségur,

Wout Poels Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels (born 1 October 1987) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Poels was born in Venray. He almost lost a kidney after a massive crash on the sixth stage of the ...

() and Mattia Cattaneo () were able to establish a gap, with

Michael Woods Michael Woods may refer to: * Michael Woods (Australian politician) (1857–1934), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Michael Woods (comics), American writer/editor of comic books * Michael Woods (cyclist) (born 1986), Canadian cyclist ...

() also bridging to them soon after. A seven-man chase group including

Guillaume Martin Guillaume Martin (born 9 June 1993) is a French cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career In June 2017, he was named in the startlist for the Tour de France. While not necessarily considered a pre-race favourite for overall victory i ...

(), who started the day in ninth place, also formed behind while began to control the peloton. Near the top, Woods attacked in pursuit of the KOM points, with Poels bridging up to him and outsprinting him for the maximum points. On the descent, Cattaneo made his way back up to Woods and Poels while a group containing Pierre Rolland () also attacked from the peloton. At the top of the second-category Col de la Croix des Morts, Woods outsprinted Poels for the maximum points, drawing level on points with the mountains classification leader,

Nairo Quintana Nairo Alexánder Quintana Rojas, Order of Boyacá, ODB, (born 4 February 1990) is a Colombian racing cyclist, who rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . Nicknamed "Nairoman" and "El Cóndor de los Andes", Quintana is a specialist climber, known ...

(). With to go, the seven-man group joined up with the trio at the front while the Rolland group made it to the front group with left, making for a total of fourteen riders in the break. As the break neared the top of the Côte de Galinagues, Poels outsprinted Woods for the KOM points, with the single point gained by Woods giving him the lead in the KOM competition. On the descent, Woods slipped on a curve, forcing some of his breakaway companions off-road. He would get back up but he had to spend extra energy to get to the front group. With to go and still on the descent, Bauke Mollema () attacked off the front. He gained an advantage of more than a minute over his breakaway companions ahead of the final climb of the Col de Saint-Louis. From behind, made their way to the front of the peloton to protect

Rigoberto Urán Rigoberto Urán Urán, ODB (born 26 January 1987) is a Colombian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the road race. He became the first Colombian ever ...

’s second place on GC. The chasing group soon began to attack each other but Mollema kept his lead at about a minute. Mollema crested the top of the climb with a lead of more than a minute over a group containing Woods, Cattaneo,

Sergio Higuita Sergio Andrés Higuita García (born 1 August 1997) is a Colombian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career He moved to EF Education First from UCI Continental team in May 2019, having initially been se ...

(), and

Patrick Konrad Patrick Konrad (born 13 October 1991) is an Austrian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Mödling, Konrad finished 4th in the 2014 Tour of Austria for , winning the young rider classification. He joined for t ...

() while Martin’s group crested the top at almost a minute and a half. Mollema would go on to solo to the stage win, his second career Tour victory after his first in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

from a similar move on similar terrain. He crossed the line at 1' 04" ahead of Konrad and Higuita. Martin crossed the line at almost a minute and a half behind while the yellow jersey group cruised over the finish line almost seven minutes down. As a result, Martin rose to second overall at around four minutes down while Cattaneo, who finished with the first chasing group, moved into the top ten at almost ten minutes behind

Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar (; born 21 September 1998) is a Slovenian cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Tour de France, winning three different jerseys during each Tour, a feat unseen in nearly four deca ...

(), who kept the ''maillot jaune''.

Stage 15

;11 July 2021 –

Céret Céret (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It is the capital of the historic Catalan comarca of Vallespir. Geography The town lies in the foothills of the Pyrénées mountains, in southern France. ...

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella french: Andorre-la-Vieille is the capital (political), capital of the Andorra, Principality of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, parish ...

(

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

The fifteenth stage took the riders outside of France for the only time in this year's Tour with the riders heading from Céret to Andorre-la-Vieille. Andorra was last visited by the Tour in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, when

Tom Dumoulin Tom Dumoulin (; born 11 November 1990) is a retired Dutch professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He has won nine stages across the three Grand Tours, five medals in three different World Championships and two Olympic s ...

won the summit finish to Andorra Arcalis in a stage that was marred by hailstorms. As soon as the flag dropped, the riders faced the long uncategorized climb of the . Following the descent, the road gradually went uphill towards the intermediate sprint in

Olette Olette (; ca, Oleta i Èvol) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Olette is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. Olette-Canaveilles-les-Bains s ...

after of racing. The road continued uphill towards the first-category Montée de Mont-Louis, an long climb with an average gradient of 5.7 percent. After the KOM checkpoint, there were still about of climbing before the descent, which led to the foot of the second-category Col de Puymorens, a climb with a length of and an average gradient of 4.7 percent. A short descent immediately led to the first-category

Port d'Envalira Port d'Envalira (el. 2408 m.) is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees in Andorra, that connects El Pas de la Casa with the rest of the country. It is the highest paved road in the Pyrenees. The climb has been featured several times at the Tour de France ...

, at long with an average gradient of 5.9 percent, which took the riders across the border into Andorra. The top of the climb is above sea level, the highest point reached in the Tour, with the first rider across the top taking the

Souvenir Henri Desgrange The Souvenir Henri Desgrange is an award and cash prize given in the yearly running of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. It is won by the rider that crosses a particular point in the race, mostly the summits of the highest a ...

. Following a long descent, the riders reached the first-category

Col de Beixalis The Col de Beixalis, or Collada de Beixalis, is a mountain pass at an altitude of located in Andorra. The road is situated between Anyós to the west and Encamp to the east. The last on the eastern side of the climb was a gravel road, but it ...

, a long climb with an average gradient of 8.5 percent. The top of the climb offered eight, five, and two bonus seconds to the first three riders, respectively, to reach the summit at from the line. From there, the descent led to the finish in Andorra la Vella. From the start,

Thomas De Gendt Thomas De Gendt (born 6 November 1986) is a Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He previously rode for rivals , , and . Career Born in Sint-Niklaas, De Gendt won the opening stage of the 2011 Paris–Nice ...

() kicked off the attacks before being joined by seven other riders. A few moments later, a large group, including most of the challengers for the king of the mountains jersey, went off the front of the peloton. This group would eventually bridge up to the eight riders at the front, making it a 32-rider breakaway. On the road to the intermediate sprint, the breakaway split as several riders refused to work at the front, but the two breakaway groups would eventually regroup. At the intermediate sprint, Michael Matthews () took maximum points to decrease his deficit in the points classification to 72. From behind, as the road began to go uphill,

Nacer Bouhanni Nacer Bouhanni (born 25 July 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . A sprinter, he was the winner of the 2012 French National Road Race Championships. Although his first Grand Tour was in 2012, his r ...

() abandoned from the race as he suffered from the crash on stage 13. As the break neared the top of the first categorized climb of the day, the Montée de Mont-Louis,

(),

(), and

Wout van Aert Wout van Aert (born 15 September 1994) is a Belgian professional road and cyclo-cross racer who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the men's elite race at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He joined in M ...

() sprinted for the KOM points, with Poels taking the maximum points ahead of van Aert and Woods. Towards the top, De Gendt, Poels, Woods, and van Aert tried to establish a gap ahead of the other breakaway riders but they would be caught with to go. Meanwhile, the -led peloton crested the top of the first climb more than nine minutes behind the break. After a lull in the action, the break soon reached the second-category climb of Col de Puymorens, with Bruno Armirail () pacing the break for most of the day. At the top, van Aert managed to outsprint Poels with Woods in third. As a result, Poels and Woods were tied at the top of the KOM competition. On the Port d'Envalira,

() began to set a pace that began to shed riders from the break. The breakaway riders started to attack each other until

() established a gap from the top. Quintana soloed to the top to get the maximum KOM points as well as the Souvenir Henri Desgrange before being caught on the descent. Van Aert took 8 points while Poels took 6 points which gave him the lead in the KOM competition. As soon as the riders reached the Col de Beixalis, Quintana accelerated once again before being caught again.

David Gaudu David Gaudu (born 10 October 1996) is a French professional cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career In 2016, Gaudu won the Tour de l'Avenir, the most prestigious U23 cycling race. In addition to this he won the Peace Race U23 and finished 5 ...

() also made an attack before

Sepp Kuss Sepp Kuss (born September 13, 1994) is an American professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Kuss started out in mountain bike racing as a junior and as a student at the University of Colorado won two races at the Colle ...

() launched his move from the top of Beixalis. Only

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . Valverde's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009 ...

() was able to follow his move before he began to struggle following Kuss. Kuss led Valverde by around 20 seconds at the top of the Beixalis with the first chase group at about a minute and a half. Kuss maintained his gap on the descent, eventually soloing to his first Tour stage win and his team's second in this year's Tour. Valverde finished second, 23 seconds behind, while Poels led the first chase group home, 1' 15" behind. In the GC group, continued to control the peloton until and started to set a fast tempo at the Col de Puymorens. The pace sent several riders out the back and leaving most of the contenders isolated. On the descent of the Envalira, two riders in the top ten,

() and Mattia Cattaneo (), began to get distanced and despite their best efforts, they began the climb of Beixalis at a minute down on the other contenders. On the climb's steepest section,

Richard Carapaz Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro (born 29 May 1993) is an Ecuadorian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Carapaz won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Ecuadorian rider to win the race. In July 2021 ...

() attacked but he was marked by the other contenders. Carapaz,

Jonas Vingegaard Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen (; born 10 December 1996) is a Danish cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the 2022 edition of the Tour de France. Vingegaard started as a youth rider for various Danish teams, making his breakthrough as a sen ...

(),

(), and Ben O'Connor () launched more attacks but

() and the other contenders were able to follow each time. O'Connor and

Alexey Lutsenko Alexey Alexandrovich Lutsenko (russian: Алексей Александрович Луценко; born 7 September 1992) is a Kazakh professional cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career In 2012 he won the under-23 road race at the UCI R ...

() were distanced near the top of the Beixalis but O'Connor made it back on the descent. The GC group finished almost five minutes down on Kuss while Lutsenko ended up finishing 29 seconds further in arrears. Martin eventually lost almost four minutes while Cattaneo lost more than five minutes. In the GC, Pogačar retained the ''maillot jaune'' with a lead of 5' 18" over Urán, who moved back up to second place. As a result of their time loss, Martin fell to ninth place, almost eight minutes down while Cattaneo fell out of the top ten at almost 15 minutes behind. Lutsenko now sits at seventh, more than seven minutes behind while

Pello Bilbao Pello Bilbao López de Armentia (born 25 February 1990) is a Spanish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Caja Rural–Seguros RGA (2014–16) Bilbao joined for the 2014 season, after his previous team – – fo ...

(), who finished with Lutsenko on the stage, moved back into the top ten, almost 11 minutes down.

Rest day 2

;12 July 2021 – Andorra la Vella (Andorra) On the rest day,

Vincenzo Nibali ), The Nibbler , birth_date = , birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy , height = , weight = , currentteam = , discipline = Road , role = Rider , ridertype = Climber , proyears1 = 2005 , proteam1 = , proyears2 = 2006–2012 , protea ...

() and

Amund Grøndahl Jansen Amund Grøndahl Jansen (born 11 February 1994) is a Norwegian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2019.(dutch) Career In July 2018, he was named in the start list for the 201 ...

() both withdrew from the race, the former to focus on the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and the latter as a result of injuries sustained from crashes on the first stage.

Stage 16

;13 July 2021 –

El Pas de la Casa El Pas de la Casa (; french: Le Pas de la Case) is a ski resort (part of the Grandvalira resort), town, and mountain pass in the Encamp parish of Andorra, lying on the border with France. Overview Its name literally translates as "the pass of the ...

(Andorra) to Saint-Gaudens, Following the second and last rest day, the riders continued through the Pyrenees and returned to France with a hilly course from El Pas de la Casa to Saint-Gaudens. The stage began with a descent to

Tarascon-sur-Ariège Tarascon-sur-Ariège (, literally ''Tarascon on Ariège''; Languedocien: ''Tarascon d’Arièja'') is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primari ...

before the riders reached the second-category Col de Port, an long climb with an average gradient of 5.1 percent. The descent led to the intermediate sprint at Vic d'Oust after of racing. Shortly afterwards, the riders climbed the first-category

Col de la Core The Col de la Core (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Ariège department of France in the Pyrenees. It connects Audressein with Seix. Details of climb Starting from Audressein, the climb is long. Over this distance, the climb is (an ave ...

, a long climb with an average gradient of 6.6 percent. Following the descent, the riders gradually climbed uphill before tackling the second-category Col de Portet-d'Aspet, a long climb with an average gradient of 7.1 percent. After the Col de Portet-d'Aspet's technical descent, the route continued descending to the fourth-category Côte d'Aspret-Sarrat, which crested with left in the stage. Though the climb is only long, it has an average gradient of 8.4 percent. The last of the stage ran uphill, also at an average gradient of 8.4 percent. As soon as the flag dropped,

Kasper Asgreen Kasper Asgreen (born 8 February 1995) is a Danish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Asgreen won the 2021 edition of the Tour of Flanders by defeating Mathieu van der Poel in a sprint finish. Early life Asgreen was born in Kolding ...

() attacked and gained an advantage of around two minutes on the peloton.

Casper Pedersen Casper Philip Pedersen (born 15 March 1996) is a road and track cyclist from Denmark, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . In 2015 he competed at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the men's omnium. He won the bronze medal i ...

() and

Jasper Stuyven Jasper Stuyven (born 17 April 1992) is a Belgian professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Juniors Born in Leuven, Stuyven had a successful career as a junior rider. In 2009, at age 17, he won the UCI Junior W ...

() attempted to join Asgreen up front but they were not able to make inroads into his lead before being caught by the peloton. On the first climb of the day, Asgreen's lead began to decrease as several riders attacked from the peloton. Asgreen would soon be joined by teammate Mattia Cattaneo and 's

Michał Kwiatkowski Michał Kwiatkowski ( , born 2 June 1990) is a Polish professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Kwiatkowski is seen as a strong all rounder, with good sprinting, time-trialling and climbing abilities allowing him ...

, but the trio crested the top with only a lead of half a minute over the yellow jersey group. They were eventually caught on the descent, with Christopher Juul-Jensen () closing down the trio. Ahead of the intermediate sprint, Juul-Jensen went on the attack himself along with Fabien Doubey () and

(). The trio took maximum points at the intermediate sprint while Michael Matthews () and

() took 13 and 11 points, respectively, to further decrease

's () lead in the points classification. Both riders were part of an 11-man chasing group who tried to bridge to the trio up front while began to control the peloton and let the break go. On the Col de la Core,

() attacked from the chase group, eventually bridging up with the three riders at the front. Juul-Jensen dropped back to the chase group as Konrad led the trio at the top. From behind, briefly worked in the peloton in a bid to protect their place in the team classification. On the descent, the trio maintained their lead at around half a minute before Konrad dropped his companions on the Col de Portet-d'Aspet. The chase group also started to split as Colbrelli and

() went off in pursuit of Konrad. Colbrelli and Gaudu were eventually caught by the chase group while Konrad soloed to the stage win. Colbrelli beat Matthews in the sprint for second, though both riders would still gain points and further decrease Cavendish's lead. In the peloton, and

() instigated an attack on the Côte d'Aspret-Sarrat, causing a split in the peloton; however, all the contenders made it to the front group. The yellow jersey group eventually finished almost 14 minutes down on Konrad. Apart from

() losing 4 seconds on the uphill sprint to the line, the top ten remained unchanged ahead of two consecutive summit finishes in the Pyrenees.

Stage 17

;14 July 2021 –

Muret Muret (; in Gascon Occitan ''Murèth'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Muretains''. It is an outer suburb of the city o ...

Saint-Lary-Soulan Saint-Lary-Soulan (; oc, Sent Lari e Sola) is a communes of France, commune of Southwestern France, located in the Hautes-Pyrénées departments of France, department, Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. Geography Saint-Lary is locate ...

(

Col de Portet The Col de Portet is a mountain pass in the French Pyrenees in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées and the Occitanie region. The eastern side of the pass is located in the heart of the skiing area above Saint-Lary-Soulan, and is the winter home ...

), Stage 17 saw the riders take on the first of two consecutive summit finishes with a route from Muret to the summit of the Col de Portet. The route was the same as that of Stage 17 of the 2018 Tour, albeit preceded with of gradual uphill that took riders to the intermediate sprint at

Bagnères-de-Luchon Bagnères-de-Luchon (; oc, Banhèras de Luishon), also referred to as just Luchon, is a commune and spa town in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region of south-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Luchonn ...

, where Stage 17 in 2018 had started. The final featured three climbs that amount to just under of vertical climbing. From Bagnères-de-Luchon, riders took on the first of two consecutive first-category climbs, the long

Col de Peyresourde The Col de Peyresourde ( oc, Còth de Pèira Sorda) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the central Pyrenees on the border of the department of Haute-Garonne and Hautes-Pyrénées in France. It is situated on the D618 road between Bagnères-de-L ...

, with an average gradient of 7 percent. A descent into

Loudenvielle Loudenvielle (; oc, Lodenvièla) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. On 1 January 2016, the former commune Armenteule was merged into Loudenvielle.Col de Val Louron-Azet, a long climb with an average gradient of 8.3 percent. Following a descent to

at the foot of the ''

hors catégorie ''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass. The HC climb is the ...

'' Col de Portet, of climbing at an average gradient of 8.7 percent took the riders up to above sea level for the summit finish. The final climb featured multiple sections over 10 percent and apart from a single kilometre averaging 5 per cent, the gradient barely fell below 8 percent. As it was

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...

, the French national holiday, French riders were especially eager to get into the breakaway for a chance to win the stage. At the start of the stage, Pierre Rolland () established a gap, but no one was able to bridge up to him and he was eventually caught with to go. After a while, a group containing

Lukas Pöstlberger Lukas Pöstlberger (born 10 January 1992) is an Austrian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the Austrian National Road Race Championships in 2012. Born in Vöcklabruck, Pöstlberger was named in the start list for the 2017 ...

(), Anthony Perez (),

Dorian Godon Dorian Godon (born 25 May 1996) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . In August 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Vuelta a España. Major results ;2016 : 2nd Trofeo Almar ;2018 : 7th Overall Boucles de la M ...

(), and Danny van Poppel () broke away from the peloton. The peloton would let the break go but

Anthony Turgis Anthony Turgis (born 16 May 1994) is a French professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He was named in the startlist for the 2017 Vuelta a España. In July 2018, he was named in the start list for the Tour de France. P ...

() and Maxime Chevalier () made a last-ditch attempt to bridge to the break. Both riders managed to make it to the front group while behind,

() also tried to attack from the peloton but he was unable to make inroads into the break's lead. As controlled the peloton, was dealt a blow when

Steven Kruijswijk , birth_date = , birth_place = Nuenen, Netherlands , height = , weight = , currentteam = , discipline = Road , role = Rider , ridertype = Climber , proyears1 = 2006 , proteam1 = , proyears2 = 2007–2009 ...

abandoned the Tour after suffering from illness during the rest day. The break was allowed to gain an advantage of around eight and a half minutes before and began to set a steady tempo in the peloton for their respective contenders,

and

, in the mountains classification ahead of the day's climbs. At the intermediate sprint, the leading sextet took maximum points before Michael Matthews () finished ahead of

() to decrease his deficit to the Manxman to 36 points. The break soon reached the first climb of the day, the Col de Peyresourde, with a lead of eight minutes over the peloton. Their advantage began to rapidly decrease while Quintana and his teammate

Élie Gesbert Élie Gesbert (born 1 July 1995) is a French racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Gesbert competed in the Tour de France in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Career Fortuneo–Vital Concept (2016–present) Born in Saint-Brieuc, Ges ...

attacked from the peloton, with

() following to defend his lead in the mountains classification.

() managed to bridge up to the trio as the four riders gained a lead of about 40 seconds on the peloton. However, started to set a furious pace that brought back the quartet, but not before Latour left the three other riders behind. Turgis led the break over the top of the Peyresourde, almost three and a half minutes over Latour and around four minutes over the peloton. The break increased their lead to four and a half minutes ahead of the second climb, the Col de Val Louron-Azet, while the peloton caught Latour ahead of the climb. On the climb itself, Perez, Godon, and Turgis dropped their breakaway companions before Perez went solo off the front. Turgis continually lost time while Godon managed to pace his efforts to stay close to Perez. Pöstlberger, van Poppel, and Chevalier were caught by the peloton before reaching the top. Perez took the maximum points while Godon rode closely behind. The peloton reached the top at just under four minutes behind Perez, with Poels sprinting to the top to add four points to his mountains classification lead. On the descent, Godon bridged up to Perez and the duo worked together to maintain a four-minute advantage over the peloton. At the bottom of the Col du Portet, Godon accelerated but he was unable to drop Perez. Perez counterattacked further up the climb, dropping Godon in the process. Behind in the peloton, continued to set a fast tempo, sweeping up Turgis and shedding riders out the back; among their initial victims were

Enric Mas Enric Mas Nicolau () (born 7 January 1995) is a Spanish racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is a climber, and has finished in top 10 in world tour stage races, and has also won a stage at the Tour of the Basque Country. Career Mas wa ...

() and

(), two riders in the top ten on GC. Perez's lead rapidly decreased while Godon was caught with to go. At around the same time,

() attacked from the yellow jersey group but he would be caught shortly thereafter. With to go, the race leader,

(), made his first attack, catching Perez and bringing with him the duo of

and

Jonathan Castroviejo Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolás (born 27 April 1987) is a Spanish professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Getxo, Basque Country, Spain, Castroviejo spent two seasons with the feeder team of the de facto Basqu ...

(),

(), and Ben O'Connor (). Pogačar made another attack a few seconds later and only Carapaz, Vingegaard, and Urán could follow him. A few moments later, Urán was dropped and would continue to lose time until the finish. Towards the top, Pogačar and Vingegaard worked together to increase their gap while Carapaz continued to sit on their wheels. From the first chase group, which included Urán, O'Connor, and

Wilco Kelderman Wilco Kelderman (born 25 March 1991) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Professional career Born in Amersfoort, Kelderman finished in seventh position in the general classification of the 2014 Giro d'Italia ...

(),

() attempted to bridge to the front group but he would not get close to the trio. With to go, Carapaz surged, dropping Vingegaard while Pogačar immediately followed the move. Vingegaard slowly paced himself back, setting up a three-man sprint for the stage win. With to go, Pogačar made one final attack to take his second stage win of this year's Tour, his first while wearing the ''maillot jaune''. Vingegaard passed Carapaz to take second, 3 seconds behind. Gaudu finished fourth, 1' 19" behind while the other contenders crossed the line in ones and twos. O'Connor, Kelderman, and Bilbao lost around a minute and a half while Urán lost almost two minutes. Mas finished two and a half minutes behind while Lutsenko and Martin lost 2' 53" and 3' 39", respectively. In the GC, Pogačar strengthened his hold on the ''maillot jaune'' with a lead of 5' 39" over Vingegaard, who moved up to second. Carapaz moved into a podium position, 5' 43" behind Pogačar while Urán dropped to fourth at more than seven minutes behind. Apart from Lutsenko and Mas switching places, the other riders in the top ten maintained their positions but at a further distance from the ''maillot jaune''.

Stage 18

;15 July 2021 – Pau to

Luz Ardiden Luz Ardiden is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Occitanie Region. The ski resort lies at a height of 1720 meters and was opened on January 16, 1975. In recent years the road to Luz Ardiden ...

, The mountainous eighteenth stage featured the last chance for the pure climbers to improve their GC positions and make a difference ahead of the individual time trial in two days. It featured a pair of fourth-category and ''

'' climbs each, and at , it was the shortest stage of the 2021 Tour, apart from the two time trials and the

final stage Final stage or The Final Stage may refer to: * '' The Final Stage'', 1995 film directed by Frank Howson * Fifth stage of a bill's passage through a legislative chamber * In a multi-stage tournament: ** knockout stage ** playoffs The playoffs, p ...

. From the start in Pau, riders travelled gradually uphill to the intermediate sprint at Pouzac after , with the two fourth-category climbs along the way. The Côte de Notre-Dame de Piétat, long at an average gradient of 5.6 percent, crested into the stage, while the Côte de Loucrup, long at an average gradient of 7 percent, crested later. The route continued more noticeably uphill after Pouzac until riders reached

Sainte-Marie-de-Campan Campan (; oc, Campan) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of south-western France. Geography Campan stands in a valley of the same name at the confluence of the rivers Adour and Adour de Payolle. It is sit ...

at the foot of the ''hors catégorie''

Col du Tourmalet Col du Tourmalet (; elevation ) is one of the highest paved mountain passes in the French Pyrenees, in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. Sainte-Marie-de-Campan is at the foot on the eastern side and the ski station La Mongie two-thirds of ...

. After of climbing at an average gradient of 7.3 percent, the first rider to reach the summit of the Tourmalet, at above sea level, was awarded the

Souvenir Jacques Goddet The Souvenir Jacques Goddet is an award and cash prize in the Tour de France bicycle race that began in 2001. The Souvenir is named in honour of the historically second Tour de France director and French sports journalist Jacques Goddet. It is aw ...

. Following the descent and a few flat kilometres, the riders tackled the final climb of the stage, the ''hors catégorie'' climb up to Luz Ardiden, which was long at an average gradient of 7.4 percent. As soon as the flag dropped,

Matej Mohorič Matej Mohorič (born 19 October 1994) is a Slovenian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Mohorič turned professional in 2014. He is the Slovenian road race champion for 2018 and 2021. Biography Born on ...

(), Sean Bennett (), and Christopher Juul-Jensen () immediately went off the front while Cyril Barthe () tried to bridge up to the trio, albeit unsuccessfully. The trio attained a gap of a minute before the attacks started behind. After a while,

() tried to attack but just before he was supposed to get caught by the peloton,

Pierre-Luc Périchon Pierre-Luc Périchon (born 4 January 1987) is a French professional road and track bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, Périchon has competed as a professional since the start of the 2012 season, ...

() attacked and began to pace with him. With to go, both riders would eventually make it to the front group, with the -led peloton at around a minute and a half behind. The break was not allowed to gain an advantage of more than 1' 45" as the peloton kept the break in check. As the peloton reached the second climb of the day, attempted to split the peloton to drop the points classification leader,

(). Although a large group containing

() and Michael Matthews () managed to get a gap, the peloton rejoined at the top of the climb with Cavendish hanging on near the back. After the break took maximum points, Cavendish was successfully led out by

() to add two more points to his lead, as Mørkøv finished ahead of Matthews. Just after the intermediate sprint, attempted to break away with three of their riders along with

Dan Martin Daniel Martin may refer to: People * Dan Martin (actor) (born 1951), American actor *Dan Martin (drama educator) (born 1953), American academic *Dan Martin (cyclist) (born 1986), Irish road bicycle racer *Dan Martin (footballer) (born 1986), Britis ...

() and

() but they would be caught shortly afterwards. Ahead of the Col du Tourmalet, Pierre Rolland () attacked together with Juul-Jensen but the latter would be dropped before the climb. On the climb itself, the break split, with Mohorič and Alaphilippe the only surviving riders from the original break. In the chase group at around 40 seconds behind, Rolland was soon joined by

(),

Kenny Elissonde Kenny Elissonde (born 22 July 1991) is a French professional road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Elissonde is a climbing specialist, having won the prestigious stage up the Alto de l'Angliru at the 2013 Vuelta a España ...

(), and

Valentin Madouas Valentin Madouas (born 12 July 1996) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Described as a puncheur, Madouas has seen success in one-day classic races as well as having strong climbing abilities. In May 2019, he was ...

(). Further up the climb, the quartet were joined by Madouas's teammate,

Ruben Guerreiro Rúben António Almeida Guerreiro (; born 6 July 1994) is a Portuguese professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career In August 2016, announced that they had signed Guerreiro through to 2018. He joined for t ...

(), and the duo of

Ion Izagirre Ion Izagirre Insausti (born 4 February 1989) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer and cyclo-cross rider from the Basque Country, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is sometimes referred to as Jon Izagirre, to retain the correct ...

and

Omar Fraile Omar Fraile Matarranza (born 17 July 1990) is a Spanish racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is a winner of stages in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and has twice won the Mountains classification in the Vuelta a ...

() and Miguel Ángel López () also attempted to attack but both riders were swallowed up by the peloton. At this point, started to set a faster tempo in the peloton, rapidly decreasing the break's advantage. The chase group, apart from Rolland who was dropped, soon bridged up to Mohorič and Alaphilippe while the peloton was less than a minute down. The lead group soon began to shed riders until only Latour and Gaudu were left at the front. From behind,

() began to struggle as he lost contact at the back of the peloton. Near the top, king of the mountains leader

() and

() attacked from the peloton as they attempted to take more points for the KOM competition. Latour was first over the top of the Tourmalet, taking the Souvenir Jacques Goddet in the process. Poels managed to take 10 points at the top while Woods took 6 points. Poels increased his tally to 88 points, 16 points ahead of Woods who moved up to virtual second in the KOM competition. The peloton crossed the summit at a minute behind while Urán was a further minute and a half in arrears. On the descent, Gaudu immediately distanced Latour as the latter struggled going down the mountain. Latour was immediately caught by a chase group consisting of Poels, Guerreiro, and Fraile. kept Gaudu at around a minute while also swallowing up the chase group near the foot of Luz Ardiden. Gaudu continued to lose time until he started the climb with a lead of 20 seconds. With to go, Gaudu was caught by the yellow jersey group, still led by . They continued to set the tempo until

Rafał Majka Rafał Majka (Polish pronunciation: ; born 12 September 1989) is a Polish professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is known as a strong climber, and rose to prominence at the 2013 Giro d'Italia, where he finis ...

() took over with around to go as he looked to set up the race leader,

. With left, Pogačar launched his attack, followed closely by

(),

(), and the duo of

and

. Kuss soon began to pace the group until the final kilometre while behind in the chase group containing the other contenders,

attacked as he tried to bridge to the yellow jersey group. In the final kilometre, Mas accelerated off the front, but he was immediately marked by Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Carapaz. The four riders soon started to look at each other until Mas launched another attack. He managed to build a small gap, but Pogačar closed him down before attacking as well. Carapaz and Vingegaard tried to follow him, but Pogačar gradually increased his gap, eventually soloing to his second successive stage win and his third in this year's Tour. Vingegaard outsprinted Carapaz to take second place on the stage, two seconds behind. Mas held on to finish fourth at 13 seconds down while the other contenders finished around half a minute to a minute down. Urán ended up losing almost nine minutes on the day. As a result of Pogačar's stage win, he took 40 points at the top of Luz Ardiden, taking the lead in the KOM competition by 19 points. With only two points left on offer for the rest of the Tour, Pogačar effectively clinched the mountains classification pending his completion of the race. In the GC, Pogačar retained the ''maillot jaune'', slightly extending his lead to 5' 45" over Vingegaard. Carapaz retained the last spot on the podium, almost six minutes down and six seconds behind Vingegaard. Due to Urán losing time, all the other riders in the top ten moved up a spot while Urán held on to tenth, at more than 16 minutes behind Pogačar.

Stage 19

;16 July 2021 –

Mourenx Mourenx (; oc, Morencs) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. History A settlement of ''Mourengs'' existed in the eleventh century. A secular abbey existed, belonging to the Viscount of Béarn. In 1385 ...

Libourne Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émil ...

, The nineteenth stage was a transition stage from Mourenx to Libourne. The stage started on a short descent before the riders tackled the sole fourth-category climb of the day, the Côte de Bareille, a climb with an average gradient of 5.3 percent. After the climb, the course featured rolling terrain until the intermediate sprint, situated at the top of an uncategorized climb in

Saint-Sever Saint-Sever (, Gascon ''Sent Sever'' ) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. History and geography Saint-Sever stands on an eminence. It is south of Mont-de-Marsan, on the left bank of the ...

, after of racing. From there, the stage was mostly flat apart from several lumps in the final . Only 142 riders started the stage as

() and Miguel Ángel López () left the Tour to focus on the Olympics. A few moments after the flag dropped, a massive crash took place, taking down several riders but no one was seriously hurt. The crash split the peloton into several groups while a group containing

(),

Franck Bonnamour Franck Bonnamour (born 20 June 1995) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI World Tour team AG2R Citroën Team. His father, Yves Bonnamour, was also a professional cyclist. He rode and completed his first grand tour in the 2021 Tour ...

(), Simon Clarke (),

(),

Jonas Rutsch Jonas Rutsch (born 24 January 1998) is a German professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He rode for in the men's team time trial event at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships. Major results ;2018 : 2nd Road ...

(), and

() broke away from the peloton. After a regrouping in the peloton, the six-man group built a lead of four and a half minutes before began to chase them down. With around to go, another crash took down several riders in the peloton, including

() and most of , but everyone got back up and rejoined the peloton. At the intermediate sprint, the sextet took maximum points while behind in the peloton, Michael Matthews () and

() took 9 and 8 points, respectively.

() managed to take 6 points as his lead in the points classification decreased to 35 points. After the intermediate sprint, stopped working in the peloton as several riders attempted to break away. Eventually, a 20-man group detached themselves and built a lead of around a minute over the peloton. , , , and soon started to work together to bring the gap to the chasers down. After their lead over the peloton was brought down to around 20 seconds, the chasing group started to split and began to slowly build their advantage. The 14-man chase group managed to bridge up to the original six-man break with to go. Despite the best efforts of and to chase, the break's lead continued to increase, and the peloton eventually knocked off the chase with to go. The break immediately increased their advantage to more than 10 minutes until the attacks started with to go as

() kicked off the hostilities. Several riders continued to attack, shedding riders from the break and splitting the group in two after an attack from

Christophe Laporte Christophe Laporte (born 11 December 1992 in La Seyne-sur-Mer) is a French cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Laporte was a member of from 2014 to 2021. He was named in the Team Cofidis start list for the Tour de France for seven co ...

(). With to go, after an unsuccessful attack from

(), Mohorič launched an attack and immediately built a gap. Laporte tried to bridge up to him, but Mohorič gradually increased his advantage. The chase group was unable to work together as they began to attack each other. Mohorič eventually soloed to his second stage win in this year's Tour, almost a minute ahead of Laporte,

(), and

Mike Teunissen Mike Teunissen (born 25 August 1992) is a Dutch racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career He rode at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships, and was the winner of the World Under-23 Cyclo-cross Championships in 2013. He was ...

(). The peloton, led by , rolled across the line at almost 21 minutes behind Mohorič. The top ten remained unchanged ahead of the penultimate stage

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

Stage 20

;17 July 2021 – Libourne to

Saint-Émilion Saint-Émilion (; Gascon: ''Sent Milion'') is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. In 2016, it had a population of 1,938. In the heart of the country of ''Libournais'' (the area around Libourne), i ...

, ( ITT) The penultimate stage of the Tour featured the race's second individual time trial, with the riders travelling from Libourne to Saint-Émilion. The course was similar to the first time trial on

Stage 5 Stage 5 (or, originally, "Stage V") is an unofficial stage at the Walnut Valley Festival, an annual bluegrass festival in Winfield, Kansas, United States. Set up in the Pecan Grove campground, the informal stage began in 1987 when camper Russe ...

with a rolling terrain greeted the riders on the road. The first intermediate time check was situated at

Pomerol Pomerol (; oc, Pomairòus) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine near Bordeaux in southwestern France. Wine With only . Pomerol is the smallest wine producing area in the Bordeaux region. It is more a community where t ...

after of racing. After , there was a short uphill ramp with an average gradient of around 4.5 percent. There was another short ramp towards the second intermediate time check at Montagne after . The final few kilometres of the course featured a false flat towards the finish line in Saint-Émilion. As is customary for an individual time trial, the riders set off in reverse order of their GC places. As a result,

() was the first rider off the start ramp. The first riders to set fast times were

Mikkel Bjerg Mikkel Bjerg (born 3 November 1998 in Copenhagen) is a Danish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Bjerg won the under-23 individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019 – becoming the first rider to ...

() and Stefan Bissegger (). Bjerg set a time of 36' 45", putting him in the hot seat, but Bissegger set faster times at both intermediate time checks by slim margins. Bissegger eventually beat Bjerg's time by eight seconds. He would stay in the hot seat before

() began to threaten Bissegger's time. Asgreen was six seconds up at the first time check before extending his lead to 23 seconds at the second time check. He maintained his advantage to the finish, setting a time of 36' 14" and becoming the first rider to average on the day. The European time trial champion, Stefan Küng (), soon went off the start ramp as one of the favorites for the win. Küng started out fast, beating Asgreen's time by 10 seconds at the first time check. He started to slow by the second time check as his advantage was down to 0.25 seconds. Küng eventually had to settle for a time of 36' 31", 17 seconds slower than Asgreen. Asgreen's time stood for a long time until

() started his ride. He set the fastest times at both intermediate time checks before setting a time of 35' 53", the only time on the day under 36 minutes. His time stood for the rest of the day as he won his second stage of this year's Tour. The focus soon shifted to the top ten riders as there were several spots still up for grabs.

(), sitting in ninth on GC, was only 1' 02" behind

() and was expected to overhaul the Frenchman. However, Bilbao struggled with the placement of his radio and ended up setting a time of 39' 06". Martin managed to limit his losses to 31 seconds as he retained his eighth place on GC. In the battle for sixth,

() had a lead of 1' 11" over

(), with the latter recognized as a superior time trialist. Lutsenko eventually set a time of 37' 51" while Mas finished with a time of 38' 22", which meant that Mas protected his sixth place. Meanwhile, in fourth place, Ben O'Connor () had a lead of only 32 seconds over

(), who was recognized as the better time trialist. However, O'Connor was five seconds faster at the first time check. Although he lost time for the rest of the course, O'Connor only ended up losing 21 seconds to Kelderman and thus kept his fourth place on GC. Lastly,

() was only six seconds up on

() in the battle for second, with the Dane recognized as the faster time trialist. Vingegaard ended up setting the third best time of 36' 25" to keep his second place while Carapaz lost more than a minute and a half to the Dane. The last rider off the start ramp was

(), the ''maillot jaune''. With a lead of 5' 45" over Vingegaard, Pogačar could afford to ride more conservatively and avoid taking any risks. The Slovenian eventually set a time of 36' 50", the eighth best time on the day and effectively sealed his second consecutive Tour title ahead of the procession to Paris.

Stage 21

;18 July 2021 –

Chatou Chatou () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Chatou is a part of the affluent suburbs of western Paris and is on the northwest side of the Seine river about from the city's center. Hi ...

(

), The last stage of the race featured the

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

sprint finish in Paris on the

. The first featured a lumpy parcours with a single fourth-category climb, the Côte des Grès, on the way. The riders reached Paris and passed through the finish line for the first time after . The riders completed eight laps around the Champs-Élysées, with the intermediate sprint taking place in the third lap at around from the finish. The circuit was slightly altered as the finish line was moved further from the last right-hand bend and closer towards the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

. Prior to the stage, there was one non-starter as

Jakob Fuglsang Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (born 22 March 1985) is a Danish professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Before turning professional for , he was a mountain biker racing for Team Cannondale–Vredestein, winning the Unde ...

() left the Tour due to sickness following the ITT. Much like every year, the first half of the stage was a celebratory procession with no one attacking prior to reaching Paris. led the field onto the first passage through the finish line. Immediately afterwards, 13 riders went off the front of the peloton, but the break was quickly shut down. After a regrouping, a three-man group composed of Stefan Bissegger (), Harry Sweeny (), and

() broke away from the peloton. They took maximum points at the intermediate sprint while behind,

() was successfully led out by

to add two more points to his lead for the green jersey. The break was joined by

() while Pedersen was soon called back by his team. The trio built a lead of around half a minute before being caught by the peloton with to go. Several riders launched more attacks before another three-man group composed of Ide Schelling (),

Brent Van Moer Brent Van Moer (born 12 January 1998) is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . In October 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Vuelta a España. Career He won the first stage of the 2021 Critérium du Dauphiné wi ...

(), and

Michael Valgren Michael Valgren Hundahl (né Andersen; born 7 February 1992) is a Danish professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . In 2018, Valgren won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Amstel Gold Race. Career He became a professio ...

() broke away with around to go. The peloton kept the break under control, not letting them get a lead of more than 30 seconds. Heading into the penultimate lap, two riders from ,

Cyril Gautier Cyril Gautier (born 26 September 1987) is a French road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2007 to 2022. He was named in the start list for the 2015 Vuelta a España. In August 2015, L'Équipe reported Gautier had signed for for ...

and

, attempted to bridge up to the trio but the peloton shut down the move. The front trio was eventually caught with around remaining, just inside the final lap, as the sprinters' teams set their riders up for the final sprint. Towards the finish line,

() managed to lead out his teammate,

, who started his sprint with around to go.

() tried to come around him while Cavendish was boxed in just behind van Aert. Van Aert held both riders off to win the sprint, his second consecutive win and third win in this year's race, while Philipsen and Cavendish finished second and third, respectively. Van Aert added a sprint win to his mountain stage win on stage 11 and his time trial win the previous day.

() finished safely in the bunch to confirm his second consecutive Tour title. The traditional prize-giving commenced shortly afterwards.

Notes

References

{{Cycling stage recaps, 2021 Tour de France, 1, 11, 12, 21 2021 Tour de France Tour de France stages