The Tour de France is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest of the three Grand Tours and is generally considered the most prestigious.
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating 4.011 km (2.492 mi) motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
Movistar Team is a professional road bicycle racing team which participates at UCI WorldTeam level and has achieved thirteen general classification (GC) victories in Grand Tours. The title sponsor is the Spanish mobile telephone company Telefónica, with the team riding under the name of the company's brand Movistar.
Mark Simon Cavendish is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a sprinter. He is widely considered one of the greatest road sprinters of all time, and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France.
Gregory Henderson is a New Zealand former professional track and road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2017. His career includes winning the 15-kilometre (9.3-mile) scratch race at the 2004 world championships and, in road cycling, winning the points competition at the Tour de Georgia in 2005 and 2008.
Giorgia Bronzini is an Italian former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2017. She won the women's road race in the UCI Road World Championships in both 2010 and 2011 and the women's points race in the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 2009.
Christopher Clive Froome [kɹɪs fɹuːm], is a Kenyan-British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech. He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France, one Giro d'Italia (2018) and the Vuelta a España twice. He has also won several other stage races, and the Vélo d'Or three times. Froome has also won two Olympic bronze medals in road time trials, in 2012 and 2016, and took bronze in the 2017 World Championships.
Katusha–Alpecin was a Russian road bicycle racing team which competed at the UCI WorldTeam level using Canyon bikes. The team was created in 2008 by Igor Makarov, an ex-professional cyclist and entrepreneur. In 2017 the team took a broader international direction, still supported by Igor Makarov's company ARETI International Group, Swiss clothing company Katusha Sports and German shampoo manufacturer Alpecin. The team competed as a UCI ProTeam/WorldTour team between 2009 and 2019. Joaquim Rodríguez, Alexander Kristoff, Daniel Moreno, Simon Špilak, Filippo Pozzato, Luca Paolini, Ilnur Zakarin and Tony Martin are some of the most successful riders who rode for Katusha.
Rohan Dennis is an Australian former professional road racing cyclist. He won back to back UCI men's individual time trial world championships in 2018 and 2019.
Alexander Kristoff is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Uno-X Mobility. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Tour of Flanders among many other successes.
Peter Sagan is a Slovak professional cyclist, who competes in road bicycle racing for UCI Continental team RRK Group–Pierre Baguette–Benzinol. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-country race at the 2008 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, before moving to road racing. Following 121 victories in road racing, Sagan is scheduled to return to mountain bike racing in 2024 with Specialized Factory Racing.
Team Qhubeka was a UCI WorldTeam based in South Africa. The team rode to raise awareness and funds for Qhubeka, a South African not-for-profit organisation. The team was founded in 2007 and was the first-ever African team to ride the Tour de France (2015).
The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 29 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The Tour consisted of twenty-one stages and covered a total distance of 3,403.5 km (2,115 mi). The overall general classification was won by Chris Froome of Team Sky. Second and third respectively were Nairo Quintana and the Team Katusha rider Joaquim Rodríguez.
The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, including an opening prologue, and covered a total distance of 3,496.9 km (2,173 mi). As well as the prologue, the first two stages took place in Belgium, and one stage finished in Switzerland. Bradley Wiggins won the overall general classification, and became the first British rider to win the Tour. Wiggins's teammate Chris Froome placed second, and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas–Cannondale) was third.
John Degenkolb is a German professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team dsm–firmenich PostNL. His biggest wins to date are the 2015 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Paris–Roubaix, two of cycling's five monuments. He is a winner of stages in all three Grand Tours, with ten stages and the points classification at the Vuelta a España, one stage of the Giro d'Italia, and one stage in the Tour de France.
Elia Viviani is an Italian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers. On 10 May 2015, Viviani won his first Grand Tour stage victory at the Giro d'Italia, winning stage 2 in a bunch sprint before Moreno Hofland and André Greipel.
Nairo Alexánder Quintana Rojas, ODB, is a Colombian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Movistar Team.
The 2015 Tour de France was the 102nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,360.3 km (2,088 mi)-long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 4 July in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and concluding on 26 July with the Champs-Élysées stage in Paris. A total of 198 riders from 22 teams entered the race. The overall general classification was won by Chris Froome of Team Sky, with the second and third places taken by Movistar Team riders Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde, respectively.
Caleb Ewan is an Australian road and track bicycle racer who rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla. A sprinter, Ewan has a style similar to that of Mark Cavendish, taking an extremely low position that offers him an aerodynamic advantage.
Patrick Bevin is a New Zealand professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team dsm–firmenich PostNL.
Abdelbasset Hannachi (ALG)
Luca Wackermann (ITA)