The 2026 Tour de France is in the books. Three weeks, 21 stages, countless subplots and a fifth overall victory for Tadej Pogačar, who continues to add pages to the sport’s history books as quickly as he rides uphill.With the race fresh in our minds, The Athletic’s cycling squad convened to review this year’s race and look ahead to next year’s edition.How did you feel about Pogacar and UAE’s dominance of the race and the GC battle?Jacob Whitehead: There was a moment of disappointment on stage six. This had been set up to be decided over Alpe d’Huez in the final week — but that was a narrative that reality did not endure. And this is the reality with watching Pogacar. When watching a rider establish themselves as the greatest ever, there are going to be days, weeks, months where they are dominant. Pogacar is in the middle of that, just as Eddy Merckx was, just as Lance Armstrong did. And so that initial disappointment was replaced with acceptance.In Pogacar, we are blessed with one of the most aggressive yellow jerseys in history, responsible for dragging cycling from the tactical drudgery of the 2010s. This is a different beauty, a brutal one, but it is there.Chris Waugh: I was quite comfortable with it. If Pogacar was not en route to history and, more importantly, were he not such an aggressive and entertaining rider to watch, then a procession towards Paris would be very boring. Yet Pogacar’s willingness to attack early and so frequently ignites the race; he may be borderline unstoppable for the stage victories he targets and for the GC, but he creates devastation and time gaps behind.There may not be a race to be No 1, but there is very much a race to be the best of the rest (or, in some cases, to merely hang in there and work out what pace you can actually sustain to the line, given his brutal accelerations).Pogačar pictured with fans after his astonishing win at Alpe d’Huez (Thibault Camus / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)Beren Cross: I have memories of watching Formula One as a child and being bored stiff by Michael Schumacher’s dominance with Ferrari. I just don’t ever feel that way about Pogacar and UAE. I marvel at how he can take human endurance to such lengths. The playing field is rarely level in motorsport; the best driver may not always win, but in cycling it’s mano a mano.The best often wins, and it’s right we appreciate what we have with Pogacar while he’s riding. Not only does he have the best engine, but he has panache and charisma to go with it. He won’t just sit in a white line of UAE jerseys and jump for the last kilometer. He is unpredictable and brave with his moves. He keeps it entertaining.Duncan Alexander: Like Jacob, I was slightly disappointed that GC jeopardy departed as early as stage six, but Pogačar’s display that day was the perfect illustration of why he is so good. He took as much time on the descent of the Tourmalet as he had on the way up the other side. He’s the most complete bike rider (on any terrain) I’ve ever seen. He’d win the Tour riding for Picnic PostNL.Who in the top 10 can be most pleased with their race?CW: Paul Seixas. He may have finished agonisingly short of the podium and the white jersey for the best young rider, but Seixas’ fourth place is still extraordinary. Remember, he is 19 and there has not been a younger Tour starter since the Second World War. This was Seixas’ first three-week Grand Tour and he will only learn and grow from it.Rather than be overawed and crumble given the weight of expectation from a home nation desperate for a first champion of their own in four decades, the Decathlon leader rose to the challenge. A genuine prodigy.JW: I agree, and it was difficult to see Seixas so disappointed atop Alpe d’Huez on Saturday. You wanted to give him a shake. Winners included, it was one of the most remarkable performances in history. Off the bike, the way in which he dealt with the buzz from an anticipatory French public was exemplary. His nascent rivalry with Isaac del Toro makes me excited for the sport for the decade to come.A dejected Seixas after stage 20 of the 2026 Tour (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)BC: Mattias Skjelmose. His time trial performance was phenomenal and he came into this race, most people expected, as Juan Ayuso’s final domestique. However, he hung in and proved himself to be far superior to the Spaniard. Ayuso has been heralded as one of the future stars of the sport and the Dane would have been conscious of that when the team splashed out millions to sign the 23-year-old. I really enjoyed seeing him prove any doubters wrong.DA: Remco Evenepoel had one of the best three weeks of his career. He came into this year’s race as Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s co-leader with Florian Lipowitz but most expected him to shed time in the big mountain stages. Instead, he has made a case he can one day win the Tour. Lipowitz’s unfortunate abandon in the stage 16 time trial came 24 hours after Evenepoel had outsprinted Pogačar to win at Plateau de Solaison. And in all the Alpe d’Huez hype, it shouldn’t be overlooked that Evenepoel is now one of just five men to ascend the Alpe in under 38 minutes.Given his time trial strength, you wonder if the organizers will consider bringing back multiple tests (and possibly longer) tests against the clock. If they do, Evenepoel can win the Tour de France.Remco Evenepoel’s progression in this edition of the Tour augurs well for the future (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)Carapaz or Pedersen, who was more impressive?JW: Carapaz for me. I cannot conceive being in the break, face to the wind, on three successive mountain days. His aggression should put riders who rode for the lower GC places, rather than stage wins, to shame. I admire Pedersen — and his team were exceptional — but a small part of me would still like to see the green jersey go to the fastest man, rather than the most consistent.CW: Pedersen. I love watching Carapaz in full flight, but it was during the second half of the Tour when he really came to life. And as impressive as his consistent ascending and attacking was, the Ecuadorian did not do it over the entire Tour. Pedersen, meanwhile, attacked pretty much from the off and, although his only stage victory came on day four between Carcassonne and Foix, he kept getting into breakaways and he swept up more than 70 per cent of the intermediate sprint points.Both are box office in differing ways, but Pedersen pips this one because he performed over so many different terrains.Carapaz and Pedersen were worthy winners of their classification jerseys (David Pintens / BELGA MAG / AFP via Getty Images)BC: Pedersen. The way he fought for that jersey across every inch he pedalled for three weeks was marvellous. He and his team calculated their best chance of winning it across the opportunities each stage did, or did not, present and executed on it. He was irrepressible in trying for every intermediate sprint. He made them something worth tuning in for. I love the way Carapaz animates like climbers from a bygone era, but the consistency and durability of Pedersen shades it, for me.DA: Pedersen’s commitment in the final few stages to mopping up the intermediate points was absolutely class. Seeing the big Dane (very briefly) lead the GC group up the first hairpin at Alpe d’Huez was great too. Who needs altitude training?What was your favorite stage?CW: I loved Stage 19, when Pogacar delivered one of the best climbs in history as he smashed the record for ascending Alpe D’Huez, and Evenepoel pipping UAE on Plateau de Solaison felt like a coming-of-Tour triumph for the Belgian. But the contrarian in me is actually going to opt for Stage 1, the revised team time trial. I know many purists didn’t like that each rider only got their time once they crossed the line, but I found the concept refreshing.Team time trials are usually just stages I endure, rather than enjoy, but there was real jeopardy throughout — especially for the tactics of those teams with multiple GC contenders. The GC battle began from the off and meant we largely rid ourselves of the first-week phoney war we are so often used to.JW: The Champs-Élysées. I am writing this 200m from its cobbles; there is an empty beer from a team bus beside me, but recency bias be damned — this race saved its best until last. Van der Poel and Pogacar joined forces like the final scene in a superhero trilogy, somehow defying logic and legs to hold off the peloton for 10km with a 12-second lead.Van der Poel’s final sprint, light fading in his eyes, was one of the most obdurate and brave performances I have ever seen on a bike. That win was made by Pogacar too. For the yellow jersey to race like that on the final stage — the allegations of him making the sport boring to watch are laughable.In the space of 12 months, Paris’ Montmartre climb has become indispensable (Etienne Garnier / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)BC: Stage 21. Breathtaking. The addition of the Montmartre to the final stage in each of the past two years has been a triumph. I hope it remains for eternity. The way it animates what has previously been a procession keeps this race humming until the bitter end. Last year, it was Pogacar and Wout van Aert. This year, Pogacar and Van Der Poel. What more can you ask for?It’s a profile which teases out the best riders in the world, across a terrain which suits them all, and asks them to duel. This year, to have, arguably, the two best riders in the world hanging off the front, battling against 30 of the best cyclists, each taking turns, was phenomenal.DA: Stages 19 and 21 were unforgettable, of course, but they’ve been covered above so let’s go for a deeper cut. Namely stage 13 when the race split into pieces, Tom Pidcock climbed back up the GC, Pedersen had to make a desperate attempt to reach Philipsen up the road to defend green, and the excellent Mauro Schmid got the victory his talent deserves. He’ll be riding with/for Pidcock at Pinarello Q36.5 next season.Who was your unsung hero?JW: Nils Politt. The German rouleur just took over the middle portion of stages for UAE Team Emirates. He controlled breakaways as if spinning on his indoor trainer at home — and made it far further into climbs than I could have expected. UAE Team Emirates’ strength in depth was terrifying — on a more serious note, and a conversation for another day, it demonstrated why cycling needs a budget cap to stay competitive.CW: Valentin Paret-Peintre. The 25-year-old may have fallen short in his attempt to win the polka-dot jersey, but his keenness to compete for the climbing classification — and to state so publicly, long before the Tour began — breathed fresh life into a competition which is so often overlooked because the GC riders usually claim it by default. The Frenchman was aggressive and looked to take opportunities whenever he could. His battle with Carapaz, and their clear contrasting styles, was great to watch.BC: Quinn Simmons. He could be a touch more sensible with where and when he attacks, but he is such a good rider to watch. Much like his team-mate, Pedersen, he is tireless and irrepressible. If he could refine the opportunities he takes, he will surely start racking up stage wins.US champion Quinn Simmons was everywhere, all the time at this year’s Tour (Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)DA: A Frenchman eligible for the white jersey who secured a top five finish. No, not Paul Seixas but Lenny Martinez — once the next great hope of French cycling and, as he displayed for Bahrain Victorious in this year’s race, still a great talent.He will be frustrated not to have won up Alpe d’Huez on stage 19, but he can definitely challenge for the podium (and white jersey) in future editions.Who or what was your biggest disappointment?CW: Netcompany INEOS. Who are they now? What are they even trying to achieve? This almost feels existential. Oscar Onley’s injury was very unfortunate; he finished fourth in the 2025 edition and the Brit seems like a genuine talent. But the team knew before the race that their leader was not going to be available, and yet they did not even get close to a stage win, never mind troubling any of the jersey classifications. A huge budget, huge resources, and yet seemingly no purpose or direction at the moment.JW: It is really sad to see what has happened to Picnic-PostNL. They lit up last year’s Tour with Oscar Onley’s podium, and with Romain Bardet’s stage win the year before. Here, after a nightmare season which sees them marooned at the bottom of the WorldTour standings, they were anonymous. Relegation surely beckons; it is imperative that this developer of dozens of talents survives.A poor Tour for Picnic PostNL ended with a crash on the Champs-Élysées (Bernard Papon / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)BC: Florian Lipowitz. That was an awful crash in the time trial for the German. He had been having a good Tour overall and I was excited to see how closely he could have pushed Evenepoel before the end. I wonder how well he would have done in the high mountains against Seixas and Isaac Del Toro, too.DA: This may sound harsh but in the light of Seixas finishing fourth and second in the yellow and white jersey competitions, perhaps Decathlon would have been better letting him slide in the GC in the final week and seeing if he could have won a stage from a breakaway. In terms of resonance with the general public, a picture of him with his arms in the air is probably greater than a very solid-but-rarely-spectacular first Grand Tour. Then again, he and his team will have learnt a lot this month so they almost certainly made the right decision.What are you hoping for from the 2027 race/route?JW: To be quite honest, the Grand Depart beginning in the United Kingdom already satisfies me. I was 15 years old in 2014, standing on a stone bridge in Swaledale, Yorkshire, clinging onto a road sign so I didn’t fall into the river as Jens Voigt sped past, the lone rider in the break. I cannot wait to see the Tour again at home.Next year the Tour returns to the UK for the first time since 2014 (Eric Feferbeg/AFP via Getty Images)CW: Pavé — this brings excitement and misfortune, but also tests another element of riders’ capabilities — and a proper TT for the specialists. Seeing Filippo Ganna and other time triallists be able to properly fight it out for a stage, rather than just witness the GC contenders wrap up the top spots, would be fun.BC: Similar to Chris, really, or even some gravel, too. Stage nine in 2024 was fantastic. It was the day Evenepoel had accused Jonas Vingegaard of lacking the required courage to attack. I remember the race being strung out all over the road, no domestiques around to help the leaders and the big boys expected to close down their own gaps. It was chaos.DA: Given the race is rumored to be crossing from the UK to Cherbourg in Normandy, I fear for Chris’ hopes of seeing some cobbles in next year’s edition. But like Beren, I hope they try another gravel stage soon. I’d also, as mentioned above, like to see some longer time trials to help Remco mount a challenge. When Bradley Wiggins won in 2012, his victory was built around two time trials; one was 42km and the other 54km.Rate this TdF out of 10CW: 8.5 Genuinely one of the most enjoyable editions I’ve witnessed. Had Vingegaard not been forced to abandon so early and there had been a proper GC race, it would have been a nine or higher (even if Pogacar already looked to be on course for the victory).JW: 7. The lack of GC fight does cap its ceiling — and I’d have loved more surprise stage winners — but the minor classifications were thrilling throughout.BC: 8. Stages 19 and 21 really saved it, for me. They were thrilling. While I adore Pogacar, the race is infinitely better when there is real yellow jersey jeopardy. The Slovenian is too good, but thankfully, entertaining with it.DA: 7.5. Yes, Pogačar was dominant but if you see the race as 21 one-day races, then we were served up some fine fare. The list of stage winners is testament to the field’s class.