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The 2023 Tour de France was the 110th edition of the Tour de France. It started in Bilbao, Spain, on 1 July and ended with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris, on 23 July. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo–Visma) won the general classification for the second year in a row. Two-time champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished in second place, with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) finishing third. The race began in Bilbao in the Basque Country before returning to France. The first two weeks of the race was closely fought between Vingegaard and Pogačar, with just 10 seconds between the riders by the end of the second week. The decisive stages were the individual time trial on stage 16 where Vingegaard won by 1 minute 38 seconds ahead of Pogačar, and the subsequent stage in the Alps where Vingegaard extended his lead to over seven minutes. Vingegaard won the Tour for the second year running, putting him equal on Tour wins with his rival Pogačar. His winning margin of 7 minutes 29 seconds was the largest since 2014. The points classification was won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) for the first time. The mountains classification was won by Giulio Ciccone (Trek–Segafredo), the first Italian to achieve this feat since 1992. The young rider classification was won by Pogačar for the fourth year in a row, and the team of Team Jumbo–Visma won the team classification. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto–Dstny) was chosen as the most combative rider. The race was followed by the second edition of the Tour de France Femmes, which held its first stage on the final day of the men's Tour. Teams 22 teams took part in the race. All 18 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited. They were joined by 4 UCI ProTeams: the two highest placed UCI ProTeams in 2022 (Lotto–Dstny and Team TotalEnergies), along with Uno-X Pro Cycling Team and Israel–Premier Tech who were selected by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the Tour. The teams were announced on 4 January 2023. UCI WorldTeams UCI ProTeams Route and stages In January 2022, Amaury Sport Organisation announced that the Basque Country in Spain would host the Grand Départ, with the first stage in Bilbao. It was the second time that the Basque Country hosted the Tour's start, following the 1992 edition. In October 2022, the full route was announced by Christian Prudhomme. The race began in Bilbao, next to the Guggenheim Museum, before crossing into France on stage 3. After two stages in the Pyrenees, the Tour returned to the Puy de Dôme for the first time since 1988 at the end of the first week. After the first rest day, the race crossed over the Massif Central into the Alps, with stage 13 on Bastille Day ending with a summit finish on the Col du Grand Colombier. Another summit finish followed two stages later, this time at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. Following the second rest day, stage 16 was the only individual time trial of the race, at 22.4 km (13.9 mi) in length. Stage 17 in the Alps featured the most amount of climbing, with over 5,000 m (16,000 ft) on the way to Courchevel. Two transitional stages led to the penultimate day, ending at Le Markstein in the Vosges, before a 500 km (310 mi) transfer for the ceremonial final stage in Paris. The first week of the Tour was described by French rider Romain Bardet (Team dsm–firmenich) as "most difficult [...] that ever existed", featuring a large number of high-mountain climbs and offering up the possibility of significant time differences between the general classification contenders. The route was considered to favour climbers, with one short, uphill time trial on stage 16. Pre-race favourites The 2023 Tour de France was generally expected to be a two-way fight between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo–Visma) and two-time winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). Both had finished in first and second place respectively the year before, with the positions reversed in 2021. The pair had raced against one another early in the season at Paris–Nice, a race won by Pogačar, while Vingegaard finished third. Vingegaard's form then picked up as the season progressed. He won three stages and the overall classification at the Tour of the Basque Country in April. At the Critérium du Dauphiné, the most important preparation event for the Tour, he won two stages and won the general classification by the biggest margin since 1993. Pogačar meanwhile enjoyed a very successful spring campaign, winning the Tour of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race, and La Flèche Wallonne. He also came fourth at Milan–San Remo and third at the E3 Saxo Classic. A crash and subsequent injury at Liège–Bastogne–Liège then interrupted his season. Behind Vingegaard and Pogačar, the best chances at overall victory were given to 2022 Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley (Bora–Hansgrohe). His best result in the run-up to the Tour was fourth overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Other riders named as possible favourites were Mikel Landa (Team Bahrain Victorious), Enric Mas (Movistar Team), David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ), former Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team), and Romain Bardet (Team dsm–firmenich). Following his victory at the Tour de Suisse, the name of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl–Trek) was also added to the list of potential favourites. Also named, albeit with even lower chances of victory, were Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), his brother Simon Yates (Team Jayco–AlUla), Daniel Martínez, Tom Pidcock (both Ineos Grenadiers), and Giulio Ciccone (Trek–Segafredo). Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), the winner of the 2019 Tour de France, was not given big chances to win overall, since he was still recovering from a life-threatening crash the year before, even though he performed well at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Four-time winner Chris Froome (Israel–Premier Tech), who had so far not managed to reach his previous form after a serious accident in 2019, was left off his team's Tour roster. The most notable absentees from the race were a quartet of general classification favourites and former Grand Tour winners who chose to prioritise the 2023 Giro d'Italia, which featured more time trial kilometres than the Tour in 2023, which suited some of these riders. Those four were eventual Giro winner Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo–Visma), 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and two who left the Giro through illness and injury when highly placed, 2020 Giro winner Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) and incumbent World Champion and Vuelta a España winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step). Several riders were seen as possible favourites for victories on stages ending in bunch sprints and therefore for the points classification, which is won based on points collected by high placings on individual stages and awards a green jersey. Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team) returned for his last Tour de France and was chasing the record for .... Discover the Adrien De Meeus popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Adrien De Meeus books.