The Tour de France is the world's biggest annual sporting event. Normally held in July, the event sees nearly 200 cyclists race over 2,000 miles in just 23 days. While most of the race takes part
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, cools off after the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial over 22.5 kilometers (14 miles) with start in Passy and finish in Combloux, France, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Pool Photo via AP)
WHOOP quantifies the strain (cardiovascular load) your body takes on each day on a 0-21 scale. Through the Tour’s 21 stages (which spanned just 23 days total with only a pair of days off), the EF riders posted average day strains of 20 or more 13 times. Additionally, on other days they averaged 19.5, 19.4, 19.2, 18.8 and 18.0 (see graphic below). The fastest team time trial in the Tour de France was by Orica–GreenEDGE in 2013 during the 25 km team time trial around Nice. Orica–GreenEDGE had an average speed of 57.84 km/h (35.94 mph) and won the stage, with Simon Gerrans taking the yellow jersey. However, the team time trial was not held in the Tour from 2006 through to 2008. Stage Winner: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won a Stage 8 sprint, holding off Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to win his first stage of the 2023 Tour de France. The run Mark Cavendish equaled the all-time tally of Tour de France stage wins when he sped over the finish line at Carcassonne on Friday for a landmark 34th victory in the race. It was Cavendish’s Fakys3S.