Saturday, 4 July 2026 marks exactly one year to go until the Tour de France comes to Welsh roads for the first time.
When stage three of the 2027 ‘Grand Boucle’ sets off from Welshpool to Cardiff, it will be the latest link between Wales and cycling’s most famous race, including Geraint Thomas’ remarkable victory in 2018.
Josh Tarling becomes the sixth Welshman to ride Le Tour, having made the start line for the 2026 edition, while several other notable figures with Welsh links have left their mark on the legendary event.
Geraint Thomas
The only Welsh man to win the Tour de France, Geraint Thomas rode the three-week event 14 times, finishing on the podium on three occasions.
Almost four decades after Colin Lewis blazed the trail in the 1960s, Thomas became just the second Welsh rider to start Le Tour. Racing as a first-year pro with Barloworld he was the youngest competitor in the race at 21, and reached Paris as the 140th of 141 survivors.
He was the first Welshman to wear the iconic leaders yellow jersey after winning the opening time trial in 2017 and one year later cemented his legacy as a Welsh sporting legend by triumphing in Paris.
His 2018 victory was not his only appearance on the Champs Elysees podium, he finished second one year later and third in 2022.
Thomas, who retired last year, rode his final Tour de France in 2025 – the span of 18 years between his first and final Tour is the longest for any rider in the history of the race.
Colin Lewis
Colin Lewis was the first Welsh cyclist to compete in the Tour de France when he rode the ill-fated 1967 race.
Lewis lost friend and room-mate Tommy Simpson who died while ascending Mont Ventoux in blazing heat on stage 13.
Born in Abertysswg near Caerphilly, he had ridden at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and for Wales at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica before turning professional.
Lewis, who died in 2022, was one of only three of the 10-strong British squad to reach Paris in 1967 finishing 84th.
He rode Le Tour for a second – and last – time in 1968 but was one of 47 riders who failed to complete the 22-stage, 2,791-mile race.
Sir David Brailsford
Born in Derby, Sir David Brailsford grew up as a Welsh speaker in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon.
An amateur cyclist, he first came to fame with British Cycling, masterminding Olympic success before taking charge when Team Sky was established in 2010.
Inspired by Brailsford’s ‘marginal gains’ approach, the team – who later became Ineos Grenadiers – won the Tour de France with Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012, Chris Froome in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, before Thomas’ success in 2018.
The now 61-year-old’s last major success at Le Tour was 2019 when Colombia’s Egan Bernal took victory ahead of runner-up Thomas.
Luke Rowe
Luke Rowe may not have won the Tour de France – his highest finish is 105th – but he was a vital part of the Sky/Ineos winning machine during their 2010s heyday.
Rowe grew up with Thomas in Cardiff and soon followed his older friend into the Tour peleton, becoming the British-based team’s road captain and hard-as-nails ‘domestique’.
Now a directeur sportif with Team Decathlon–CMA CGM, having retired from racing in 2024, Rowe rode eight editions of the Tour de France from 2015 to 2022, finishing six of them.
His highest individual stage placing was seventh in 2019, launching a late solo attack on stage 19 from Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole that proved to be in vain.
He also enjoyed second place on three occasions in Team Time Trials.
Owain Doull
Besides Thomas, Rowe and Lewis, only two other Welshmen have ridden the Tour de France.
Owain Doull is another Cardiffian, who like the 2018 Tour winner was a member of the Maindy Flyers junior cycling club.
Doull also began his pro-cycling career with Team Sky in 2017, but had to switch employers and wait another five years for his first crack at La Grande Boucle.
Riding the Grand Tours of both France and Spain for EF Education-EasyPost in 2022, he made it all the way to Paris, finishing 89th.
Stephen Williams
Aberystwyth’s Stephen ‘Stevie’ Williams has had more than his fair share of injury problems during a pro career that began in 2019.
Having ridden the Vuelta a Espana in 2020 and Giro d’Italia in 2023, he finally got to line up for the Tour de France a couple of weeks after his 28th birthday.
Picked in the line-up for what is now the NSN Cycling Team, Williams made his mark as early as stage four leading over the climbs of Sestrières and Col de Montgenevre.
He also went on the charge with eventual winner Richard Carapaz towards the end of stage 17.
Having finished 73rd overall he was denied a return in 2025 by knee injury but will be hoping to show his climbing skills again at Le Tour in 2026 and, of course, 2027.
Shane Sutton
Speak with Shane Sutton and there is no doubting he is an Australian.
Sutton, however, swapped New South Wales for an adopted south Wales home, raising a family in Cardiff after becoming a coach with Welsh Cycling.
He went on to play a role in Team Sky’s Tour de France successes but his first exposure to the race was while he was still riding.
Sutton was in fact part of the first British trade team to ride the French Grand Tour – the ill-fated ANC-Halfords squad.
Only four riders made it to Paris, with Sutton bowing out on stage 13.
Magnus Backstedt
Magnus Backstedt is another ‘honorary Welshman’.
The Swede moved to south Wales whilst still a rider, marrying Welsh cyclist Megan Hughes.
Backstedt’s biggest Tour success came in 1998 when he won a sprint finish to take stage 19 from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Autun.
His daughters, Elynor and Zoe, are both successful professional cyclists, though neither has yet ridden any of the female versions of Le Tour.
Nicole Cooke
Which brings us neatly on to the chequered history of attempts to establish a women’s equivalent to cycling’s French behemoth.
First raced as a one-off in 1955 there have been various events laying claim to the title.
Wales’ Clare Greenwood raced five times in the 1980s’ Tour de France Feminin, and twice in 1990s version, the Tour Cycliste Feminin.
Elinor Barker featured in 2018’s La Course by Le Tour de France, as the organisers of the men’s event, Amaury Sport Organisation, have sought to revive the concept in recent years.
However, Nicole Cooke can lay claim to being Wales’ most successful Tour de France rider.
The Olympic champion from Wick was a two-time winner of La Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale which ran from 1998 to 2009.
Cooke’s victory in yellow by more than four minutes atop the fabled Mont Ventoux is one of women’s cycling’s most iconic performances.
The following day she claimed the 2006 title, successfully defending it 12 months later.
Cornel Cymru
Mont Ventoux provides perhaps the most spectacular backdrop of any Tour climb, but Alpe d’Huez is equally adored by cycling fans.
The 21 hairpins of the famous climb are packed with supporters from all over the world, and in 2022 one small corner of it was claimed for Wales.
Enthusiasts from Clwb Beicio Egni adorned the rocks with flags and painted Geraint Thomas name on the road.
Thomas famously won on the mountain in 2018 while wearing the yellow jersey, a second successive stage victory on his way to overall success in Paris.
None of the Welsh climbs in the 2027 Tour will match the Alpe – but you can be sure that the fervour amongst those packed along the roadside will very much be a match for the excitement of Le Tour in France.
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