Thomas Sinecki, Media365: Published Friday, July 3, 2026 at 10:33 p.m.
Is this the epitome of falling levels or, rather, increasingly strong internationalization? Probably both.
Of the 184 runners who left Barcelona on Saturday, only 30 will be French, or 16% of the total entered. Never, in more than half a century and exactly 58 years, has there been such a low national rate for the launch of the Tour de France. This is only the tenth time that France is not the number 1 country at the time of the first stage, as it is ahead of Belgium this year with one more rider (31). To date, the last such tournament took place in 2007: 41 Spaniards against 36 French. In 2003 and 2005 Spain was also number 1, as was Italy continuously from 1994 to 1999. If you count, there is only one left: it was in 1962, again Italy with 52 participants against 50 French.
France remains a firm leader in overall victories
And for this 2026 season we have TotalEnergies and Groupama – FDJ to thank, who are fielding fifteen French riders for the sixteen available spots, with the only foreigner in the two line-ups being Groupama – FDJ’s Lorenzo Germani. Even in Decathlon – CMA CGM, the team of Paul Seixas, we already have three Frenchmen (third place) out of eight, including Aurélien Pare-Pentre and Nicolas Prodomme, who will be the two compatriots who will support their nugget.
What other countries are best represented after France and Belgium? The Netherlands complete the podium with 17 runners, ahead of Germany and Italy with twelve riders and Spain and Australia with eleven riders. Slovenia is only in fourteenth place with three elements including, of course, Tadej Pogačar (as well as Matej Mohoric and Jan Tratnik). In terms of final victories, France may not have returned the yellow jersey to the Champs-Élysées since 1985, but it nonetheless remains a firm leader with 36 wins for 21 riders, ahead of Belgium with 18 wins for ten riders, Spain with twelve wins and Italy with ten wins (seven riders respectively).