Australians save best for last at Tour de France

Australian cyclists saved their best until last at the 112th edition of the Tour de France.

Nine of the 10 countrymen that started the three-week race finished in Paris overnight, with Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claiming a sensational solo victory on stage 20 on the weekend.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) secured his career fourth Tour title ahead of principal rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), the 26-year-old Slovenian adding weight to his burgeoning status as the greatest male cyclist of all time.

“Speechless to win four Tours de France. Six years in a row on the podium. This one feels especially amazing and I’m super proud I can wear this yellow jersey,” Pogacar said.

At just 26, Tadej Pogacar is already being called the greatest male cyclist of all time. Photo: Billy Ceusters/ASO

The final stage of the Tour is normally reserved for pure sprinters but this year the course was changed to include the short, steep, cobbled streets of Montmartre, which attracted 500,000 spectators when used in the Paris Olympic Games road race last year.

The course change eliminated the fast men from the contest and the French capital roared as Pogacar, in the yellow jersey, took on Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) on the bergs, the latter claiming stage 21 with a solo win.

“I find myself in the front even though I really didn’t have the energy to motivate myself to race today,” Pogacar said. “But in the end, I was really happy they neutralised the times of the GC, then it was more relaxed to race, and you just had to have good legs to be in front.”

Groves’ emotional triumph came two days after compatriot Ben O’Connor (Jayco Alula) prevailed on the queen stage. It’s the first time since Robbie McEwen in 2006 that Aussie cyclists have celebrated two wins in three days at the Tour. The last edition of the race that featured two Aussie victories was 2022.

Queenslander Groves is considered a sprinter and started the Tour as part of Jasper Philipsen’s lead-out train – positioning the Belgian to victory and the first yellow jersey of the race on stage one, before supporting fellow teammate Mathieu van der Poel to line honours on stage two. Philipsen crashed out of the Tour on stage three and van der Poel abandoned with pneumonia after stage 15, presenting Groves with an opportunity to chase his own success in what was his Tour debut, albeit with a depleted team missing two of its all-stars.

The third term of the Tour on paper presented sprinters with two opportunities for victory but in reality, it was only one. Groves’ solo victory at the end of a rain-soaked 184.2km trek from Nantua to Pontarlier was reminiscent of a Michael Matthews performance – the 26-year-old reinventing himself and adjusting his mindset to prevail on hilly terrain that featured four categorised climbs.

Kaden Groves is now a stage winner at all three Grand Tours. Photo: Billy Ceusters/ASO

Groves with the triumph became the 114^th cyclist in history to win a stage at all three Grand Tours - following his seven stage victories at the Vuelta a Espana and two at the Giro d’Italia.  

His success at the Tour came not from a bunch sprint but rather a 13-man breakaway that was whittled down to three. Groves rode away from the remnants of it with some 16km to go and never looked back, finishing 54 seconds ahead of Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL) and 59 seconds in front of Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quick-Step).

Weeping at the finish, it was clear what the breakthrough meant to him.

“There’s so many emotions to win here. The team, we came here with so many different plans with Jasper and Mathieu, and in the end, I get my own opportunities,” Groves said after his triumph.

“They haven’t gone the right way but today I had super legs, and I just suffered to the line and in reward we get a Tour stage.

“The team gave me the free role the last days, especially today we weren’t sure whether to go for the stage with myself or save for tomorrow but in the end, when the rain starts to fall I always have a super feeling normally with the cold weather.

“It’s my first time winning solo and it’s in a Tour stage. Pretty incredible.”

Groves came to cycling late so success at the Tour wasn’t a childhood dream but no less sentimental. Adding to his underrated pedigree is the fact that his last nine pro wins have all been at Grand Tours.

“There’s so much pressure at the Tour and it’s always, having won in the Giro, won in the Vuelta, all I ever get asked is, ‘Am I good enough to win at the Tour?’ Now I’ve showed them,” Groves said.

Harry Sweeny also enjoyed a highly successful Tour with EF Education-EasyPost, assisting Irishman Ben Healy to a stage victory, a stint in the yellow jersey, and ninth place on general classification.

Another Queenslander, Sweeny put his team’s emphatic success especially in the first 10 consecutive days of racing down to camaraderie and hard work.

Harry Sweeny and his team had much to celebrate at the Tour de France. Photo: Gruber Images

The 27-year-old sacrificed a lot to prepare for cycling’s pinnacle event and his career second Tour appearance – four years after making his debut in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sweeny’s team had plenty to celebrate in Paris, but he was most looking forward to going home after the race and a very busy 2025 campaign to date including the spring and Ardennes classics.

“I’ve been at home, I added up, three weeks since the start of March. Altitude camps, the classics, and then back to altitude, off to races, [Tour de] Suisse, all of that. I’ve accumulated three weeks at home,” he said.

Sweeny admits though that the sacrifice was worth it, his legs improving as the 3320km race progressed.

“I definitely don’t have a love/hate, I just love this race,” Sweeny said. “I think every time I’m suffering you can see the passion that the fans have and it’s so special.

“Every morning just being excited to get off the bus and experience the Tour is something you can’t really take for granted. So even the really hard times, it takes the edge off a little bit, so to speak, and I just really enjoy that, compared to my first Tour just after COVID.

“This one is definitely much bigger from a fan’s perspective, but the racing has just been insane. I think even this year in the first 15 stages the average speed is the fastest ever by 2km/h - and every year before was spaced out by maybe, like, half a kilometre to 0.2km/h, and we’re already up two full kilometres an hour. The intensity of the racing has just been insane this year.”

O’Connor, with the aid of teammates including Australian national road champion Luke Durbridge and national time trial champion Luke Plapp, finished 11^th on general classification. The Perth climber successfully switched his focus from a top five on GC to stage wins after crashing on stage one and nursing injuries in the first term of the race.

Ben O'Connor celebrated a solo victory on stage 18 of the Tour de France after recovering from crash-related injuries. Photo: ASO

Plapp took great pride in wearing the green and gold jersey on the time trial stages in what was his Tour debut.

“It was so special, like really, really special,” the Victorian said. “To have Durbo in the jersey every day on the front, and for me to do that [in the time trials], it was really nice.”

Giro d’Italia stage winner Plapp had been targeting victory in the first time trial on stage five and started strong but faded before the finish, placing ninth behind Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step).

Luke Plapp, pictured on his way to fifth place in the stage 13 mountain time trial, took great pride in flying the Aussie flag at the Tour de France. Photo: Billy Ceusters/ASO

“I probably got a bit excited doing it and went out super, super hard but I loved that whole experience and was so proud to be able to have that jersey riding the TT and giving it a crack,” Plapp said.

“I really wanted a good result for myself. I went out sort of chasing it and trying to make something happen and unfortunately just blew up, but I was super proud of the ride in the first place, just really attacking it.

“I mean, I got a screenshot of the splits when I was ahead of Remco at the second one and ahead of Jonas at the second one, so I’ll show my kids one day in the future and say the race was only 20km long and I was winning!”

Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), who is off-contract this season, did not make Paris after crashing out on stage seven.  Meanwhile, Callum Scotson (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) supported Austrian teammate Felix Gall to fifth on GC.

Tour de France final general classification
1.      Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) 76:00:32
2.      Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease A Bike) + 4:24
3.      Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +11:00

Australians on GC
11. Ben O’Connor (Jayco Alula) +34:34
33. Callum Scotson (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +02:25:40
35. Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost) 02:27:58
42. Michael Storer (Tudor Pro) 02:50:51
86. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 03:53:29
121. Luke Plapp (Jayco Alula) + 05:02:34
123. Robert Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) +05:03:30
129. Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) +05:11:17
137. Luke Durbridge (Jayco Alula) +05:23:21

Main Image: Charly Lopez/ASO