The Australians racing the 2024 Tour de France

This Saturday marks the start of the most prestigious race on the cycling calendar – the Tour de France.

For cycling fans in Australia this means one thing – three weeks of late nights.

The 2024 tour de France takes us from the Italian Grand Depart in Florence to an untraditional finish location in Nice, where the 21-day race concludes with a 33.7km time trial, breaking the traditional finish along the Arc de triomphe due to the Paris Olympics.

And while eyes will be on the battle for GC between Tour heavyweights Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, six Australians will be among those lining up for 21 stages of action with goals and ambitions of their own.

Find out about those 6 Aussies below.

Jai Hindley

• Team: BORA–hansgrohe
• Age: 28
• TdF starts: 1
• Where you'll see him most: Mountains and GC group
• Hometown club: Midland Cycle Club (WA)

Hindley made his debut at the Tour last year and it was surely one to remember for the West Australian.

While his GC ambitions didn’t go as well as he would have hoped, finishing 7th overall, Hindley came away with a stage and wore the coveted yellow leader’s jersey for one day.

This year may look slightly different for the 2022 Giro d’Italia winner, who will be working for his team’s Tour leader and big GC hope Primož Roglič.

While his focus will be on protecting Roglič, if the opportunity arises for Hindley you expect to see him take it.

Michael Matthews

• Team: Jayco-AlUla
• Age: 33
• TdF starts: 7
• Where you'll see him most: Reduced bunch sprint
• Hometown club: Canberra Cycling Club (ACT)

When it comes to winning stages at the Tour, Michael Matthews is one Aussie who knows what it takes– he has won four of them after all.

The former green jersey winner will be lining up for his eighth time at the Tour, after missing last year’s race, and will no doubt be looking to add to his collection of wins.

‘Bling’ will be part of Jayco AlUla’s three-pronged approach to this year’s Tour: climber Simon Yates with GC podium hopes, sprinter Dylan Groenewegen will be aiming for wins on flat stages, and Matthews will be hunting wins on hilly stages that suit his strengths.

Matthews will be hungry for a win with a number of near misses this season and the tightest of seconds at Milan-San Remo.

“I’m feeling in good shape, I had a good start to the season, I was on the podium again at Milan-San Remo and have been close to some wins, so after a lot of training at altitude and some stage recons I hope everything will fall into place at the Tour,” he said.

Chris Harper

• Team: Team Jayco AlUla
• Age: 29
• TdF starts: 1
• Where you'll see him most: Mountains supporting Simon Yates
• Hometown club: Norwood Cycling Club (SA)

After making his Tour de France debut last year, Harper is back again as a key lieutenant to support Simon Yates ambition of a GC podium.

Harper has seen his fair share of challenges so far this year with a couple of nasty crashes, most recently at the Critérium du Dauphiné, which saw him abandon to focus on recovery ahead of the Tour.

But the loyal domestique will no doubt be emptying himself for his team’s and Yates’ GC ambitions.

Depending on how the Tour unfolds, he might also find himself in a breakaway when the terrain goes up.

Luke Durbridge

• Team: Team Jayco AlUla
• Age: 33
• TdF starts: 9
• Where you'll see him most: Being a workhorse, positioning teammates for crucial moments
• Hometown club: Midland Cycle Club (WA)

This year marks the 10th appearance at the Tour de France for workhorse Luke Durbridge after making his debut in 2014.

No doubt he will draw on his decade worth of race experience over the next month.

You will find him mostly working hard for his teammates, protecting them and getting them into good position at key points in the race.

There may be days where you see Durbo jump up the road in an early breakaway on tough, undulating stages.

Jack Haig

• Team: Bahrain Victorious
• Age: 30
• TdF starts: 4
• Where you'll see him most: Mountains supporting Santiago Buitrago
• Hometown club: Bendigo & District Cycling Club/Bendigo Mountain Bike Club (VIC)

It’s been a much quieter start to the year for Jack Haig who last year completed the Giro, Tour double.

The tall climber will head into this year’s Tour as a co-leader and will be support in the mountains for his team’s leader Santiago Buitrago.

While his focus will be on supporting Buitrago, if given some freedom, the 2021 Vuelta a España third-place finisher could be primed to win his first Grand Tour stage.

Jarrad Drizners

• Team: Lotto Dstny
• Age: 25
• TdF starts: Debut
• Where you'll see him most: Lead-out for Arnaud De Lie
• Hometown club: Kilkenny Cycling Club (SA)

The 2020 U23 road race national champion and 2019 National Road Series winner will make his Tour de France debut this Saturday.

The South Australian will be lapping up the experience of racing in the biggest Tour on the calendar having previously lined up for La Vuelta Espana in 2023, where he had a top 10 stage finish, and in 2022 for his Grand Tour debut.

He will form part of the lead-out for the team’s sprinter Arnaud De Lie, Belgian’s new road champion.