The 2014 Tour de France was the 101st edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race included 21 stages, starting in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, on 5 July and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 27 July. The race also visited Belgium for part of a stage. Vincenzo Nibali of the team won the overall general classification by more than seven minutes, the biggest winning margin since 1997. By winning, he had acquired victories in all Grand Tours. Jean-Christophe Péraud () placed second, with Thibaut Pinot () third.
Marcel Kittel of was the first rider to wear the general classification leader's yellow jersey after winning stage one. He lost the following day to stage winner Nibali as the race reached the mountains. Nibali held the race lead until the end of the ninth stage, when it was taken by 's Tony Gallopin. The yellow jersey returned to Nibali the following stage, and he held it until the conclusion of the race.
The points classification was decided early in the race and was won by 's Peter Sagan. Rafał Majka of , winner of two mountain stages, won the mountains classification. Pinot finished as the best young rider. The team classification was won by and Alessandro De Marchi () was given the award for the most combative rider. Kittel and Nibali won the most stages, with four each.
Following criticism by the professional women's peloton and campaign groups like Le Tour Entier regarding the lack of a women's Tour de France, a one day women's race – La Course by Le Tour de France – was held on the Champs-Élysées, prior to the last stage of the Tour.
Teams
Twenty-two teams participated in the 2014 edition of the Tour de France. The race was the 18th of the 29 events in the UCI World Tour, and all of its eighteen UCI ProTeams were automatically invited, and obliged, to attend the race. On 28 January 2014, the organiser of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams given wildcard invitations: , , and . The team presentation – where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, United Kingdom, on 3 July, two days before the opening stage held in the city. The riders arrived at the arena by a ceremonial ride from the University of Leeds. The event included performances from Embrace and Opera North, in front of an audience of 10,000.
Each squad was allowed a maximum of nine riders, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. Of these, 47 were riding the Tour de France for the first time. The riders came from 34 countries; France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Belgium all had 10 or more riders in the race. 's Ji Cheng was the first Chinese rider to participate in the Tour. Riders from eight countries won stages during the race; German riders won the largest number of stages, with seven. The average age of riders in the race was 29.88 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Danny van Poppel to the 42-year-old Jens Voigt, both riders. Voigt, riding in his final year as a professional, equalled Stuart O'Grady's record for most appearances in the Tour with 17. had the highest average age, while had the lowest.
The teams entering the race were:
Pre-race favourites
According to many observers before the race the top two favourites for the general classification were Chris Froome () and Alberto Contador (). Their closest rivals were thought to have been Vincenzo Nibali () and Alejandro Valverde (). A possible contender was the 2013 Tour runner-up, Nairo Quintana, who had chosen not to ride the Tour after his 2014 Giro d'Italia win that took place during May. Andy Schleck (), who was retroactively awarded the 2010 Tour title, was selected by his team as a domestique, and was not considered a possible favourite. The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were Andrew Talansky (), Rui Costa (), Thibaut Pinot (), Tejay van Garderen () and Jurgen Van den Broeck ().
Defending champion and runner-up in the 2012 Tour, Froome, had shown his form so far in the 2014 season by winning the general classification of two stage races, the Tour of Oman and the Tour de Romandie. Contador, winner of the 2007 and 2009 Tours, also won two stage races, the Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour of the Basque Country in the lead-up to the Tour, placing second overall in the Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Catalunya and Critérium du Dauphiné. Nibali had missed the 2013 Tour as he had focused on the 2013 Giro, which he won. His highest Tour result was third in 2012. His best results so far in the 2014 season were fifth in the Tour de Romandie and seventh in the Dauphiné. Valverde, who placed eighth in the 2013 Tour and won the 2009 Vuelta a España, had a number of wins in the 2014 season prior to the Tour, most notably, the Vuelta a Andalucía stage race and the La Flèche Wallonne one-day race.
The sprinters considered favourites for the points classification and wins on the flat or hilly bunch sprint finishes were Peter Sagan (), Mark Cavendish (), André Greipel (), Alexander Kristoff () and riders Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. Winner of the points classification in the two previous Tours, Sagan, had won the E3 Harelbeke one-day race and won the points classifications in three stage races, the Tirreno–Adriatico, the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse, during the 2014 season up until the Tour. Cavendish, who won the points classification in 2011, had nine wins so far in the season and had the full backing of his team. Greipel had amassed a total of twelve wins during the season prior to the Tour, but his team would have to share support for him and Van den Broeck. Kristoff had won the Milan–San Remo, and was considered a dark horse for the points classification. Kittel was seen as a top contender for the bunch sprints, as he won the most stages in the 2013 Tour, a total of four. He had an amassed seven wins so far in the season, two of which were in the Giro. It was thought that Degenkolb would be used by for the more challenging sprints. His major results of the season were first place in Gent–Wevelgem and second place in Paris–Roubaix, both one-day races.
Route and stages
On 14 December 2012, the ASO announced that the English historic county of Yorkshire would host the 2014 edition's early stages (known as the Grand Départ). Further details of the first three stages held in the United Kingdom were released on 17 January 2013. This was the fourth Tour to contain stages in the United Kingdom, after 1974, 1994 and 2007. The entire route was announced by the ASO on 23 October 2013 at the official presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. At the event, Stephen Roche, winner of the 1987 Tour, described the route as "fairly soft". Notable features of the route were the fifth stage's sections of sett paving, the five high altitude stage finishes and the lack of time trialing, with only stage twenty's individual time trial.
The first of the two stages held in Yorkshire started in Leeds and finished in Harrogate, with stage two held between York and Sheffield. After a transfer to the East Anglian city of Cambridge, the race went south to the finish in London. The Tour transferred across the English Channel to the start of stage four Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, with the finish in Lille. Stage five began in Ypres, Belgium, and finished back in France. The following three stages crossed the north-east to the Vosges Mountains for stages nine and ten. The eleventh stage took place between Besançon and Oyonnax through the Jura Mountains. Stage twelve headed west to Saint-Étienne, with the next stage moving back east into the Chartreuse Mountains, with the finish at the Alpine ski resort of Chamrousse. The fourteenth stage ended in the town of Risoul. The following stage took the race south to Nîmes. After a transfer to Carcassonne, the route moved into the Pyrenees for the next two stages. The nineteenth stage took a northerly direction to the department of Dordogne and the location of stage twenty. A long transfer took the Tour back to the north-east to finish with the Champs-Élysées stage in Paris.
There were 21 stages in the race, covering a total distance of . The longest mass-start stage was the seventh at , and stage 17 was the shortest at . Nine stages were officially classified as flat, five as medium mountain and six as high mountain. Stage five, although classified as medium mountain, was flat with sett paving sections. There were five summit finishes: stage 10, to La Planche des Belles Filles; stage 13, to Chamrousse; stage 14, to Risoul; stage 17, to Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet; and stage 18, to Hautacam. The highest point of elevation in the race was the -high Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage fourteen. It was among six hors catégorie (English: beyond category) rated climbs in the race. There were nine new stage start or finish locations. The rest days were after stage 10, in the Besançon, and after 15, in Carcassonne.
+Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 5 July Leeds to Harrogate (United Kingdom) Flat stage 2 6 July York to Sheffield (United Kingdom) Medium mountain stage 3 7 July Cambridge to London (United Kingdom) Flat stage 4 8 July Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille Metropole (Villeneuve-d'Ascq) Flat stage 5 9 July Ypres (Belgium) to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut Medium mountain stage 6 10 July Arras to Reims Flat stage 7 11 July Épernay to Nancy Flat stage 8 12 July Tomblaine to Gérardmer La Mauselaine Medium mountain stage 9 13 July Gérardmer to Mulhouse Medium mountain stage 10 14 July Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles High mountain stage 15 July Besançon Rest day 11 16 July Besançon to Oyonnax Medium mountain stage 12 17 July Bourg-en-Bresse to Saint-Étienne Flat stage 13 18 July Saint-Étienne to Chamrousse High mountain stage 14 19 July Grenoble to Risoul High mountain stage 15 20 July Tallard to Nîmes Flat stage 21 July Carcassonne Rest day 16 22 July Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon High mountain stage 17 23 July Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet High mountain stage 18 24 July Pau to Hautacam High mountain stage 19 25 July Maubourguet Pays du Val d’Adour to Bergerac Flat stage 20 26 July Bergerac to Périgueux Individual time trial 2127 July Évry to Paris (Champs-Élysées) Flat stage Total
Race overview
Opening week and Vosges