Tour 2024: rising stars

That's a wrap on the second and biggest Grand Tour of the season. Let's have a look at the rider cards of this year's Tour de France participants. Which cyclists have shown the biggest progress throughout those three weeks in France? We're specifically looking at the rising stars in the following skill categories:

• Hills
• Mountain
• GC
• ITT
• Sprint

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Rising stars: hills

1. Frank van den Broek (+11)
2. Mattéo Vercher (+7)
3. Jonas Abrahamsen (+5)
4. Cristian Rodriguez (+5)
5. Pascal Ackermann (+5)

Speaking of rising stars, the 23-year-old Frank van den Broek lit up the opening stage of the Tour de France. From the breakaway, the Dutch talent dropped back slightly to wait for his approaching teammate Romain Bardet. Together, they rode to the finish, which led to Bardet - who was competing in his final Tour de France - not only obtaining a beautiful stage victory but also the yellow jersey.

The next day, Jonas Abrahamsen secured a second place after an impressive battle on the San Luca climb. The Norwegian rider didn't just shine during the opening weekend; he wore the polka dot jersey for the first two weeks and was voted the most combative rider of the 2024 Tour by the fans.

Rising stars: mountain

1. Ben Healy (+15)
2. Jordan Jegat (+15)
3. Derek Gee (+13)
4. Javier Romo (+12)
5. Laurens de Plus (11)

Ben Healy also made a significant impact throughout this Tour. With EF Education-EasyPost, he was often given the freedom to chase his own chances, contributing significantly to Carapaz his successful Tour (one day in yellow, one stage win, one third place, and victory in the mountains classification). Although Healy didn't achieve standout results in the mountain stages, his rating still rose notably, from 46 to 61, in one of the best climbing fields.

Laurens de Plus displayed his strong legs during the stage won by Carapaz. While his teammate Rodriguez seemed to struggle, De Plus was allowed to stay ahead with a breakaway group and aim for a stage win for Ineos Grenadiers. Although he didn't win, the computer picked up on his impressive fourth place, boosting the Belgian's rating. De Plus also made significant progress in the GC skill, thanks to his fifteenth place overall. 

Rising stars: GC 

1. Derek Gee (+20)
2. Julien Bernard (+16)
3. Giulio Ciccone (+13)
4. Javier Romo (+12)
5. Laurens de Plus (+10)

Derek Gee's strong performance in the Tour didn't come out of nowhere, as his excellent showing in the 2023 Giro and a podium finish in the 2024 Dauphiné had already made that clear. However, his ability to compete with the 'best of the rest' in the fight for the top 10 in the general classification was a surprising achievement. In the gravel stage, the Canadian joined the lead group and secured a commendable third place behind Turgis and Pidcock. He consistently stayed in the wheels of the GC contenders during the mountain stages and perhaps even exceeded his own expectations with a sixth place in the final time trial, securing ninth place in the GC.

Giulio Ciccone, who won the mountains classification as a breakaway specialist in the 2023 Tour, notably competed for a top 10 spot in the GC. His main rivals in this pursuit were Gee and Buitrago, with the Colombian securing that final top 10 spot. Ciccone (11th) will need to work on his time trialing to become a true GC contender, although this role might have been influenced by the late withdrawal of team leader Geoghegan Hart. While we usually enjoy seeing Ciccone attack, we appreciated his GC efforts this Tour, and especially his strong form in the second week.

Rising stars: ITT

1. Mikel Landa (+28)
2. Victor Campenaerts (+26)
3. Quentin Pacher (+23)
4. Matteo Jorgenson (+22)
5. Santiago Buitrago (+19)

Several riders outdid themselves in the time trials, especially in the final stage. Mikel Landa (5th in GC) aimed to secure his place in the standings after serving as a super-domestique for Evenepoel (3rd) throughout a strong Tour. Knowing that the ever-strong time trialist Almeida was in fourth place, the Spaniard was aware that little could be gained, so he retained his fifth place comfortably, with a significant gap to Adam Yates.

Matteo Jorgenson was 'best of the rest' in the same time trial. Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel set their times in the order that summarizes this Tour de France, with Jorgenson finishing fourth. The American, who resides in Nice, knew the course inside out and concluded an impressive Tour with an 8th place in the overall classification.

Santiago Buitrago's good time trial (9th) saw him surpass Ciccone in the general classification (10th). Campenaerts and Pacher finished 13th and 14th respectively, with the Belgian notably taking a remarkable fifth place in the first (flat) time trial as well.

Rising stars: sprint

1. Anthony Turgis (+14)
2. Ryan Gibbons (+13)
3. Clément Russo (+13)
4. John Degenkolb (+13)
5. Nikias Arndt (+11)

Anthony Turgis, in his free role, secured several top-20 finishes in the flat stages. The Frenchman from Total Energies even won the gravel stage in Troyes, sprinting to victory in the reduced field, beating Pidcock amongst others.

Ryan Gibbons also had several opportunities to contest the race following the withdrawal of Lidl-Trek's sprint leader Pedersen. In stage 8, which finished uphill, he managed to sprint with the strong riders to a top-10 finish, much like the aforementioned Turgis.

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