Hurtling down a mountain at speeds of 90 kilometres per hour in front of hundreds of fans (and millions more watching at home) seems hardly a humdrum day at the office. To race the Tour de France is the dream of every professional cyclist, and it’s hard to imagine how the novelty of competing in one of the largest annual sporting events on Earth could ever wear thin.
But for old-timers of Le Tour, and for their families also, cycling’s marquee event is at once a delight and a duty. There’s glitz and glamour, but there’s also gruelling climbs, stifling heat, and physical and mental exhaustion. For relatives and friends, it’s 21 days of celebration and pride, but also of nerves and worry. How long before it gets old?
“It’s sort of business as usual. I’ll ring my dad, and it's like, ‘yeah, how was your day at
work?’ and I'm like, ‘yeah, it was all right, how was your day at work?’ – it's pretty simple,” shrugs Luke Durbridge of Jayco AlUla, who is competing in his twelfth and last Tour de France this year. His nonchalance will be difficult to understand for muggles of professional cycling’s superhuman wizardry, but for the former Australian champion, it’s just another day on the job. “I think this year, probably because I know it’s my last, I’m trying to soak it up as much as possible. On the Tourmalet I was trying to enjoy the crowd, whereas sometimes in years before, you just want it to be over.”
It’s been over a decade since Durbridge, or ‘Durbo’ to teammates and fans, rolled to the startline of his first Tour aged 23. A plucky youngster just two years into his professional career, Durbridge arrived at the 2014 Grand Depart in Yorkshire high off a superb season the year prior. He became the first rider to win both the Australian elite road race and time trial national titles in the same year, and made his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia. But despite that confidence boost, he found himself overwhelmed at the scale of La Grande Boucle.
“It was probably the most people I’d ever witnessed on the side of the road. It was insane, but I think I spent most of the time at the back because I was trying so hard not to get overwhelmed. I just about made it to Paris and I remember giving my parents a hug. I was crying – it was quite emotional,” he remembers.
The 2026 season will be Luke Durbridge's last (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
When I ask if it’s gotten any easier over the years, his deliberation is imbued with a sense of just how much suffering it takes to make it through these famed three weeks of July. His response is honest: “Yeah man, I don’t know. At the end of the day, the reason you became a cyclist is to try and do the Tour, so I try and treat it like it's my first, and I try to get excited about it. But for the young guys, I feel almost a little bit sorry for them, because it's just out of control how fast and hard it is. I'm not saying it was easier back then, but I will say it probably was easier back then!”
Behind a number like twelve Tours de France isn't just professional experience, but personal milestones too. Now 35, Durbidge has a three-year-old son at home. Balancing fatherhood with racing days, altitude camps, training blocks, and everything in between takes a huge toll on both riders and their families.
“My son is only young. I mean, he's riding his pedal bike, and I think in the end he just doesn't understand why I'm not at home, which makes it quite difficult. It’s one of the reasons I'm going to retire at the end of the season. I've been away for a long time, and it'd just be nice to be home a bit more.”
Nothing embodies the coexistence of fatherhood with professional life in the peloton more than when Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) celebrated his first Grand Tour stage win last month at the Giro d’Italia. The 34-year-old melted hearts when he revealed a lucky Pokémon token, his son's lucky charm, after crossing the line of stage 17 in first place. The Danish rider is hoping it will bring the same good fortune during his ninth French lap.
“I’ve had it with me ever since last year in the Tour, but I’ve only used it like six times, so the win to win ratio is still alright!” he laughs. “It’s super nice to have him support me, and he's super proud of me even though I don't win. He understands there are better people than me right now, but yes, they give me calm.”
“It's different for sure” the Danish rider continues. “Now I want to be a role model for him as well, and for all the other kids out there. I think in the past I could be a bit grumpy to the media, and you know, getting older, I'm like ‘maybe it's my last Tour.’ I just want to suck it all in, and to try and set a good example for my kids.”
Even the most veteran Tourists experience nerves, and despite this year’s edition marking Valgren’s 15th Grand Tour outing, he admits he lacked confidence before the Grand Départ in Barcelona: “I was telling my wife I was quite nervous before the TTT, but then they made a video saying, ‘don’t be nervous Dad, we love you, we’re proud of you. So that was quite nice.”
Michael Valgren has a tally of 15 Grand Tour appearances. (Image credit: Keir Plaice/ EF Pro Cycling)
Sports directors, mechanics, nutritionists, team chefs are a common sight walking in and amongst the bus paddocks at each stage, support networks for each athlete cemented firmly in the action of the Tour. So when we catch a glimpse of family members and friends embracing their sons, husbands, boyfriends, dads, or brothers, it’s a touching collision of worlds, and a reminder that no one reaches the upper echelons by themselves. Matteo Jorgenson was wrapping up media duties in the mixed zone at the Grand Depart in Barcelona when a heckle from the crowd stopped him in his tracks: “MATTEO, IT’S YOUR MOM!” His biggest fan had withstood the heaving throngs for a hug before his fifth Tour appearance.
“It’s awesome to see familiar faces like that. I’ve gotten quite used to being in Europe away from home so I don’t get homesick anymore,” says the California-born rider who now lives in Nice, “but it’s still really nice to see your mom and your dad.”
It shows, too, the sacrifices made by parents in their support from junior level to the highest ranks of the sport. While there might be a semblance of July routine for families once a rider reaches their fourth, fifth, sixth Tour, watching the chaos from the roadside doesn’t get any easier admits Phil Wright, father to British champion and Pinarello-Q36.5 rider Fred Wright:
“I'm slightly more relaxed. You know, it's the start of three weeks of worry at the same time as being really excited about the big spectacle. The madness of the Tour is always bonkers, and the first week is always the scariest in terms of things going wrong.”
Wright’s mum, Becca, recalls tough memories of her son’s first Tour de France in 2021. The youngest rider on the startline at 22 years old, then riding for Bahrain-Victorious, Wright was involved in the drama of a crash-marred opening week.
“That first Tour de France was a baptism of fire because Fred was there in the mass crash of stage three, and you could just see him tumbling. Nobody got over that. I still find it hard to eat when he’s racing. I think you’re always worried.”
Car journeys ferrying their son to and from Herne Hill Velodrome, the local patch for many London-based cyclists, have turned into summers built around following the Tour. But while the event might not seem as shiny and new five years later, the support remains, all the while anchored to Wright’s local roots.
“We’ve always embraced the start, so we’ve been to Bilbao, Florence, Lille, Barcelona – there’s always a party at the start of it, and there’s loads of people from Herne Hill and loads of other parents,” Becca continues. “I was just speaking to Tom [Pidcock’s] mum. It’s just really nice to hang out.”
Speaking to Rouleur at the start of stage eight in Perigeux, Wright was comparatively chilled-out, although admitted that the Tour’s endless offerings never fail to surprise:
“It was quite a big shock already on day three to have so much climbing. It was such a hot day, and I suffered so much in the heat. I think that's the first time I've ever suffered like that so early into the race!” he says. “It probably doesn’t get easier for Mum and Dad. I was putting myself in the mix on stage seven, which was a risky day to do it.”
British champion Fred Wright is riding his sixth edition of the Tour this year. (Image credit: Zac Williams/ SWPix.com)
Seven Grand Tours and two national titles later, cycling’s biggest race has become assimilated into the ebb and flow of professional life for Wright. To ride the Tour will always be an honour, but there’s no doubt that mind and body can become calloused to its novelty.
Going through the motions of monstrous climbs or brutal crashes is the easy part. The hard bit is remembering to look up and take it all in.
“I guess you kind of learn the flow of it in your body and how you respond to things. I think when you’ve done it a few times, it’s almost easy to forget what a big thing it is. You’re living the dream you had as a kid, so you’ve got to keep reminding yourself of that,” he says.
“It’s great, I’ve got mates watching the World Cup and then also supporting me here at the Tour, so yeah it is really special. It’s the biggest bike race in the world. You’ve got to enjoy every moment of it.”
