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The 21 best men’s Grand Tour stages of the 2020s so far
We’ve reached the halfway point in the decade. Now’s the perfect time, therefore, to take a breather and look back at the 15 excellent Grand Tours we’ve already seen in the 2020s.
The decade began under uncertain circumstances with the three Grand Tours in unfamiliar autumnal slots. Since then, we’ve been treated to a smorgasbord of memorable Grand Tour moments. We witnessed Tadej Pogačar grow into a Grand Tour superstar, Jumbo-Visma take (and lose again) an iron grip on the Tour de France, plus the bulk of Primož Roglič’s signature Vuelta escapades.
For this ranking, we’ve taken a look back on the decade’s Grand Tours and selected the 21 best men’s Grand Tour stages. To make the cut, stages have been judged on watchability, significance and excitement – all important gauges for cycling enjoyment. Let’s quit yapping and dive into the best men’s Grand Tour stages of the 2020s so far.
21. Vuelta a España 2023, Stage 17
Team tactics can be the driving force behind a cycling chef-d’oeuvre, or they can create a beautiful mess. Stage 17 of the 2023 Vuelta a España was more of the latter than the former.
After a cunning gambit, Sepp Kuss found himself in the leader’s red jersey early on. With his two teammates and reigning Grand Tour champions lined up behind him in the standings, Jumbo-Visma were poised for Vuelta glory with one of their riders. But which one?
On the legendary slopes of the Angliru, the leadership hierarchy seemed to come crumbling down. As the climb teetered towards the top, Roglič towed Vingegaard away, leaving Sepp Kuss behind in the fog. Seemingly unbothered by the move, the Grand Tour-winning duo abandoned Kuss, ignoring the American’s calls on the team radio, leaving him to fend for himself in the final kilometres.
As the Slovenian crossed the line, he didn’t dare celebrate his second stage win of the race.
The ensuing chaos in the Jumbo camp made for equally entertaining viewing. Roglič confirmed that he was here to win while Vingegaard kept quiet as he edged in on the overall lead. Kuss, Roglič’s most trusted lieutenant over the past few seasons, seemed rightfully miffed at all of this, and the boys received a slap on the wrist before finally agreeing to ride for their teammate.
20. Vuelta a España 2022, Stage 16
It takes a lot for a sprint stage to end up on a list like this. However, the sixteenth stage of the 2022 Vuelta was a real comedy of errors.
For most of the day, it looked like Stage 16 would end up in a formulaic sprint finish in Tomares. Within the final 5km though, all hell broke loose. Over a slight incline, Roglič launched an attack, bringing forward a group of hungry sprinters looking for stage glory. Meanwhile, at the back of the pack, race leader Remco Evenepoel raised his arm to flag a puncture with 2.2km still on the clock.
Back at the front, Roglič’s plucky move paid off thanks to the contributions of the sprinters around him. In the dash to the line, Roglič collided with lead group companion Fred Wright, throwing him onto the tarmac in spectacular fashion. Right after, Roglič got back onto his bike, sunglasses hanging loose. He looked in real discomfort however as he rolled across the line 46 seconds adrift of stage winner Pedersen.
The stage was left with plenty of questions to be answered. Would the 3km rule be applied? Would Evenepoel lose minutes? Could Enric Mas somehow end up in the red jersey?
These questions were soon answered and Evenepoel remained in the race lead with no time loss enforced. Jumbo-Visma then hit out with a murky response to the crash, implying that it was Wright’s fault. Roglič abandoned the following day as a result of his injuries.
19. Tour de France 2021, Stage 8
Not long after Pogačar‘s rise to glory in 2020, the Slovenian would leave his mark on his sophomore Tour by the end of week one.
On Stage 8 to Le Grand Bornand, the UAE Team Emirates rider would debut his now signature move: the long-range solo. With a burst of power on the slopes of the penultimate climb, the Col de Romme, Pogačar went clear in an ambitious move. Behind, the GC group were left stunned as the white jersey wearer extended his advantage to several minutes.
Ahead, Pogačar bridged up to the breakaway stragglers as they neared the finish line. The move wasn’t enough to take the stage. Those honours would go the way of Dylan Teuns who out-muscled the rest of the escapees. However, by the end of the day, Pogačar claimed the yellow jersey with a four-minute gap to Alexey Lutsenko, the nearest podium hopeful.
18. Tour de France 2024, Stage 9
After years of resisting gravel mania, the Tour de France finally tackled the white roads in the 2024 edition.
The allure of the Tour’s first gravel stage brought forward a star-studded escape group comprised of climbers, sprinters and Classics specialists alike. For ‘the big four’ – Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglič – the stage was tense. Pogačar and Vingegaard rolled the dice over the gravel sectors while Evenepoel seemed at points flustered on the rough roads. Despite the brief fractures, no move stuck amongst the chaos.
Up the road, the breakaway fight was closely contested (once Pogačar and co. had caught them and decided to drop back). A late flyer from Jasper Stuyven was reeled in by the final kilometre for one dash to the line. Anthony Turgis ended TotalEnergies’ seven-year stage drought, beating a frustrated Tom Pidcock to the win. For the yellow jersey rivals, the race thankfully calmed down by the time they reached the finish in Troyes.
If it was ever in doubt before, Stage 9 proved that gravel does hold a place in the Tour. Let’s hope it makes a comeback later this decade.
17. Tour de France 2022, Stage 18
With one mountain stage remaining of the 2022 Tour de France, Vingegaard was on the cusp of securing a first Tour de France trophy. After keeping Pogačar at bay throughout the Pyrenees, the Dane was rightfully ambitious on Stage 18’s test to Hautacam.
UAE Team Emirates might have been stripped bare as a result of a Covid outbreak in the team, but they tried their best to challenge the steadfast Jumbo team. Once Pogačar’s teammates pulled away Vingegaard and Pogačar were left to fight it out for one last time at the 2022 Tour.
Unlucky for Pogačar, the green jersey Wout van Aert was still up the road, waiting to tow Vingegaard up the hallowed Hautacam. Once the Belgian joined the duo, he upped the pace, ousting Pogačar. Together, the Jumbo duo powered towards the summit. Soon enough, Vingegaard flew off in pursuit of another stage win, this time dressed in the maillot jaune.
The champion-elect crested the climb to take the stage win, effectively sealing the overall victory. All that was left was the most modest of victory salutes after one of the most well-crafted team performances in recent Tour history.
16. Vuelta a España 2021, Stage 17
Race favourite and defending champion Roglič was playing a dangerous game in the overall standings at the 2021 Vuelta, allowing breakaway hopefuls to snag minutes here and there. However, by the time the final week rolled around, the Slovenian knew it was crunch time.
When the race reached the foggy mountains of northern Spain, he saw an opportunity to put all these worries to bed on Stage 17’s stage to Lagos de Covadonga. As the rain poured down, Egan Bernal attacked away with 60km to go. Despite his previous excitement, the Colombian was dislodged on the opening slopes of the final climb. The green light was given for Roglič to rev away solo.
The balance of power lower down in the GC looked up in the air as they flailed in Roglič’s shadow. Nothing could stop the reigning Vuelta champion, however, as he crested the climb alone. It was a Vuelta-winning move, a perfect day for Roglič and Jumbo-Visma.
15. Giro d’Italia 2022, Stage 20
The 2022 Giro d’Italia was essentially decided by two days of racing: Stages 14 and 20. It wasn’t a classic Grand Tour, but those two days certainly delivered some edge-of-your-seat viewing.
By Stage 20, 2019 Giro winner Richard Carapaz looked pretty in pink – able to hold back any title-making moves made by podium contenders Jai Hindley and Mikel Landa. However, Ineos Grenadiers’ confidence was unstuck on the final mountain stage.
As the day played out, Ineos looked in control, much like they had been over the whole Giro. However, Bora would soon come into their own as the road up the Passo Fedaia ramped up. After Hindley’s first offensive, Lennard Kämna placed the final nails in the coffin for Carapaz. The Ecuadorian was duly dropped and the Australian rode on into the distance.
In the ensuing fifteen minutes, Hindley sailed away from all other GC contenders to build an almost two-minute advantage over Carapaz. It’s rare to see a Grand Tour decided on one climb, but Hindley artfully knew when to make his move and wrap up his Giro d’Italia victory.
13. Giro d’Italia 2024, Stage 15
There’s no doubt that Pogačar was the assertive figure of the 2024 Giro d’Italia. At this year’s Corsa Rosa, this culminated in his domineering Stage 15 performance to Livigno.
On a snow-dusted day, a pink-clad Pogačar was delivered in pristine condition to the foot of the day’s final sequence of mountains. On the back of his teammates’ efforts, Pogačar launched a stinging attack. No one responded and the Slovenian was alone and in a race against time to bridge the three-minute gap to the breakaway.
Free from any GC worries, the Slovenian swept up every lone escapee, including former Giro champion Nairo Quintana and future stage winner Georg Steinhauser. At 2km to go, the maglia rosa flew past the final breakaway hopeful to seal the once-deemed impossible assault to stage victory.
Is this his most impressive Grand Tour stage win? Quite possibly.
12. Tour de France 2024, Stage 11
After three tightly-contested Tours de France between Pogačar and Vingegaard, the 2024 race hinted at a chance for Pogačar to return to the top spot of the podium unopposed. On Stage 11 that assumption was challenged as the two riders gave us another battle for the ages, this time through the Massif Central.
Pogačar confidently opened up the GC shake-up with an attack at 31km to go. It looked as though the stage would be sewn up by this point, but Vingegaard wasn’t out of the equation just yet.
On his own, the Visma-Lease a Bike leader bridged across to the lone Slovenian, becoming the only man to reel in a long-range Pogačar move during his Merckxian 2024 season. Pogačar and Vingegaard would then reprise their rivalry from Tours before in a tense two-up ride to the line in Le Lioran.
For the first time in the rivalry’s short history, the Dane would defeat Pogačar in a two-up sprint, claiming his only stage win of the 2024 Grand Boucle. For a brief moment, Pogačar looked human.
11. Giro d’Italia 2020, Stage 18
The autumnal 2020 Giro felt like a fever dream. Neo-pro João Almeida had the race lead, two key GC teams had abandoned the race and it was uncertain whether the Giro would actually reach Milan with all the pandemic-induced uncertainty. In its final week, the race exploded on Stage 18’s epic odyssey to Laghi di Cancano.
As the peloton negotiated the dizzying Stelvio, the GC state of play was shattered into a million pieces. The maglia rosa was dropped, as were Grand Tour veterans Vincenzo Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang. With Ineos Grenadiers in control, the hierarchy was seismically shaken up, placing Wilco Kelderman in the provisional lead despite looming in the shadows a couple of hairpins behind.
Under the command of Rohan Dennis, GC long-shots Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jai Hindley soon emerged as legitimate contenders for the Giro crown with every pedal stroke.
As domestique Dennis peeled away on the final climb, the two youngsters were left to juke it out for stage glory and a real chance to win the race overall. Despite an earlier wardrobe malfunction, the Australian would go on to win a two-up sprint for the stage, teeing up the Corsa Rosa for a fragile final handful of stages.
10. Tour de France 2022, Stage 5
Stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de France saw an action-packed excursion to the cobbled roads of Paris-Roubaix. From a motivated breakaway hoping to claim the maillot jaune to crash-induced anarchy and a courageous Pogačar move, this stage delivered a barnstorming day of racing in the flattest of Tour terrain.
Throughout the day, Jumbo-Visma disintegrated on the cobbles. Van Aert suffered a crash that looked to have jeopardised his place as race leader. Vingegeaard, the team’s co-leader, endured a comical bike change that saw him climb onto Nathan van Hooydonck’s extra-large Cervélo frame. For Roglič, the other leader in Jumbo’s arsenal, the fifth stage would spell the end of his GC efforts after a sobering crash.
In this chaos, Pogačar saw his chance to take a flyer. Untouchable in this opening week, the Slovenian danced away on the cobbles of Hell to claim a small advantage over all other race favourites.
Behind, the chase was scrambled in the fleeting hope of re-capturing him and placing a Jumbo rider back in the top echelon of GC. This wasn’t without the interests of escapees Neilson Powless and Edvald Boasson-Hagen, who saw a real opportunity to take the overall lead in the finale. To their dismay, Simon Clarke took a shock stage win after a drag-race sprint against Taco van der Hoorn. Behind, Jumbo-Visma silenced the alarm bells to come within touching distance of Pogačar.
A day of ups and downs – maybe cobbles do belong in Grand Tours after all.
9. Vuelta a España 2021, Stage 20
The 2021 Vuelta a España was littered with drama, uncertainty and GC yo-yo-ing. As the last road stage of that year’s race, Stage 20 offered a swan song for the Spanish three-weeker. What ensued was a frantic battle through the northern Spanish hills on a profile that seemed relatively unsuspecting on paper.
The kingmaker teams were depleted early on, making for a select battle. Miguel Ángel López, the third-place rider at this point and stage winner just 48 hours prior, climbed off the bike. The circumstances of this were unknown, but it was evident that a rift was emerging internally between López and Movistar management. In his absence, the final spot on the podium was up for grabs. Adam Yates, Jack Haig and Egan Bernal emerged as the candidates for that bronze medal.
Out front, the stage win held in the balance. The top four riders in the overall classification regrouped alongside the remnants of the break. In the end, Clément Champoussin came out of seemingly nowhere, rocking and rolling past the bulk of podium candidates to claim a surprise stage win. Behind, Roglič secured his third consecutive Vuelta crown with a dismayed Enric Mas limiting his losses to finish in second overall.
An unpredictable day out in the Spanish hills, Stage 20 of the 2021 Vuelta was a charming calamity.
8. Tour de France 2020, Stage 14
It’s easy to forget that the 2023 Tour de France was a nail-biting race for the first two weeks. Before Vingegaard flipped the script on Stage 16’s time-trial and a fateful ascent of the Col de la Loze, the two rivals were fighting tooth and nail for daylight in the GC standings. This all came to a head on Stage 14’s mammoth Alpine day to Morzine.
As expected, the two favourites flew away on the final climb of the day, bringing with it an attack-fuelled cat-and-mouse chase up the climb. Searching for bonus seconds, Pogačar’s final attack over the summit of the Col de Joux Plane was halted by TV motorbikes. Frustrated, he seemed unsettled and Vingegaard grabbed the bonuses.
By playing around over the summit, the duo were soon joined by UAE’s Adam Yates and Ineos’s Carlos Rodríguez. While Vingegaard and Pogačar made on-the-bike risk calculations, it was uncertain who would lead the Tour once the race dived down to the ski resort of Morzine. In this melee of confusion, Rodríguez slipped away on the descent.
The Ineos rider would inevitably take the day and the two esteemed rivals rounded out the podium. Despite missing out on stage honours, this was the pinnacle of Vingegaard and Pogačar’s Tour rivalry. The two were closer than ever, and the stakes were so finely balanced.
7. Giro d’Italia 2022, Stage 14
After two weeks of tame racing, the 2022 Giro d’Italia was feeling rather humdrum. Once Stage 14 rolled around, we were starving for some GC fireworks.
The opportunity to change this came on a circuit around Turin on a profile that resembled a one-day Classic rather than a Grand Tour stage. When the peloton reached this jagged loop, the bolstered Bora-Hansgrohe ripped up the script.
The German team caught some key players out. The pink jersey Juan Pedro López was one of the victims of this ambush, eventually ceding his jersey to a more notable contender upfront. Under pressure, Richard Carapaz lit the fuse with a long-distance move. With him, Hindley, Nibali, Simon Yates, Almeida and Landa were all forced to join the party and trigger a 20km-long feud to the finish.
Finally allowed to get something off their chest, Hindley and Carapaz took lumps out of each other, tussling for every last bonus second on offer. However, it would be Simon Yates – no longer in the race for pink – who’d take a bittersweet stage win.
6. Tour de France 2023, Stage 6
During the attritional opening week of the 2023 Tour, Pogačar and Vingegaard had already exchanged blows in the Basque hills and Pyrenees. After just five stages, a GC see-saw looked to be on the cards.
The action was ignited early in Stage 6 as Jumbo-Visma isolated Pogačar over the passage of the Col du Tourmalet. By the 50km to go marker, the two rivals were going tit for tat. Wout van Aert came back from the breakaway to join the two previous Tour winners as they neared the final climb. These efforts were in vain, however, once Pogačar roared around one of Cauterets’ hairpins and launched his decisive move with 3km to go.
With a real hunger in his eyes, the Slovenian gained a 23-second lead on the remainder of the climb. A well-measured victory bow later, the white jersey wearer had returned to the big time at the 2023 Tour de France. Just one day after a wobble at the hands of Vingegaard, Pogačar banished any woes surrounding his recovery from a wrist injury picked up in the spring.
Despite his GC losses on Stage 6, Vingegaard claimed the yellow jersey in a muted fashion. A truer rivalry, you’ll be hard-pressed to find.
5. Giro d’Italia 2023, Stage 20
Generously speaking, the 2023 Giro d’Italia was a slow burn. The race was ripped apart by Covid, poor weather and a reluctance from GC leaders to attack. Walking this fine line, the race remained on a knife edge coming into a mountain time-trial on Monte Lussari.
At the start-gate, Geraint Thomas, Roglič and João Almeida were only separated by just one minute. As we learnt a couple of years prior, anything can happen in a mountain time-trial, and with Roglič involved, you’re never sure of what you might get.
On the day, the Slovenian certainly served up a characteristic rollercoaster of emotions. In hunting down Thomas, Roglič was edging closer to the Welshman in the virtual classification. With a couple of kilometres to go, the Jumbo-Visma leader slipped his chain and was in need of divine intervention to get back on track.
As Thomas came closer to the summit, he looked in trouble. The clock ticked down and it became clear that the Ineos rider hadn’t done enough to keep the pink jersey, meaning that Roglič had overturned the Giro by a slender 14-second margin.
After the disastrous downfall on La Planche just three years prior, there was an overwhelming sense of vindication. On a mountaintop just over 10km away from the Slovenian border, Roglič’s victory atop Monte Lussari had all the hallmarks of a Disney finale.
4. Tour de France 2020, Stage 9
Before the first weekend of September 2020, Pogačar had never won a Tour de France stage. This would soon change on an eventful day to Laruns.
On a tough Pyrenean profile, the favourites distilled themselves from the morning’s tightly balanced GC standings. As they approached the summit of the day’s final climb, the Col de Marie Blanque, Roglič and Pogačar clashed, almost taking each other off the bike in their pursuit for bonus seconds.
They approached the line in an all-star group comprising race favourite Roglič, reigning champion Egan Bernal, Mikel Landa and Pogačar. By sweeping up the dangling escapee Marc Hirschi, it would all come down to an A-list sprint for stage honours.
In a burst of speed, Pogačar edged ahead in the final dash to the line, yielding him his first Tour stage success. He couldn’t hold back Roglič in the GC at this point, with the Jumbo-Visma rider taking the maillot jaune, beginning the iconic Slovenian ding-dong at the autumnal 2020 Tour.
3. Giro d’Italia 2021, Stage 11
Regardless of whether you think gravel is a stain on Grand Tour racing or not, the 2021 Giro’s gravelly eleventh stage was a worthy addition to the 2021 race.
The breakaway battle was close-fought between riders young and old, but it would be the youngsters of Mauro Schmid and Alessandro Covi who would tame the white roads. However, the tussle for seconds in the overall classification was a much more enthralling attraction.
Ineos Grenadiers’ powerhouse Pippo Ganna drove the pace through each sterrato sector, placing pressure on the peloton as early as 80km to go. At his debut Grand Tour, Evenepoel had a meltdown on the gravel roads. While in the maglia bianca, Evenepoel was dropped early on, leaving him to shake his head and throw his earpiece out.
While Evenepoel waved farewell to Giro victory, the remaining GC contenders went tete-a-tete on the Tuscan hills. The strongest soon appeared to be the trio of Emanuel Buchmann, Sasha Vlasov and Egan Bernal. However, the 2019 Tour champion was holding back, leading to a flurry of thundering attacks in the final kilometres to claim a handsome advantage by the finish in Montalcino.
Bernal laid the groundwork for his eventual second Grand Tour win here. An unlikely gravel specialist, a puncheur and ambitiously courageous, the Colombian entertained during this eleventh stage. Hopefully, Bernal can get back to these highs by the end of the decade.
2. Tour de France 2020, Stage 20
Time-trials are a hard sell. They rarely serve up drama when buried in a Grand Tour. However, when they deliver, they can serve up some of the most dramatic Grand Tour moments. In the case of Stage 20 of the 2020 Tour de France, this was the outcome.
In a matter of one hour, the Tour de France was completely flipped on its head. After a commanding three weeks at the Tour, Primož Roglič’s team boss claimed to have a ‘99% chance’ of winning the Tour before Stage 20. With a 57-second advantage coming into the day, it was understandable.
Reality, however, was cruel to Jumbo-Visma. After a shoddy bike change, the live timings showed that the Tour was slipping out of Roglič’s hands. The buffer he’d built over Pogačar was melting away before our very eyes.
Crossing the line pale-faced and with his Lazer helmet pushed far back on his head, Roglič had capitulated. Soon-to-be debut Tour winner Pogačar was left startled – as were we. Not even he believed that he could actually pull this off and Colnago had already sent him a custom-made white bike for Paris.
Never has a Grand Tour stage left us in such a state of shock. Who said time-trials were boring?
1. Tour de France 2022, Stage 11
No Grand Tour stage gets discussed more than Stage 11 of the 2022 Tour de France. A true legend of modern Grand Tour racing, the Col du Granon stage will live long in the cycling history books.
The mechanics of this race were engineered from the flag drop. Jumbo-Visma’s ambush began early on, with Roglič acting as the agent provocateur over the penultimate climb of the day. The Dutch team threw attack after attack at Pogačar, enticing him in his naivety to follow each one like the boy racer he was.
Before the final climb, the clouds turned to grey and Pogačar tried to organise the peloton in vain. At 4.6km to go, Vingegaard launched his decisive attack. With laser-like precision, he danced away and immediately gained a substantial margin over the yellow jersey who was scrambling for help. Nothing Rafał Majka could conjure up could bring back the Dane who had the bit between his teeth.
Vingegaard looked imperial in the final kilometres of the Col du Granon. As Pogačar uncharacteristically unravelled, Jumbo-Visma’s battle plan had played out perfectly on the road. Unassailable and alone in front, Vingegaard rolled over the line to claim a career-first Tour stage, moving him into the maillot jaune. On the Granon, Vingegaard proved that someone could not only defeat Pogačar, but someone was able to challenge the impending tyranny we once believed in.
Disagree with our list? Let us know on Cyclist’s social media or in the comments. Stay tuned for another round-up of the best women’s Grand Tour stages, that’s to come later in the week.
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