July 05, 2022
Twenty-two teams and 176 riders lined up for the 2022 Tour de France. We look at the youngest and oldest riders at the race and their relative place in the history books
It was 1904 when Henri Cornet won the Tour de France aged just 19. Since then, the ages of winners have seemed to converge on a median age of around 28. But, things seem to have been changing…
With young winners like Tadej Pogacar and Egan Bernal, you could be excused for seeing a trend for a newer, younger Tour de France.
Yet, older riders have also been faring well at the Grand Boucle in recent years. So what does the real breakdown of riders by age look like? How young is too young, and how old is too old?
Oldest riders at the 2022 Tour de France
You can never have too much experience, right?
Last year, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) completed the Tour de France at the age of 41. He very nearly became the race’s oldest winner too, finishing second to Sepp Kuss on the mountain stage to Andorra.
Read more
– Tour de France 2022 route: everything you need to know about the 109th edition
– Tour de France standings: the latest results from the race
– Tour de France favourites: who will win this year’s yellow jersey?
The oldest ever Tour de France stage winner was Pino Cerami, who won stage nine of the 1963 Tour de France aged 41 years and 65 days. On stage three last year, Valverde was the exact age that Cerami was when he won in Pau in 1963.
In 2022 though Valverde has chosen to skip the Tour de France in favour of riding the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España in his final season before retirement, leaving the door open for another rider to take on the mantle of the Tour’s oldest competitor.
Philippe Gilbert is the oldest rider at the 2022 Tour (Image: James Startt)
That man this year is Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal), who turns 40 on stage four of the race (July 5), and will be hoping to sign off from his 12th and final Tour de France with a stage win.
Frenchman Cyril Lemoine (B&B Hotels – KTM) is the second oldest rider in 2022 at 39, while Movistar’s Imanol Erviti is third at a spritely 38.
- Philippe Gilbert – 39 years and 361 days (when race began)<
- Cyril Lemoine – 39 years and 120 days
- Imanol Erviti – 38 years and 228 days
- Luis León Sánchez – 38 years and 219 days
- Maciej Bodnar – 37 years and 116 days
Youngest riders at the 2022 Tour de France
Last year Britain’s Fred Wright took the…