5 favourites for the 2026 Tour de France white jersey
The 2026 Tour de France brings together a new generation of Grand Tour contenders, all chasing the white jersey won by Florian Lipowitz last year. With the German no longer eligible, riders such as Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso will battle to become his successor.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM)
The 19-year-old Lyonnais arrives at his Tour de France debut as France's biggest hope for a home Tour winner since Bernard Hinault in 1985. Seixas was second behind Pogačar at Strade Bianche in March, then won the Faun-Ardèche Classic. He dominated the Tour of the Basque Country with three stage wins and the overall to become the first Frenchman to win a WorldTour stage race since 2007.
He followed that with the Mur de Huy to win La Flèche Wallonne, the youngest winner in the race's history, before going head-to-head with Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he matched the Slovenian on La Redoute before being distanced on the Roche-aux-Faucons to finish second.
Seixas's Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ended in abandonment on stage 8 after a heavy crash on stage 7 cost him valuable time on the Grand Colombier. UAE Team Emirates-XRG have signalled interest in signing him when his current Decathlon contract expires in 2027.
The Tour de France debut will be the biggest test of the Frenchman's young career, with Decathlon CMA CGM strategy director Sébastien Joly having stated that the team's ambition is to win the Tour de France by 2030.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
The 22-year-old Mexican makes his Tour de France debut after a 2026 season that has marked him out as one of the WorldTour's most consistent young GC riders. Del Toro won the UAE Tour in February and Tirreno-Adriatico in March, both as the protected leader at UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
A crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in April briefly slowed his run, but he returned at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and produced the biggest result of his career, winning stage 7 to the Grand Colombier and stage 8 to the Plateau de Solaison to take the overall by 54 seconds over Luke Tuckwell.
The Mexican will line up at the Tour as Pogačar's senior climbing domestique but is also expected to carry freedom to chase stage wins on terrain that suits him. He won the 2023 Tour de l'Avenir and finished 7th at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, where he was the last rider able to follow Pogačar before the Slovenian's solo.
Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek)
The 23-year-old Spaniard made the headline transfer of the off-season when he broke his UAE Team Emirates-XRG contract to join Lidl-Trek on a five-year deal.
Ayuso comes to the Tour as the team's GC leader after a 2026 season that included the Volta ao Algarve in February and a third-place finish at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where he lost out twice to Del Toro on the Grand Colombier and Plateau de Solaison summit finishes.
The Spaniard has been on the Vuelta a España podium and won Tirreno-Adriatico in 2025. His only previous Tour de France appearance was a COVID-19 abandonment in 2024, when he was riding in support of Tadej Pogačar at UAE Team Emirates-XRG. He has stated his target is a Tour de France podium in 2026.
Ayuso will be supported by Mattias Skjelmose at Lidl-Trek's Tour squad, with Mads Pedersen leading the team's green jersey ambitions in the sprints. The Lidl-Trek transfer was one of the biggest moves of the off-season and the Spaniard's first Tour as a protected leader is the test that will define his summer.
Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar)
The 23-year-old Belgian made his own contract-breaking move over the winter, leaving Visma | Lease a Bike for Movistar on a four-year deal after a 2025 season largely lost to injury. Uijtdebroeks finished eighth overall at the 2023 Vuelta a España aged 20, his best Grand Tour result to date. He finished seventh overall at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after the Grand Colombier put him fifth on the stage.
The Spanish squad have built their season around the Belgian's return, with Enric Mas stepping back from Tour leadership for the first time in five years to give Uijtdebroeks a path.
Movistar's ambition is to put a rider back in the GC top five for the first time since Nairo Quintana's runner-up finish at the 2018 Tour, and Uijtdebroeks's youth classification challenge will be the first measure of whether the project is on track.
Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany Ineos)
The 25-year-old Frenchman from Bayeux joined Netcompany Ineos for 2026 from Arkéa-B&B Hotels on a three-year deal after finishing seventh overall at the 2025 Tour de France. Vauquelin took his maiden Tour stage win in Bologna in 2024 on his debut and has been one of the most consistent French riders at the race in recent seasons.
He was 5th at the Volta ao Algarve and 10th at the Tour of the Basque Country in the early part of 2026 before riding the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where a crash on stage 6 cost him GC ground. Vauquelin sits at the older end of the white jersey bracket but remains eligible for the 2026 competition.
The Frenchman is the second of Netcompany Ineos's two off-season transfers alongside Oscar Onley, with Sir Dave Brailsford's rebuild placing significant Tour de France pressure on the duo. Vauquelin's puncheur and time-trialling profile means he will be a particular threat on the punchy stages and the Tour's individual time trial.
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