Baptiste Veistroffer on Tour de France fame, brutal breakaways and his viral supermarket stop

Few riders emerged from the 2026 Tour de France with their stock higher than Baptiste Veistroffer. The 26-year-old Lotto-Intermarché rider spent hours at the head of the race in long, lonely breakaways, capturing the hearts of fans and proving himself as one of the most resilient protagonists. 

Fresh off the back of three weeks in the spotlight, Veistroffer sat down with Domestique to look back on his Tour debut.

You are fresh from your Tour de France debut. How would you describe the whole experience?
"Just crazy and magic. I think it's magic because it's the Tour, and as a French rider, what happened and how it went on was just crazy. 

"I’m just lucky to race the Tour in the first place, and lucky to have the opportunity to go in some fun breakaways. 

"It’s the biggest race ever for me, I never expected even one per cent of what actually happened."

What was it like out on the roads with the French fans backing you?
"Yeah, the support from French people along the roads during the stages was crazy. 

"The sound and the crowd were just sharing their power with me. With social media and the media interest going up, it’s all part of the job to give visibility to the team and sponsors. 

"Replying to journalists, signing autographs, or taking pictures with kids, I just do it because people like it."

How did you find the pace of this year's Tour overall?
"Everything is bigger at the Tour de France, the media, the social side, the speed, the level. 

"It was crazy fast, and there is never an easy day because the riders make the race. You cannot lose concentration for a single second."

Looking back at those solo breakaway days at the Tour, were the sprinters' teams getting frustrated with you putting them under pressure?
"They weren’t angry with me, but they knew it wasn't going to be an easy day for them. 

"If you are in the break, you ride fast on the flat, so they were just thinking, 'This f*cking day is going to be hard.' Sometimes they only gave me a 1:00 or 1:30 gap, which made me a bit sad because you need more to play with the bunch. 

"But when you have a small gap, you have to think carefully about how to play it."

How do you keep believing in a breakaway when the chances of success are so small?
"You have to believe you have a small chance, a very, very small chance, and do everything to make that chance bigger. In the end, it’s the Tour de France. It's the race I was watching on TV as a kid, so I just enjoyed being out front."

After the Tour, you went viral at a post-Tour criterium when you stopped mid-race for a drink. What actually happened there?
"Man, I was so thirsty and hot! I was completely done after the Tour. It was about ten laps before the finish and I was like, 'F*ck, I need a drink.' So I stopped at a supermarket, but it turned out to be a Carrefour, not ideal for our sponsor Intermarché. Someone recorded me doing it, but yeah, it was funny."

How did you pay for it on the spot? Everyone was asking.
"I paid with my Garmin Pay on my watch."

What does the rest of your 2026 season look like now?
"It looks like holidays! No, I'm joking. I want to use the Tour as a big trampoline for my next goals to get some strong results. After a week or two of easy rest, I start training properly again. I'll race La Polynormande, Tour du Limousin, Bretagne Classic, and then head to China for the Tour of Guangxi."

And winter plans? You're known for your off-season bikepacking trips.
"I'm planning a bikepacking trip in Vietnam or Malaysia this winter! I just need to check the weather and logistics for Malaysia with the islands, but I'll figure that out in the next few days."