“We’re seeing some insane new records”: Why are Tour de France speeds getting higher and higher? + Dispatches from the Alps and Paris

The 2026 men’s Tour de France was characterised by four key themes: the stifling heat that threatened to overshadow the race’s first half, the unflinching, never-ending dominance of five-time winner Tadej Pogačar, and the night-time doping tests that divided opinion as we headed into the Alps.

And speed. Lots of speed. This year’s Tour de France was, in fact, the fastest of all time, Pogačar’s averaging a staggering 43.326kph for the three weeks and 3,333km.

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On stage 11 into Nevers, Uno-X’s Søren Wærenskjold set a new record for the fastest Tour road stage ever, averaging 50.91kph, while stage 13 from Dole to Belfort also slotted in as the fourth fastest Tour stage in the race’s history.

When it came to climbing, the yellow jersey famously broke Marco Pantani’s 31-year-old record on Alpe d’Huez by over a minute, as well as setting another new record on the Col du Tourmalet.

The world champion was also joined in the top 15 of the all-time best ascents of Alpe d’Huez by four of his rivals in the 2026 peloton, Remco Evenepoel, UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac del Toro, Paul Seixas, and Matthias Skjelmose. Every other time in the top 15 was set between 1994 and 2004.

So, why is the Tour de France peloton getting faster and faster? That was the question I posed to several sports directors, team managers, and anti-doping campaigners during the Tour’s final week, in an attempt to better understand the current state of professional cycling and the rapid evolution its undertaken during the 2020s.

Wielding my podcast mic around the team buses, I spoke to UAE Team Emirates principal Mauro Gianetti (whose riders are at the forefront of these increased speeds), Netcompany Ineos racing director Geraint Thomas, and Picnic PostNL press officer and the president of the Movement for Credible Cycling Emily Brammeier, who assessed the links between a faster peloton, targeted anti-doping testing, and the sport’s credibility.

> Is the Tour de France becoming too fast?

Later in the episode, we head into the heart of the Alps, and then down onto the boulevards of Paris for an audio retrospective of the Tour’s epic final weekend, featuring a chat on the Alpe d’Huez finish line with podcast alum Conor Delves, the star and creator of the acclaimed Cadel Evans play Lungs on Legs, who was busy hanging out with cycling royalty and prepping his next run of shows in the Alps.

I also chatted to some British fans who made the pilgrimage to Alpe d’Huez (including one couple who’d been there for five days before the race arrived), and climbed to the roof of the Tour, the Col du Galibier, before embarking on the long, long drive back to Paris for the Tour’s thrilling finale on the slopes of Montmartre and the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées.

And a few celebratory end-of-Tour beers too, of course.

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