The Tour is 21 days of racing. That's three weeks of mountain top finishes, 50 km/h sprints and 5 hour days on the bike. The race is a spectacle unlike any other sporting event and this year we chose to honor it by giving 21 days of kudos.
Kudos to France, the host country of the race. In recent history the race has alternated its start between home soil and a foreign country. This year, the Grand Depart was in France!
Kudos to Lawson Craddock, who crashed and broke his scapula on stage one of the race. He held on and finished in Paris, and in the process raised over $200,000 toward rebuilding the velodrome in Houston, Texas that was destroyed by hurricane Harvey.
Our kudos from the third stage went to the BMC team, who took the stage win at the TTT and put Greg Van Avermaet into the yellow jersey for most of the first week. They dedicated the victory to Andy Rihs, the team's founder and owner who passed away this April.
Stage four’s kudos went out to all of the fans, who showed up en-mass to offer support to they riders. As long as they didn’t have disk brakes!
On this day, we gave kudos to Tom Skujiņš. On what was certain to be a sprinter's stage, he spent all day in an ambitious break and walked away with the KOM jersey as well as the Most Aggressive Rider recognition. Everybody loves a winner, but it takes a special type of rider to go all-in from the gun on a long shot at glory.
It's the Hail Mary of cycling, an attack with 1 kilometer to go. While few of us will ever have the opportunity to make such a bold move on a stage this big, we can all relate to what Dan Martin must have felt as he fought for every inch of space between him and the charging pack. No guts, no glory. Well done, Dan.
This stage was a parade. One of those long rides that let the race circumnavigate France and give more spectators the opportunity to see it in person, but don't offer much for the TV viewer. So we'd like to give kudos to patient fans who waited 200km for a bit of excitement at the finish.
In honor of Bastille Day stage 8’s kudos go to France. Thank you for hosting this legendary race every year. For never failing to show up in style and providing the stage for this cycling work of theatre.
It was the day we’d all been waiting for and it lived up to expectations - there was chaos on the cobbles of the Hell of the North. One rider in particular faced everything Roubaix could throw at him but four punctures later Romain Bardet lived to fight another day. Kudos to Romain and the rest of the AG2R team for refusing to give up and providing a lesson in the meaning of selfless teamwork.
It is impossible to not give kudos to the rider that stole the show: Julian Alaphilippe. It has been a good week for France and Julian just made it even better. A gutsy solo attack showed his calibre and secured him the victory - the first for a French rider this Tour. It might have been Julian's maiden Tour victory but we have no doubt there are many more ahead. Pure class. Kudos Julian!
It was all action on today’s stage and it wouldn’t have been possible without the heroics of the domestiques. Kudos to the workhorses of the Tour. It might not be glamorous but your selfless riding sets the stage for fireworks later in the day.
A stage win for a Dutchman on the 'Dutch Mountain' looked like it might happen today, but despite Steven Krujiswijk's heroic solo effort, it wasn’t to be. Huge kudos to all the fans at Dutch Corner. After three days of tough mountain climbs you gave the riders the reception they deserved and the support they needed. And orange isn’t a bad color either.
Who else? Kudos to Peter Sagan for continuing to exemplify excellence. It takes true class to win stage after stage, year after year. Respect.
It was brave and it was bold. Kudos Jasper Stuyven on a heroic 32 kilometer effort. On a day when the peloton weren't interested you gave us a race, you gave us someone to root for and you came agonizingly close to the win. We know that isn't ample reward for a tough day on the bike, but well done Jasper.
Two days. Two stage wins. Kudos to Astana for a master class on the art of winning stages from breakaways. Teamwork was the name of the game today - it might not have been the glory role but we have huge respect for Michael Valgren Andersen for protecting his compatriot, Cort Nielsen, so he could secure the first Danish stage win in nine years.
Kudos to Julian Alaphilippe for taking a stage win in polka dots today. It was an aggressive and dangerous stage where Julian came out on top. Our best wishes to his teammate Philippe Gilbert, who had to withdraw from the race after a nasty crash.
Kudos to Nairo Quintana who rode alone to the summit of Col du Portet today to take his first stage win in five years. Relentless attacks and a F1 style start on this 65k stage made it one of the most exciting of the Tour!
On this day we gave kudos to Geraint Thomas, who surprised everyone when he grabbed yellow and held onto it to Paris.
This stage and our kudos went to Primoz Roglic who won today's stage and overtook Froome to move up to third in the general classification. Roglic raced aggressively, summiting the the Col d'Aubisque with the favorites and then making use of his skills as a former professional skier to open up a 19-second gap on the long technical descent.
Tom Dumoulin raced a consistent a strong Tour and after winning today’s time trial he was second overall. We can’t wait to see what this 27 year old does next year.
After a wild and unpredictable three weeks of racing, the riders finally made it to the Champs-Élysées. Massive kudos to all of the riders, the fans and to Geraint Thomas for finally taking home yellow.
Who was your favourite racer this year? What moment will stick with you most? Let us know in the comments below and on social media by using the hashtag #GiveKudos!
