North Americans Riding the Tour de France in 2021

A former elite distance runner who turned pro in 2013, Woods is a later-bloomer relative to most pro cyclists (especially in an era when the last two winners of the Tour de France won the race at 22- and 21-years-old, respectively). A pure climber, Woods has won two stages at the Vuelta a España and often scores high finishes in the Ardennes classics Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But he’s never been much of a General Classification (GC) rider—aside from a 7th-place finish in the very mountainous 2017 Vuelta a España.

During the off-season, Woods transferred from EF Education-Nippo to Israel Start-Up Nation and now finds himself leading the team after what has so far been the Canadian’s most consistent season to date, including fifth-place finishes in the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, two stage races often targeted by riders preparing for the Tour de France. And he’ll have one of the Tour’s most decorated riders supporting him: four-time Tour champ Chris Froome, who also joined the team this past off-season but has done little to show that he’s capable of winning—let alone contending in—the Tour de France.

Woods’s GC chances will be determined by how well he fares in the Tour’s first individual time trial on Stage 5. If he avoids losing too much time to the other contenders, a GC bid remains in the cards. If he doesn’t, he might be better off chasing stage wins or perhaps the polka dot jersey as the winner of the Tour’s King of the Mountains classification.

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If there’s one rider who looks capable of becoming America’s next grand tour contender, it’s Brandon McNulty. Riding his first Tour de France this year, the 23-year-old was originally slated to lead his team at the Giro d’Italia, in which he finished 15th overall last year. But after a string of impressive performances this spring, he was switched to the team’s Tour program. So instead of getting a chance to lead the team himself in Italy, he’ll support Tadej Pogačar’s bid to defend his Tour de France title.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Leading a team at a grand tour is a big deal and puts a lot of pressure on a rider. Giving McNulty a chance to race another grand tour without having to carry the weight of the entire team is a good thing. And with two individual time trials, McNulty might even contend for a stage win or two (he’s a former under-23 world champion in the discipline).

In the last few seasons, Kuss has quickly become one of the most valuable mountain domestiques in the sport—a rider capable of hanging with the leading group of GC contenders late into the toughest mountain stages, setting the tempo, and covering attacks for his team captain, Primož Roglič. This will be his second Tour de France; last year he finished 15th overall despite working for Roglič, another indicator of his immense talent. Kuss’s greatest asset is the fact that he doesn’t seem to care about ever winning the Tour de France, which frees him to focus on doing his job: riding insanely fast up high mountain passes—without dropping his team leader.

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Powless raced his first Tour de France last year and did his part to animate the race by going on the attack and featuring in several breakaways. He’s back this year and hoping to build on last year’s aggressive debut. That said, we’re hedging our bets a bit given a potential shift in his team’s strategy: Rigoberto Uran, the team’s GC captain, finished second in the recent Tour de Suisse and looks to be in some of the best pre-Tour form of his career. General manager Jonathan Vaughters announced that the team might be “re-thinking” its plans, perhaps to put more emphasis on Uran’s GC bid and less on winning stages, which lowers the ceiling for Powless.

Houle is definitely not a household name, but the 30-year-old Canadian must be doing something right: he’s been a WorldTour professional since 2013 and is about to start his third consecutive Tour de France. And while he’s only won one race in his career, he’s worth his weight in gold as a domestique willing to bury himself for the sake of his teammates. If things go his way (which likely means the team’s GC captain is out of contention for a high finish), he’ll get a chance to join a few breakaways, but look for his contributions to be more behind-the-scenes than off-the-front.

Qhubeka’s roster announcement offered a bit of a surprise: a Tour start for American Sean Bennett, a 25-year-old who’s spent the last four years in the WorldTour, but so far has only twice ridden the Giro d’Italia. Joining a team that’s clearly hunting for stage wins, Bennett will likely start the race as a domestique, but should earn a few chances to go on the attack himself in the second and third week.

Like Bennett, Boivin is riding his first Tour de France; and like Houle, his compatriot, he’ll play more of a supporting role, leading-out sprints for Andre Greipel and keeping Michael Woods (and Chris Froome) out of trouble. For Boivin, a Tour start is somewhat of a fitting reward: the 32-year-old Canadian’s been with Israel Start-Up Nation since 2016, the team’s second season in existence.