Veteran John Degenkolb is taking part in the Tour de France for the eleventh time. The 37-year-old is set to lead his Team Picnic PostNL once again, drawing on his experience. Alongside Degenkolb, who won a Tour stage in 2015, his German team-mate Niklas Märkl is also part of the eight-man squad, as he was last year. In 2025, Degenkolb had to sit out the race following a serious crash at the Tour of Flanders, in which he suffered multiple fractures to his wrist, forearm, elbow and collarbone.
The German rider with the most Tour appearances is Jens Voigt, with 17 starts. He is followed, from a German perspective, by Erik Zabel (14), Tony Martin (13) and Udo Bölts and Simon Geschke (12 each).
No Tour ticket for Buchmann
Unlike Degenkolb, however, Emanuel Buchmann will not be taking part in the Tour de France. The 2019 Tour fourth-place finisher was not selected by his Cofidis team.
The German contingent at the Tour is led by Florian Lipowitz, who finished third last year. Among those supporting him in his Red Bull team is Nico Denz. Meanwhile, German time trial champion Nils Politt will be supporting world champion Tadej Pogacar at the UAE team as they battle for a fifth Tour victory.
German champion Felix Engelhardt (Jayco), Max Kanter (Astana) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education) are set to make their Tour debuts. The two German sprinters, Pascal Ackermann (Jayco) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain), as well as former German champion Georg Zimmermann (Lotto), will also be on the start line for the Grand Départ in Barcelona on Saturday.
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