Many professionals dream of the Tour de France, but not everyone gets their chance. Even some high-profile riders have never competed in the Tour de France, despite long careers. Here is an overview of well-known names who have never started the Tour.
184 riders took part in the 113th Tour de France have set out to do so. For some of them, lining up at the start of the Tour has become routine; for others, it marks the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. After all, for some riders, a career without having competed in the Tour would probably feel somehow incomplete. However, with a maximum of eight places per team, a place in the race is far from guaranteed. Even some big names have never competed in the Tour de France, despite years in the professional peloton. An overview:
Jay Vine (aged 30, UAE Team Emirates – XRG)
The Australian is one of the elite climbers in the peloton. As well as four stage wins, he has twice won the mountains classification at the Vuelta a España. He has also competed in the Giro d’Italia three times. Only the Tour de France is still missing from his CV. It is pointless to speculate whether Vine would have been selected this year as a support rider for Tadej Pogacar: a broken elbow on Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia ruled him out of the Tour altogether. Two years ago, Vine was also forced to take a break in July due to a fractured vertebra. In principle, he possesses all the qualities needed to justify a place in UAE Team Emirates’ strong Tour line-up. However, competition within the team is fierce, and his high rate of crashes could be seen internally as a drawback. Consequently, Vine continues to wait for his Tour debut.
Paul Magnier (aged 22, Soudal Quick-Step)
In France, Magnier is regarded as a rising star. He most recently underlined this status impressively with three stage wins at the Giro d’Italia. Last season alone, he claimed 19 stage wins – a tally surpassed only by Tadej Pogacar in the annual rankings. It is all the more surprising, then, that a Frenchman with Magnier’s potential is still not competing in the Tour de France, even in his third year as a professional. If the sprinter were riding for a French team, one would assume that his Tour debut would be due by now. However, the management at his Belgian team, Soudal Quick-Step, are taking a more cautious approach with Magnier and are relying on sprinter Tim Merlier for the Tour for the time being. Instead, Magnier’s focus has been on the classics and the Giro. By 2027, however, Magnier is likely to be growing impatient about making his Tour debut.
Ethan Hayter (aged 27, Soudal Quick-Step)
At the end of June, Hayter celebrated his fourth British Time Trial Championship title in Lincoln. However, he will once again be unable to wear the champion’s jersey at the Tour de France. For his Tour debut, Hayter has so far always found himself in the wrong team. At his current employer, Soudal Quick-Step, Tim Merlier is the preferred sprinter for the Tour – complete with a dedicated support team. At Hayter’s previous team, INEOS, the competition for a place in the Tour squad was too fierce, and his profile wasn’t necessarily in demand there either. In 2023, Hayter was on the shortlist for the Tour, but broke his collarbone at the Critérium du Dauphiné shortly beforehand.
Sam Oomen (aged 30, Lidl – Trek)
At Visma | Lease a Bike, Oomen was part of the winning team led by Primož Roglič at the Vuelta a España in 2021 and 2022. However, the strong climber Oomen never made the cut for the Dutch team’s Tour de France squad. The same applies to his current employer, Lidl-Trek, which is why the 30-year-old has never competed in the Tour de France, even in his eleventh year as a professional. Whether that will change remains to be seen: for the past two years, his racing calendar has featured only stage races lasting a week at most. In 2019, however, he was scheduled to ride the Tour de France for what was then Team Sunweb, but broke his hip during the Giro d’Italia.
Dries De Bondt (34, Team Jayco AlUla)
The Belgian has been one of the standout figures in the spring classics for years. De Bondt proved in 2022 that he certainly has the potential for Grand Tours too, with his stage victory at the Giro d’Italia from a breakaway group. Nevertheless, De Bondt is more of a rider for Belgian one-day races or smaller stage races, which dominate his racing calendar every season. De Bondt has never competed in the Tour de France. Will he still fill this gap in the future, at the age of 34?
Ethan Vernon (aged 25, NSN Cycling Team)
The Briton enjoyed a strong spring with four sprint victories. In principle, the Tour de France should have been on Vernon’s calendar this year. However, during the winter, the team management signed Biniam Girmay – thereby upsetting the internal sprinter hierarchy. Vernon subsequently competed in the Giro d’Italia in May, though without any major success. Vernon is in the final year of his contract with NSN, so a departure seems a distinct possibility – perhaps with a view to making his Tour debut as sprint captain in the future.
Christian Scaroni (aged 28, XDS Astana)
Perhaps the Giro d’Italia is, after all, closer to an Italian’s heart than the Tour de France. At any rate, Scaroni has competed in his home country’s tour every year since joining Astana in 2023. In 2025, he won the mountain finish in San Valentino, Italy, and also finished second in the mountains classification that year. With his attacking riding style, he certainly has potential for the Tour too and would be a promising option for Astana in France. However, so far, Scaroni’s season plans have always included other races.
Marco Brenner (aged 23, Tudor Pro Cycling Team)
The 23-year-old once entered the professional ranks amid huge expectations. However, there are reasons why, even in his sixth year as a professional, he has still not made his debut in the Tour de France: At Team DSM, where he rode from 2021 onwards during his early professional years, Brenner initially did not find the environment he had hoped for to develop his potential. It was at Tudor, from 2024 onwards, that the results began to come – including the German national title. Nevertheless, Brenner needed to be developed gradually. In 2025, he suffered a serious crash at the Giro d’Italia and took months to recover. 2026 is now the year he is set to regain his footing. The Tour de France is therefore still a step too far for him.
Ben Tulett (aged 24, Visma | Lease a Bike)
The British rider is entering his seventh year as a professional this season. Grand Tours have so far featured only rarely in his race calendar – neither previously with INEOS nor now with Visma | Lease a Bike: in 2022 he took part in the Giro d’Italia, and last year in the Vuelta a España. Meanwhile, Tulett was on the Dutch team’s shortlist for this year’s Tour, as he reported at the start of the year. Ultimately, however, he was not selected. He did, however, demonstrate his good form in the spring with two third-place finishes at Eschborn-Frankfurt and the Flèche Wallonne. Tulett is set to compete in the Vuelta a España later this year.
Juan Sebastian Molano (aged 31, UAE Team Emirates – XRG)
The Colombian has been with UAE Team Emirates since 2019, making him one of the longest-serving riders in the squad. However, this has not yet earned him a place in the team’s Tour de France line-up. This is primarily down to the team’s focus: since 2020, everything at UAE has revolved around Tadej Pogacar’s Tour de France victory. A sprinter like Molano is therefore not in demand in the line-up. As long as Molano rides for UAE, he is likely to be denied a debut in the Tour de France. At least he has made a total of nine starts in the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. In Spain, he won one stage each in 2022 and 2023.
