How many riders are on each team in the Tour de France?

Team sizes are going to be smaller than usual at this year’s Tour de France. How many riders are allowed on each team under recently updated UCI rules?

Historically, the Tour de France has viewed teams with some wariness. The first few editions of the race were contested without official teams. Even though cyclists were sponsored by the same companies and worked together, the Tour de France considered each rider a free agent.

In the 21st century, recent races started with 22 teams of nine riders each. Since 2010, 198 riders have started each of the past nine editions. The 2009 edition was the last Tour de France to start with fewer than 198 riders. In that year’s race, race organizer Amaury Sport Organization invited only 20 teams. Either way, nine riders was a standard that has existed since 1987, when teams were reduced from 10 riders apiece.

This year, a new rules change reduces team sizes once again

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), cycling’s international governing body, passed rules reducing grand tour teams to eight cyclists. That rule, passed by the UCI’s Professional Cycling Council in June 2017, was designed to go into effect with the 2018 season.

As a result, the new rules reduce the maximum size of grand tour pelotons to 176 cyclists. This year’s Giro d’Italia was the first race to operate with the reduced team size. The reduction in team sizes at grand tours was passed as one part of a series of measures intended to increase safety in the sport.

Teams are not required to bring eight riders, though such a move would leave teams unnecessarily without full support at the start of a grand tour. 2006 marks the last year where teams started with fewer than the maximum allotted number of riders.

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Due to suspensions levied in the wake of the Operación Puerto doping scandal, three teams started with fewer riders. Team CSC and AG2R Prévoyance each began with eight riders, while T-Mobile started with seven. Astana was forced to withdraw after suspensions reduced their numbers below the minimum of six starters.

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