If you walk around the start of a Tour de France stage, everything that you might expect to see is happening. Riders are getting ready for the race, going to the sign on podium, and giving autographs to fans. Mechanics are making last minute adjustments to bikes, soigneurs are handing out water bottles, and sports directors are completing radio checks. If you take a moment to pause in the madness, though, you might also spot some moments of quiet, subtle humanity. 

You can see riders embracing their families who have come to support them, holding their children or searching for moments of privacy to talk to their partners. Some will even put their sons or daughters on the handlebars of their bikes and take them to the podium, giving them a window into what the life of their parent consists of: crowds, cameras, interviews, all before a long day on the bike. Even before the Tour has begun, the majority of the peloton will have spent weeks at altitude away from their families, or completed a packed first half of the season in terms of race days. At this time of year, the chance for downtime away from the circus of professional cycling is a rarity.

Trine Marie Hansen, the wife of Jonas Vingegaard who is one of the favourites to win yellow at this year’s Tour, recently spoke to the Danish press in an interview for Politiken explaining: "I'd say Visma is pushing him too far now. I'm afraid he's burning the candle at both ends. Jonas needs to recharge to perform his best. The team's biggest wish is for him to win the Tour de France, so they make plans to get there in the best possible way. My husband is someone who needs peace and quiet. He needs to recharge his batteries to perform.”

She went on to explain that the many trips back and forth with their two children between Denmark, training camps and races make for “a really difficult life.”

Jonas Vingegaard is congratulated by his parents at the end of the 2023 Tour de France (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Unsurprisingly, the Danish woman’s comments have made global headlines; it is rare for the partner of a professional bike rider to speak openly to the media about the hardships that come with the job, and a typically mixed response has been stirred on social media. But what do the peloton themselves think, does she have a point? Is professional cycling putting unrealistic expectations on its superstars?

Mike Woods of Israel-Premier Tech, a Tour de France and Vuelta a España stage winner, told Rouleur at the start of stage three of the 2025 Tour that he believes so: “We are paid quite a bit and the expectations are high. To be the best cyclist you can be, it is at odds with being a good husband and dad. I notice this when I am at home and go to pick up my kids at school, I don’t want to give them a kiss because I don’t want to get sick,” the Canadian rider commented. 

“I sleep in a separate room from my family at home to optimise my sleep. It is an all-consuming sport, you have to be on all year round because of the nature of the schedule, it means that you have to make some concessions to being a good father and husband. It is something that I think about constantly.”

Woods argued that reforms are needed in the sport to try and take away some of the demands on rider’s personal lives: “I think the calendar needs to be consolidated, reduced, the expectations on the riders in this era of relegation are too high. With this relegation system, the length of the season, you have to be on it all year long and when you’re not then you need to be on camps which is what Jonas’ wife is referencing. Expectations are too high.”

Other riders, however, argue that the current calendar is manageable if teams can suitably support their employees. Toms Skujiņš of Lidl-Trek believes that if there are fewer race days, training camps will just increase as a result and that this is not a solution. The Latvian says that teams treating their riders like humans, rather than robots, is integral to avoiding burnout.

“With Lidl-Trek one of the things we try is to find balance like with the way training camps are made and day to day things. For example, we had our camp between the Dauphiné  and the Tour in Andorra because most of the riders live there so we could stay at home,” he commented. 

“There are definitely teams that are more balanced and that’s why I like this team. When I had my first daughter a few months before the Tour I still got selected as they put faith in me that I could prepare while I was still at home. It’s similar this year with the birth of my second daughter, they adjusted my race programme as the baby came. Our team is open about these conversations – riding a bike in many ways like finding balance, if you lean one way too much you end up crashing and burning.”

Carlos Verona, Lidl Trek, wins Stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia 2025 and celebrates with his family (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Skujiņš also added that younger riders who have fewer commitments are more comfortable with making the concessions in their lifestyles that come with the demands of being professional cyclists. As you get older, he admitted that things get more complicated.

For many in the Tour de France peloton, the benefits that come with the salaries and income earned as a sportsperson make the sacrifices worth it. Oliver Naesen of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team stated that he understands the stress that schedule commitments cause, but believes that riders are suitably compensated for it.

“Every pro athlete couple probably has the same talks about this and I always tell my wife not to say anything about that in interviews,” Naesen laughed. “I turned pro in 2015 and I am probably going to do it until 2027 more or less. In that period, all of the Tour de France riders will be able to provide for their family and children in such a small amount of time. We always say just suck it up for that period of time and the freedom of it afterwards will be worth it.

“Me and my partner were together before I was a professional rider and there was no pro career on the horizon at all, if she could have chosen then, she might have wanted somebody who finishes work at 6:30pm, is home when she gets home, watches a movie and is together all the time, but that wasn’t on the cards. You go through minor crises in the beginning of it but you get through it. It is a touchy subject and it is different for everybody. While I understand some of the stuff [Trine Marie Hansen] said I don’t necessarily agree with it. I also think that I would never get involved with the business side of my wife’s job and she has no business telling my team what we do.”

While Naesen makes a valid point that riders, in some ways, have their time bought with the salaries they are paid, there is still an unavoidable reality that some careers are cut short due to burnout and demanding schedules. 

Jonas Vingegaard and Geraint Thomas on the podium of the 2022 Tour de France with their children (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

For example, 14-time Tour de France stage winner Marcel Kittel, who ended his career in 2019, announced his retirement with the following statement: “Can I and do I want to continue to make the sacrifices needed to be a world-class athlete? My answer is 'no'. I do not want that any more, because I have always found the limitations on a top athlete as an increasing loss of quality of life. That is why I am very happy and proud that, at this point in my life, I can make the decision to follow my heart in a new direction."

Kittel, also said he "didn't want to watch my son grow up via Skype. I know that there is much more than just sport, for example my own future family.”

Speaking to Rouleur while working as an analyst for Dutch television at the 2025 Tour de France, the ex-sprinter said that he believes the demands placed on riders have only increased since he stepped away from racing.

“Compared to when I was a pro to what they have to sacrifice today it has really changed, there are more days away, more days at altitude and races are really stressful,” he said. “This asks a lot and demands a lot of the riders and they need to be physically and mentally ready. You can see this with all the experts they have on the teams, it is normal they have a good coach but also a sports psychologist now. Media training and press officers are more important than ever to schedule interviews top guys have to do. You could see it yesterday when Tim Wellens had to take the KOM jersey on stage three so Tadej Pogačar didn’t have to do the ceremonies and could save energy.”

He agreed with Skujiņš that the age of a rider is an important factor in the impact the stringent schedules have on their wellbeing: “This life is what the young riders dream of and they don’t feel the sacrifices like you do when you have small kids at home. I can relate with that because I had the same, when you get older and you have seen the Tour de France circus a few times you get used to it.”

Kittel believes that proper team support is imperative to avoiding burnout and keeping athletes happy and  performing well: “The goal of the team is to get rid of external factors so riders have enough energy left to focus on themselves and their goals. They have to focus on the smaller things, trying to make as much room as possible for the individuals on the team – they can’t be part of a collective they have to have space to be themselves and have their time for hobbies, time with the family” he said.

“It doesn't have to be much, but you have to be part of such a rigid structure in this sport and sometimes you want to break out, this is human. You sometimes need that and the teams need to make sure they give the riders this room. If you take Visma as an example, they try to make sure they can take their family to altitude training and races, they see this.”

There is no simple solution to a sport which is all about searching for marginal gains and incremental advantages. In order to stay ahead of the competition, it is necessary for bike riders to do everything they can to perform at the highest level. What is crucial, according to the peloton, is that this doesn’t come at the cost of their mental wellbeing. 

“At a time when riders are treated more like robots with their training plans, we need to remember that they are humans and have good and bad days too,” Kittel said. “Everyone copes with things differently but they are all talents and we need to make the most of that by allowing them to show their individual characters.”