The Tour de France has reached its first rest day and while the riders spin the legs, have a massage and rest up for what is to come, it’s time to take stock and assess how the teams have performed over the first 10 days of racing. 

The race lead has changed hands five times between four riders, with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) set to wear the malliot jaune at the start of the second week. There have been pure sprints, medium mountains, a time trial and Classics-style parcours, all of which have resulted in big time gaps after only 10 days of racing. Which teams have managed to navigate the chaos of the opening week, and which are struggling for results?

Alpecin-Deceuninck - 9/10

Mathieu van der Poel is enjoying the most successful Grand Tour of his career to date, with a stage win, a spell in the yellow jersey, prominence in breakaways and supporting his teammates. 

Arkéa-B&B Hotels - 7/10

Kévin Vauquelin was prominent throughout the stages in northern France and also had a spell in the white jersey and was sitting third on the overall podium for a few days. He is now likely to slip down the rankings as the Tour heads to the higher mountains, and the team will likely pivot their goal to get a stage win via a breakaway. 

Bahrain-Victorious - 6/10

Phil Bauhaus took third on stage three and will continue to try his hand at the sprints. Despite a tough start to the Tour, Lenny Martinez is in the polka-dot jersey on the first rest day and will be a favourite for the competition if he can hold off the GC riders, who could take the spoils due to the number of summit finishes on the route. 

The team was unlucky that their GC rider, Santiago Buitrago, came down in a nasty crash, and Jack Haig was forced to abandon after hitting the deck. They have other options, like Matej Mohorič and Fred Wright, who have been quiet so far, but will look to the breakaway stages for a result. 

Cofidis - 2/10

A day in the KOM competition via Benjamin Thomas is all Cofidis have to shout about at the race. Apart from Bryan Coquard’s seventh on stage eight, the team hasn’t broken into the top 10.

Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale Team - 5/10

The French squad has been largely anonymous so far. Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Felix Gall have shown some form; the former will hope to get into a breakaway in the second week, while Gall has the climbing potential to get into the top 10 overall, as he is currently sitting in 11th.

EF Education-EasyPost - 10/10

So far, Ben Healy’s glorious Tour has featured a stage win and a yellow jersey, after a powerful display on stage 10. This team is built on a strong support network, where riders sacrifice themselves for the common goal of stage-hunting through breakaways. The message will be to keep doing what they are doing, there are plenty of transition stages which suit the likes of Healy, Kasper Asgreen and Neilson Powless. 

Ben Healy is in yellow going into the second week (Image: ASO)

Groupama-FDJ - 5/10

Another French team struggling for results is Groupama. Romain Grégoire looked in good shape on the lumpy stages in Normandy but couldn’t quite translate that form into a stage podium. Likewise, Paul Penhoët has been in the top 10 on some sprints. They will hope to get some breakaway success through the likes of Grégoire, Penhoët, Valentin Madouas and Guillaume Martin, who is also trying to get a top 10 overall. 

Ineos Grenadiers - 3/10

It has been a tough start to the Tour for the British team with no result of note apart from Thymen Arensman’s second place on stage 10. They lost their time trial specialist Filippo Ganna on stage one and therefore missed a nailed-on top three for stage five. Carlos Rodríguez’s GC challenge has been struggling so far. Samuel Watson has been trying his hand in some sprints, but the team will need some success in breakaways to salvage this Tour.

Geraint Thomas is riding his last Tour (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Intermarché-Wanty - 4/10

Last year’s green jersey, Biniam Girmay, has only managed one second place so far at this race and has been beaten in a number of intermediate sprints by Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). Now that he is virtually out of the running for the points classification, his team should look for breakaways for success and continue to help Girmay in sprints.

Israel-Premier Tech - 3/10

Pascal Ackermann’s eighth on stage three is Israel’s only top-10 result in what has been a challenging start. They have tried from the breakaways but will be hoping their fortunes turn drastically to get something out of this Tour.

Lidl-Trek - 7/10

Lidl-Trek got an all-important stage win for Jonathan Milan on stage eight, but the best lead-out in the race will have wanted more stage wins from the first 10 days of racing. They lead the green jersey competition through Milan, who is the heavy favourite to hold onto it for the remainder of the race. 

Jonathan Milan is the favourite to take the green jersey (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Quinn Simmons has looked strong in the breakaways he’s been in and their other stage-hunters like Thibau Nys and Toms Skujiņš will hope to follow the American’s lead. 

Lotto - 2/10

Arnaud De Lie finished third place on stage nine but other than that, the team has been quiet and it’s hard to see where a stage win could come from.

Movistar Team - 4/10

Another quiet team is Movistar, who have been shepherding Enric Mas to a GC result. He currently sits in 13th and will be looking to the high mountains, where he could break into the top 10. 

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe - 5/10

Florian Lipowitz and Primož Roglič are in eighth and ninth on GC, and with both Healy and Vauquelin likely to drop back as the harder stages present themselves, then they will have their eyes on beating Oscar Onley of Team Picnic PostNL. Challenging the likes of Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson and Remco Evenepoel is a long shot for the German team.

Soudal Quick-Step - 9/10

The team with the most stage wins so far is Soudal Quick-Step, harking back to yesteryear when they would rack up sprint and breakaway wins. Tim Merlier has been in strong form, especially in the messy sprints, taking two wins. The Belgian’s ability to navigate the bunch himself means he doesn’t have much of a leadout, so more can be given to Remco Evenepoel’s GC bid, which is currently leading the best of the rest behind Pogačar. He also took his second Tour stage win at the time trial on stage five.

However, when the road goes uphill, he isn’t able to match Pogačar or Vingegaard, so he will need to race smartly in order to not blow up his chances of a podium. 

Merlier's two stage wins have taken the pressure off of Evenepoel's GC bid (Image: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)

Team Jayco Alula - 3/10

Eddie Dunbar was looking promising but was forced to abandon in a big blow for their stage-hunting chances. Ben O’Connor looked strong on stage 10 in the breakaway after dropping out of the GC battle. Dylan Groenewegen has been invisible in the sprints, so the team will need the tide to change to salvage this Tour. 

Team Picnic PostNL - 7/10

Scot Oscar Onley’s performances have so far been excellent and have left him in seventh on GC. Granted there are bigger mountains to come but the way he has held his own on the punchy stages, particularly his third place to Mûr-de-Bretagne, will be a positive sign for the rest of the race.

Team TotalEnergies - 2/10

The French team have shown intent in some breakaways but has no tangible results to speak of.

Tudor Pro Cycling Team - 5/10

In their debut Tour, the Swiss squad have been prominent in breakaways and in Michael Storer, they have a good opportunity to get a stage win. They have the pedigree in their ranks with Julian Alaphilippe and Matteo Trentin able to bring stage winning experience to the squad.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG - 9/10

Despite handing the maillot jaune to Healy after stage 10, Tadej Pogačar remains the rider to beat, with two stages to his name and a decent time buffer over his main rivals. He hasn’t looked close to being under pressure yet. A nice added bonus was having Tim Wellens in the polka-dot jersey for a number of days.

Pogačar has already had two spells in the yellow jersey at this Tour (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

However, like Alpecin, despite their successes, they have lost a key rider in João Almeida due to a crash, which not only ended the Portuguese rider’s podium challenge but could also leave Pogačar isolated in the high mountains to come.

Uno-X Mobility - 5/10

Søren Wærenskjold came away with a third and fourth in the first three days but has been quiet since. Anders Halland Johannessen has dragged himself into 10th on GC on stage 10 and will hope to stay there as long as possible. 

Visma-Lease a Bike - 7/10

Visma have consistently been the most aggressive GC team as they try to unsettle UAE. As two of the best climbers, Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson look set to continue to try and challenge Pogačar’s dominance. 

Visma have been racing aggressively to try and isolate Pogačar (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

However, despite a welcome stage win for Simon Yates, the team find themselves on the backfoot after disappointing time trials for Jorgenson and Vingegaard, where they both ceded time to their key podium rivals Pogačar and Evenepoel. The two-time winners will have to be at their tactical best to topple the world champion. 

XDS Astana Team - 1/10

The Kazakhstan team have not made much of an impression on the race, with Harold Tejada’s seventh on the stage Healy won, the only result of note.