The Tour de France kicked off in Barcelona on Saturday, and despite the heatwave and reports of sickness, only three riders have exited the race over the first four stages.
While all the riders got through the opening stage, there was a toll the following day as the first rider had to abandon the race, with Clément Berthet (Groupama- FDJ United) a DNS (did not start) on stage 2.
Only one rider failed to finish stage 3, sprinter Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché), who had been dealing with sickness and had finished last on stage 2. The Belgian fought the time cut for most of the day, only to climb off with less than 10km remaining.
Stage 4 saw the first rider fall foul of that time cut, with Kelland O’Brien (Jayco-AlUla) suffering in the heat and finishing several minutes after the imposed cut-off. He will play no further part in the race.
A total of 184 riders started in Barcelona with the hope of making it to Paris, but as three weeks of racing takes its toll, Grand Tours often see tens of riders abandon across the 21 days and two rest days.
Riders may abandon for a variety of reasons, including crashes, injuries, illness, or simply fatigue. Riders can quit mid-stage, climbing into a team car or, in the worst case, leaving in an ambulance, or they may finish the stage but decide not to start the next one.
If a rider quits mid-stage, they are recorded as ‘did not finish’ (DNF), and if they fail to start a stage, it’s a ‘did not start’ (DNS).
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Riders can also be made to leave the race by the commissaires or race jury, who enforce all the rules, either with a disqualification (DSQ) for serious rule infringements, or for finishing outside the time limit on a given stage (OTL). You can find out more about the time limit with our explainer.
Here, we will track all the riders who drop out of the 2026 Tour between Barcelona and Paris.
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