Tour de France: Team-by-team ratings
Our comprehensive analysis of every squad's Tour de France performance
After the 2020 Tour de France drew to a close in Paris on Sunday, we've all had enough time to digest the events of the past three weeks, the ins and outs, ups and down of Le Grand Boucle.
We've pored through 21 days of action to find the most memorable moments of the race, we've analysed the top 10 GC riders, checked out the prize money rankings, and we've pulled apart the peloton to find the winners and losers of the Tour.
But what about the teams themselves? With 21 stages and four jerseys up for grabs, it would've been a big ask for all 22 squads to leave France with a concrete prize. And so it proved – a select few rose to the top, others disappointed, while bad luck or a simple lack of resources saw some teams come away with very little to show for 3,484km of hard work.
It's our final piece of analysis of this strange, delayed edition of the Tour de France. After all, the races are coming thick and fast with the Road World Championships coming up and the Classics and Giro d'Italia on the horizon, too.
Read on for our 2020 Tour de France team ratings.
AG2R La Mondiale – ★★★☆☆
Best GC: Mickaël Cherel – 26th at 1:40:51
Top results: Nans Peters – winner on stage 8
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Summary: With team leader Romain Bardet going into the race – his last Tour before leaving for Sunweb – proclaiming a goal of targeting stage wins, coming away from the race with one in the bag looks a good result for AG2R.
Bardet wasn't responsible for it though; instead it was teammate Nans Peters celebrating as he prevailed from the break on a hard day to Loudenvielle, adding to his stage win at last year's Giro.
While supposed co-leader Pierree Latour was anonymous before leaving the race injured, Bardet looked a real GC threat before his own withdrawal due to concussion after stage 13. He lay fourth overall heading into that stage, and who knows what might have been later on. Another highlight was Benoît Cosnefroy's two-week stint in the polka dot jersey, even if he couldn't sustain the challenge through the final week as stronger climbers came to the fore. (DO)
Arkéa-Samsic – ★½☆☆☆
Best GC: Warren Barguil – 14th at 31:04
Top results: Nairo Quintana – fourth on stage 4
Summary: Simply put, a Tour team built around their star addition for 2020, Nairo Quintana, had nothing to offer when the Colombian's GC bid collapsed after he was injured in a crash on stage 13. He had looked good up to that point, scoring a fourth place on Orcières-Merlettee early on, but it's another case of 'what might have been'.
Warren Barguil quietly (almost silently) rode to 14th overall, half an hour ahead of Quintana. The Frenchman scored the team's only other top 10 placing with sixth on stage 16.
We have to mention the scandal that has erupted around the team since the end of the Tour, with details emerging of a stage 17 police raid and subsequent investigation. Those involved are innocent until proven guilty, of course, but the news only adds to what ended up a very disappointing campaign. (DO)
Astana Pro Team – ★★★★☆
Best GC: Miguel Ángel López – sixth at 6:47
Top results: Alexey Lutsenko – winner on stage 6; Miguel Ángel López – winner on stage 17
Summary: On the face of it, Miguel Ángel López's sixth place looks a decent result for the Tour debutant – and it is – but falling from third to sixth on La Planche des Belles Filles was not how he or Astana will have wanted to end what was a very good Tour for the Kazakhstani outfit.
Alexey Lutsenko grabbed a stage win from the break on Mont Aigoual to ensure the race was a success no matter where López ended up, and the Colombian only looked to get stronger as the race went on, too.
His highlight came on the Col de la Loze, storming to victory on the toughest climb of the Tour as a battle for yellow played out behind him. In the end, a third Grand Tour podium wasn't to be for him, but nevertheless Astana can be very happy with their three week's work. (DO)
B&B Hotels-Vital Concept – ★½☆☆☆
Best GC: Pierre Rolland – 18th at 1:08:26
Top results: Pierre Rolland – second on stage 12
Summary: Three years after their creation, Jérôme Pineau's team made their debut at the Tour de France, and gave a good account of themselves. They were unable to come away with a dream stage win, but Bryan Coquard came close with third on the crosswind stage to Lavaur, a day that apparently gave a lot of confidence to the team as a whole.
From then on, they mucked in with chasing down breaks on the sprint days and animated many of the other days. 'Attaque de Pierre Rolland' is a catchphrase formed over years of commentators’ bingo, and the Frenchman was true to his aggressive, scattergun approach at this Tour, and looked on the verge of mounting a KOM challenge in the Alps.
Kévin Reza also played a leading role in the peloton's anti-racism demonstration on the final day. Next year's Tour starts in the team's native Brittany and they'll be confident they’ve done enough to be invited back. (PF)
Bahrain McLaren – ★★★½☆
Best GC: Mikel Landa – fourth at 5:58; Damiano Caruso – tenth at 14:03
Top results: Mikel Landa – fifth on stage 9
Summary: Like 2019 when Vincenzo Nibali won the race's penultimate stage, Bahrain McLaren's Tour was salvaged late on as new Grand Tour leader Mikel Landa ascended the ranks of the top 10 to finish fourth overall in Paris.
The Spaniard, who led the new-look team and matched his previous best result, looked iffy on some stages and best of the rest behind the Slovenians on others, and ultimately jumped up to fourth in the most unexpected way – a time trial.
Elsewhere, it was a quieter campaign for the team, with Wout Poels breaking a rib on day one and Pello Bilbao making the break on a couple of occasions. Damiano Caruso's tenth place – his best at a Tour de France after a very strong final week – was the icing on the cake of what can be considered a successful race for the team. (DO)
Bora-Hansgrohe – ★★★☆☆
Best GC: Lennard Kämna – 33rd at 2:15:39
Top results: Lennard Kämna – winner on stage 16
Summary: Lennard Kämna's stage victory at Villard-de-Lans saved what would otherwise had been a disappointing Tour for the German team, winning from the break after overpowering Richard Carapaz 20km from the line.
It was still a good race in the grand scheme of things, though, in the build-up, Bora-Hansgrohe would have been aiming for the green jersey with Peter Sagan as well as a GC bid with Emanuel Buchmann.
Buchmann, injured in a crash at the Critérium Dauphiné, never reached his best form, while Sagan wasn't close to top form either, his best finish third place on two stages, and ultimately he was easily bested by Sam Bennett in the battle for green. The team did well to battle for stage wins too, with Kämna's breakaway victory meaning they at least salvaged something from the race. (DO)
CCC Team – ★★☆☆☆
Best GC: Simon Geschke – 48th at 2:44:27
Top results: Greg Van Avermaet – third on stage 6
Summary: If this was the team's final Tour de France, it was a slightly limp way to bow out. Matteo Trentin was active in the green jersey battle but was never really a threat for it. When it came to stage wins, Greg Van Avermaet and Ilnur Zakarin came close, the latter let down by his descending skills, while the team was active in numerous breakaways, too.
Van Avermaet and Trentin were both in the decisive move on stage 19 but questions over communication – first raised when Trentin signed over the winter – resurfaced as they came away empty-handed, with Van Avermaet apparently unaware of the tactic of Trentin attacking, which ultimately served only to lay Søren Kragh Andersen's path to victory.
A collective highlight was their joining forces with Bora-Hansgrohe on stage 14 to distance the sprinters but with Van Avermaet and Trentin in your team, you expect a better return. (PF)
Cofidis – ★★½☆☆
Best GC: Guillaume Martin – 11th at 16:58
Top results: Jesús Herrada – second on stage 6
Summary: A mixed bag for Cofidis, who will surely come away from the Tour with a sense of disappointment. Back as a WorldTour outfit, Elia Viviani was signed at some expense to help end their 12-year run without a stage win at the race. Fourth at Île de Ré was his best result, however, while Jesús Herrada came closest to victory on Mont Aigoual.
Instead, the team's leading light was Guillaume Martin, who backed up a great Dauphiné with a statement of his GC credentials. He was third overall up until stage 13, when he plummeted to 12th. He ended up 11th, continuing his line of progression in the Tour (23rd, 21st, 12th, 11th), but left a slightly disappointing taste as the ambition would have been a top 10, if not before the race then certainly after the first week.
Still, Martin was widely talked about in the early phases of the race, and finished it as the top Frenchman, giving plenty of exposure to the French team and a good deal of optimism for the future. (PF)
Deceuninck-QuickStep – ★★★★½
Best GC: Julian Alaphilippe – 36th at 2:19:11
Top results: Sam Bennett – green jersey, won stages 10 and 21; Julian Alaphilippe – winner on stage 2, three days in yellow
Summary: Another good Tour for the Belgian team, with three stage wins, the green jersey, and a spell in yellow. They put a lot of resources behind Sam Bennett's green jersey bid, and they were rewarded, ending their old foe Peter Sagan's long run as the winner of the points classification.
Bennett's curious inferiority complex was maybe not entirely lifted but he proved himself worthy of what is still comfortably the best sprint set-up in the peloton, with Michael Mørkøv once again underlining his credentials as the best lead-out man in the world.
Julian Alaphilippe won a scintillating stage in Nice and pulled on the yellow jersey once again, and from that early point, his race automatically qualified as a success. However, after last year, the Frenchman is judged by different standards to everyone else, and the rest of his Tour was a slight disappointment.
Firstly, he lost yellow in a sloppy fashion, with an illegal feed, and after that, he infiltrated almost every breakaway going but came up short every time. He maybe could have picked his battles a little better but it was clear this wasn't the sparkling Alaphilippe of 2019, and he appeared human again by the final week. (PF)
EF Pro Cycling – ★★★★☆
Best GC: Rigoberto Urán – eighth at 8:02
Top results: Daniel Martínez – winner on stage 13
Summary: The American squad headed to the Tour with three Colombians ready to do battle in the mountains, but that triple threat never really came into being. Rigoberto Urán was – somewhat surprisingly – one of only two Colombians to make the top 10 in Paris, his eighth a nice result after his career-threatening injury sustained at the Vuelta a España a year ago
It was a very quiet eighth though, even if he battled to podium contention heading into the final week. A struggle on the Col de la Loze and a less-than-ideal time trial meant that didn't come to pass, however.
Daniel Martínez added some flair to EF's Tour with a wonderful stage win on the Puy Mary. The Dauphiné winner boosted his stock further as he outfoxed Bora-Hansgrohe duo Max Schachmann and Lennard Kämna to take the team's first Tour win since 2017. Ultimately, a successful race for EF. (DO)
Groupama-FDJ – ★½☆☆☆
Best GC: Sébastien Reichenbach – 24th at 1:39:27
Top results: Sébastien Reichenbach – third on stage 16
Summary: A Tour to forget for the French team, with their mercurial leader Thibaut Pinot left with another soul-searching task and another year wondering if the stars will ever align. Pinot finished the race, and only dropped out of GC contention on the first day in the Pyrenees, but his Tour was effectively over on the first day, when he crashed in Nice and someone rode into his back.
It was a similar story for the promising David Gaudu, who was unable to make an impact in his leader's absence and had to abandon on stage 16.
Valentin Madouas was a spritely presence, Stefan Küng took his opportunity for breakaways, and Sébastien Reichenbach was third on stage 16, but the mood will have been subdued in Paris. It can be attributed to simple bad luck, but there may be a touch of regret at leaving out the in-form Arnaud Démare in order to go all-in for Pinot. (PF)
Ineos Grenadiers – ★★★☆☆
Best GC: Richard Carapaz – 13th at 25:53
Top results: Michał Kwiatkowski – winner on stage 18
Summary: The 2020 Tour de France was a bruising experience and something of a wake-up call for the British team. Given the astronomical standards they've set themselves with seven victories in the eight previous Tours, anything less is automatically deemed a huge disappointment, if not outright failure.
Egan Bernal came into the race with doubts over his back, and his capitulation on stage 15 had already been signposted. It led to a tide of questioning, from team selection to training methods. Even before that, Ineos, after dominating the Tour for so long, were largely relegated from the front of the bunch as Jumbo-Visma stamped their newfound authority.
On a collective level, they now have competition, and also on an individual, with the rise of Tadej Pogačar sure to be a concern to the team who thought they possessed the rider of the next decade.
After Bernal's abandon, the team did re-set and managed to salvage something from the race. Richard Carapaz lit up the Alps with his incessant attacks but it was Michał Kwiatkowski whose name was put to a stage win, crossing the line arm-in-arm with Carapaz in one of the most enduring images of the Tour.
It was a great moment for the rider who has sacrificed so much of his own potential for those previous yellow jerseys, and a show of team pride, but it will do little to deflect from the reality that Dave Brailsford will have to go back to the drawing board. (PF)
Israel Start-Up Nation – ★☆☆☆☆
Best GC: Dan Martin – 41st at 2:30:25
Top results: Hugo Hofstetter – fourth on stage 5
Summary: The Tour de France debutants had a tough time in France, despite turning up with a pretty solid squad in Nice. Dan Martin was the team's biggest signing for 2020, but was unlucky to fracture his sacrum at the Dauphiné and couldn't add to his two stage victories – as was the aim, rather than a GC bid, this year.
They were active in breaks with Krists Neilands, Ben Hermans and Guy Niv, but with only so many stages up for grabs it was always going to be tough going to get that bit of luck and prevail.
Sprinters André Greipel and Hugo Hofstetter grabbed a handful of top 10 finishes between them, with the Frenchman coming off better. The race would've been a good learning experience for the team, and they'll be back next year with more big names – Froome, Woods, Impey – and greater expectations. (DO)
Jumbo-Visma – ★★★★½
Best GC: Primož Roglič – second at 0:59; Tom Dumoulin – seventh at 7:48
Top results: Primož Roglič – winner on stage 4, 11 days in yellow; Wout van Aert – winner on stages 5 and 7
Summary: The Dutch squad enjoyed a near-perfect Tour, only for it to fall apart on the penultimate day of the race as an incredible ride from Tadej Pogačar shockingly dispatched of Primož Roglič with ease.
The image of Tom Dumoulin and Wout van Aert staring at the big screen on La Planches des Belles Filles in shock at what was unfolding will be one of the enduring images of the Tour, but there were plenty of positives beyond the GC loss.
Roglič – impervious in the race lead for half the race – took a stage win on day four, while Wout van Aert, who looks the best all-rounder in the sport and probably the top rider of 2020, sprinted to two wins while also serving as a domestique deep into the mountains.
Tom Dumoulin's improving form is a plus, too. The Dutchman looked close to his best at times after almost a year of injury and illness, and his seventh-place – despite putting himself to work for Roglič – will be a reason for additional cheer. (DO)
Lotto Soudal – ★★★½☆
Best GC: Thomas De Gendt – 52nd at 2:51:56
Top results: Caleb Ewan – winner of stages 3 and 11
Summary: Two stage wins, courtesy of Caleb Ewan, represents a decent enough return, but it was a tough Tour for the Belgian team. The race started out in disastrous fashion, as they lost Philippe Gilbert and John Degenkolb on a crash-ridden opening day in Nice.
That not only hampered their sprint lead-out but left them looking very much one-dimensional, as Gilbert would have been eyeing up a number of breakaway opportunities on the hilly route. Thomas De Gendt wasn't his usual self, and in the second half of the race the team was largely reduced to a cluster of riders shepherding Ewan through the mountains.
With the Giro d'Italia starting in less than two weeks, it was a huge effort to make just to arrive boxed-in on the Champs-Élysées, and that might have left a slightly sour taste. Ewan's two stage wins – the first a sensational weaving sprint – were a drop from his three last year, but none of his rivals won more. (PF)
Mitchelton-Scott – ★★½☆☆
Best GC: Adam Yates – ninth at 9:25
Top results: Adam Yates – four days in yellow; Luka Mezgec – second on stages 14 and 19
Summary: A quieter than usual presence at the Tour, Mitchelton-Scott's race was all about Adam Yates, and to a lesser extent sprinter Luka Mezgec. The Briton spent four days in yellow in the first week, but didn't look like a genuine GC challenger, eventually falling to ninth after the time trial.
Yates talked of stage wins before the race, but after his time in yellow seemed determined to stay in the top 10 fight rather than letting go and trying for a win. His third place on stage 2 was the closest he came to that.
Mezgec, meanwhile, mixed it up in the sprints but wasn't at the level of the stage contenders. Two second-place finishes came when he proved quickest from reduced groups behind Søren Kragh Andersen. The rest of the squad were less active – a far cry from the comparative feast of four stage wins in 2019. (DO)
Movistar – ★★★½☆
Best GC: Enric Mas – fifth at 6:07
Top results: Team classification; Carlos Verona – third on stage 8
Summary: Technically, Movistar were, once again, the best team in the Tour de France, but we all know that's not true. Their targeting of the teams classification – at times at the expense of other ideas – has become a source of amusement, but they stayed true to themselves and all took to the podium in Paris for the fifth time in six years.
With Enric Mas finishing fifth overall, it wasn't actually a bad Tour for the Spanish team, their first of the post-Landa-Quintana-Carapaz era. You'd be forgiven for thinking Mas had only arrived in France in the final week – he didn't have a good start to the race and was 12th overall after the first week, but went on to place fifth on the Grand Colombier, sixth on the Col de la Loze, and fifth from the GC group in La Roche-sur-Foron. Finally, a strong time trial took him into the final top five.
Beyond Mas, Movistar had a quiet race, with Marc Soler infiltrating a few breakaways and Alejandro Valverde staying in and around the GC picture to finish 12th. Mas' final-week resurgence saved Movistar's Tour and altered their perspective. There must have been worries at the halfway mark, but Mas, who had three pairs of shoes to fill and a burden of expectation as 'the next big thing in Spain', does appear to offer a solid future for the team. (PF)
NTT Pro Cycling – ★☆☆☆☆
Best GC: Michael Valgren – 73rd at 3:41:45
Top results: Edvald Boasson Hagen – second on stage 7
Summary: Yes, NTT really were at the Tour de France this year. European champion Giacomo Nizzolo was their main man after looking rejuvenated so far in 2020, but was forced out of the race in the Pyrenees with a knee injury.
The Italian's best result was a rather distant third place behind Caleb Ewan's magical sprint in Sisteron, while teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen went one better in the crosswinds of stage 7, though he wasn't close to Wout van Aert at the finish in Lavaur. That second might elevate themselves above the other 'one-starers' but NTT brought so little else to the race.
The second half of the race saw Michael Gogl make the break of the day twice and Walscheid once, but the fact that we had to scour race reports to confirm this should tell you how well those went. NTT ended the race with five riders in Paris; you have to wonder if things would have turned out much differently had they started with that many. (DO)
Team Sunweb – ★★★★★
Best GC: Marc Hirschi – 54th at 2:54:34
Top results: Marc Hirschi – winner on stage 12, combativity prize; Søren Kragh Andersen – winner on stages 14 and 19
Summary: If you told me before the Tour that I'd be writing this, there's no way I'd have believed you, but Sunweb were arguably the best team at the 2020 Tour de France. They may not have won the most stages or done anything on GC, but in terms of racing as one collective unit, they were outstanding.
Søren Kragh Andersen won two stages and Marc Hirschi one, and on each occasion they played the numbers game to great effect. Hischi was sensational on his debut Tour and could have had more, but Sunweb's successes were largely down to timing and tactics. Perhaps they stand out because so many had written them off. They'd lost Tom Dumoulin last winter and left Wilco Kelderman and Sam Oomen for the Giro, leaving no GC leader.
Even then, they declined to bring their top stage hunter and former green jersey, Michael Matthews, who is being sent to the Giro and so will also miss the Classics before leaving for Mitchelton-Scott. The ethos at Sunweb very much prizes the collective over the individual. It's a somewhat polarising approach, with Dumoulin and Matthews the latest in a long and alarming list of riders breaking their contracts, but at the Tour de France we saw its merits. (PF)
Total Direct Énergie – ★☆☆☆☆
Best GC: Romain Sicard – 31st at 2:13:02
Top results: Anthony Turgis – ninth on stage 1; Fabien Grellier – one day in polka dots
Summary: The final squad among the one-star crew. Total Direct Énergie had one of the weakest squads at the Tour and it was therefore no surprise to see them struggle. They'll have been looking towards Niccolò Bonifazio and Lilian Calmejane for a result, but the Italian's tenth place on stage 3 was the best either could manage.
Instead, the team were visible in breakaways, and, after stage 1, in the polka dot jersey for a day courtesy of Fabien Grellier's efforts in Nice. The likes of Mathieu Burgaudeau, Jérôme Cousin and Romain Sicard were in numerous breaks through the rest of the race.
They put up a good fight and got their name out there, which, sometimes, is the best you can say about the minnows at cycling's biggest race. (DO)
Trek-Segafredo – ★★★★½
Best GC: Richie Porte – third at 3:30
Top results: Mads Pedersen – second on stages 1 and 21; Toms Skujinš – second on stage 8
Summary: Richie Porte said his third place finish felt like a victory, and that'll be the case for the team as a whole, who would have ripped your arm off for a spot on the Paris podium ahead of the race.
It was a blow to lose Bauke Mollema through a crash on stage 13, but Porte picked up the mantle and got stronger and stronger, culminating in a brilliant penultimate-day time trial. The team made a big blunder in the crosswinds on stage 7, with Porte and Mollema both losing time, but thereafter they shepherded Porte well, with strong protection coming from none other than the world champion Mads Pedersen.
The Dane sprinted to second place on the first and last day, underlining his ability but also raising question marks over whether it was worth rotating the sprint leadership between him, Jasper Stuyven and Edward Theuns. (PF)
UAE Team Emirates – ★★★★★
Best GC: Tadej Pogačar – winner at 87:20:05
Top results: Tadej Pogačar – yellow, polka dot, white jerseys, winner of stages 9, 15 and 20; Alexander Kristoff – winner on stage 1
Summary: When funding from UAE's second largest Emirate, Abu Dhabi, came in to take on the former Lampre-Merida team in 2017, the aim was to become one of the very top teams, and now they have their first Tour de France victory.
Tadej Pogačar was simply extraordinary in winning three stages, three jerseys, becoming the second youngest Tour winner of all time and one of only eight debutant champions. After Alexander Kristoff's stage win in Nice, the team had the yellow jersey on the first day and the last day, and the champagne will have flowed.
However, it must be said Pogačar's victory was more a display of individual brilliance than a collective effort. Fabio Aru abandoned early amid a tirade of unnecessary criticism from his management, and Davide Formolo left with a broken collarbone.
David De la Cruz had an impressive ride on the Col de la Loze, where his turn exploded the yellow jersey group, but Pogačar didn't have anything like the support Roglič had at Jumbo-Visma, underlined by his losses in the stage 7 crosswinds. Pogačar showed he didn't really need a team, but they'll surely be looking to strengthen around a rider who could dominate this generation. (PF)
Tour de France team ranking
★★★★★ – Team Sunweb, UAE Team Emirates
★★★★½ – Deceuninck-QuickStep, Jumbo-Visma, Trek-Segafredo
★★★★☆ – Astana Pro Team, EF Pro Cycling
★★★½☆ – Bahrain McLaren, Lotto Soudal, Movistar
★★★☆☆ – AG2R La Mondiale, Bora-Hansgrohe, Ineos Grenadiers
★★½☆☆ – Cofidis, Mitchelton-Scott
★★☆☆☆ – CCC Team
★½☆☆☆ – Arkéa-Samsic, B&B Hotels-Vital Concept, Groupama-FDJ
★☆☆☆☆ – Israel Start-Up Nation, NTT Pro Cycling, Total Direct Énergie
Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.
