Tadej Pogacar is not the only rider on the Tour de France to express frustration with the weather but he is the most important. The four-time champion hopes the race organizers will consider an earlier start date in the future as extreme heat and increasing temperatures force his competitors to sleep outside in an attempt to stay cool.
To make matters worse, hotel conditions are not up to standard!
The most famous event in cycling is approximately half of the way through. Its participants are not happy with the conditions.
Tadej Pogacar bemoans high temperatures on the Tour de France.
A vicious heatwave is rolling across France during the Tour de France. The ninth stage of the race was actually cut short by 30 kilometers because the forecast predicted an afternoon peak temperature of more than 100º Fahrenheit. It has been a problem throughout most of the early stages but it reached its pinnacle on Sunday.
Riders are wearing ice vests or stuffing ice blocks inside of their jerseys to try and stay cool. They are not so sure it is healthy.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar, one of the greatest cyclists of all-time, admitted to having a headache from the heat at the start of stage 4. He questions why the race is scheduled for the height of summer.
““If I had the power I would change all the calendar and not race in July and August in hot places. I’d do a completely different calendar, but it’s not something I can do.”
His solution is simple. If you cannot move the Tour de France up on the calendar, start the stage earlier in the morning.
“Maybe the next step is to start the stages earlier. Yesterday there was a proposal to start at 10, but it doesn’t change anything because then you finish in the heat. You need to start at eight or nine, or even before. It’s a little bit s—, but I think the body can adapt to waking up at five o’clock in the morning and doing a stage at eight. But I think I’ve said enough.”
Teams are doing whatever they can to combat the heat.
The Decathlon CMA CGM team is using a portable cryotherapy unit to cool the riders after each stage. Tiesj Benoot said, “You sit in a capsule at minus 120 degrees for about three minutes. It’s even more intense than an ice bath.”
Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team doctor Samuel Fisser said that, because it is becoming hotter and hotter every year, they are forced to focus more and more on cooling and sleep quality to prevent the riders from getting sick. They are using cold baths at the finish in a desperate effort to reduce riders’ core temperatures as soon as possible after racing.
It is so hot in France that the UCI relaxed its regulations on “feed zones” to provide additional fluids to riders. The Pinarello-Q36.5 team’s eight riders went through 160 water bottles on stage 2— approximately 10 liters per rider. Picnic-PostNL claimed the team was going through 28 bottles per rider per stage.
All of this goes to say that the heat is an issue. Even on the off day.
Riders slept outside to avoid poor conditions and to beat the heat.
The Tour de France took a day off on Monday between stages 9 and 10. Norwegian riders Anders Halland Johannessen and Tobias Halland Johannessen moved their beds onto the balcony.
When your hotel during the 🇫🇷 Tour de France is so questionable that sleeping on the balcony feels like the better option 😅
— Domestique (@Domestique___) July 13, 2026
🇳🇴 Anders Halland Johannessen and 🇳🇴 Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) pic.twitter.com/rM0rkLeBxI
Not only was it hot, their hotel room was not up to standard in terms of its condition.
Could be worse, this is ours 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ijPNxKc69Y
— Anders H. Johannessen (@AndersHJohanne2) July 13, 2026
Pocagar and his team were sleeping in a hotel without air conditioning. If they try to turn on the AC, the power trips.
Magnus Cort shared a more detailed breakdown of the hotel. He called it one of the “worst places” he has ever stayed.
Alpecin-Premier Tech stayed at the same hotel. Silvan Dillier also moved his bed outside but his teammate chose to sleep inside with a portable air conditioning unit.
Teams must use the hotels that are assigned to them by the organization with no exceptions. They cannot book their own rooms. They cannot stay in a motorhome. The rules are the rules.
Between the condition of their rooms and the lack of air conditioning after competing all day in extreme heat, riders are not happy.