With the victory in the opening stage of the Vuelta a España in Turin, Jasper Philipsen has once again added the Belgian flag on a stage win in a Grand Tour. For the fifth consecutive year, Belgian riders have won at least one stage in every Grand Tour. Philipsen’s success was actually the 70th Belgian stage win in one of the three Grand Tours over the past ten years.
This makes the current generation of Belgian cyclists dominant in terms of stage wins in the Grand Tours. Dutch riders have won 40 stages over the past ten years. Looking specifically at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España over the last five years, Dutch riders won stages in all the Grand Tours in 2021 and 2022 but did not win any stages in the Giro in 2023 or in the Vuelta in 2024. Naturally, Dutch riders will be aiming for victories in the upcoming Vuelta as well.
Regarding countries with the most stage wins in the past ten years, Belgium leads with 70 wins, followed by Italy with 65 victories. Then come Slovenia (59), France (54), Australia (43), United Kingdom (42), Netherlands (40), Spain (35), and Colombia, Denmark, and Germany each with 31 stage wins.
In the past five years, Belgium was also clearly dominant with 48 stage victories. Slovenia recorded 38, with Tadej Pogacar responsible for 18 of those. Then follow Italy (27), Australia (26), Denmark (24), Netherlands (23), France (20), United Kingdom (15), and Spain (13).
When looking at the most successful Belgian riders in terms of stage wins over the last ten years, Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen lead for Belgium with 14 stage victories in the three Grand Tours. Remco Evenepoel (with 9 wins) and Tim Merlier (7 wins) also have strong records.
For the Netherlands, Tom Dumoulin remains the top rider over the past ten years with 7 stage wins. He is followed by sprinters Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jakobsen, each with 6 stage victories. Mathieu van der Poel, Olav Kooij, and Thymen Arensman each have three stage wins to their names.
