Relive the first 3 stages of the Tour de France on Strava

With the Tour de France now heading to France following three incredible stages from Leeds to London, we can relive the action on Strava thanks to a handful of racers sharing their activities on the training website. 

Strava, and the fact that quite a few professional racers use it on a regular basis, provides us unprecedented access to the speed and demands of top level racing. We've picked out some activities from the first three stages of the Tour to have a look at. 

Stage 1 with Laurens ten Dam. The Belkin rider called his stage 1 activity "How many people. Never seen!" which gives us an added insight into how the racers have witnessed the packed roadsides. He averaged 39.5km/h for the 187.6km he covered on the roads from Leeds to Harrogate, with 2,097m of climbing and a top speed of 90.4km/h. His average heart rate was just 127bpm. No surprises that he bagged a few KOMs along the way. 

Stage 2 with David Lopez. The Team Sky rider grabbed the Huddersfield to Holme Moss KOM but he shares it with Ted King who posted the identical time. This 15.7km segment topping out at Holme Moss features 441m of climbing and he clocked an average speed of 32.4km/h.

Stage 3 with Ted King. Ted's activity name gives a good indication of how his day went: "Stage 3 of Tour de France went swimmingly... until fans come into the street and cause a crash. Onward." Yes, he was taken out, along with a few other riders, by a spectator. Despite the crash, he averaged 38.6km/h for the 160km stage from Cambridge to London. There wasn't a lot of climbing on this stage, just 871m, but Ted grabbed a few KOMs along the way.

You can keep track of all the pros riding the Tour de France on Strava on this page. We'll keep an eye on their pages for standout rides from the race, particularly when they head into the mountains.