Cycling: Felix Gall won stages in the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France in 2023. The Austrian has become one of the absolute top climbers in the peloton. This puts it in first place in our ranking.
Felix Gall is now measuring himself against the best
At the beginning of the year, hardly anyone would have predicted that Felix Gall would win a stage at the Tour de France just a few months later. The Austrian was known at best as a good domestique, having won a race in Croatia in 2019, but never standing out as a potential winner. But as early as February in France, and later in Italy and Spain, Felix Gall presented himself in unprecedented form. He rode at the front, often being the best rider on his team. His star truly rose at the Tour de Suisse, where he won a stage and finished eighth overall. Naturally, his team then nominated him for the Tour de France. And there, too, he impressed. Felix Gall won the stage in Courchevel and finished on the podium in two further stages. He also finished the Tour de France in eighth place overall. Particularly impressive: In the high mountains, especially in the final week, he was the only rider who could keep pace with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard for any significant length of time.
What else is possible in the future?
It has been a long time since a mountain rider from Austria was so successful in the Tour de France in the high mountains and in the overall ranking. In 2005 Georg Totschnig won a stage. Bernhard Kohl won the mountain jersey in 2008 and came third overall. However, these top results were subsequently revoked because of doping. It's hard to remember those times. Hopefully something similar cannot be expected from Felix Gall. The 25-year-old makes a down-to-earth and likeable impression. His development in 2023 is gigantic. This raises the question of what the Austrian will be capable of in the future. His weakness in the individual time trial is blatant and cannot be explained away. But in the high mountains he was almost as strong as Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar in places. With the appropriate focus and belief in himself, it is quite conceivable that Felix Gall can take another step forward in 2024.