[6] The first week of the Tour was described by French rider Romain Bardet (Team dsm–firmenich) as "most difficult [...] that ever existed", featuring a large number of high-mountain climbs and offering up the possibility of significant time differences between the general classification contenders.

[10] Pogačar meanwhile enjoyed a very successful spring campaign, winning the Tour of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race, and La Flèche Wallonne.

[11][12] Following his victory at the Tour de Suisse, the name of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl–Trek) was also added to the list of potential favourites.

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), the winner of the 2019 Tour de France, was not given big chances to win overall, since he was still recovering from a life-threatening crash the year before, even though he performed well at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

[11][12] Four-time winner Chris Froome (Israel–Premier Tech), who had so far not managed to reach his previous form after a serious accident in 2019, was left off his team's Tour roster.

[19] The first stage around Bilbao in the Basque Country saw a crash of several riders, which ultimately forced two pre-race favourites, Carapaz and Mas, to abandon.

The pair held their advantage to the finish, with Adam Yates taking the stage win and the first leader's yellow jersey ahead of his brother.

[20][21] Stage 2 featured the climb of the Jaizkibel, prominently used in the race Clásica de San Sebastián later in the season.

On stage 3 into Bayonne, he came in ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Team Bahrain Victorious), following a strong lead-out by teammate Mathieu van der Poel.

[23] Philipsen then won ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto–Dstny) and Bauhaus at the finish of stage 4, which ended at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro.

[24] The final part of the stage was marred by several crashes, including Fabio Jakobsen, while Yates retained the yellow jersey for another day.

Hindley dropped the remaining breakaway riders and rode alone over the top of the climb and into the finish in Laruns to win the stage, taking the lead in the general classification.

Pogačar opted to wait for distanced teammate Adam Yates to try to limit his losses, but eventually arrived at the finish 1:04 minutes behind Vingegaard, dropping to sixth place overall.

Vingegaard retained the yellow jersey, but lost time to Pogačar, who crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of him.

Bilbao dedicated his victory to his late teammate Gino Mäder, who had died after a crash in the Tour de Suisse the previous month.

[35] In the twelfth stage, Ion Izagirre of the Cofidis team came in first after he escaped solo in the last 30 km (19 mi) towards Belleville en Beaujolais.

Carlos Rodríguez caught Vingegaard and Pogačar during the final descent and went on to win the stage, moving one second ahead of Jai Hindley into third place overall.

[38][39] Wout Poels soloed to victory in stage 15 after he broke away 11 km (6.8 mi) from the finish line on the penultimate climb of the Côtes des Amerands.

[43] However, Pogačar needed assistance from his teammate Marc Soler in the climb towards the Col de la Loze and lost further time to Vingegaard, who widened the lead to more than seven minutes in a stage won by Gall.

After winning the stage, Mohorič, during an emotional interview on the difficulty of professional cycling, paid tribute to his late teammate Gino Mäder, who died in a crash at in the Tour de Suisse in June.

[45] In the twentieth stage, Thibaut Pinot, in his last Tour before retirement, attacked the breakaway and was solo leader at the top of the Petit Ballon, which was lined by thousands of fans cheering him on.

He was overtaken and dropped by the race leaders on the ascent to the Col du Platzerwasel, and Pogačar won the stage ahead of Gall and his tour rival Vingegaard.

[46] The final stage was traditionally calm and the Belgian Jordi Meeus won just ahead of his compatriot Philipsen, Groenewegen, and Pedersen.