Who Are the Indigenous Cyclists Who Have Ridden the Tour de France?

MIP Author
4 days ago
8 min read

Updated: 20 hours ago

Article hero image showing an illustrated vintage cycling poster inspired by classic Tour de France poster art. The image features Neilson Powless, Nairo Quintana, Darwin Atapuma, Richard Carapaz, and Emily Watts with cyclists riding through a French mountain landscape. — Vintage-style illustration of five Indigenous cyclists riding through a mountain road with the Eiffel Tower and Alpine peaks in the background. (AI-generatedImage)

Indigenous Cyclists reaching the global stage

The Tour de France is so famous that much of the world simply calls it “the Tour.” For more than a century, it has stood as one of the hardest endurance events in sports: several weeks of racing, punishing climbs, fast descents, crashes, heat, strategy, and survival. The 2026 edition began in Barcelona and runs through Spain and France before finishing in Paris, with 21 stages that include flat stages, hilly stages, mountain stages, a team time trial, an individual time trial, and two rest days. The route climbs through the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura, and Alps, with the Col du Galibier, at 2,642 meters, listed as the highest point of this year’s race.

This year’s Tour has already shown how extreme the race can be. During Stage 3, riders faced temperatures above 35°C at the start, wildfire restrictions near the finish, and a mountain stage where the public was barred from the finishing area for safety. The following stage was expected to bring temperatures near 41°C around Carcassonne.

But there is another question worth asking while the world watches the peloton move across Europe:

Who are the Indigenous athletes who have reached this global stage?

The answer is not a long list. That is part of the story. Professional road cycling has historically been dominated by European teams, European race calendars, and expensive development pathways. To reach the Tour, a rider usually needs years of access to equipment, coaching, travel, sponsorship, racing licenses, team contracts, and international results. For Indigenous athletes, especially those coming from communities historically excluded from those structures, simply arriving at the start line can be historic.

Neilson Powless: The Oneida Rider Who Made Tour History

Illustrated individual poster of Neilson Powless in a classic cycling-poster style. The image includes a portrait, action cycling pose, Eiffel Tower, Alpine mountains, and Oneida identification. — Neilson Powless, a citizen of the Oneida Nation, became the first tribally recognized Native North American cyclist to race the Tour de France.

Neilson Powless, a citizen of the Oneida Nation, became the first tribally recognized Native North American cyclist to race the Tour de France. In 2020, Associated Press reporting described him as the first tribally recognized Native North American competitor in the Tour’s 117-year history. Powless has spoken about wanting young Indigenous people to see someone like themselves on one of the world’s biggest sports stages.

Powless did not enter cycling from a quiet sports background. His mother, Jen Allred, ran the marathon at the 1992 Olympics, his father raced Ironman events, and his sister Shayna Powless also became a professional cyclist. Before focusing fully on road cycling, Neilson won both XTERRA national and world championships in 2012. The Native American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame notes that he later won the 2021 Clásica San Sebastián, finished fifth at the 2021 World Championships, and led the Tour de France mountains classification for a record 13 days as an American.

One of the most human details in Powless’s Tour story is small but memorable. When he was called up for the 2020 Tour, he did not have time to bring the Oneida symbols he often kept close, including a turtle necklace or a discreet design based on a wampum belt. Even without those visible markers, his presence carried meaning. He was not only riding for a professional team; he was becoming a symbol of possibility.

Curious fact: Powless was not just “surviving” the Tour. In his rookie appearance, he placed fourth on Stage 6 and fifth on Stage 8, both demanding climbing days. That matters because the Tour often reveals who can endure repeated suffering, not just who can produce one great ride.

Emily Watts: A First Nations Australian Chapter in the Tour de France Femmes

Individual poster of Emily Watts in a vintage cycling-poster style. The illustration features a portrait, road cycling action, Eiffel Tower, Alpine mountains, and First Nations / Wiradjuri identification. — Emily Watts, a First Nations Australian cyclist identified as Wiradjuri, represents an important chapter in Indigenous visibility at the Tour de France Femmes.

The Tour de France story is no longer only about the men’s race. The modern Tour de France Femmes, revived in 2022, has become one of the most important events on the women’s cycling calendar. In 2025, Australian cyclist Emily Watts made her Tour de France Femmes debut with St Michel-Preference Home Auber 93. Cyclingnews listed her among the Australian and New Zealand riders in the 2025 race, noting that she and Lucie Fityus were both making their Tour de France Femmes debuts.

Watts has also been part of Australia’s AIS Share a Yarn program, which supports First Nations athletes. The Australian Sports Commission page for Watts describes her as a professional cyclist from Devils Creek country, and the AIS ambassador listing says her Aboriginal ancestors lived on Devils River Taungurung Land, north-east of Yea, Victoria. SBS Sport described Watts as a proud Wiradjuri woman and the only First Nations cyclist to ride at the Tour de France Femmes.

Her story matters because visibility in women’s cycling is still being built. For Indigenous girls watching from Australia, North America, or anywhere else, representation at the Tour de France Femmes says that the highest levels of road cycling are not reserved for one kind of athlete, one continent, or one history.

Curious fact: Watts came into elite road cycling after years of balancing school, sport, and work. Her rise shows how many Indigenous athletes reach professional levels without the smooth, heavily funded pathways people often imagine.

Nairo Quintana: The Muysca Climber Who Changed Colombian Cycling

Illustrated poster of Nairo Quintana in a vintage Tour-inspired style. The image shows a heroic portrait, road cycling scene, French landscape, Eiffel Tower, and mountain setting. — Nairo Quintana, identified in Indigenous cycling coverage as Muysca, became one of the most successful climbers of his generation and a major figure in Colombian cycling history.

Nairo Quintana is one of the most accomplished Grand Tour riders of his generation. He was born in Cómbita, Boyacá, Colombia, in the high Andes. His official Movistar Team biography describes his childhood in a farming family near Tunja, nearly 3,000 meters above sea level. As a teenager, he used a heavy bicycle to ride 16 kilometers to school, downhill one way and uphill on the way back, including gradients of about 8 percent.

Quintana’s Tour de France debut in 2013 became one of the great modern cycling breakthroughs. At 23, he won a Tour stage, finished second overall, and won both the mountains classification and the young rider classification. He later returned to the Tour podium in 2015 and 2016. He also became the first Colombian to win the Giro d’Italia in 2014 and won the Vuelta a España in 2016, making him one of the few riders to reach the podium in all three Grand Tours.

For this article, the Indigenous connection should be written carefully. Native News Online identifies Quintana as Muysca, and cycling writer Matt Rendell, writing for the Rapid Transition Alliance, describes Quintana as “proudly Muysca” in a discussion of Colombian cycling and Indigenous cultural revival.

Quintana’s story also needs full context. His 2022 Tour de France result was later disqualified after a tramadol rule violation; the UCI said the case was not treated as an anti-doping violation, but the result was removed. That does not erase his larger career, but it should not be ignored in a serious article.

Curious fact: Quintana’s childhood commute was basically mountain training before anyone called it training. The road to school helped shape one of cycling’s most feared climbers.

Darwin Atapuma: The Pasto Rider Who Nearly Won on the Izoard

Individual cycling poster of Darwin Atapuma in a bold vintage sports-poster style. The illustration features a strong portrait, action riding pose, mountain road, Eiffel Tower, and Pasto identification. — Darwin Atapuma, a Colombian cyclist identified with Pasto heritage, came close to a Tour de France stage victory on the Col d’Izoard in 2017.

Darwin Atapuma, from Colombia’s Nariño region, is another rider identified by Matt Rendell as having Pasto Indigenous heritage. His name may be less familiar to casual Tour watchers than Powless or Quintana, but serious cycling fans remember his ride on Stage 18 of the 2017 Tour de France.

That stage finished on the Col d’Izoard, one of the Tour’s legendary Alpine climbs. Atapuma came painfully close to winning the stage, finishing second after a long effort in the mountains. Afterward, the official Tour de France site quoted him saying that second place had the same meaning as a stage win because he had ridden flat out while “the whole Colombia” was watching on the country’s national day.

That detail gives the story emotional weight. For many riders from outside cycling’s traditional European centers, the Tour is not only an individual race. It becomes a national and cultural stage. When Atapuma attacked in the Alps, people far away from France saw themselves in the climb.

Curious fact: Atapuma’s near-win came on July 20, Colombia’s Independence Day. That turned a mountain stage into something larger than a bike race.

Richard Carapaz: The Ecuadorian Champion with Pasto Roots

Illustrated poster of Richard Carapaz in a classic cycling-poster style. The image combines a heroic portrait, action road cycling, French scenery, Alpine mountains, and Pasto heritage text. — Richard Carapaz, an Ecuadorian cycling champion identified with Pasto heritage, became the first Ecuadorian rider to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey.

Richard Carapaz, from Ecuador, belongs in the broader Indigenous-heritage conversation. Rendell identifies Carapaz as Pasto, from just over the Colombian-Ecuadorian border. He is also one of the most successful South American cyclists in the history of the sport.

Carapaz grew up in Ecuador’s highlands and became the first Ecuadorian rider to win the Giro d’Italia. The UCI has described how he trains in the mountains of Ecuador and how his success opened doors for Ecuadorian cycling. His EF Pro Cycling biography notes that he has stood on the podium of all three Grand Tours and won more than 20 professional races. In the 2024 Tour de France, he wore the yellow jersey, won Stage 17, and won the polka dot mountains jersey.

Reuters reported that Carapaz became the first Ecuadorian rider to wear the yellow jersey during the 2024 Tour de France. His own words captured the scale of the moment: he called it a great day for Ecuador and described the Tour as “the biggest race of the world.”

Curious fact: Carapaz is nicknamed La Locomotora and El Cóndor de los Andes. Both nicknames fit his racing style: aggressive, climbing-focused, and difficult to ignore once he attacks.

Why These Stories Matter

The Tour de France is often presented as a European monument, and in many ways it is. Its roads, climbs, teams, traditions, and myths are deeply tied to France and European cycling culture. But the riders who have shaped the Tour now come from far beyond Europe. Indigenous cyclists have entered that story from the Oneida Nation, the Andes, Colombia, Ecuador, and Australia.

Their presence asks a larger question:

Who gets to be seen in the world’s hardest arenas?

For Neilson Powless, the Tour became a place where Oneida youth could see a Native rider inside the peloton. For Nairo Quintana, it became a stage where a rider from the highlands of Boyacá could challenge Europe’s best climbers. For Darwin Atapuma, one Alpine climb became a national moment. For Richard Carapaz, the yellow jersey became part of Ecuador’s sporting history. For Emily Watts, the Tour de France Femmes became a new point of visibility for First Nations athletes in women’s cycling.

The Tour is about endurance, but endurance is not only physical. It is also cultural. It is the ability to keep going when access is limited, when history overlooks people, and when the road was not originally built with everyone in mind.