The 2022 Tour de France will close in Paris on Sunday evening with the lowest number of finishers in 20 years.

Forty-one riders have abandoned the race in the past three weeks, and of the 176 who started the Copenhagen time trial on July 1, a significant number left the race for various reasons. [Meanwhile, AG2R Citroen, Israel Premier Tech, and UAE Team Emirates had three, three, and four, respectively.

The attrition began even before the race started, as five competitors had to withdraw from the race for COVID-19 related reasons. Tim Declercq (Quick Step Alpha Vinyl) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) were late, while Israel Premier Tech was forced to make two line-up changes due to close racing.

The first four days through Denmark, the long trip south, and the opening stage in northern France were unusually free of any abandonments. However, the cobbled stage to Arenberg saw the first retirements when Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and Daniel Oss (Total Energies) left the race in a crash. [Vegard Stake Rengen (UAE Team Emirates) and Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen) retired after an internal team inspection. Gianni Moscon (Astana Kazakstan) also withdrew with a long COVID.

On the rest day after stage 9 in the Alps, a total of 13 riders returned home, including Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), who fought through the previous stage with a torn hip muscle, and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who also tested COVID-19 positive.

On stage 10, the UAE's main domestique, George Bennett, tested positive, and a week later, Rafaou Mayka became the fourth and last rider from the team to suffer a knee injury on stage 16.

Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix) retired on stage 11.

On the same stage, Mikhail Morkov (Quick-Step Alphavinil) bravely rode alone in the 200km heat, missing out on a time reduction. The second half of the race saw a series of positive COVID-19 tests for Michael Woods, Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), and Enric Mas (Movistar).

On the final stage to Paris, Israel-Premier Tech's Woods (COVID-19) and Guillaume Boivin (illness) withdrew, while Movistar's Gorka Izagirre returned home on Monday to participate in his home race, the Ordidiaco Classica.

This is the first time since the 2000 Tour that so few riders have arrived in Paris. Only 127 riders completed the race, which was the first time since the Tour of France in 2000 that so few riders have arrived in Paris.

The record for the fewest finishers in the Tour de France was 10 in 1919, the slowest race in Tour history at 24.056 km/h.