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FWC: BEL v SEN live on SN ExtraOut the Tour de France Gate: Kiwi cycling star prepares for 'surreal' debut at iconic race
Alex Chapman • July 2nd, 2026 8:54 am
Aaron Gate | Photo: Photosport
For all that he’s achieved in his illustrious career, Aaron Gate’s about to make another huge dream come true.
At 34 years old, the Kiwi cyclist finally gets to tick ‘ride in the Tour de France’ off after being confirmed in the XDS Astana team for this month’s edition of the iconic race.
“I guess it's still a little bit surreal. It hasn't properly sunk in yet.” Gate told Sport Nation Mornings from his Andorra base.
The Kazakhstan team has twice won road cycling’s most famous race - in 2009 with Alberto Contador and 2014 with Vincenzo Nibali. It's also the team Lance Armstrong rode for when he made his return to the sport in 2009.
It’s a team Gate explained he grew up watching, with the experience to ride with them bordering on beyond his wildest.
“In our tour team of eight riders we've got a Dutchie, a German, two Colombians, two Italians, and a Kazakh. So, it's a pretty wild mix, but we seem to all get along alright and it's part of the fun learning about other people's cultures and everything.
“It’s a good mix for me of some of the old school ways of thinking of just do the hard work, show up to the race fit and ready to go and we can see how everyone goes.
Aaron Gate shows off his gold at Birmingham 2022 | Photo: Photosport
"But also the sport is evolving quite quickly too with training techniques, and nutrition has evolved a lot with the amount of carbs and everything that we have to take on board, so it's fun for me there's always something new.
“I think the first couple of days we might be just trying to pick up our sprinter Max's [Kanter] morale off the ground after Germany's been knocked out of the football World Cup, so that's probably point number one on the agenda when we all meet up in Barcelona tomorrow.”
Gate expects that nutrition plan for the Tour de France to include up to 7,000 calories through meals provided by a chef who travels with the team.
“It's kind of ironic because the French are known for being good cooks and having great cuisine, but at bike races it tends to be the complete opposite.
“There's no better way to fire up one of the Italians and present them some French cooked pasta in its sloppy water-soaked form.”
Gate turned the boards of the Lee Valley VeloPark in London black and gold when he claimed the individual pursuit and the points race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and was part of the team pursuit winning quartet, before switching his focus to the road race, which he also claimed.
It was a golden Gate campaign, but one which won’t be repeated next month in Glasgow.
"It wasn’t easy. But in this sport, and in most things, you have to try and grab opportunities with both hands. And a shot at doing a Tour de France was something that all cyclists dream of, and I certainly have since I was just getting started.
Photo: Alex Whitehead/Photosport
“In the early meetings with the team end of last year, they said, ‘Hey, it's been a really good year for you this year, we'd really love to reward you with a start on the Tour next year and sort of mapped out the plan between November and this July and that didn't involve the Commonwealth Games and it didn't evolve the Road National Championships.
"Those were two things that were quite hard to just give up but I was like 'hey, big picture'.”
It’s an opportunity though that at 35, Gate concedes he thought had passed him by.
“This is my second year with the XTS Asana team, which is also the first team I've ridden for, which is the top division.
"A handful of second division teams do get a wild card invite to the Tour de France every year, but to really have a start, you have to be in one of the top 18 teams in the world and then to get a start in the tour, you have to be one of the eight guys out of a roster of 30 riders to be selected to go.
“Statistically it's not an easy thing to do, so it's taken me a fair while to get there. I think I may actually be the oldest debutant of the Tour de France, so not that I want to sing that one too loudly, but I'm going there to do a job with the team and I hope I can do it well.”
While Gate’s focussed on the road for now though, the Olympic gold medal dream is one that still needs to be ticked off.
A combination of five fourth and fifth placed finishes leaves a bronze medal in the team pursuit at London 2012 remains his only medal.
"The good thing about being 38 in LA, it means I'm only 42 in Brisbane. But it's definitely something that I do give a bit of thought.
At the moment, it's on the back burner, but I've been having conversations with the powers that be at Cycling New Zealand, how I can try to fit in there.
“It's been good to keep an eye on it and make sure that I'm not drifting too far from the goal of still going to that Olympics, but it's step by step at the moment it's like tick this goal off try and try and do the Tour de France and do it well and then refocus after that but I'd I like to think I'm, not done on a track bike yet.”
