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• The first tour de France event was held in 1903 (see more firsts).
• The first winner was Frenchman Maurice Garin (see winners list). He also was first a year later, but was disqualified for catching a train for part of the journey.
• The race has been held annually since 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars (1915-1919; 1940-1947).
• The Tour de France was won in 1990 by Greg LeMond, without winning any individual stages.
• Why is the leader's jersey yellow? Tour de France originates from a marketing event by the newspaper "L'Auto", which was printed on yellow paper.
• The first time that the Tour de France started abroad was in 1954, when it started in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

• The race also has a nickname, La Grande Boucle – or "The Big Loop" 
• In 1919, there were only 10 finishers, the lowest of all time.
• In 1968 the color of the green jersey was changed to red to please a sponsor.
• The record number of wins was seven by Lance Armstrong of the United States (1999-2005) - however after being found guilty of doping by the USADA in 2012, he has lost all of these titles.
• Four riders have managed to win the Tour five times:
  • Jacques Anquetil of France (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964)
  • Eddy Merckx of Belgium (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974)
  • Bernard Hinault of France (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985)
  • Miguel Induráin of Spain (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995)
• The oldest Tour de France cyclist is Henri Paret, who was 50 years when he competed in 1904. The oldest winner was Firmin Lambot (Belgium) who was 36 years old in 1922.
• The youngest winner was Henri Cornet (France) in 1904 who was 19 years, 352 days old at the time. The youngest rider to win the Tour twice was Tadej Pogačar, winning it in consecutive years 2020 and 2021. In 2020 he was 21 years, 364 days. The youngest ever stage winner was Fabio Battesini, who was just 19 years and 134 days old when he won a stage at the 1931 edition.
• During the first Tour, the winner had an average speed of 25.67 km/h (15.95 mph) for the whole race. Recently, there have been average times closer to 40 km/h or 25 mph!
• The shortest and longest Tours were 2,428 and 5,745 km in 1904 and 1926, respectively.
• Eddy Merckx wore the yellow jersey for 96 stages, more than any other rider in the history of the Tour de France.
• In addition to those who have won the tour five or seven times, three other riders have managed to win the Tour three times:
  • Philippe Thys of Belgium (1913, 1914, and 1920)
  • Louison Bobet of France (1953, 1954, and 1955)
  • Greg LeMond of the USA (1986, 1989, and 1990).
• Gino Bartali holds the record of longest time span between titles, having earned his first and last Tour victories 10 years apart (in 1938 and 1948 respectively).
• The most career Yellow Jerseys is 111 by Eddy Merckx of Belgium. Until recently, he also held the record for the most career stage wins with 34. In 2024, Mark Cavendish won his 35th stage win.
• The Slovak rider Peter Sagan has won the most green jerseys with seven consecutive wins (2012–2016, 2018, 2019).
• Miguel Induráin of Spain was the first to win the general classification five times in consecutive years.
• Two riders have won the "King of the Mountains" six times: Federico Bahamontes of Spain in 1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964; and Lucien Van Impe of Belgium in 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1983; while Richard Virenque of France won his record-breaking seventh title in 2004 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004).
• As of 2022, in terms of nationality, riders from France have won most Tours (36), followed by Belgium (18), Spain (12), and Italy (10).
• The Tour de France inspired the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, to write the song "Bicycle Race" in 1978.
• The longest Tour was in 1926 which covered 5,745 km.
• At least a few of times in the history of the race has the rider awarded the win been disqualified at a later date.
  • The first time was in 1904 when the leader was found to have caught a train for part of the event.
  • After the 2006 race the initial winner Floyd Landis of the US was disqualified for elevated testosterone levels found in a urine sample taken after one of his stage wins
  • In 2010 Alberto Contador was later stripped of his win following a lengthy investigation into his drug use during the event.
  • In 2012, Lance Armstrong was found guilty of doping by the USADA, and all of his titles were taken off him.
• Canadian Michael Woods is the first person to have run a sub-4 minute mile and also finished the Tour de France.
• In 2020 Tadej Pogačar won the general classification, mountain classifications and young rider classification in his debut appearance in the event. He is the only rider to ever win these three classifications simultaneously, and he repeated the result in 2021.

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Related Pages

• History of the Tour de France
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