Since the first Tour de France in 1903, there have been 2,058 stages, up to and including
the 2014 Tour de France. Since 1919, the race leader following each stage has been awarded
the yellow jersey. Although the leader of the classification
after a stage gets a yellow jersey, he is not considered the winner of the yellow jersey,
only the wearer. Only after the final stage, the wearer of the yellow jersey is considered
the winner of the yellow jersey, and thereby the winner of the Tour de France.
In this article first-place-classifications before 1919 are also counted as if a yellow
jersey was awarded. There have been more yellow jerseys given than there were stages: In 1913,
1929, and 1931, there were multiple cyclists with the same leading time, and the 1988 Tour
de France had a "prelude", an extra stage for a select group of cyclists. As of 2014,
2,058 yellow jerseys have been awarded in the Tour de France to 278 different riders.
Individual records
Key: In previous tours, sometimes a stage was broken
in two. On such occasions, only the cyclist leading at the end of the day is counted.
The "Jerseys" column lists the number of days that the cyclist wore the yellow jersey; the
"Tour wins" column gives the number of days that the cyclist won the yellow jersey. The
next four columns indicate the number of times the rider won the points classification, the
King of the Mountains classification, and the young rider competition, and the years
in which the yellow jersey was worn, with bold years indicating an overall Tour win.
For example: Eddy Merckx has spent 96 days in the yellow jersey, won the general classification
five times, won the points classification three times, won the mountains classification
two times, and never won the young rider classification. He wore the yellow jersey in the Tours of
1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1975. Three cyclists have won the Tour de France
with only two yellow jerseys in their career. Fabian Cancellara is, as of 2012, the active
cyclist who has worn the most yellow jerseys, 28. He is also the rider with the most yellow
jerseys ever for someone who has not won the Tour. The five active Tour de France winners
Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans rank 34th,
34th, 41st, 53rd and 67th with fourteen, thirteen, eleven and eight days in yellow respectively.
Until the results of Lance Armstrong were annulled late 2012, he was ranked second in
this list, leading the Tour for 83 stages from 1999 to 2005.
List is currently in flux. Number of yellow jerseys per rider is up to date as of stage
15 of the 2014 Tour de France, but the rankings have not been changed yet.
Notes
Per country The yellow jersey has been awarded to 23 different
countries since 1903. In the table below, "Jerseys" indicates the number of yellow jerseys
that were given to cyclists of each country. "Tour wins" stands for the number of tour
wins by cyclists of that country, "Points" for the number of times the points classification
was won by cyclist of that country, "KoM" for the number of times the mountains classification
in the Tour de France was won by a cyclist of that country, and "Young rider" for the
number of times the young rider classification was won by a cyclist of that country. The
"Most recent" column shows the cyclist of the country that wore the yellow jersey most
recently. The "Different holders" column gives the number of different cyclists of the country
that wore the yellow jersey. Yellow jersey retirees
Fourteen riders have quit the Tour while wearing the yellow jersey.
Yellow jersey winners without winning any stage
Usually the winner of the Tour de France also wins a stage, but that is not necessary. It
is possible to be the winner of the Tour de France without winning a stage, because the
Tour de France is decided by the total raced time. This has happened six times so far:
Firmin Lambot (BEL) 1922 Roger Walkowiak (FRA) 1956
Gastone Nencini (ITA) 1960 Lucien Aimar (FRA) 1966
Greg LeMond (USA) 1990 Óscar Pereiro (ESP) 2006
Of these six cyclists, Walkowiak is the only one never to win a Tour stage at all., Gastone
Nencini won stages in the 1956, 1957 and 1958 Tours, Aimar won a stage in the 1967 Tour,
LeMond won stages in the 1985, 1986 and 1989 Tours, Pereiro won a stage in the 2005 Tour.
Alberto Contador initially also belonged to this group, when he won the 2010 Tour de France;
however he was later stripped of this title. Number of Tour winners in a single race
Every Tour de France only has one winner. But a cyclist that has won the Tour de France
previously can enter the race again, and a cyclist not winning the race can win the race
in a later year. In almost every Tour de France, there were multiple 'former or future' Tour
de France-winners in the race. Only seven times, the Tour started without any former
Tour de France winner. This happened in 1903, 1927, 1947, 1956, 1966, 1999 and 2006. Only
in 1903, apart from the cyclist that won the race, was there no other former or future
Tour de France winner. In 1914, a record of seven former Tour de
France winners started that year's Tour: Louis Trousselier (FRA)
Lucien Petit-Breton (FRA) François Faber (LUX)
Octave Lapize (FRA) Gustave Garrigou (FRA)
Odile Defraye (BEL) Philippe Thys (BEL)
In addition to these seven cyclists, four cyclists in that year's Tour would go on to
win a Tour later: Firmin Lambot (BEL)
Léon Scieur (BEL) Henri Pélissier (FRA)
Lucien Buysse (BEL) Winning Tour de France on first occasion
Eleven cyclists won the final yellow jersey of the Tour de France the first time they
entered the competition. 1903 - Maurice Garin (FRA) in the first
ever Tour de France 1904 - Henri Cornet (FRA)
1905 - Louis Trousselier (FRA) 1947 - Jean Robic (FRA), first Tour de
France after World War II 1949 - Fausto Coppi (ITA)
1951 - Hugo Koblet (SUI) 1957 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA), first of
5 victories 1965 - Felice Gimondi (ITA)
1969 - Eddy Merckx (BEL), first of 5 victories 1978 - Bernard Hinault (FRA), first of
5 victories 1983 - Laurent Fignon (FRA)
Finishing Tour de France career with victory Four cyclists won the Tour de France the last
time they entered the competition: 1906 - René Pottier (FRA),
1937 - Roger Lapébie (FRA) 1939 - Sylvère Maes (BEL), last race before
World War II 1952 - Fausto Coppi (ITA)
Fausto Coppi is the only cyclist who won the Tour de France in both the first and the last
Tour he entered. See also
Pink jersey statistics Vuelta a España statistics
References
Tour de France database: Official Tour de France history
Tour Xtra Le Tour en chiffres: Les maillots jaunes(French)