A yellow jersey taking its colour from the yellow newsprint of the paper that invented the race (1919)
L'Auto was printed on yellow paper; the maillot jaune was introduced mid-race in 1919, reportedly worn first by Eugène Christophe
General knowledge · Sport
The Tour de France
First held 1903
Sport — cycling
The world's best-known bicycle stage race, run over three weeks each July and traditionally finishing in Paris. It was invented in 1903 by the sports paper L'Auto, under editor Henri Desgrange, as a circulation stunt against a rival title, and its leader's yellow jersey takes its colour from L'Auto's yellow newsprint. Together with the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España it makes up cycling's three Grand Tours.
How to spot them
- ▸Three weeks in July; 21 stages; a rest-day count and a finish in Paris
- ▸Yellow for the overall lead, green for points, red polka dots for the mountains, white for best young rider
- ▸Invented by a newspaper; the 'lanterne rouge' is last place
- ▸Mont Ventoux, the Col du Tourmalet, the 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez
Key facts
Founded in 1903 by Henri Desgrange to sell copies of the newspaper L'Auto (1903)
Sixty starters, six enormous stages, won by the chimney sweep Maurice Garin
The rider in last place overall is called the 'lanterne rouge'
After the red lamp hung on the back of a train; it has its own cult following
The Giant of Provence, and the twenty-one numbered hairpins up to a ski station in the Oisans
Mont Ventoux, where Tom Simpson died in 1967, and Alpe d'Huez, whose bends are named after stage winners
Tadej Pogačar joined Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain on five overall wins in 2026 (2026)
Remco Evenepoel was second at 6:26 and Isaac del Toro third
Mark Cavendish's 35 stage wins passed Eddy Merckx's 48-year-old record in 2024 (2024)
Merckx had won 34 between 1969 and 1975; Cavendish broke the record aged 39 at Saint-Vulbas
Lance Armstrong's seven consecutive titles from 1999 to 2005 were annulled in 2012 (2012)
Stripped after the USADA reasoned decision; those years have no listed winner
Quick-fire facts
- •First run in 1903 over six stages and about 2,428 km; the winner was Maurice Garin
- •The yellow jersey (maillot jaune) dates from 1919; green for the points classification from 1953; the polka-dot climbers' jersey from 1975
- •Eddy Merckx is the only rider to win the yellow, green and polka-dot jerseys in the same Tour, in 1969
- •Five riders have won five titles: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Tadej Pogačar
- •Tom Simpson collapsed and died on Mont Ventoux on 13 July 1967; a memorial stands near the summit
- •The race was not held from 1915 to 1918 or from 1940 to 1946
- •The finish moved to the Champs-Élysées in 1975; in 2024 it finished in Nice because of the Paris Olympics
- •The organiser, ASO, also runs the Paris–Dakar Rally and the Paris–Roubaix one-day classic
- •Since 2022 a women's stage race, the Tour de France Femmes, has been held over eight or nine days
Drill it — 10 cards
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Sources
- Amaury Sport Organisation (letour.fr) — Tour de France — History
- Cyclingnews — Tour de France 2026 final general classification