The world’s most famous road race - the Tour de France - has a rich history, and its fabled past is synonymous with the greatest names in the sport.
But who are the figures that have written themselves into the record books of this most emblematic of events? Who’s the fastest winner? The oldest winner? The youngest winner? Which country has basked in yellow more than any other? Who’s the climber that stands head and shoulders above all the others?
We’ve got all the answers and more right here in our history of the Tour de France by numbers, and alongside it is a gallery of some of the race's biggest names. With the start of the latest edition on June 29 upon us, will any of the current generation force their way into some of these categories?
Tour de France yellow jersey records
Most Tour de France overall wins
The coolest, and one of the greatest - Jacques Anquetil (Image credit: Getty Images)
5: Jacques Anquetil (Fra) – 1957, 1961-64
5: Eddy Merckx (Bel) – 1969-72, 1974
5: Bernard Hinault (Fra) – 1978-79, 1981-82, 1985
5: Miguel Indurain (Spa) – 1991-95
4: Chris Froome (GBr) - 2013, 2015-17
Tour de France victories by nation
Chris Froome (Team Sky) owns four of Great Britain's six Tour de France victories (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
France: 36
Belgium: 18
Spain: 12
Italy: 10
Great Britain: 6
Luxembourg: 5
Denmark: 3
USA: 3
Slovenia, Netherlands and Switzerland: 2
Colombia, Ireland, Germany, Australia: 1
Smallest Tour de France winning margins (since 1947)
LeMond versus Fignon, the closest in history (Image credit: Getty Images)
0:22:00: 1951 – Hugo Koblet (Sui) beats Raphael Geminiani (Fra)
Most days in Tour de France yellow jersey
Merckx in yellow, of course (Image credit: Getty Images)
Eddy Merckx (Bel): 96
Bernard Hinault (Fra): 75
Miguel Indurain (Spa): 60
Chris Froome (GBr): 59
Jacques Anquetil (Fra): 50
Highest average speed of Tour de France winner
42.102 km/h: Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) - 2022
41.654: (winner disqualified for doping, no winner declared) - 2005
41.431 km/h: Jonas Vingegaard (Den) - 2023
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Oldest Tour de France winners
36: Firmin Lambot (Bel) – 1922
34: Henri Pelissier (Fra) – 1923
34: Gino Bartali (Ita) - 1948
34: Cadel Evans (Aus) – 2011
Youngest Tour de France winners
19: Henri Cornet – 1904
21: Tadej Pogačar - 2020
22: Francois Faber – 1909
22: Egan Bernal - 2019
Most Tour de France starts
Sylvain Chavanel: 18
Stuart O'Grady, Jens Voigt, George Hincapie: 17
Joop Zoetemelk, Haimar Zubeldia: 16
Tour de France green jersey statistics
Most Tour de France green jersey victories
Peter Sagan of Slovakia riding for Tinkoff-Saxo celebrates his green jersey on the podium during the 2015 Tour of France (Image credit: Getty Images)
7: Peter Sagan (Slo) – 2012-16, 2018-2019
6: Erik Zabel (Ger) – 1996-2001
4: Sean Kelly (Ire) – 1982-83, 1985, 1989
3: Jan Janssen (Hol) – 1964-65, 1967
3: Eddy Merckx (Bel) – 1969, 1971-72
3: Freddy Maertens (Bel) – 1976, 1978, 1981
3: Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (Uzb) – 1991, 1993-94
3: Robbie McEwen (Aus) – 2002, 2004, 2006
Tour de France green jersey winners by nation
Belgium: 21
France: 9
Germany: 8
Slovakia: 7
Ireland and Australia: 5
Netherlands: 4
Italy, Uzbekistan, Great Britain, Switzerland and Norway: 2
Soviet Union, Spain: 1
Most days in Tour de France green jersey
Peter Sagan: 30
Erik Zabel: 89
Freddy Maertens: 71
Sean Kelly: 68
Djamolidine Abdoujaparov: 54
André Darrigade: 51
Tour de France green jersey worn in all stages
André Darrigade (1959)
Freddy Maertens (1976, 1978)
Eric Vanderaerden (1986)
Peter Sagan (2019)
Wout van Aert (2022)
Polka Dot jersey records
Most Tour de France polka dot jersey (mountains classification) wins
7: Richard Virenque (Fra) – 1994-97, 1999, 2003-04
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