Tour de France records and statistics
One rider has been King of the Mountains, won the combination classification, combativity award, the points competition, and the Tour in the same year—Eddy Merckx in 1969, which was also the first year he participated.[1]
Twice the Tour was won by a racer who never wore the yellow jersey until the race was over. In 1947, Jean Robic overturned a three-minute deficit on a 257 km final stage into Paris. In 1968, Jan Janssen of the Netherlands secured his win in the individual time trial on the last day.
The Tour has been won three times by racers who led the general classification on the first stage and holding the lead all the way to Paris. Maurice Garin did it during the Tour's very first edition, 1903; he repeated the feat the next year, but the results were nullified by the officials as a response to widespread cheating. Ottavio Bottechia completed a GC start-to-finish sweep in 1924. And in 1928, Nicolas Frantz held the GC for the entire race, and at the end, the podium consisted solely of members of his racing team. While no one has equalled this feat since '28, four times a racer has taken over the GC lead on the second stage and carried that lead all the way to Paris.
René Pottier, Roger Lapébie, Sylvère Maes and Fausto Coppi all won the Tour de France the last time they appeared in the race.
Appearances
The record for most appearances is held jointly by George Hincapie, Stuart O'Grady, and Jens Voigt with 17. In light of Hincapie's suspension for use of performance enhancing drugs, before which he held the mark for most consecutive finishes with sixteen, having completed all but his very first, Joop Zoetemelk holds the record for the most finishes, having completed all 16 of the Tours that he started.[2]
| Participations | Finishes | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 (1997, 1998,[n 1] 1999–2013) | 15 (1997, 1998,[n 2] 1999, 2001–2006, 2008, 2009–2013) | Stuart O'Grady |  Australia |
| 17 (1998–2014) | 14 (1998–2002, 2004, 2006–2008, 2010–2014) | Jens Voigt |  Germany |
| 17 (1996–2012) | 13 (1997–2003, 2007-2012)[n 3] | George Hincapie |  United States |
| 16 (1970–1973, 1975–1986) | 16 (1970–1973, 1975–1986) | Joop Zoetemelk |  Netherlands |
| 15 (1969–1981, 1983, 1985) | 15 (1969–1981, 1983, 1985) | Lucien Van Impe | .svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
| 15 (1990–1998, 2000–2004, 2006) | 15 (1990–1998, 2000–2004, 2006) | Viatcheslav Ekimov |  Russia |
| 15 (1980–1994) | 13 (1981–1982, 1984–1994) | Guy Nulens | Belgium |
| 15 (1996–2010) | 11 (1996–1997, 1999–2000, 2003–2007, 2009–2010) | Christophe Moreau |  France |
| 14 (1994–2004, 2006–2008) | 13 (1995–2004, 2006–2008) | Erik Zabel | Germany |
| 14 (1978–1985, 1987–1992) | 12 (1978–1985, 1988–1990, 1992) | Sean Kelly |  Ireland |
| 14 (1953–1966) | 12 (1953–1962, 1964–1965) | André Darrigade | France |
| 14 (1962–1976) | 11 (1962–1965, 1967, 1969–1972, 1974–1976) | Raymond Poulidor | France |
| 14 (1908–1914, 1920–1928) | 7 (1909–1914, 1921) | Jules Deloffre | France |
| 13 (1981–1988, 1989–1994) | 13 (1981–1988, 1989–1994) | Phil Anderson | Australia |
| 13 (1969–1975, 1977–1981, 1983) | 12 (1969–1975, 1977–1980, 1983) | Joaquim Agostinho |  Portugal |
| 13 (2001–2009, 2011–2014) | 12 (2001–2003, 2005–2009, 2011–2014) | Haimar Zubeldia |  Spain |
| 13 (1974–1982, 1984, 1986–1988) | 11 (1974–1975, 1977–1982, 1984, 1986–1987) | Gerrie Knetemann | Netherlands |
| 13 (1977–1989) | 11 (1977–1985, 1987, 1989) | Henk Lubberding | Netherlands |
| 13 (1993–1996, 1999–2005, 2009–2010) | 1 (1995)[n 4] | Lance Armstrong | United States |
| 13 (1951–1963) | 10 (1951–1952, 1954, 1956–1957, 1959–1963) | Jean Dotto | France |
| 13 (1964–1976) | 10 (1964–1965, 1967–1971, 1973–1974, 1976) | Jean-Pierre Genet | France |
| 13 (1979–1983, 1985–1988, 1990–1993) | 9 (1979, 1981–1983, 1985, 1987–1988, 1990–1991) | Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle | France |
| 13 (1953–1965) | 9 (1953–1955, 1957, 1959–1960, 1962–1963, 1965) | François Mahe | France |
| 13 (1992–1997, 1999–2005) | 8 (1993–1994, 1996, 2000, 2002–2005) | Marc Wauters | Belgium |
| 13 (1994–2006) | 7 (1995, 1997, 2000–2001, 2003, 2005–2006) | Didier Rous | France |
Winning margin
In the early years of the Tour, cyclists rode individually, and were sometimes forbidden to ride together. This led to large gaps between the winner and the number two. Since the cyclists now tend to stay together in a peloton, the margins of the winner have become smaller, as the difference usually originates from time trials, breakaways or on mountain top finishes, or from being left behind the peloton. In the table below, the eight smallest margins between the winner and the second placed cyclists at the end of the Tour are given. The largest margin, by comparison, remains that of the first Tour in 1903: 2h 49m 45s between Maurice Garin and Lucien Pothier.[3] The eight smallest margins between first and second placed riders are as follows:[4]
| Winning margin | Year | Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 8" | 1989 | Greg LeMond – Laurent Fignon |
| 23" | 2007 | Alberto Contador – Cadel Evans |
| 32" | 2006 | Óscar Pereiro – Andreas Klöden |
| 38" | 1968 | Jan Janssen – Herman Van Springel |
| 40" | 1987 | Stephen Roche – Pedro Delgado |
| 48" | 1977 | Bernard Thévenet – Hennie Kuiper |
| 55" | 1964 | Jacques Anquetil – Raymond Poulidor |
| 58" | 2008 | Carlos Sastre – Cadel Evans |
Stage wins
31 riders have won 10 or more stages: (including half-stages, excluding Team Time Trials). Riders who are still active are indicated in bold.
Riders from 33 countries have won at least one stage.
Riders with the same no. of stage wins are listed alphabetically.
Tables correct, as of the end of stage 21, 2014.
Three riders have won 8 stages in a single year:
- Charles Pélissier (FRA) (1930, in addition to seven 2nd places)[8]
- Eddy Merckx (BEL) (1970, 1974)[9]
- Freddy Maertens (BEL) (1976, in addition to four 2nd and two 3rd places)[10]
Mark Cavendish has the most mass finish stage wins with 25, ahead of André Darrigade and André Leducq with 22, François Faber with 19 and Eddy Merckx with 18.[11]
The youngest Tour de France stage winner is Fabio Battesini, who was 19 when he won one stage in the 1931 Tour de France.[12]
Stage towns
Some cities and towns have hosted 25 or more stage starts and finishes:
- Paris – 137 (most recent finish: 2014)
- Bordeaux – 80 (most recent: 2010)
- Pau – 63 (most recent: 2014)
- Luchon – 50 (most recent: 2006)
- Metz – 40 (most recent: 2012)
- Grenoble – 39 (most recent: 2014)
- Nice – 36 (most recent: 2013)
- Perpignan – 36 (most recent: 2009)
- Caen – 35 (most recent: 2006)
- Marseille – 35 (most recent: 2013)
- Briançon – 34 (most recent: 2009)
- Bayonne – 32 (most recent: 2003)
- Montpellier – 30 (most recent: 2013)
- Nantes – 30 (most recent: 2008)
- Belfort – 29 (most recent: 2000)
- Brest – 28 (most recent: 2008)
- L'Alpe d'Huez – 27 (most recent: 2013)
- Toulouse – 25 (most recent: 2008)
- Roubaix – 25 (most recent: 1994)
- Saint-Étienne 25 (most recent: 2014)
Overall speed
Red indicates lowest and green indicates highest speed.
| Year | Speed (km/h) |
|---|---|
| 1903 | 25.7 |
| 1905 | 27.1 |
| 1910 | 29.1 |
| 1919 | 24.1 |
| 1925 | 24.8 |
| 1930 | 28.0 |
| 1935 | 30.7 |
| 1939 | 32.0 |
| 1947 | 31.4 |
| 1950 | 32.7 |
| 1955 | 34.4 |
| 1960 | 37.2 |
| 1965 | 35.9 |
| 1970 | 35.6 |
| 1975 | 34.9 |
| 1980 | 35.1 |
| 1985 | 36.2 |
| 1990 | 38.6 |
| 1995 | 39.2 |
| 2000 | 39.6 |
| 2005 | 41.5 |
| 2007 | 39.2 |
| 2008 | 40.5 |
| 2009 | 40.3 |
| 2010 | 39.6 |
| 2011 | 39.8 |
| 2012 | 39.9 |
| 2013 | 40.5 |
| 2014 | 39.5 |
Source:[13]
Stage speeds
The fastest massed-start stage was in 1999 from Laval to Blois (194.5 km), won by Mario Cipollini at 50.4 km/h.[14] The fastest full-length time-trial is Greg LeMond's Tour winning final time trial into Paris in 1989, (24.5 km) at 54.545 km/h.[15] Chris Boardman rode faster during the 1994 prologue stage,[16] Lille-Euralille (7.2 km), with 55.2 km/h.[17] The fastest stage win was by the 2013 Orica GreenEDGE team in a team time-trial. It completed the 25 km time-trial at 57.7 km/h.[18]
The fastest climb of Alpe d'Huez was by Marco Pantani in 1997 Tour de France in 23.1 km/h.[19]
Successful breakaways
The longest successful post-war breakaway by a single rider was by Albert Bourlon in the 1947 Tour de France. In the stage Carcassone-Luchon, he stayed away for 253 kilometres (157 mi).[20] It was one of seven breakaways longer than 200 km, the last being Thierry Marie's 234 km escape in 1991.[20] Bourlon finished 16 m 30s ahead. This is one of the biggest time gaps but not the greatest. That record belongs to José-Luis Viejo, who beat the peloton by 22 mins 50 secs in the 1976 stage Montgenèvre-Manosque.[20] He was the fourth and most recent rider to win a stage by more than 20 minutes.
Notes
- ↑ Assisted by illicit performance-enhancing drug use in the 1998 Tour de France
- ↑ Assisted by illicit performance-enhancing drug use in the 1998 Tour de France
- ↑ All appearances from 2004 to 2006 have been disqualified due to Hincapie's suspension for performance-enhancing drug use
- ↑ All appearances since 1998 have been disqualified due to Armstrong's performance-enhancing drug use
References
- ↑ Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 13 July 2012
- ↑ http://cyclingbase.black-dress.org/archieven/3673
- ↑ "Tour de France 2009 – Stats". Letour.fr. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
- ↑ "Verschil tussen de nummers 1 en 2 van het eindklassement" (in Dutch). tourde-france.nl. Retrieved 17 March 2008.
- ↑ "Le Tour en chiffres : Les vainqueurs d'étapes". ASO. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ↑ "Le Tour en chiffres : Les vainqueurs d'étapes". ASO. Retrieved 26 July 2010.including half-stages and Team Time Trials ( Detail : Belgium = 10 ; France and Netherlands = 9 ; Italy = 5 ; the United States = 4 ; Spain = 3 ; Switzerland = 2 ; Kazaskstan = 1 ).
- ↑ The victory for USSR in 1990 and three victories for Russian SFSR in 1991, all four by Russian cyclists were won ( 3 for Dimitri Konyshev and 1 for Viatcheslav Ekimov).
- ↑ "Charles Pélissier". Results history. letour.fr. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ↑ "Eddy Merckx". Results history. letour.fr. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ↑ "Freddy Maertens". Results history. letour.fr. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ↑ p125 "Letour Guide Historique 2012". Letour.fr. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ↑ "Peter Sagan captures Stage 1". ESPN. Associated Press. 1 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
- ↑ "Historique du Tour de France". Letour.fr. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
- ↑ "Cipollini Sprints to Record Win – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. 8 July 1999. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
- ↑ "letour.fr". http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/COURSE/docs/histo_09.pdf. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ↑ Prologue time-trials are shorter than those later in the race.
- ↑ "Tour de France Launch Interviews (Chris Boardman)". Britishcycling.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 March 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
- ↑ "Greenedge Win Puts Gerrans In Yellow". Eurosport. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ↑ Fastest Alpe d'Huez ascents
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Tour 09, Procycling (UK) summer 2009
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