tour de france yellow jersey winners

Tour de France jerseys: Yellow, green, white and polka dot explained

We explain what the yellow, green, polka dot and white jerseys worn by riders in the Tour de France represent

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• Yellow jersey
• Green jersey
• Polka dot jersey
• White jersey
• Other classifications

The Tour de France sees the very best cyclists in the world battle it out for the yellow, green, white and polka dot jerseys, based on the general, points, mountains and young rider classifications. 

The jersey for each category is awarded to the leader of that classification at the end of every stage, and the recipient earns the right to wear it during the following day's racing. When a rider has the lead in multiple classifications, the yellow jersey is prioritised, then green, the polka dot, and white - the next person on the ranking wears the kit in the leader's stead.

Here we take a brief look at what they are and how they are won. 

Tour de France yellow jersey - GC leader

Also called the maillot jaune , the Tour de France yellow jersey is the most coveted piece of kit in professional cycling. The wearer is the rider who has completed the race in the least amount of time, and as such tops the overall or general classification (GC) of the race.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) dominated the GC in 2020 and 2021, wearing the yellow jersey almost throughout the 2021 edition, before Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) took it off him halfway through the 2022 race, wearing it until the end of the race.

Before that, in 2012, Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to finish in Paris in the Yellow Jersey - with Chris Froome following up in 2013, 2015-2017. Geraint Thomas took the 2018 race, becoming the third British rider to win the race.

The yellow jersey is sponsored by LCL, a French bank, and it is yellow, because the Tour's original organiser, L'Auto , was a newspaper printed on yellow paper. 

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A time bonus of 10, six and four seconds will be awarded to the first three riders across the finish line each day (not including TTs). These bonus seconds are taken off their stage and therefore overall time. Bonus seconds of eight, five and two seconds are also awarded on certain, strategically placed climbs on stages one, two, five, 12, 14 and 17.

Last 10 winners of the Tour de France general classification:

• 2013: Chris Froome 
• 2014: Vincenzo Nibali 
• 2015: Chris Froome
• 2016: Chris Froome
• 2017: Chris Froome
• 2018: Geraint Thomas
• 2019: Egan Bernal
• 2020: Tadej Pogačar
• 2021: Tadej Pogačar
• 2022: Jonas Vinegaard

Tour de France green jersey - points classification

The green jersey relates to points awarded to riders according to the position they finish on each stage, with additional points for intermediate sprints during some stages also on offer.

The number of points on offer will vary depending upon the type of stage. More are on offer during pure flat, sprint days, while on hilly and mountain stages there are fewer points available. The points are then tallied up after each stage and added to points won in all previous stages. The green jersey ( maillot vert) is awarded to the rider with the most points. Sometimes it is a sprinter's game, sometimes more of an all-rounder - like Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

The jersey took its colour because the initial sponsor was a lawn mower manufacturer - though the colour was changed once in 1968 to accommodate a sponsor. It is now sponsored by Škoda, and has a new shade for this year .

Both Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault successfully won both the general classification and the points classification with Merckx achieving the biggest sweep in 1969 with the points, mountain and general classifications to his name. Over the last ten years, Peter Sagan has triumphed in the points classification on no less than seven occasions. 

The following points are on offer:

Flat stage (stages 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 18, 19, 21): 50, 30, 20 points (descending to 15th place) 

Hilly stage (stages 1, 9, 10, 12, 13): 30, 25, 22 points (descending to 15th place)

Mountain stage and ITTs (5, 6, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20): 20, 17, 15, (descending to 15th place)

Intermediate sprint: 20, 17, 15, (descending to 15th place)

Last 10 winners of the Tour de France points classification:

• 2013:  Peter Sagan
• 2014: Peter Sagan
• 2015: Peter Sagan
• 2016: Peter Sagan
• 2017: Michael Matthews
• 2018: Peter Sagan
• 2019: Peter Sagan
• 2020: Sam Bennett
• 2021: Mark Cavendish
• 2022: Wout van Aert

Tour de France jerseys: Polka dot - King of the Mountains classification leader

Tour de france polka dot jersey - mountains classification.

Mountains points are awarded to riders who manage to summit classified climbs first. Points vary depending on the category of each ascent, with more difficult climbs awarding more mountains points.  

Climbs are divided into five categories: 1 (most difficult) to 4 (least difficult) - then there's the ' Hors Categorie ', denoted by HC which represents the most challenging of ascents. The tougher the category, the more points on offer, and to more riders - a HC climb will see points awarded down to the first eight over the summit, while a fourth category climb results in points for just the first rider over the top.

The organisers decide which mountains or climbs will be included in the competition, and which category they fall into. If the stage features a summit finish, the points for the climb are doubled.

The points are tallied up after each stage and added to points won in all previous stages. The distinctive white-with-red-dots jersey ( maillot à pois rouges ) is given to the rider with the most mountains points. The first climber's award was given out in 1933, and the jersey arrived on the scene in 1975. It is now sponsored by Leclerc, a supermarket.

Points awarded as follows:

HC: 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2pts  

1st cat: 10, 8, 6, 7, 5, 1pt 

2nd cat: Five, three, two.

3rd cat: Two and one points 

4th cat: One point 

The souvenir Henri Desgrange is awarded to the first rider over the race’s highest point, the Col de Loze, on stage 17. The souvenir Jacques Goddet to the first rider over the Col du Tourmalet on stage 16. 

Last 10 winners of the Tour de France mountains classification:

• 2013:  Nairo Quintana
• 2014:  Rafał Majka
• 2015:  Chris Froome
• 2016: Rafał Majka
• 2017: Warren Barguil
• 2018: Julian Alaphilippe
• 2019: Romain Bardet

Tour de France white jersey - best young rider

The plain white, young rider classification jersey is awarded to the fastest rider born after 1 January 1998, meaning 25 or under. It is sponsored by Krys, an opticians

First introduced in 1975, riders such as Marco Pantani, Alberto Contador, Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogačar have all won the young rider classification, helping propel them onto bigger and better things during their careers.

Last 10 winners of the Tour de France young rider classification:

• 2014:  Thibaut Pinot
• 2015: Nairo Quintana
• 2016:  Adam Yates
• 2017: Simon Yates
• 2018: Pierre Latour
• 2022: Tadej Pogačar

Other Tour de France classifications - team and combativity

There are two further classifications that do not earn the winner(s) a coloured jersey - the most aggressive rider award and Team Classification .

While not necessarily a classification, the Combativity Award is given to the rider who has shown the most fighting spirit during each individual stage, as chosen by the race jury. They will wear a gold race number during the following day's stage. A 'Super Combativity' award is handed out on the final stage for the most aggressive rider during the whole race.

The Team Classification is based on the collective time of the three highest-placed riders from each squad. Leaders of the team classification get to wear race numbers that are yellow with black digits, and the right to wear yellow helmets. The latter is not compulsory.

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

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YELLOW JERSEY

The symbol of the Tour de France, the yellow jersey , sponsored by LCL, is worn every day by the leader of the general individual classification and bestowed on the overall winner on the Champs-Élysées. A symbol of excellence, prestige and victory, the yellow jersey is beyond the reach of all but the most well-rounded riders —those who can hold their own on the plains, in the mountains and in time trials.

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Tour de France: Winners and records

The Tour de France has 4 jerseys on offer for the various competitions that take place within the race. The most prestigious jersey is the yellow jersey of the GC leader, which unfortunately has been tainted on a few occasions since the turn of the century (see table below). The green jersey is the points classification sought after by sprinters and classics men. The polka dot jersey recognizes the rider who obtains the most mountain points, while the white jersey is a GC for riders under 26.

* Initially Alberto Contador was the winner. He had to give back his title after charges of doping.

** Lance Armstrong’s victories (1999 t/m 2005) have been taken from him due to the use of doping. No new winner was declared.

Tour de France Records

Four riders remain in the record books for having won the Tour de France five times: Eddy Merckx, Bernhard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Jacques Anquetil .

Anquetil pulled off the unthinkable in 1961 when he held the yellow jersey from the first day of the race right up until the end.

Peter Sagan holds the record for green jersey wins with seven.

Richard Virenque is the King of the Mountains in the Tour de France. He won the polka dot jersey 4 times in a row from 1994-1997, and added a further three jerseys in 1999, 2003 and 2004.

Tadej Pogacar took home the white jersey four times, while Andy Schleck and Jan Ullrich both won the young riders classification three times.

In 1969, Eddy Merckx won the yellow jersey, the green jersey and the polka dot jersey, the only man ever to do so in a single Tour de France. He also has the most stage wins with 34, a record that he shares with Mark Cavendish.

The youngest winner ever was Henri Cornet, winning the 1904 Tour at 19 years of age. The oldest winner is Firmin Lambot, who was 36 years when he won in 1922.

Cadel Evans is the oldest winner post WWII – in 2011 he was 34 when he finally won his yellow jersey after years of trying.

Tadej Pogacar is the youngest post-WW2 Tour de France winner. He turned 22 the day after he won the 2020 edition.

Who has the record of most stage wins in a single tour of France?

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What do the Tour de France leaders jerseys mean? Yellow, green, polka dot and white jerseys explained

How to win the Tour de France general, sprint, mountains and youth classifications

POOL LEQUIPPE/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

Colin Henrys

To a first-time viewer, the Tour de France can be a minefield. The winner is not simply decided by which rider crosses the finish line first in Paris.

How can a rider win multiple stages and not wear the yellow jersey? What is that polka dot jersey about? And what's with all the jargon they use?

Here’s our full guide to how the Tour de France is won: the classifications, the jerseys and the previous winners.

Tour de France classifications explained – what do the different jersey colours mean?

The Tour de France consists of four classifications that individual riders can win. The different classifications are signified by coloured cycling jerseys :

• The general classification (GC) – yellow jersey
• Mountains classification – polka dot jersey
• Points classification – green jersey
• Young rider classification – white jersey

The leader of each classification at the end of each stage wears the jersey on the following day.

If they continue to lead, they continue to wear the jersey until someone knocks them from the top of the classification. The leader of the classification at the end of the race is the overall winner of that particular classification.

There is also a team classification, but no coloured jersey is awarded for this.

What is the Tour de France general classification (GC)?

The general classification is the oldest and most coveted classification in the Tour de France, and is led by the rider with the shortest cumulative time.

Each rider’s time is recorded on every stage and the GC ranks the entire field. The leader of the general classification after the final stage in Paris is the overall winner of the Tour de France.

Tour de France yellow jersey explained

The GC comes with the coveted yellow jersey – or maillot jaune in French – which is worn by the leader of the classification until their overall cumulative time is bettered by another rider at the end of a stage.

The yellow jersey then passes on to the new leader of the GC, and so on.

Previous Tour de France winners

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma) won his first Tour de France in 2022, beating Tadej Pogačar (Team UAE Emirates), winner of the previous two editions of the Tour de France.

Egan Bernal's success in 2019 marked Team Ineos-Grenadiers' (formerly Team Sky) seventh Tour de France title in eight years.

Geraint Thomas won in 2018 and Chris Froome claimed four editions before that, after Bradley Wiggins had set the ball rolling in 2012.

Since the beginning of the Tour, four riders have won the general classification five times: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Meanwhile, Fabian Cancellara is the rider who has worn the yellow jersey for the most days without ever winning the Tour (29).

Julian Alaphilippe held the jersey for 14 days in 2019, but fell away in the general classification in the final few stages.

Tour de France mountains classification

What is the mountains classification.

The mountains classification was introduced in 1933 as a secondary competition within the Tour de France.

The first riders to reach the top of categorised climbs in the Tour are awarded a certain number of points according to their position across the summit.

The climbs are categorised by a number, from 1 (difficult) to 4 (least difficult) based on factors such as the climb’s length and gradient.

Climbs that are more difficult than category 1 are called h ors catégorie – "a class of their own" in French.

Hors catégorie climbs carry the most points. Summit finishes – stages that finish atop a climb – and category 1 climbs are the next most lucrative followed by category 2 and so on.

The first rider to reach the Col de la Loze, the highest peak of the 2023 Tour de France, on stage 17 will earn double points.

The rider with the highest cumulative points total leads the mountains classification and wears the polka dot jersey. The exception is if they are also leading another classification, such as the general. In that case, the second rider in the rankings wears the jersey.

At the end of the Tour, the overall winner of the classification is the King of the Mountains.

Tour de France polka dot jersey explained

The mountains classification is signified by a white jersey with red polka dots (known as the polka dot jersey or maillot à pois ).

Vicente Trueba was the first winner of the King of the Mountains competition in 1933. The polka dot design wasn't introduced until 1975 when Bernard Thévenet won the classification.

Previous Tour de France mountains classification winners

Jonas Vingegaard added the King of the Mountains jersey to his maillot jaune in 2022.

Tadej Pogačar took the mountains classification in 2021 and 2020, following Romain Bardet in 2019 and Julian Alaphilippe in 2018.

Another Frenchman, Richard Virenque, won the title seven times in his career between 1994 and 2004, while both Federico Bahamontes and Lucien Van Impe have won it six times, from 1954 to 1964 and 1971 to 1983 respectively.

Eight cyclists have now won the mountains classification and general classification in the same year:

• Gino Bartali
• Sylvère Maes
• Fausto Coppi
• Federico Bahamontes
• Eddy Merckx
• Carlos Sastre
• Chris Froome

Pogačar, Bartali, Coppi and Merckx have all done it twice.

Tour de France points classification

What is the points classification.

The points classification was introduced in 1953 as an incentive for sprinters, with Fritz Schär being the first rider to win it.

The first 15 riders to complete each stage are awarded points, with the most points going to the first rider and the following 14 receiving successively fewer points.

More points are on offer for flat stages, again as an incentive to the sprinters. Riders can also gain points by winning intermediate sprints (sprints that take place at designated points part-way through a stage).

Tour de France green jersey explained

The leader of the points classification is indicated by a green jersey ( maillot vert ). Green matched the logo of the first jersey sponsor, La Belle Jardinière clothing store.

The overall prize is awarded to the rider with the most points at the end of the Tour.

Previous Tour de France points classification winners

The green jersey went to Wout van Aert in 2022 and Mark Cavendish in 2021.

In previous years the award had become synonymous with one man: Slovakian superstar Peter Sagan. He claimed the prize for a record-breaking seventh time in 2019.

Tour de France young rider classification

What is the young rider classification.

The young rider classification was introduced to the Tour in 1975. Classics great Francesco Moser was its first winner.

This year it applies only to cyclists born on or after January 1, 1998 (under the age of 26).

Just like the general classification, it’s calculated using each rider's cumulative overall time but is aimed at rewarding young riders in the early stages of their careers.

Tour de France white jersey explained

The youth classification is signified by a white jersey, and much in the same way as the other categories, the rider currently topping the classification wears it until someone else overtakes their lead.

Previous Tour de France young rider classification winners

Beaten into second in the GC, Tadej Pogačar was still the fastest young rider in 2022.

The Slovenian had become the sixth man to win both the white and yellow jersey in the same year when he rode to victory at the 2020 Tour de France, joining Egan Bernal (2019), Laurent Fignon (1983), Jan Ullrich (1997), Alberto Contador (2007) and Andy Schleck (2010). He then repeated the feat in 2021.

Pierre Latour won the young rider classification in 2018, while British twins Adam and Simon Yates were triumphant in the previous two years.

What is the Tour de France team classification?

The team classification has been part of the Tour de France since 1930 but awards no coloured jersey. Instead, the team is given race numbers with a yellow background, rather than white.

It’s not considered to be as important as the individual classifications. Teams don’t normally set out with an ambition to win it. But they may change their tactics during the race if they are in a good position to do so.

The team classification takes the time of each squad's top three finishers on every stage. The team with the lowest cumulative time leads the classification.

Previous Tour de France team classification winners

Movistar Team has dominated the classification in recent years, topping the team rankings in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. This is despite none of its riders winning the Tour in those years.

Generally, the team with the rider leading the Tour will be more inclined to sacrifice teammates to protect the individual's lead, making winning both the individual and team classification – as Team Sky did in 2017 – a rare feat.

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Who Won the 2021 Tour de France?

Your stage-by-stage guide to the winners of the 2021 Tour.

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Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took home the yellow jersey as the overall winner of the 2021 Tour de France. The 22-year-old finished safely in the peloton at the end of Stage 21 on Sunday in Paris, successfully defending his title in last year’s race. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) finished second and third on the Tour’s General Classification and joined Pogačar on the final podium.

Here’s a look at how every stage of the Tour this year unfolded.

Stage 21 Winner - Wout van Aert

Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won the stage on the Champs-Élysées, his third of this year’s Tour de France. Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second and Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) was third.

Pogačar dominated the Tour in a manner we haven’t seen in years, taking the yellow jersey on Stage 9 and defending it all the way to Paris. Along the way, he won three stages including Stage 5’s individual time trial and back-to-back to summit finishes in the Pyrenees (Stages 17 and 18).

For the second year in a row he also won the white jersey as the Tour’s Best Young Rider and the polka dot jersey as the Tour’s King of the Mountains. No rider has won three jerseys since Eddy Merckx won the yellow, green, and polka dot jerseys in his debut Tour de France way back in 1969. (The white jersey wasn’t awarded back in 1969, but Merckx would have won that too.) Now Pogačar’s done it twice.

For only the second time in his career, Cavendish took the green jersey as the winner of the Tour’s Points Classification. The 36-year-old wasn’t even supposed to be racing but came to the Tour as a last-minute call-up and won four stages, bringing his career tally to 34. With Cavendish now tied with Merckx for the most stage wins in Tour de France history, look for the first field sprint of next year’s Tour to be one of the most anticipated races of the year.

What About Next Year?

So far, all we know about the 2022 Tour de France is that it begins on Friday, July 1 in Denmark, with a short individual time trial in Copenhagen. And while anything can happen between now and then, given the way he crushed this year’s competition, it’s hard to see anyone defeating Pogačar in 2022. The 22-year-old was easily the Tour’s most complete rider—against the clock and in the mountains, no one could challenge him.

The most popular rider on next year’s starting line might be this year’s biggest surprise: Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard. Riding in his debut Tour de France, the 24-year-old came to the Tour to support team leader Primož Roglič, but took over leadership of the team himself after the Slovenian abandoned the Tour before Stage 9. Roglič should be back and ready to challenge again in 2022, but now he might have a co-leader to contend with as well. Having two cards to play could actually help Jumbo-Visma in its bid to defeat Pogačar, and in Vingegaard, they seem to have discovered a legit GC contender.

Speaking of having more than one card to play, INEOS-Grenadiers came to the Tour with—depending who you asked—two to four riders capable of winning the overall title. That plan blew up quickly, ultimately leaving Richard Carapaz (who’s now the first Ecuadorian to finish on the Tour de France podium ) as the team’s only GC contender. A former winner of the Giro d’Italia , Carapaz raced aggressively and was one of the Tour’s best climbers, but his inability to time-trial will always be his major Achilles heel. Perhaps 2022 will see the return of Colombia’s Egan Bernal, who won the 2019 Tour de France for INEOS, but abandoned last year’s Tour with a bad back. Winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia , Bernal’s another prodigiously talented climber—and a mediocre time trialist—and the prospect of Bernal and Carapaz racing side by side in the mountains is tantalizing. But having the Tour’s strongest team doesn’t matter much if you don’t have the Tour’s strongest rider, and if Pogačar rides like he did this year, there might be little anyone can do.

And Pogačar shows no signs of letting up any time soon: he’s heading directly from Paris to Tokyo for Saturday’s Olympic road race and then plans to start the Tour of Spain in mid-August. If he wins that too, expect those who question the integrity of his performances to continue asking uncomfortable questions —especially if the investigation launched against the Bahrain-Victorious team late in this year’s Tour gains traction.

But for now, we await October’s announcement of the 2022 Tour route—and all of the fantastic races still to come during the second half of the 2021 season, beginning with next weekend’s Olympic road races.

Stage 20 Winner - Wout van Aert

Who’s Winning the Tour?

Wout van Aert of Jumbo-Visma showed again that he’s the most versatile rider in the pro peloton with a convincing win in the final time trial over Deceuninck-Quick Step's Kasper Asgreen. As expected, Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) had zero trouble defending his comfortable lead, taking it (relatively) easy and conceding almost no time to his rivals.

Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard ably held off Richard Carapaz (Ineos) for the second podium spot; Vingegaard finished third on the day, adding over a minute and half to his cushion. Second overall is a huge result for Vingegaard, who is just 24 years old and came to the Tour to support team leader Primoz Roglič, who had to drop out due to crash injuries. There were no changes to the top 10 overall.

Who’s Really Winning the Tour?

Pogačar will also enter Paris on Sunday as the leader in the KOM and Best Young Rider competitions. It’s the second year he’s taken all three classifications, a feat no rider has accomplished (Eddy Merckx swept the yellow, green and polka-dot jersey standings in his first Tour, in 1969, and would have been the Best Young Rider as well; the classification didn’t start until 1975).

All of that has led to questions about whether we’re at the dawn of the “Pogaczar” era, when he will dominate the Tour for the next many editions. He swatted those suggestions away, saying that there are a number of current young pros and riders who will enter the ranks in the next few years who will challenge him, but it’s a worthwhile question: who can beat him? Right now, there’s no easy answer.

Stage 19 Winner - Matej Mohoric

On a day that looked like a sprint finish on paper, the pack was instead entirely content to let a breakaway duke it out for the stage win and take an “active rest day” ahead of Stage 20’s individual time trial. It took a bit for the right mix of riders to emerge, but once it did, the gap quickly went out to over 10 minutes, and it was clear there would be no chase.

Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) attacked the break with 25km to go and soloed to the win in Libourne. Yellow-jersey wearer Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) enjoyed a quiet and mostly uneventful day ahead of the time trial and has two days to go to seal his almost-assured victory.

Few teams have had a Tour that’s been as up-and-down as Bahrain-Victorious. They lost their likely GC rider, Jack Haig, to an early stage crash, then rebounded to win two consecutive stages in the Alps. Then, just two days ago, French police searched their hotel rooms in a doping investigation . On the heels of that, Mohorič, who’s been one of the strongest breakaway riders this Tour, emerged with a solo stage win sealed with a provocative victory salute: a finger held to his lips followed by a zipping motion.

That gesture has a problematic history in the sport; Lance Armstrong used it in 2004 after chasing down Filippo Simeoni , who had accused Armstrong’s longtime coach, Michele Ferrari, of doping riders (including Simeoni). Mohorič was nine when that happened, so it can be excused some historical ignorance. But even in context of his own team’s last few days in the race, it was a poor decision.

For his part, Pogačar and his UAE team were only too happy to let the break fight it out and ride an easy pace to the finish to save some energy for Saturday’s time trial. With a lead of almost six minutes, Pogačar could likely afford even a spectacularly bad day on the bike (which we don’t expect) and still win.

Another rider who won without having to do much is Deceuninck –Quick-Step’s Mark Cavendish. With breakaway riders taking most of the intermediate sprint points and all of them at the finish, he stands 35 points clear of Michael Matthews in the green jersey standings. There are no points in the time trial, and a maximum of 70 on offer for the final stage in Paris. Cavendish will no doubt try for a fifth Tour stage win and the outright record for most stage wins ever at the race, but even if he’s just close to Matthews, he’s guaranteed green as long as he stays upright.

Stage 18 Winner - Tadej Pogacar

Who’s Winning the Tour de France?

In a repeat of Wednesday’s stage result, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won Thursday’s Stage 18 to remain the leader of the 2021 Tour de France. The Slovenian went on the attack to defend his already-insurmountable lead, launching his first acceleration 3km from the top of the day’s final climb, and then attacking again inside the final kilometer to win his second stage of the Tour.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) again finished second and third on the day, but were gapped by Pogačar in the run-in to the finish in Luz Ardiden and lost two seconds on the Tour’s General Classification. They now sit 5:45 and 5:51 behind the yellow jersey.

As long as he stays upright between now and Sunday, Pogačar will win the 2021 Tour de France.

Who’s Really Winning the Tour de France?

The last two days illustrated the cruelty of the Tour de France, as Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo)—who entered Wednesday’s stage in second-place overall but couldn’t hang with the leaders on the final climb of Stage 17—continued to implode. Dropped by the group of GC contenders about 3km from the summit of the Tourmalet, Uran lost 9 minutes by the stage finish. In two days, the Colombian has gone from second to tenth overall.

So with three days left to race, it’s safe to say that Pogačar will take home the yellow jersey as the winner of the Tour’s General Classification as well as the white jersey as the Tour’s Best Young Rider. Now, thanks to winning his second summit finish in a row, the Slovenian will also win the polka-dot jersey as the Tour’s King of the Mountains. That means for two years running, the Slovenian will leave the Tour with three jerseys—an impressive achievement.

Early in the stage, Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) led the peloton through the Intermediate Sprint in Pouzac, extending his lead in the Tour’s green jersey competition by two points. Cavendish, who finished the stage within the time limit, has an advantage of 38 points over Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) heading into the Tour’s final three stages, two of which we expect to end in field sprints.

With lots of points left to be won, this competition is still too close to call, making it the race’s most interesting storyline as we head into the Tour’s final weekend.

Stage 17 Winner - Tadej Pogacar

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won Stage 17 atop the Hors Categorie Col du Portet, extending his already sizeable lead in the 2021 Tour de France. Clearly eager to win a stage while wearing the yellow jersey, the Slovenian dropped his two breakaway companions 100 meters from the finish line.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) finished second and third on the day, and in doing so moved up to second and third overall, 5:39 and 5:43 behind Pogačar on the Tour’s General Classification.

Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates squad rode a fantastic stage, especially Poland’s Rafal Majka, who paced the yellow jersey halfway up the final climb, dropping several of the riders left in the leading group before pulling-off about 8.4km from the summit. At that point, Pogačar launched the first of a series of accelerations, pulling away with Vingegaard and Carapaz to fight for the stage win.

Carapaz tried to win the stage for himself with an acceleration 1.4km from the summit, but Pogačar easily covered the move, biding his time before launching his own stage-winning attack right before the finish line.

By winning the stage, Pogačar also took maximum points in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition, which means that for the second year in a row, the Slovenian could take home three jerseys: yellow for winning the Tour, white for being the Tour’s Best Young Rider, and polka dot for winning the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition. Dutch rider Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) leads the competition, but could have his hands full if Pogačar has another day like he did on Stage 17.

With only four stages left—including the largely ceremonial final stage to Paris—it’s safe to say that Tadej Pogačar will win the 2021 Tour de France. Only a sudden illness, a crash, or some other unexpected mishap could keep the Slovenian from defending his victory in last year’s Tour.

Thursday brings the Tour’s final day in the mountains with a short stage featuring the Col du Tourmalet and a summit finish in Luz Ardiden. But with more than five minutes over the riders chasing him on the Tour’s General Classification, the Tour is Pogačar’s to lose.

Stage 17 also seems to have determined the two riders who will join Pogačar on the Tour’s final podium in Paris, with Vingegaard and Carapaz proving to be the Tour’s two strongest riders not named “Tadej Pogačar.”

In that sense, Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) was the day’s biggest loser. The 34-year-old started the day second overall, but was unable to follow Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Carapaz when they surged ahead midway up the final climb. Uran ultimately lost 1:49 on the day, falling to fourth in the overall standings , and most likely, he lost his chances of a podium finish in Paris.

And good news for fans of Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step): the peloton stayed together until the base of the day’s first categorized climb, which means the British rider had an easier time finishing the stage within the time limit. He did lose one point to Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) in the Tour’s green jersey competition at the Intermediate Sprint in Luchon, but Cav’s YOLO Tour de France continues, with two more chances (on Friday and Sunday) for the Manx Missile to break the record for the most stage wins in Tour history. Only one more day in the mountains stands between Cavendish and his two shots at making history.

Stage 16 Winner - Patrick Konrad

Austria’s Patrick Konrad (BORA-hansgrohe) took a rainy win in Saint Gaudens on Stage 16 of the 2021 Tour de France. Also awarded the prize for being the day’s Most Aggressive Rider, the 29-year-old Austrian national champion dropped his breakaway companions on the Col de Portet-Aspet and went on alone to take the most important victory of career. Italy’s Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) finished second and Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) finished third.

Despite finishing in a small group 14 minutes behind Konrad, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) held onto the yellow jersey as the leader of the Tour’s General Classification. Ahead of back-to-back summit finishes in the high Pyrenees, the Slovenian leads Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) by 5:18 and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) by 5:32. Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) sits fourth at 5:33.

It was an intense start to the day; cold temperatures and a peloton that couldn’t quite figure out how it wanted the race made it hard for a breakaway to escape. But once it did, the break’s advantage over the group, containing the yellow jersey, began to balloon.

The peloton got a spark on the final climb of the day, the Category 4 Côte d’Aspret-Sarrat, when Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) pulled an elite group of the Tour’s top GC contenders away from the bunch. In the end, the top of the classification remained unchanged, but the move provided a preview of the aggressive racing we can expect to see over the next two days.

The 2021 Tour de France will likely be decided on one of the next two stages as back-to-back summit finishes will give the riders chasing Pogačar two more opportunities to try and chip away at the Slovenian’s substantial lead. It will take a Herculean effort, as Pogačar has shown few signs of weakness so far, but with Hors Categorie climbs like the Col du Portet (Stage 17) and the Col du Tourmalet (Stage 18) on tap, the stage is set for riders and teams hoping to launch a long-range assault on the yellow jersey and his weakening team.

While the Tour’s General Classification remained largely unchanged, Stage 16 did see some movement in the race for the green jersey as the winner of the Tour’s Points Classification. Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) has led the competition since winning Stage 4, but Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) has been steadily getting closer to Cavendish’s lead. By taking fourth at the Intermediate Sprint in Vic d’Oust and finishing third on the stage, Matthews added 35 points to his tally and now sits just 37 points behind Cavendish.

Expect the Australian to go on the attack in search of more points at the Intermediate Sprints on Stages 17 and 18, possibly catching Cavendish ahead of Friday’s Stage 19—which we expect to end in a field sprint. This is one competition that’s far from over.

Stage 15 Winner - Sepp Kuss

After more than two weeks of racing, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wears the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France after Stage 15. The 22-year-old successfully defended his lead on Stage 15, a tough stage through the Pyrenees and into Andorra.

Pogačar’s team was forced to set the pace from the beginning of Stage 15, sitting on the front all day after a group of 32 riders went up the road. Filled with stage hunters, polka dot jersey contenders, and teammates of several of the riders chasing Pogačar, the move forced UAE Team Emirates to sit on the front of the bunch, riding tempo on a day that saw high temperatures and even higher altitude. As a result, Pogačar found himself isolated in the finale, outnumbered by teams like INEOS, Jumbo-Visma, and EF Education-Nippo.

The stage came down to the final climb of the day, the Category 1 Col de Beixalis (6.4km at 8.5%), won by American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) after spending all day in the breakaway. The 26-year-old Kuss followed the initial accelerations on the steep lower slopes of the climb before finally launching an attack of his own; riding solo over the top of the climb, he led Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by only 20 seconds. But the former mountain biker from Durango, Colorado maintained his lead down the climb’s technical descent, riding solo into Andorra la Vieille to take the biggest win of his career. Valverde finished second and the Netherland’s Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) took third.

While Kuss was riding away to win the stage, riders took turns attacking from the yellow jersey group further down the col with Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers), Australia’s Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën Team), Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) each making attacks to try and crack Pogačar. But the Slovenian covered every acceleration, easily defending the yellow jersey.

Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates team continues to look weaker and weaker as the Tour progresses. The team chose not to place a rider in the day’s big breakaway today, a tactical mistake as the Slovenian found himself completely isolated at the top of the Port d'Envalira, the day’s penultimate climb. INEOS, on the other hand, put Dylan van Baarle and Jonathan Castroviejo in the breakaway and both dropped back at the summit to wait for Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz in the GC group, giving Carapaz three teammates to help him through the final hour of racing.

But in the end, it didn’t matter much, as Pogačar had no problems defending the yellow jersey on his own. Attacked by each of the riders chasing him, the Slovenian remained calm, covering each acceleration and even taking a few digs of his own as if to remind everyone, “This is my Tour de France.” And he might be right.

Pogačar enters the Tour’s second Rest Day leading Uran by 5:18 and Vingegaard by 5:32, with Carapaz in fourth at 5:33. At some point soon, these three riders will start attacking one another in a bid to stand beside Pogačar on the final podium in Paris. This will benefit the Slovenian, as he can sit back and watch his closest competitors try and eliminate one another, following their moves in defense of his yellow jersey.

What About the Tour’s Other Classifications?

Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) survived another tough day in the mountains and wears the green jersey as the leader of the Tour’s Points Classification. Australia’s Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) is second, 72 points behind Cavendish. Assuming Cavendish makes it through the rest of the Pyrenees, he should win the second green jersey of his career.

Poels did enough on Stage 15 to take back the polka dot jersey as the leader of the Tour’s King of the Mountains classification. He leads Canada’s Mike Woods (Isreal Start-Up Nations) by 8 points and Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) by 10. With three more days in the mountains, this competition is far from over.

And as he’s only 22 years old, Pogačar leads the Tour’s Best Young Rider competition. But Vingegaard, who’s currently second in the classification, wears the white jersey since even Pogačar can’t wear two jerseys at once.

Stage 14 Winner - Bauke Mollema

After several days of trying, Trek-Segafredo finally broke through with a win on Stage 14, as Bauke Mollema joined the day’s main breakaway and then attacked with more than 40km to go and soloed to the finish. Overall leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Emirates) had a fairly quiet day in the main pack, content to let the break fight it out ahead of Sunday’s crucial stage in the Pyrenees. Thanks to his ride in the break, Guillaume Martin of Cofidis jumped up seven spots on the overall and is in second place now ahead of EF Education-Nippo’s Rigoberto Uran.

With just seven stages left after today, chances for success are rapidly dwindling for teams that haven’t yet won a stage or led a major jersey competition. The action on Stage 14 was furious from the start, with numerous riders trying and failing to establish a breakaway. The successful move didn’t get established until almost halfway into the stage when a series of attacks led to a group of 14 riders out front.

Over the climbs and descents, cooperation was a bit ragged, with a few accelerations (and a crash by Rusty Woods), until Mollema decided he’d had enough and launched clear with 43km to go. It was a bold move, with expected headwinds late in the race, but Mollema paced his effort perfectly and was never in jeopardy of being caught. Trek-Segafredo becomes the eighth team (out of 23 in the race) to win a stage of this year’s Tour; Deceuninck-Quick Step leads with five victories, four by Mark Cavendish.

It was a largely uneventful day for overall race leader Pogačar. None of the riders in the break were serious threats to his lead, and even Martin’s presence and rise up the overall classification could theoretically work in Pogačar's favor in the Pyrenees.

With the 2nd-7th spots on overall time separated by just 2:26, riders may start to think about defending or attacking for podium spots as much as to unseat Pogačar. Guillaume’s addition to the mix, in second overall now, means one more rival for riders to mark, and even if Pogačar is isolated, he could play riders’ ambitions against each other to force them to chase if one attacks.

Stage 13 Winner - Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish is unstoppable right now. You know the story: the winningest sprinter in Tour history even before this year, his career was almost in the dumpster last fall before he signed a minimum contract with his old team, Deceuninck-Quick Step for one last shot. His revival has been nothing short of spectacular; he’s won almost a third of this year’s Tour stages so far and leads the green jersey standings by more than 100 points over the next-best rider. His biggest threat isn't another rider; it’s getting over the Pyrenees to make it to Paris.

And he seems to be able to win no matter the circumstances: with a perfect leadout like Stage 10, or surfing wheels. Today, his DQS team was in control until a big crash at 62km to go brought down almost two dozen riders, including DQS workhorse Tim DeClerq (he was the last rider to finish). Without his steady tempo at the front, that forced the team to use up World Champion Julian Alaphilippe early, and the team wasn’t able to control the race. In a risky move, it eased up in the final 10km to save its energy for the final.

With under a kilometer to go, Cavendish was a little too far back, but managed somehow to leapfrog Nacer Bouhanni and regain the wheel of his trusted leadout man, Michael Mørkøv, in time for the final burst. Mørkøv, the best in the sport at his job, was so effective he finished second. Alpecin-Fenix’s Jasper Philipsen was third; it’s the fifth time he’s been on the stage podium this Tour, but hasn’t broken through yet for a win.

In the overall standings, Pogačar and his UAE-Emirates team took advantage of a day when DQS did most of the work. While he was briefly without teammates in the final, nervous 25km where there were crosswinds, he had little trouble keeping himself in a good position. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) round out the podium.

The crash, however, knocked three more riders out of the race: Simon Yates and Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange) and Lotto-Soudal’s Roger Kluge were forced out with injuries. There are 151 riders left; that’s more dropouts already than either of the last two Tours had at the finish in Paris.

Stage 12 Winner - Nils Politt

Despite finishing almost 16 minutes behind Germany’s Nils Politt (BORA-Hansgrohe), the Stage 12 winner, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remained the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France. The 22-year-old finished safely in the peloton at the end of Stage 12 in Nîmes and still leads Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) by 5:18 and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) by 5:32 on the Tour’s General Classification.

On a day most expected to end in a field sprint, the breakaway survived as the peloton, tired from Wednesday’s double-dose of Mont Ventoux, was content to let a group of out-of-contention rouleurs ride away to a large advantage. Winds played a role in the action: crosswinds during the first hour helped the breakaway escape and more crosswinds in the final hour gave the break’s strongest riders an opportunity to leave their colleagues behind.

In the end, Germany’s Nils Politt (BORA-hansgrohe) took the stage victory. A former runner-up in Paris-Roubaix, the 27-year-old attacked his two companions with about 11km to go, riding away to take the first grand tour stage victory of his career. And the win couldn’t have come at a better time as earlier in the day his teammate, Peter Sagan, abandoned the Tour to prepare for the Olympics. Spain’s Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Australia’s Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal) held on behind Politt to finish second and third, 31 seconds later.

The Tour’s General Classification remained unchanged after Stage 12, but with none of the sprinters’ teams willing to take responsibility for chasing down the breakaway, Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates teammates were forced to spend all day on the front.

With several hard days in the Pyrenees still to come, stages like this can have an accumulative effect on the team defending the yellow jersey, forcing them to burn matches (as the saying goes) on a day when other other teams can sit back and recover. If Pogačar has indeed peaked a bit too soon, he’ll need the support of his team to protect his advantage. Stages like Thursday’s might make that task more challenging.

Stage 11 Winner - Wout van Aert

After two trips up and down Mont Ventoux, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remained the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France. But it wasn’t easy as the Slovenian was dropped by Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 2km from the top of the second ascent of the mountain. Pogačar, Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo), and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS-Grenadiers) were able to catch the young Dane on the descent to the stage finish in Malaucène, but for the first time in this year’s Tour, Pogačar looked vulnerable—at least for a moment.

Up the road, Belgium’s Wout van Aert made it a banner day for Jumbo-Visma, winning the stage after attacking the remnants of the day’s big breakaway on the lower slopes of the second ascent of Ventoux. Unable to stay with van Aert, Trek-Segafredo teammates Kenny Elissonde and Bauke Mollema finished second and third.

Pogačar still has a commanding lead in the Tour’s General Classification: 5:18 over Uran and 5:32 over Vingegaard. But midway through the three-week race, we can’t help but wonder if his efforts during the Tour’s first “week” (Stages 1 through 9) are starting to catch up to him. Has he peaked too soon? And if he has, does his team have the strength to protect his advantage?

The three riders with the best chances of challenging him have emerged—Uran, Vingegaard, and Carapaz—but they’ll need to work together (for now) to try and crack Pogačar and his teammates before worrying about their own results. There are plenty of opportunities for them to get the job done in the Pyrenees, but without a concerted, strategic effort, it might not happen.

Speaking of opportunities, INEOS might have missed one today. The team controlled the stage as if it were defending the yellow jersey, essentially giving Pogačar and his team a free ride throughout much of the day. Had they forced UAE Team Emirates to set the pace would Pogačar have cracked sooner? And would INEOS have had more riders left at the end to help make it happen? We’ll never know, but if this Tour gets closer before it ends on July 18th, the British superteam might look back on today and wonder “What if?”

Stage 10 Winner - Mark Cavendish

Who’s Winning the Tour ?

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remained the overall leader of the 2021 Tour de France after finishing safely in the leading peloton at the end of Stage 10 in Valence. The 22-year-old still leads Australia’s Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen) by 2:01 and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) by 5:18.

Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) won the stage, putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance by his team. The 33rd stage victory of his career, Cavendish now sits one win away from tying Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 , and two away from ... well, we don’t want to jinx it.

The final hour of racing was intense, with Quick Step driving the pace. At one point, the peloton broke into echelons on the windswept run-in to finish, briefly distancing Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), but the Tour’s main favorites came back together before the finish. The final sprint was a masterclass in how to lead-out a field sprint, with Quick Step—and Cavendish—taking everyone to school. Belgians Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) finished second and third.

Of the riders chasing Pogačar (or more realistically, seeking to join him on the Tour’s final podium), Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo), Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) were the quickest to pounce when Pogačar began to struggle in the crosswinds near the end of the stage. Vingegaard was particularly aggressive, riding alongside van Aert to try and force a selection. The Dane is one of the best time trialists of the GC contenders, and looks like a good bet—at this point—to land on the podium.

Carapaz put in another aggressive ride, but again for no pay-off. He was also isolated for a bit in the crosswinds, leading us to wonder how long it will be before his wasted efforts come back to bite him.

Tomorrow’s stage climbs Mont Ventoux twice and should give us a better idea as to the riders with the best chances of either challenging Pogačar—or finishing beside him in Paris.

Stage 9 Winner - Ben O’Connor

Who’s Winning the Tour

It was another day of steady rain for the Tour de France, and riders regularly called up their team cars for deliveries of dry, warm clothing. The initial breakaway was massive, but quickly settled into several groups on the road with an ever-changing mix of leaders going off the front and being re-caught, only for others to counterattack. The winning move emerged when O’Connor joined Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and EF-Nippo’s Sergio Higuita on the penultimate climb, the Cormet de Roselend. He was gapped on the descent, but re-caught the pair and went solo with 17km to go for his first-ever Tour stage (he also won a Giro d’Italia stage two years ago).

With such a large group, Pogačar’s UAE team struggled to keep the time gap in check, and at several points in the race, O’Connor, who started the day in 14th overall, was far enough ahead to be “virtual yellow jersey.” But on the final climb to Tignes, the Ineos Grenadiers team drilled it, partly to keep the gap down and prevent O’Connor from taking yellow, which keeps the pressure on UAE to defend. Pogačar, however, countered with his own late attack, and took another 32 seconds on his challengers.

O’Connor is in second overall, 2:01 down to Pogačar. He’s a solid climber, but has never finished higher than 20th in any of his four Grand Tours so far. Among Pogačar’s more likely possible challengers, there's a lot of work to do. Uran is 5:18 behind, with Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz (Ineos) in 4th and 5th at 5:32. Pogačar enters Monday’s rest day with a massive advantage and is clearly the best rider in the race.

Who’s Not Winning the Tour

As expected, Primož Roglič did not start the stage. After losing major time the previous two days, it was clear that Jumbo’s leader wasn’t recovering from his injuries, making the smart choice to withdraw and heal, perhaps in time for the Olympic road race in a few weeks, and this fall’s Vuelta a España. The team will put its efforts behind Vingegaard for the podium and breakaways; American Sepp Kuss has factored in the break two days in a row, and will likely stay on the offensive in the Pyrenees.

Stage 8 Winner - Dylan Teuns

In the end, Pogačar efforts weren’t enough to net him the stage victory—that honor went to Belgium’s Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious)—but it didn’t matter; with two weeks left to race, the Tour is clearly Pogačar’s to lose. He leads Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) by 1:48 and Kazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) by 4:38.

In addition to winning the stage, Bahrain-Victorious also took control of the Tour’s King of the Mountains classification, with Dutchman Wout Poels earning enough points over the day’s five categorized climbs to pull on the polka dot jersey as the leader of the competition.

Who’s Not Winning the Tour?

Um, anyone not named Tadej Pogačar? Seriously, with one attack Pogačar put minutes into his closest rivals, taking the yellow jersey in a style that calls to mind some of the greatest Tour riders in the sport’s history. But has he done too much too soon?

The short answer is: we’ll see. His team isn’t the strongest in the race, but with Pogačar enjoying the form of his life and holding a big lead, they don’t have to be. Better yet is the fact that many of the riders behind Pogačar on the Tour’s General Classification would be thrilled to finish second or third overall, which means they could give-up on chasing down the Slovenian and instead start worrying more about beating one another. Doing so would essentially concede the Tour to Pogačar, making life much easier for the Slovenian and his teammates.

One rider who’s fallen completely out of contention is Welshman Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers). Dropped on the final climb near the end of Stage 7, the 2018 Tour champion was able to rejoin the main group of GC contenders before the finish in Le Creusot. But today he was dropped early and lost over 30 minutes. He finished the stage beside one of the Tour’s other pre-race favorites, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) who has also seen his chances of winning the Tour disappear. Both riders will now be asked to support their teammates, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers), who sit fifth and sixth overall and both have a shot at finishing on the Tour’s final podium in Paris

Stage 7 Winner - Matej Mohoric

Mohorič is often overshadowed by his more-famous Slovenian compatriots, Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič, but today he took center stage with a perfect ride on a long and arduous stage. With his victory, Mohorič joins the club of riders who have won a stage in all three Grand Tours. For his part, Pogačar survived admirably and still leads all of his rivals, but with yellow jersey van der Poel up the road in the break, it fell to Pog’s UAE-Emirates team to do most of the work chasing. Since there are a few question marks about the team’s overall strength, that’s earlier than they’d like to have been forced into action. Elsewhere, Ineos’ Richard Carapaz showed that he’s going to race aggressively. His late-race attack was hauled back right at the line, but expect more from him.

The biggest story was Jumbo-Visma’s Roglič cracking on a late climb and falling down the standings. With the large breakaway (more than 25 riders), the pace was hot from the start. And the course’s length—249.1km—likely made things harder; strange things happen to riders when races go past 220km, especially after a hard week of racing.

But Roglič was clearly not recovering enough from his early-race crash injuries. His ride today, where he lost almost four minutes to his rivals, only underscores that his collapse would have happened sooner or later anyway. Tellingly, when he was dropped on the steep Signal d’Uchon climb, no teammates waited for him, which suggests Jumbo strongly suspected this was a possibility. They’ll likely put their efforts behind 24-year-old Jonas Vingegaard now.

Finally, it’s worth a look at one of the other jersey competitions: Points. Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) has won two stages already in his remarkable comeback from several tough years, but it’s clear he wants more. He jumped in the break and took top points (20) at the intermediate sprint. He now leads the green jersey standings by a large margin, with 168 points to van der Poel’s 103 (van der Poel’s teammate, Jasper Philipsen, is one point back in third). Van der Poel himself didn’t really contest the intermediate sprint and is unlikely to make it to Paris. His main objective this season is the Olympic mountain bike race in just a few weeks, and he’ll need some rest. For all his 32 stage wins at the Tour, Cav has taken green in Paris just once, in 2011. He’d love to add another to the trophy cabinet. If he does, it will be a fantastic achievement. Despite his apparent run of form, it’s worth remembering that he wasn’t even supposed to be here, and his training this year was not designed around doing a three-week race, much less the Tour on a few days’ notice.

Stage 6 Winner - Mark Cavendish

Cav’s victory gives him 32 Tour stage wins, just two shy of Eddy Merckx’s overall record, which has stood for 45 years. It’s also Cavendish’s 50th stage win in a Grand Tour. It’s a remarkable comeback for the Manx Missile, who hadn’t won a Tour stage since 2016, and until this season, hadn’t won any races since 2018. Given that Cav wasn’t even slated to be on DQS’s Tour roster until he replaced Sam Bennett, who had a knee injury in early June, it’s even more impressive. Despite inevitable questions about his march on Merckx’s record (a line of inquiry which Cav has made clear he does not appreciate), he’s sprinting with remarkable confidence, dare we say joy. Van der Poel will spend a fifth day in the yellow jersey on Friday, and despite a long and challenging stage on Friday, he is a good bet to hold it until Saturday, the race’s first real mountain stage. Pogačar, the presumptive favorite for the overall, appreciated an uneventful day largely free of crashes and will look forward to Alpecin-Fenix’s defense of yellow for another day, limiting the work his UAE team will have to do.

Through five stages, not a single breakaway has survived to the finish yet. That’s not surprising: breakaways are often caught, and flatter sprint stages, with small moves of less than five riders, have the lowest success rate of any breakaway situation at the Tour. Stage 7 may see that streak finally broken, with a long, 249km day with several tough climbs near the end. But it may not be the early break that succeeds as much as a later move on those ascents.

Stage 5 Winner - Tadej Pogačar

Van der Poel doesn’t have a strong time trial resume, and today’s stage was both the longest TT he’s ever done and under the biggest spotlight. But he rose to the occasion with solid pacing throughout, hovering between 2nd and 5th at every time check. While his overall lead over Pogačar dwindled to just eight seconds, simply staying in yellow another day is a massive accomplishment for a rider whose main objective this year is actually in a few weeks at the Tokyo Olympics, where he’ll race the mountain bike event.

No one had a better day than Pogačar, who was fastest at every intermediate time check and gained time—often a lot—on all his challengers. The soonest Pogačar is likely to take yellow is Friday’s unusually long stage, but barring a crash or some major mishap, it’s almost a sure thing he’ll be in the race lead this weekend when the race goes into the Alps.

Elsewhere, contenders have to be asking themselves where are the cracks in Pogačar’s armor. His closest real rival on time is EF Education-Nippo’s Rigoberto Uran, who is almost a minute and a half behind before the mountains even start, and Pogačar is one of the best climbers in the world. INEOS’s Richard Carapaz and last year’s runner-up, Primož Roglič of Jumbo-Visma, are around 1:40 back, and things get more grim from there; there are only five more GC hopefuls within three minutes of Pog on the overall classification. Some of them, like Roglic and INEOS's Geraint Thomas, are dealing with injuries from crashes in the opening stages. There are two possibilities for the coming weeks: Pogačar didn’t lead last year’s Tour until the final day, so he never had to defend yellow, and his team is a question mark in terms of strength. And, Pog is clearly flying right now, but there are more than two weeks left to race. If his form peaked too early, rivals may be able to gain back time late in the race as he fades.

Stage 4 Winner - Mark Cavendish

But it almost didn’t happen. One day after Lotto-Soudal lost sprinter Caleb Ewan to a broken collarbone, Van Moer did his best to win the team a stage. On his first grand tour, the 23-year-old spent all day on the attack with France’s Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis), then left his companion inside the final 10km to go solo. Underestimated by the chasing peloton, the Belgian held on until about 200 meters to go, when the hungry sprinters finally overtook him.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) finished safely within the leading peloton, holding onto the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the Tour. French puncheur Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) sits in second place, only 8 seconds behind the Dutchman; Ecuador’s Richard Capapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) and Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) stand in third and fourth, just 31 seconds behind.

Stage 5 brings the first of two individual time trials in this year’s Tour de France, a 27km ride from Changé to Laval that should shuffle the Tour’s General Classification. We’ve never seen van der Poel target a time trial before, so it remains to be seen how he’ll fare in terms of defending the yellow jersey. Maybe the yellow jersey will serve as additional inspiration, but with proven time trialists like Alaphilippe and van Aert, and a long rolling course, they’re both good bets to dethrone the Dutchman.

We’ll also be closely watching Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers). Heading into the Tour, Stage 5 was expected to offer the two favorites a chance to distance themselves from the Tour’s other GC contenders. Still, given the injuries they’ve sustained in crashes during the opening stages, they may not be able to take full advantage of their abilities

Stage 3 Winner - Tim Merlier

While his superstar teammate overshadows him, Merlier is a solid sprinter who’s having a career year (like van der Poel, he’s also a top cyclocross racer during the winter season). His Stage 3 win is his second in a Grand Tour after a victory in May’s Giro d’Italia. Not bad for a guy who’d never raced a Grand Tour until this year.

Merlier's victory—and Philipsen’s second-place finish—underscores that Alpecin-Fenix, not Deceuninck-Quick Step, is the top sprint team at this year’s Tour. DQS would be a top rival, but they were in disarray today. Their lead sprinter, Sam Bennett, is home with a knee injury while manager Patrick Lefevere starts needless feuds with him in the press. And Mark Cavendish, who could be the feel-good story of the race if he wins a stage in his return to the sport’s biggest stage, was well off after getting caught up and delayed by the late-stage crashes. Elsewhere, Ewan, another major rival, is now out with a broken collarbone. Van der Poel still leads the overall, eight seconds clear of DQS’s Julian Alaphilippe, who is at the top of the points standings after his fifth-place finish. INEOS Grenadiers’ Richard Carapaz was the only GC rider to finish in the front group. He jumps to third overall.

The chaotic nature of the opening stages has seen various riders pinball around in the overall standings. Carapaz is a perfect example: he lost 13 seconds on the uphill finish of Stage 1, but today bounced back with his savvy (and lucky) ride. Bora-Hansgrohe’s Wilco Kelderman managed to stay upright, and defending champion Tadej Pogačar lost minimal time after being delayed by a late crash.

Outside of Carapaz, it’s been a dismal opening few stages for INEOS, with crashes for several riders. Thomas fell hard today, less than 40km into the stage, and reportedly suffered a separated shoulder that was reset on site by the team doctor. There’s no word yet on how severe the injury is. Still, it will almost certainly be painfully difficult for Thomas to hold his aerodynamic tuck in Wednesday’s crucial time trial stage, where he’d typically be among the favorites. Jumbo-Visma hasn’t been any luckier, with multiple riders caught in crashes. Team leader Primoz Roglič fell hard with 18km to go today. His team swiftly organized a chase, but they’d no sooner gotten back to the leading group before another crash delayed them. He finished 1:21 down today, but at least X-rays showed no fractures.

Stage 2 Winner - Mathieu van der Poel

Who’s winning the Tour?

It was clear that van der Poel was targeting the stage and the yellow jersey. He launched his first attack on the first of two ascents of the Mûr, taking eight bonus seconds for being the first over the top. Easing back into the bunch, he recovered on the downhill run-in to the final climb to the finish line, then covered attacks by Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) before going off on his own with an acceleration no one could follow.

As he crossed the finish line, he pointed to the sky to honor his deceased grandfather, Raymond Poulidor. One of the Tour’s most beloved heroes, “Pou-Pou,” never had the honor of wearing the yellow jersey despite finishing on the Tour’s final podium eight times. The 10-second time bonus that van der Poel took for winning the stage was enough to put him in yellow though, as France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) finished fourth on the day, eight seconds back. Van der Poel now leads the Tour by eight seconds over the Frenchman; Pogačar sits third, 13 seconds down.

Who’s really winning the Tour?

We’re only two days into the race, but it’s clear that last year’s top two finishers, Slovenians Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), aren’t wasting any time. Both riders scored bonus seconds behind van der Poel on the day’s first climb of the Mûr de Bretagne, and the duo pulled away from the rest of the leading group to score more bonus seconds at the finish. If this keeps up, we could be headed for a Tour even closer than last year’s, when Pogačar overtook Roglič in the final time trial to win the Tour.

The Tour’s other top GC contenders are expected to come from INEOS Grenadiers, whose four-headed GC-monster became a 2-headed GC-monster in yesterday’s crashes. Both Richie Porte and Tao Geoghegan Hart lost lots of time, leaving the team to ride for Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz. Carapaz was the best finisher today; the Ecuadorian finished in the leading group of contenders, 8 seconds behind van der Poel. Thomas lost a bit of time, leading in the next group another 15 seconds down. He should recoup the time lost to his teammate in Wednesday’s individual time trial, but it will remain interesting to see how the hierarchy within the team continues to evolve over the course of the Tour’s first week.

Since getting hooked on pro cycling while watching Lance Armstrong win the 1993 U.S. Pro Championship in Philadelphia, longtime Bicycling contributor Whit Yost has raced on Belgian cobbles, helped build a European pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux as an assistant director sportif. These days, he lives with his wife and son in Pennsylvania, spending his days serving as an assistant middle school principal and his nights playing Dungeons & Dragons.

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Tour de France favourites 2024: Who will win this year's yellow jersey?

Rouleur looks at who the bookies are backing for this year's Tour de France title

Words: Stephen Puddicombe

With the Tour de France now less than three weeks away excitement is brewing at what promises to be a thrilling and – even by the standards of the world’s biggest race – star-studded contest for the yellow jersey. 

All the talk all year has been about how the big four of Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel will duke it out for what will be the first Grand Tour each has simultaneously appeared in, but there are varying doubts and question marks surrounding each one, be it a matter of fitness, form or fatigue. 

That opens up the possibility for a whole host of other riders to dream big, and this year it feels like there is an especially deep pool of potential GC prospects. Let’s consider the outstanding candidates among them. 

Odds correct at time of publishing.

Jonas Vingegaard - ?

One talking point overshadows all others leading into the Tour de France: will Jonas Vingegaard be fit enough to start? His season came to an abrupt halt at Itzulia Basque Country when he was one of the most badly affected riders on the stage four horror crash that blighted that race, and now, just weeks away from the Grand Départ in Florence, he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team are still yet to make a final decision. 

Even if he does make it, will he have the condition to again defend his title? The team have said they only want him to ride if 100%, but will that be possible on the back of training only, and no race days for almost three months?

Leaving all those questions aside, if Vingegaard is in top condition, he will be the man to beat. He ended up winning what had been a close Tour de France between himself and Pogačar at a canter last year, and, if anything, had looked even better this year, winning both Tirreno-Adriatico and O Gran Camiño in astonishingly one-sided fashion. The cycling world waits anxiously for more news.  

Vingegaard during the 2023 Tour de France (Image by SWPix.com)

Tadej Pogačar - 4/11

Unlike each of his main rivals, there have been no fitness doubts plaguing Tadej Pogačar in the past few months. He is the only one of the big four to enjoy a clean run-in to the Tour with no crashes, an advantage reflected in the very short odds of 4/11 being offered by the bookmakers.

Instead, the big question regarding Pogačar’s chances is whether or not his appearance and victory at the Giro d’Italia last month has rendered him more or less likely to also win the Tour. On one hand, the way he crushed the opposition to win the maglia rosa by almost 10 minutes, and picked up six stages on the way, was a sensational display of form that sent an intimidating warning shot to everyone set to compete against him at the Tour. 

But on the other hand, peaking in form for both the Giro and the Tour has been notoriously difficult to do these past few decades, and all of Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome have in the recent past won the former only to run out of steam at the latter. You sense, though, that if anyone has the talent to achieve the elusive double, it’s Pogačar. 

Pogačar during the 2024 Giro d'Italia (Image by SWPix.com)

Primož Roglič - 6/1

There is a sense that Primož Roglič’s opportune time to win the Tour de France came a few years ago, before the rise of his Slovenian compatriot Pogačar and former teammate Jonas Vingegaard. After all, doing so now would make him the second oldest winner ever of the yellow jersey, an especially remarkable feat given the recent tendency of riders to peak at a younger age. 

But short odds of 6/1 reflect how he still has a great chance of doing so this year. Despite also being involved, he wasn’t anywhere near as badly affected as Vingegaard was at the Itzulia Basque Country crash, and is building up to the Tour in a much more traditional, safer way than Pogačar, skipping the Giro d’Italia and riding the Critérium du Dauphiné , in which he sealed overall victory last week.

That Dauphiné victory is a reassuring sign of form ahead of the Tour, even if it did end with a more difficult day as he scraped victory by eight seconds after being dropped on the final mountain. The overall performance of his Bora-Hansgrohe team in controlling the race was also encouraging, and suggests everything is pretty much as he’d want it to be as he fine tunes his final preparations. 

Roglič at the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné (Image by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

Remco Evenepoel - 12/1

The last member of the big four is also the most unproven at Grand Tour level, and consequently not quite as fancied by the bookies. While he did prove his credentials by winning the Vuelta a España two years ago, his other three Grand Tour appearances have seen him either pull out altogether (Giro 2021 and 2023), or drop out of the GC race and chase stages instead (Vuelta 2023).

As yet another rider involved in the Itzulia Basque Country pile-up, his preparation hasn’t been ideal either, but he’s on the up. He described his shape at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he finished seventh overall, as being hugely improved from where he was just a few weeks ago, and if he continues to recover at such a rate then he could be competitive for the yellow jersey at the Tour. As a rider with so much raw talent, there’s no telling how high his ceiling might be this July. 

Remco Evenepoel at the 2023 Giro d'Italia before he has to pull out due to illness (Image by SWPix.com)

Carlos Rodríguez - 20/1

He might not be the most glamorous of names, but the bookies listing Carlos Rodríguez as the best of the rest outside of the big four underlines his prospects this Tour. The Spaniard seriously impressed on debut last year by finishing fifth overall and winning an Alpine stage, and, still aged 23, has plenty of scope for improvement.

He’s already shown some of that scope by following up a second place finish at Itzulia Basque Country with overall victory at the Tour de Romandie, and enters the Tour having just won the last mountain top finish of Critérium du Dauphiné to seal fourth overall. He’s set to lead a strong Ineos Grenadiers line-up, and looks poised for a very good ride.

Rodríguez on his way to winning stage eight of the Tour of Britain (Image by SWPix.com)

Adam Yates - 28/1

Last year, UAE Team Emirates went into the Tour with Adam Yates labelled as co-leader alongside Tadej Pogačar, and the Brit lived up to the billing, finishing third overall just behind his teammate — and in terms of time, much closer to Pogačar than the Slovenian was in turn to Vingegaard.

That performance is why Yates continues to have relatively short odds among the bookies, but this year he hasn’t had the same smooth build-up. Then, Yates went into the Tour in career-best form, having won the Tour de Romandie and placed second at Critérium du Dauphiné in his two races prior to it. His preparation has been much patchier this year, with concussion suffered in a crash at the UAE Tour in February ruling him out of Tirreno-Adriatico, and failed to make the top 10 at the Tour de Romandie while riding for Juan Ayuso. How he goes at the ongoing Tour de Suisse could determine whether he can reach last year’s levels at the Tour once more. 

Yates had a stint in the yellow jersey last year (Image by SWPix.com)

Juan Ayuso - 33/1

Along with Remco Evenepoel, the Tour de France debut that’s attracting the most excitement is that of Juan Ayuso. The 21-year-old appears to have it all, from climbing, time trialling and punchy accelerations, to the ability to last the distance at Grand Tours, having already placed third and fourth overall at his two appearances at the Vuelta a España.

The Spaniard also has the form, having finished second at Tirreno-Adriatico and won Itzulia Basque Country. Or, at least, he had it — as one of the worst affected from the mass pile-up in the rain that caused the neutralisation of stage five at Critérium du Dauphiné, he had to abandon the race, and his plans are now a little up in the air. But if he can put those injuries behind him before the Tour, it could be him this time who lines up as UAE Team Emirates’ co-leader alongside Tadej Pogačar.

Ayuso in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico (Image SWPix.com)

Egan Bernal - 33/1

Egan Bernal might not be among the eight most in form GC riders going into the Tour de France, but his past record as a winner of the yellow jersey from 2019 means he is among the top eight bookies favourites. He’s the wildcard among the GC contenders — we all know how good he can be, it’s just a matter of whether he’s capable of reaching his past levels again following the crash that nearly ended his career a few years ago. 

His form so far this year has been encouraging. Following some promising results in the early season stage races, he placed third overall at Volta a Catalunya, his first time on a WorldTour podium since winning the Giro d’Italia three years ago. He’s still not fully committed to taking part, but a strong ride at the Tour de Suisse would likely see him at the start in Florence. 

Bernal during the 2023 Tour de France (Image by SWPix.com)

Other favourites

In the event that Vingegaard is deemed unfit to start, the onus will be on Matteo Jorgenson and/or Sepp Kuss to lead the line for Visma-Lease a Bike. Jorgenson’s excellent form this season, which has seen him both win Paris-Nice and come within a whisker of defeating Primož Roglič to also take victory at Critérium du Dauphiné, sees his odds of winning the yellow jersey reduced to 50/1, while Kuss’ record as a proven Grand Tour winner following overall victory at Vuelta a España last year means he’s also 50/1. 

Kuss won the 2023 Vuelta a España (Image by Getty Images)

Bora-Hansgrohe boast similar strength-in-depth in their line-up. As well as Roglič, they have another former Grand Tour winner in 2022 Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley , who is at 50/1, while Aleksandr Vlasov ’s impressive display in support of their Slovenian leader at the Dauphiné sees him at 80/1.

Both Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) command attention as former Grand Tour winners (the latter at the 2018 Vuelta, the former the 2019 Giro), but questionable form means they’ve longer odds than usual, at 70/1 and 75/1 respectively. Enic Mas (Movistar) is another dependable Grand Tour performer, having seven times made the top six on GC, including twice at the Tour, and his comparatively good pre-Tour form sees him at 50/1.

The potential of Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) following his excellent performances in the mountains and eighth place finish overall last year, and the multi-talented Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) is reflected in their respective odds of 70/1 and 80/1, while memories of Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) surprise win at the 2020 Giro d’Italia sees him at 100/1 despite form and fitness concerns

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The Tour de France and the Yellow Jersey

• Darcy Benson

2009 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, wearing the yellow jersey on June 26, 2009.

The iconic yellow jersey of the Tour de France is the medal and physical jersey awarded to the race’s overall winner.

The Tour de France is the most famous cycling race in the world. Held over the course of 23 days, this race for male cyclists features 21 stages that demand its participants climb mountains, speed over flat lands, and navigate small, sometimes cobble-stoned streets in villages and towns throughout France.

The Tour bestows the yellow jersey after each day of racing to the cyclist with the fastest overall time. This means that the yellow jersey can change hands multiple times over the course of the race and that the yellow jersey is not necessarily awarded to the winner of that day’s stage—the day’s faster rider may not have the race’s quickest total time. While several cyclists might wear the yellow jersey during the three-week competition, only one will ultimately win it.

Cover of the illustrated sports review magazine, “Vie au Grand Air,” from August 15, 1919, illustrating the first use of the yellow jersey.

The Tour’s organizers first awarded the yellow jersey so that gathering crowds could easily identify the race’s leader. The jersey did not make its debut until mid-July 1919, nearly a month into the race. In the first few years of the Tour, the leader would wear a green armband to signal his lead. However, the crowds of spectators were much larger in 1919 and the armband was not visible enough. Thus on July 19, 1919 in Grenoble, Eugene Christophe, that day’s leader, debuted the yellow jersey on the road. Yet, he would not keep it. Firmin Lambot won the first-ever yellow jersey on July 27, 1919 in Paris.

The Tour began in 1903 as the creation of the sports newspaper L’Auto . Editors of the paper believed that by creating a race that took cyclists throughout France over multiple weeks, which the paper would cover exclusively, they could drum up more readership. The 2019 race, which began on July 6 and ends on July 28 in front of the Arc de Triomphe, will have covered 2,162.6 miles and included 176 riders from 22 teams.

Anti-Semitic caricature of Alfred Dreyfus in the French nationalist series “Museum of Horrors.”

But the Tour also has roots in the notorious Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s, which divided France bitterly.

The “affair” centered on Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army captain falsely accused of espionage. Dreyfus was tried, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, though the identity of the real spy had already been discovered. The Dreyfus Affair became a flashpoint in the French Third Republic triggering debates about what French identity meant and who belonged to the nation.

Not even sports papers were able to escape this debate.

Advertisers, unhappy with the leadingsports paper’s support of Dreyfus as well as the rising price of advertising space, pulled their ads and decided to fund the rival L’Auto . L’Auto used yellow newsprint and many believe the yellow color of the jersey was selected to mimic this hue. Ultimately, the Tour was born out of blistering competition and vigorous debate over who could be considered “French.”

Tour de France 1928 participants .

Originally, the race asked cyclists to travel an average of 250 miles per stage often with racers pedaling through the night on unpaved and unlit roads. Twenty-three cyclists abandoned the race on its very first day, which spanned nearly 300 miles from Paris to Lyon, and only 23 of the original 60 cyclists finished. Marketed as the most demanding bicycle race in the world, the Tour de France’s current iteration is not quite so arduous. The longest stage in 2019 is a mere 142 miles.

When the tour first began in 1903, the idea that France needed to be united via a “tour of France” had already been enshrined in the French school system with the novel and school text, Le tour de la France par deux enfants (“The Tour of France by Two Children”). First published in 1877, the story follows two orphans as they traverse France, learn about its history, regions and populations, uniting all of France under one identity in the wake of the country’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine.

Ferdinand Kübler winning the first stage of the 1947 Tour de France.

The Tour de France has become both a celebration of France, its history, and landscapes and a means by which the race unites France with its neighbors. It was only in the aftermath of another war—World War II, one that tore Europe apart—that the Tour de France ventured outside of France’s borders for the first time.

In 1947, the race entered into Belgium and Luxembourg in the hopes of bringing together a few countries ravaged by the war. Much like France through its participation in the European Union has tied itself closer to other European states, the Tour de France also moved beyond its national borders to celebrate French identity as part of a European identity.

Painted yellow bikes lined the streets of Yorkshire, U.K. to welcome the Tour de France as it passed through the town, 2014. 

Since first moving some stages out of France in 1947, the Tour has only held a mere six races solely within the borders of France. In the last decade, the Tour has hosted stages in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Andorra, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Monaco.

Moreover, the race has become a global sports event, stretching beyond France’s borders and its neighbors to reach audiences thousands of miles away. No longer exclusively covered by L’Auto , broadcasters and journalists from across the world flock to France to report on the Tour.

The Second Stage of the 2014 Tour de France.

Today, the French Minister of Culture provides all television commentators—both French and non-French—with descriptions of historical events, cultural sites, French agricultural products, and natural wonders to accompany the helicopter footage of the French countryside and cities. This script highlights the treasures of France: inspiring pride amongst the French and stimulating tourism.

No longer promoting a single newspaper, the Tour has evolved to promote France .

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Tour de France 2022: Meaning behind yellow, green, polka dot and white jersey colours

The yellow jersey is the most famous and prestigious of them all, but there are three other colours to look out for in the peloton, article bookmarked.

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The 2022 Tour de France sees 176 riders compete for the famous yellow jersey or maillot jaune which rewards the overall winner of the race.

While the yellow jersey, won in 2020 and 2021 by Slovenian prodigy Tadej Pogacar , is the most famous and prestigious of them all, there are three other colours to look out for in the peloton taking on this year's Tour de France route.

The green, polka dot, and white jerseys all have their own meanings, histories and significance for their respective holders.

While some riders (domestiques) work purely for the benefit of their team leader, others work to win individual stages, and others aim purely for one particular jersey.

It is not just the jerseys to watch out for – those riders wearing yellow helmets are the team leading overall when their times are added together, while the previous day’s combativity prize winner (the most aggressive racer) wears a red ‘bib’.

And anyone wearing a rainbow jersey is the reigning world champion – though this year the road champion Julian Alaphilippe is absent, still recovering from injury.

Here are the four Tour de France jerseys:

Yellow – overall winner

The biggest prize in cycling is the famous yellow jersey of the Tour de France . It is the awarded to the overall winner and worn by the current race leader at the start of each stage, and it is considered hugely prestigious to don the maillot jaune . It was initially introduced so fans could clearly spot the rider in charge, and took its colour from L’Auto (today L’Equipe), the newspaper owned by race founder Henri Desgrange.

Green– best sprinter

The green jersey is the prestigious prize given to the best sprinter in the Tour. The fastest in the pack compete for the biggest points at the end of flat stages and a smaller haul of points on offer during stages – called intermediate sprints. Peter Sagan won a record-equalling sixth green jersey last year, while Britain’s Mark Cavendish has won two and finished runner-up three times.

Polka dot – King of the Mountains

Perhaps almost as famous as the yellow jersey itself, the red polka dots on a white base are awarded to the rider who earns the most King of the Mountains points, which can be collected along the way by being the first to the top of categorised climbs – the more the severe the climb, the more points are on offer. Chris Froome won both the polka dot jersey and the yellow jersey in 2015, the first to do so since the great Eddy Merckx in 1970. In 2018 it was won by home favourite Julian Alaphilippe in some style.

White – best young rider

The white jersey is awarded to the highest placed rider who was 24 or younger on the first day of the year. The jersey was introduced in 1975, before a 10-year hiatus in the 90s, but returned in the 21st century and has been won by Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana, and both the British Yates twins, Simon and Adam.

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The jerseys of the 2024 Tour de France

Details of the four iconic leader's jerseys and the minor prizes at the race

There are four Tour de France classification jerseys awarded after every stage of the three-week race, each recognising different successes and talents in the race.

The iconic yellow jersey is worn by the race leader based on time, the green jersey is awarded to the leader based on points awarded at intermediate sprints and the finishes, the red polka-dot king of the mountains jersey is based on points awarded on categorised climbs, while the white best young rider's jersey is another based on time, only reserved for riders born after January 1, 1998.

The team classification is also based on time, with the riders of the leading team racing with special yellow numbers (dossards). The most aggressive rider wears a special gold number during the following stage.

The most aggressive rider (super-combatif) of the whole race is selected by members of the jury at the end of the Tour de France and is awarded a trophy on the final podium in Paris just like the other competition winners.

Santini is the official jersey maker for the Tour de France, and will put the finishing touches - adding all necessary logos - to the winners' jerseys on-site at the Tour de France. That also means fans can buy their own replica jerseys and other Tour de France merchandising.

The yellow jersey – the maillot jaune   

The yellow jersey is worn by the leader of the general classification, the rider with the lowest net time in the race after every stage. The rider who takes it to Paris is crowned the Tour de France winner, the most prestigious success of the men’s cycling season. 

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won the 2022 and 2023 Tour de France.

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The jersey is yellow because the newspaper that first organised the race, L'Auto , was printed on yellow paper.

The classification is based on the time taken for each rider to cover the 21 stages, taking into account time penalties and time bonuses. 

In the event of a tie in the general classification, the hundredths of a second recorded by the timekeepers during the individual time trial stages will be included in the total times in order to decide the overall winner. 

In the absence of a time trial or if the riders remain tied, then the positions in which they finished each stage will be added up and, as a last resort, their finishing position on the final stage will be taken into account.

Bonus seconds are offered to encourage attacking racing and these are deducted from the time taken to cover the stage. Bonuses of 10, 6, and 4 seconds are awarded on the finish line to the leading three riders on each stage, excluding time trials. There are also certain climbs with bonuses of 8, 5, and 2 seconds at the top such as the Jaizkibel on stage 2 which should encourage aggressive riding from the favourites.

All riders must finish within the time limit – a certain percentage (ranging from 104% to 120% depending on the stage and average speed) of the stage winner's time each day in order to continue in the race. This is often a problem for sprinters, domestiques and injured riders when it comes to the high mountains.

The green jersey – the maillot vert

The green jersey is worn by the leader of the points classification. Points are awarded at stage finishes and intermediate sprints.

While the sprinters are the main candidates for the green jersey, it's the more versatile among them who have the best chance of overall success in Paris. 

Peter Sagan is one such rider and has won green in seven of the past nine Tours, while Wout Van Aert dominated the points classification in 2022 to take his first green jersey. Jasper Philipsen won four sprint stages to anchor his green jersey in 2023.

Points are awarded to the first 15 riders at stage finishes or intermediate sprints, with different allocations depending on the nature of the stage. More points are awarded on flat stages than on mountain stages or time trials. The winner of a flat stage scores 50 points, a mountain stage winner just 20.

Only riders who complete the entire Tour de France are included in the points classification.

In the event where a rider or riders finish outside the time limit but are reinstated by the president of the commissaires’ jury, they will lose all points awarded to them in the points classification.            

For 2023 the green jersey was a much darker shade of green than fans are used to as per a request made by the sponsor of the jersey, Skoda but the colour was not popular with fans.                      

The polka-dot jersey – the maillot blanc à pois rouges

The polka-dot jersey is worn by the leader of the mountains classification, who is known as the 'king of the mountains.’ For the three recent editions of the Tour, the overall winner has also won the polka-dot jersey but Italy's Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek won the competition in 2023.

Mountain points are on offer at the top of every classified climb, ranging from the hardest – 'hors catégorie' – to the easiest – category 4.

Hors catégorie: 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-2

Category 1: 10-8-6-4-2-1

Category 2: 5-3-2-1

Category 3: 2-1

Category 4: 1

In the event of two riders being equal on points, the rider with the most first places at the summit of super-category passes or climbs or summit finishes will be declared the winner.

Only riders who complete the entire Tour de France will be included in the best climber classification. In the event of a rider or riders finishing outside the time limit but being reinstated by the president of the commissaires’ jury, they will lose all points awarded to them in the best climber classification.

The white jersey – the maillot blanc

The white jersey is worn by the leader of the youth classification. 

A 'young rider' is anyone who was born after January 1, 1998, so anyone under 25. The jersey goes to the best placed on general classification, based on time.

Tadej Pogačar has won the white jersey at the last four editions of the Tour, two of which he also won the yellow jersey. 

The white jersey often used to be an indication of future Tour de France contenders, but since Pogačar has risen to greatness at such a young age, it's been difficult to see the future contenders as obviously. He is now too old for competition, with the white jersey up for grabs in 2024.

The gold dossard 

The special gold number dossard is awarded to the rider deemed, subjectively, the ‘most combative’ the previous day. It is usually the rider most active in the breakaway or someone who shows panache and aggression or even qualities of sportsmanship. It used to be a red number, but has changed this year as Century 21 now sponsor the classification and the new colour runs in line with their branding.

The prize, which is awarded on every road stage except the final one, is decided by a jury presided over by the race director and a new vote made by members of the Tour de France Club. Each stage’s most aggressive rider wears a gold race dossard during the following stage.

The race’s most aggressive rider (super-combatif) is selected by members of the jury at the end of the Tour de France and was won by Wout Van Aert in 2022. This year Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) won the super-combatif award after a number of aggressive attacks on stages.

Yellow dossard

The yellow race number dossard is worn by members of the team leading the teams classification. It is calculated by adding together the times of each team's three best riders on every stage. 

Any team reduced to fewer than three riders will be eliminated from the team classification.

Wearing a leader’s jersey is mandatory from the signing-in protocol before the stage start until the post-stage press conference.

Skinsuits are provided to the leaders of the various rankings for time trial stages, with special fitting sessions arranged the day before the time trials.

Riders can lead multiple jersey classifications but only wear one jersey in the race. There is an established order of priority for the different leader’s jerseys: the yellow jersey, followed by the green jersey, then the red polka-dot jersey and finally the white jersey.

When a rider is leading several classifications, they wear the one designated by the order of priority. The other jerseys are then worn by the riders lying second, third or fourth in the corresponding classification.

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters , Shift Active Media , and CyclingWeekly , among other publications.

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History | July 17, 2019

The Original Tour de France Yellow Jersey Was Made of Wool

100 years ago, in the middle of the race, a rider wore the famed jersey for the first time

Michael Waters

The iconic Tour de France yellow jersey began on a whim. At the inception of the 5,560-kilometer cycling competition in 1903, no clear indicator existed that showed who was winning the competition: the leader received only a green armband that journalists covering the race complained they could not properly see.

In 1919, the Tour de France returned following a four-year hiatus because of World War I. Two-thirds of the way through the race, the director of the Tour de France—Henri Desgrange— decided he needed a clearer identifier of the leader. He came up with the idea that whoever had the fastest overall time at a given stage of the race would don a yellow jersey—yellow in honor of the sports newspaper that sponsored the race, L’Auto-Vélo , which was printed on yellow paper.

As the story goes, around 2 a.m. on July 18, 1919, Desgrange gave the current leader, Eugène Christophe, the first incarnation of the jersey to take with him. But unlike its modern counterparts, this yellow jersey was made of wool, and Christophe complained that the yellow looked silly—according to historian Paul F. State, he insisted he resembled a canary.

The jersey is still used to demarcate the race leader today, with one addition: after Desgrange died in 1940, his initials—HD—were added to the waistline.

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Michael Waters | READ MORE

Michael Waters is an editorial intern at Smithsonian.com and a history major at Pomona College. Read more of his work at michaelwatersauthor.com .

Vingegaard poised to win Tour de France title after surviving near fall

Jonas Vingegaard survived a near fall on Saturday's individual time-trial to virtually wrap up the 2022 Tour de France title and now only needs to cross the Champs-Elysees finish line in Paris on Sunday to guarantee the champion's yellow jersey.   

Issued on: 23/07/2022 - 19:17

Team Jumbo's Vingegaard tops the overall standings 3min 34sec ahead of two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar, while Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers, the 2018 winner, stands third at 8min 13sec.

Frenchman David Gaudu of FDJ and Aleksandr Vlasov of Bora round out the top five ahead of Sunday's stage to Paris which is traditionally a ceremonial run.

"I'm still proud of myself, I did what I could, and at least I have the white jersey (best under-25s)," Pogacar said at the line.

Saturday's time-trial was won by Wout van Aert ahead of his Danish teammate Vingegaard, meaning Jumbo have six stage wins, the yellow jersey, the green sprint jersey and the polka dot climb jersey.

Van Aert will also be a favourite to win the final day dash around the Champs-Elysees before the jersey winners are crowned on a podium beneath the Arc de Triomphe .

Two years ago, Pogacar famously overturned a 57-second deficit on the penultimate day time-trial on La Planche des Belles Filles to snatch victory from Primoz Roglic.

But on Saturday, Vingegaard flew down the ramp last of the 139 surviving riders and set a relentlessly high pace through the baking country roads meaning a battle of nerves with Pogacar never really emerged.

He did, however, suffer a late wobble, losing his back wheel which slid over gravel into a gutter, but just managed to right himself.

The Dane was eight seconds faster than his great rival on the day, and Pogacar looked downhearted at the finish line.

His never-say-die attitude gave the 109th edition of the Tour a tense edge all the way to the line.

Epic struggle 

The two protagonists fought each-other from start to finish with Vingegaard dethroning the two-time champion with a pair of soaring performances in the high mountains.

Pogacar made all the early running with his lone wolf mentality, gradually clawing into top spot on stage six with an appearance of invincibility.

But the stars aligned against Pogacar when he lost teammates to Covid and injury. He is also a man known to dislike intense heat. 

Vingegaard took the yellow jersey from Pogacar on stage 11 and while the UAE man refused stubbornly to give up he lost further ground on stage 18.

Their epic struggle was highlighted by a moment of sportsmanship when Pogacar fell at high speed and the pretender to his throne waited for him to catch up, the pair clasping hands briefly in a memorable image from one of the best modern editions of the Tour.

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It’s an Honor to Wear This Jersey. It’s Also Kind of a Pain.

The yellow jersey worn by the Tour de France race leader can sometimes be an uncomfortable fit.

After the end of Stage 10 of the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard rode back across the finish line toward the podium and a heavy schedule of media interviews. Credit...

Supported by

Photographs and Text by Pete Kiehart

Reporting from Clermont-Ferrand, France

• July 19, 2023

Jonas Vingegaard had been wearing the famed yellow jersey bestowed upon the leader of the Tour de France for almost a week when the question came.

It was not a question about race strategy, maintaining speed or the best way to keep his nerve, and his lead, through more days of winding roads, sharp curves and punishing ascents. It was not a question about fitness or form.

Might he be more comfortable, Vingegaard was asked, if he was in second place?

“It would be easier, yes,” he replied. “For sure.”

For all the honor and respect it garners, for all it signifies in a sport obsessed with data and detail, the hallowed yellow jersey comes threaded with a surprising number of inconveniences and disadvantages.

Teams may spend hours using a wind tunnel, for example, to perfect every detail of a rider’s positioning, bike and clothing. The reward, if the rider does well enough to move into the lead? A new jersey from the race’s official sponsor, Santini, that may not fit or perform in the same way.

“It’s a little bit different,” said Tadej Pogacar, a two-time winner of the Tour and a regular wearer of the yellow jersey. “You’re not used to it.”

Then there are the obligations. After crossing the finish line of each day’s stage, the race leader is whisked through a dizzying series of tasks. He is interviewed by the Tour. He is interviewed by the race’s official broadcast partners. He signs several jersey facsimiles. He ascends the podium, along with a few other riders (a group that includes the stage winner and the leaders of several other classifications) for a presentation and photographs.

After that, he must navigate a gantlet of journalists and a video news conference. The final stop, and potentially the longest, is at doping control. He is there until nature calls. “I would be one hour earlier at the hotel every day,” Vingegaard said, if only he was not in the yellow jersey.

Still, for every other rider, wearing it for even a day is the highest honor, a first-line-of-the-obituary moment. “My mind is exploding,” Yves Lampaert said last year, his eyes filling with tears, after taking a surprise victory in the race’s opening time trial. “I’m just a farmer’s son from Belgium.”

So universally understood is the mystique of the maillot jaune, as the jersey is known in French, that there is no need to even specify the color when referring to it. It is simply, The Jersey. And at an event where the color yellow is inescapable — fluttering from flags, clinging to sweat-soaked spectators and chosen for the lanyards hanging around the necks of journalists, organizers, V.I.P.s and even police officers — it is actually less prevalent in the race itself. There, its distinctive shade, Pantone Yellow 1000, is meant to be seen in only one place: on the back of the race leader. (Race leaders have been known to ride a yellow bike or wear other yellow gear, too.)

“The fries are done!” a voice yells as an urgent beeping interrupts the bustle around the trailers and trucks scattered outside the press center in Moulins after Stage 11. Fabrice Pierrot chuckles and releases the press he is standing over. After slipping a small block of wood into the mechanism to hold it open, he gingerly removes a yellow jersey bearing the still-steaming logo of Vingegaard’s team, Jumbo-Visma.

Pierrot is the Tour’s jersey printer, tasked with producing special jerseys each day for the podium, as well as for the next day’s race. Backstage at the podium, Pierrot takes notes from the riders, though after 20 years on the job he can usually size them up by sight. “This generation, like Pogacar, never a word,” he said. “ I like working with them.” On this day, by the time Vingegaard is finished, almost exactly an hour after he rolled across the line, his team bus and those of every other team are long gone. Barriers are being dismantled, and the podium is being folded back into a trailer. He is as he has been for days: dressed in yellow, and proud of it.

“It doesn’t fit as well, but it fits OK,” Vingegaard said, a faint smile creeping onto his normally stoic face. “I prefer to be in The Jersey over my normal jersey.”

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Mathieu van der poel, jasper philipsen poised for double trouble sprint repeat at tour de france, the most dangerous duo returns to the tour, with eyes on green and dominance in the sprints: 'it will be difficult to repeat everything we did last year.'.

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Jasper Philipsen is hoping to repeat as sprint king for the 2024 Tour de France , and will count on a replay of near-perfect leadouts from superstar teammate Mathieu van der Poel .

Speaking to journalists ahead of the start of the Baloise Belgium Tour, the Alpecin-Deceuninck speedster is blowing out the cobwebs ahead of the Belgian national championships and the June 29 start of the Tour.

“It will be difficult to repeat everything we did last year,” Philipsen told IDL . “We’ve had the right preparation to make that possible again, so why not?”

Last year, with Van der Poel rolling out the red carpets in the bunch sprints, the 26-year-old Belgian hit his stride to win four stages and claim the green points jersey that made the pair the most lethal combination in last year’s Tour.

The lone blot was the finale on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, when Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) upset the apple cart to win the prestigious sprint in the City of Lights.

The duo carried their collaboration into the spring classics in dominating fashion , with Van der Poel leading out Philipsen to win Milan-San Remo , before repeating their 1-2 podium finish at Paris-Roubaix .

In fact, Wednesday’s time trial was Philipsen’s first race since the “Hell of the North”. In what’s indicative of today’s meticulous preparation even for the peloton’s fast men, Philipsen was camped out atop the Teide volcano and the team will regroup again at La Plagne before the Tour in form-sharpening altitude camps.

Philipsen will be able to count on the world’s most luxurious leadout again this summer after Van der Poel ditched any ambitions of racing mountain bike at the Paris Olympic Games , so that means MVDP is fully committed to racing the Tour.

“Mathieu’s schedule is also focused on the Tour this year, so I was very happy about that,” Philipsen said. “Seeing how successful it was last year, we can really use him again.”

This year with only seven days of racing, Van der Poel will be entering the Tour on full boil, and won’t be content with just leading out his teammate.

Decked out in the world champion’s jersey, Van der Poel will be targeting at least one stage win across the Tour .

As prolific a winner the Dutch rider is, he’s only won one Tour stage back in 2021, when he took an emotional victory and the yellow jersey in stage 2 to honor his grandfather, Raymond Poulidor.

Van der Poel hasn’t raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and he is expected to pass on the Dutch championships, so he won’t race until Florence. MVDP will be looking for opportunities in hillier stage finales and breakaways when he’s not laying down near-perfect leadouts in the bunch sprints.

Last year, with Van der Poel leading him out, Philipsen made easy work in the bunch prints.

Can the speed demons repeat the magic?

Contract signed, Philipsen focused on the Tour de France

Philipsen will see renewed competition in the sprints from familiar faces like Mads Pedersen, Mark Cavendish, Dylan Groenewegen, Fabio Jakobsen, and others in what will be a very deep sprinter’s field .

The green jersey is also another goal for Philipsen, but a climb-heavy back half of the Tour could make it harder for all the sprinters to arrive to Nice for the finish stage that won’t be a sprint.

“That’s a nice goal to aim for,” he said. “But everything will have to fall into place from the beginning, and the last stages are tough, so you also have to be good enough for that.”

More details of the new paint-job on Mathieu van der Poel’s world champion bike that will be seen first time publicly at the Tour de France. Great job by M-Level Custom Lakkerij pic.twitter.com/UG14pYAel3 — Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) June 11, 2024

Alpecin-Deceuninck has yet to define its Tour 8, but riders such as Silvan Dillier, Robbe Ghys, and Jonas Rickaert are expected to also be part of the sprint train.

The final stage in Nice is a time trial this year, so some sprinters might pack it in early, especially with the Olympics just two weeks after the Tour ends.

“I haven’t thought about whether I will ride all the way to Nice if I’m not in green, so that will have to be decided at the moment itself,” he said. “I think some sprinters will choose not to finish, focusing instead on events like the Olympics.”

Philipsen is unsure if he will be selected to race the Olympic Games, but he is sure one thing: he’s confirmed his racing future.

With his contract up at the end of this season, there’s been conjecture that Philipsen might be tempted away from Alpecin-Deceuninck, especially with Van der Poel committed to a long-term deal.

The pair’s interests often overlap , but they’ve both shown that working together can deliver winning results for everyone.

Philipsen isn’t giving anything away just yet about his future.

“The decision has been made, and I hope to come with news soon,” he said.

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