Tour de France: history in numbers

With just few days before the start of the Tour de France 2007 let’s look at 93 years of history of this amazing cycling race in numbers.

For those who are core Tour de France fans this summary might be nothing new but I am sure you will at least refresh your memories. And for the newbies that just got attracted to Le Tour this will be one more thing that will keep you glued to your tv every July from now on – guaranteed.

So here we go with listing only the top 3 from each category as it can get pretty leghty:

Most Tour de France wins:

7 – Lance Armstrong (USA)
5 – Jaques Anquetil (FRA), Eddy Merckx (BEL), Bernard Hinault (FRA), Miguel Indurain (ESP)
3 – Philippe Thys (BEL), Lousion Bobet (FRA), Greg Lemmond (USA)

Most Tour de France wins by nation:

36 – France
18 – Belgium
11 – United States

Most Tour de France participations:

16 – Joop Zoetemelk (NED)
15 – Lucien Van Impe (BEL), Guy Nulens (BEL)
14 – Raymond Poulidor (FRA), Sean Kelly (IRL), André Darrigade (FRA)

Most days in Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey:

111 – Eddy Merckx (BEL)
80 – Lance Armstrong (USA)
79 – Bernard Hinault (FRA)

Most Tour de France stage wins:

34 – Eddy Merckx (BEL)
28 – Bernard Hinault (FRA)
25 – Andre Leducq (FRA), Lance Armstrong (USA)

Most Tour de France time-trial stage wins (including prologues):

20 – Bernard Hinault (FRA)
16 – Eddy Merckx (BEL)
11 – Jacques Anquetil (FRA), Lance Armstrong (USA)

Note: This summary was created based on Eurosport.com article that covers this Tour de France stats topic in much more detail – see full stats.