TdF 2022 – Every Tour de France Winner (and How They Did It)

EVERY TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION, EVER: A RIDER-BY-RIDER LIST OF WINNERS, FROM MAURICE GARIN TO TADEJ POGAČAR (AND HOW THEY DID IT).


By Whit Yost |

MAURICE GARIN

First Tour Winner
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
La Française
Year(s):
1903

A chimney sweep, turned champion, Garin led the inaugural Tour de France from start to finish, winning by almost three hours over the second-place rider. He earned the equivalent of about $40 000 for his efforts, money he later used to buy his own petrol station.

HENRI CORNET

Henri Cornet, French racing cyclist, in 1905. BRA-
Branger Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Conte
Year(s):
1904

Cornet was declared the champion of the 1904 Tour after the first four finishers (including Garin) were disqualified for various forms of cheating. Only 19 at the time, Cornet remains the youngest champion in Tour history.

LOUIS TROUSSELIER

Louis Trousselier
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Peugeot–Wolber
Year(s):
1905

Trousselier had to go on leave from the French army to compete in the 1905 Tour, so he made sure he invested his time wisely, winning three stages on his way to the overall victory. The night before winning the final stage, “Trou-Trou” spent all night drinking and gambling, losing the money he was set to win. He returned to the army the day after being crowned champion.

RENÉ POTTIER

Rene Pottier, french racing cyclist. Tour de Franc
Branger Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Peugeot–Wolber
Year(s):
1906

One year after becoming the first man to abandon the Tour while leading it, Pottier got his revenge by winning five stages and the overall title. Sadly, he hanged himself in his team clubhouse the following January after learning that his wife had had an affair while he competed in the race.

LUCIEN PETIT-BRETON

Lucien Petit-Breton
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Peugeot–Wolber
Year(s):
1907, 1908

The Tour’s first two-time champion, Petit-Breton’s name is actually Lucien Mazan. Trying to keep his occupation a secret from his father—who didn’t want him to become a cyclist—Mazan raced under a pseudonym. In earning the second of his two Tour victories, he won five stages and never finished outside the top four. He was killed while serving as a driver for the French army in World War I.

FRANÇOIS FABER

François Faber (1887-1915)
Branger Getty Images

Country: Luxembourg
Team:
Alcyon–Dunlop
Year(s):
1909

The first foreigner to win the Tour de France, Faber was incredibly large by contemporary standards. Nicknamed the “Giant of Colombe” after the Parisian suburb in which he lived, Faber measured six feet tall and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was shot in the back and killed while trying to carry a wounded comrade across no-man’s-land during a battle in WWI.

OCTAVE LAPIZE

Octave Lapize
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Alcyon–Dunlop
Year(s):
1910

To win his only Tour de France, Lapize had to overcome both his teammate Faber, the defending champion, and the Tour’s first visit to the Pyrenees. Luckily, Lapize was a much better climber than Faber, so the high mountains played to his strengths. He is perhaps most famous for shouting, “You are assassins!” at Tour organisers while climbing the Tourmalet. While serving as a fighter pilot in WWI, he was shot down and killed over Verdun.

GUSTAVE GARRIGOU

Radsport
Ullstein bild Dtl. Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Alcyon–Dunlop
Year(s):
1911

Despite complaints from racers, Tour organisers considered the Pyreneean stages such a success that they added the Alps in 1911. Faber again lost to a teammate, the climber Garrigou, who needed a bodyguard and disguise to finish the race after accusations that he poisoned a fellow competitor. He was later found innocent.

ODILE DEFRAYE

Odile Defraye, Belgian, victorious racing cyclist
Branger Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
Alcyon–Dunlop
Year(s):
1912

The first Belgian to win the Tour de France, Defraye rode the Tour six times and only finished once (in the same year that he became champion).

PHILIPPE THYS

Philippe Thys
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Teams:
Peugeot–Wolber, La Sportive
Year(s):
1913, 1914, 1920

The Tour’s first three-time champion, Thys was the last rider to win before the start of WWI, and one of only a few prior champions to survive the conflict and continue his career.

FIRMIN LAMBOT

Lambot Victory
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Teams:
La Sportive, Peugeot-Wolber
Year(s):
1919, 1922

When the Tour started again after the war, Lambot continued Belgium’s run of success, taking the lead just two stages from the finish after Eugène Christophe—for the second time in his career—had his Tour ruined by a broken fork. Lambot was champion again in 1922 at age 36, making him the oldest champion to date.

LÉON SCIEUR

Leon Scieur
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
La Sportive
Year(s):
1921

Discovered by Lambot, who hailed from the same town in Belgium, Scieur was nicknamed “the Locomotive” in the press for the way he relentlessly consolidated his lead. His wheel broke on the penultimate day and he carried it more than 300km on his back to show officials that he was justified in taking a replacement (rules at the time limited outside support for riders).

HENRI PÉLISSIER

Henri Pelissier (1890-1935), French racing cyclist
Branger Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Automoto–Hutchinson
Year(s):
1923

The oldest of three brothers, all of whom were cyclists, Pélissier finished only two of the eight Tours he started, placing second in 1914 and finally becoming champion in 1923. Talented but ill-tempered, he dropped out mostly by choice. His most famous DNF came in 1920, when rather than accept a two-minute penalty for throwing away a flat tire, he abandoned the race in protest.

OTTAVIO BOTTECCHIA

TDF-RETRO-100ANS-BOTTECCHIA
STAFF Getty Images

Country: Italy
Team:
Automoto
Year(s):
1924, 1925

In 1924, Bottecchia became Italy’s first Tour de France champion and the first rider to wear the yellow jersey from start to finish. His initial win was made easier thanks to the departure of the Pélissier brothers on Stage 3. Discovered to be wearing two jerseys at a time, then a violation of the rules, Henri, his brother, and another teammate abandoned—you guessed it—in protest.

LUCIEN BUYSSE

Last Lap
Topical Press Agency Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
Automoto–Hutchinson
Year(s):
1926

Buysse rode selflessly for Bottecchia in 1925 and was rewarded with a chance to win the Tour for himself in 1926. Tragically, the Belgian received news that his daughter had died early in the race, but his family convinced him to carry on to victory.

NICOLAS FRANTZ

Frantz Victory
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Luxembourg
Team:
Alcyon–Dunlop
Year(s):
1927, 1928

Fourth in 1925 and second in 1926, Frantz set the foundation for his first Tour victory by winning Stage 11, a mountainous day that tackled the Pyrenean “Circle of Death,” a route with four challenging climbs including the Col d’Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet. He led the 1928 Tour from start to finish, becoming only the fifth rider (at the time) to win the overall twice.

MAURICE DE WAELE

TDF-RETRO-100ANS-DE WAELE
STAFF Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
Alcyon–Dunlop
Year(s):
1929

Second in 1927 and third in 1928, De Waele overcame several flat tires—riders were then required to change their own flats—and illness to win in 1929. He wasn’t a popular champion, which caused organiser Henri Desgrange to remark, “A corpse has won my race!”

ANDRÉ LEDUCQ

CYCLING-TOUR DE FRANCE-1930
AFP Getty Images

Country: France
Teams:
Alcyon–Dunlop, France
Year(s):
1930, 1932

The year 1930 brought a change to the Tour: National and regional teams, instead of sponsored trade teams, would now compete. This shifted the power back to France, with Leducq winning two of the decade’s first five Tours (all of which went to the French).

ANTONIN MAGNE

Antonin Magne
Keystone-FranceGetty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1931, 1934

Third behind Leducq in 1930, Magne took advantage of new three-minute time bonuses given to stage winners—as well as a mysterious letter tipping him off to the tactics of a competitor—to win in 1931, his first of two victories.

GEORGES SPEICHER

Georges Speicher
Imagno Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1933

Historians consider the French team at the 1933 Tour to be one of the strongest collections of pre-war riders ever assembled. Speicher was joined on the start line by former winners Leducq and Magne, as well as future champion Roger Lapébie.

ROMAIN MAES

Tour de France 1935
Keystone-France Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
Belgium
Year(s):
1935

After five years of French dominance, the yellow jersey returned to Belgium. Maes had never finished the Tour prior to his victory, but he managed to become the fifth rider to ever lead the race from start to finish—and he pulled it off on a team with only three riders.

SYLVÈRE MAES

FRANCE-CYCLING-MAES
Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
Belgium
Year(s):
1936, 1939

One of the more complete riders in the Tour’s early history, Maes (no relation to Romain) finished fourth as an individual in 1935, at a time when riders could race on their own if not selected for national teams. The Belgian outfit then picked him up in 1936, when he won his first of two Tours. The last rider to win before World War II, he took his second title on July 30, a bit more than a month before Germany invaded Poland.

ROGER LAPÉBIE

CYCLISME-LAPEBIE
STAFF Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1937

Lapébie won the first Tour in which all riders were allowed to use derailleurs to change gears. After a race filled with penalties, cheating, and even a bit of sabotage, the Frenchman emerged victorious, winning his nation its final pre-war yellow jersey.

GINO BARTALI

Bartali Victory
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Italy
Team: Italy
Year(s): 1938, 1948

One of cycling’s greatest figures, Gino Bartali could have enjoyed an even more winning record had he not crashed heavily in 1937 and then had his career interrupted by WWII. The climber forged his first Tour victory with a dominant ride through the Alps. He won his second a decade later at age 34, perhaps aided by the fact that Italy’s new star, Fausto Coppi, was not selected for the Italian national team. But his Tour exploits pale in comparison to what was later revealed about the Tuscan: During the war, he served as a courier for a network that secretly transported Jews to safety, hiding and transporting counterfeit documents in his frame during training rides.

JEAN ROBIC

Cyclist Jean Robic During Tour De France 1953
Keystone-France Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1947

Nicknamed “Old Leatherhead” because of the leather helmet he wore for protection (he fractured his skull in a crash during Paris-Roubaix), Robic won the first post-war Tour with a daring attack on its last stage. He pulled on the yellow jersey for the only time that year while standing atop the final podium.

FAUSTO COPPI

Bicyclists in 1952 Tour de France
Universal Getty Images

Country: Italy
Team:
Italy
Year(s):
1949, 1952

Despite a growing rivalry, the Italians brought both Bartali and Coppi to the 1949 Tour, hoping the two could coexist well enough the win the nation another title. The plan worked, with Coppi winning his first of two Tours and Bartali placing second. While chasing his second Tour victory in 1952, Coppi also became the first rider to win a stage atop a new climb: the legendary Alpe d’Huez. As with Bartali, one can only imagine what Coppi, who also won five Giri d’Italia, might have achieved had WWII not interrupted his career.

FERDINAND KÜBLER

Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Switzerland
Team:
Switzerland
Year(s):
1950

Angry about their treatment by French fans, Bartali encouraged Italians to abandon the 1950 Tour de France en masse. This worked out well for Kubler, a Swiss rising star then sitting in second place behind Fiorenzo Magni. Out of respect for Magni, Kubler refused to wear the yellow jersey the next day, a tradition that continues today. But he took it the day after, keeping it all the way to the end of the Tour.

HUGO KOBLET

Hugo Koblet in 1951 Tour de France
Universal Getty Images

Country: Switzerland
Team:
Switzerland
Year(s):
1951

Nicknamed the Pédaleur de Charme (“charming rider”), Koblet was known to race with a comb in his pocket, at one time using it in the middle of a climb to discourage competitors from following him. He took the yellow jersey on Stage 14 of the ’51 Tour after flatting near the top of the Tourmalet, then chasing down Coppi and out-sprinting the Italian to win the stage.

LOUISON BOBET

Louison Bobet in 1953 Tour de France
Universal Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1953, 1954, 1955

After five years of Italian and Swiss victories, the French were eager to find a new champion. Part of the issue had been an abundance of contenders on their national squad. Midway through the ’53 Tour, the French team manager, tired of in-fighting among his riders, called a meeting. He asked who among the field could win the Tour. Bobet was the only one to raise his hand, but with one condition: He could only do it if the rest of the team cooperated in supporting him. They did, and he took his first of three titles.

ROGER WALKOWIAK

Walkowiak Victory
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1956

Walkowiak continued the run of French success, but he was not a popular champion. Passed over by the powerful French national team, he instead raced for one of France’s regional teams. He also rode a rather consistent-but-not-spectacular race, to the extent that when he entered Paris on the Tour’s final day, he was jeered by fans. The French wanted one of their champions to win, not someone whose name they barely recognised. To this day, when a rider is said to have won a race à la Walko, it’s not considered a compliment.

JACQUES ANQUETIL

Federico Bahamontes (on the left), Spanish racing
Roger Viollet Collection Getty Images

Country: France
Teams:
France, Saint-Raphaël
Year(s):
1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964

The first rider to win five Tours de France, Anquetil took his first in 1957. A last-minute addition to the French national team, he was only 23 at the time. Several years would pass before he’d take another, but even in losing Anquetil established himself as a superstar. Stylish, powerful, and sometimes cruel, he was loved by the public and feared among his peers. After predicting that he would pull it off, he led the 1961 Tour (again raced by trade teams) from the first day to the last. He won the next three Tours with his superior time trialing, staying within reach of the leaders so as to overtake them in the final ITT. Cold and calculating, yes, but that was Anquetil.

CHARLY GAUL

Charly Gaul
Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Luxembourg
Team:
Luxembourg
Year(s):
1958

Gaul, one of the greatest climbers in Tour history, beat the odds—i.e. another strong field of French contenders—to win the ’58 Tour thanks largely to his performance on the last day in the Alps. Winning the cold, rainy stage by more than 10 minutes, Gaul reportedly had time to change into clean, dry clothes before the second-place rider even crossed the finish line.

FEDERICO BAHAMONTES

Federico Bahamontes
Ullstein bild Dtl. Getty Images

Country: Spain
Team:
Spain
Year(s):
1959

It took a while, but Spain finally had a Tour de France champion in Bahamontes, a talented climber who previously spent most of his time focused on winning the King of the Mountains competition. But Coppi signed Bahamontes to ride for his team in 1959, convincing the Spaniard that he had what it takes to win it all. In the end Bahamontes proved Coppi right, but one can also credit his win to more French in-fighting. Anquetil in particular raced as though he would rather a Spaniard win the Tour than another Frenchman.

GASTONE NENCINI

Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: Italy
Team:
Italy
Year(s):
1960

Nencini, who lost the Giro d’Italia by only 28 seconds to Anquetil in May, came back to win the Tour, aided by the fact that Anquetil (along with Gaul) skipped it. He forged his lead on stages 10 and 11 in the Pyrenees, then defended it easily through the rest of the race.

FELICE GIMONDI

Felice Gimondi
Keystone-France Getty Images

Country: Italy
Team:
Salvarani
Year(s):
1965

Anquetil skipped the Tour again in 1965, fearing that failure to win a sixth title would damage his future earning potential. This opened the door for Gimondi, a 22-year-old neo-pro called into action at the last minute after several other Italians got sick. The debutant took three stages, asserting himself as a contender for the overall as early as Stage 3, when he nabbed his first professional win and pulled on his first yellow jersey.

LUCIEN AIMAR

Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Ford France–Hutchinson
Year(s):
1966

Anquetil returned to the Tour in 1966, but he seemed more concerned with preventing his rival, Raymond Poulidor, from winning than anything else. As a result, Anquetil’s teammate, Aimar, took advantage and earned by far the biggest win of his career. An incredible descender, he forged his lead with a downhill attack near the end of Stage 17, putting two minutes into Poulidor, who failed to cover his move.

ROGER PINGEON

Roger ViolletGetty Images

Country: France
Team:
France
Year(s):
1967

After a series of rider strikes in response to anti-doping initiatives, the Tour went back to national teams in 1967 and 1968. Pingeon, who announced his retirement twice before deciding to compete, was named co-leader of the French team alongside Poulidor and Aimar. But his victory will always be overshadowed by the passing of Great Britain’s Tom Simpson, who collapsed on the slopes of Mont Ventoux and died later that day.

JAN JANSSEN

Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: The Netherlands
Team:
The Netherlands
Year(s):
1968

After coming close in 1966, Janssen dramatically won the Netherlands its first Tour two years later by taking the final stage, a 55K time trial. Several riders started the stage with good prospects, but it was Janssen, who entered the day in third place overall, who prevailed. His winning margin was only 38 seconds, the narrowest in Tour history until Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds more than two decades later.

EDDY MERCKX

Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Teams:
Faema, Molteni
Year(s):
1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974

Simply put, Merckx is the greatest cyclist the world has ever seen. The Belgian took his first of five Tours in 1969 (just one of 43 victories he won that year). After being, in his view, unfairly kicked out of the Giro for a failed drug test while in the lead, he came to his first Tour de France with a chip on his shoulder. He’d go on to win the overall by more than 17 minutes, the widest margin since 1952, and all the other classifications. He then won the race four more times, setting the record for the most stage victories in Tour history. As for 1973, Merckx was not defeated; he simply decided not to race after winning Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and both the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia that spring.

LUIS OCAÑA

TDF-1973-OCANA-DANGUILLAUME
AFP Contributor Getty Images

Country: Spain
Team:
Bic
Year(s):
1973

Ocaña was one of the only riders able to challenge Merckx during the Belgian’s peak. He even led the 1971 Tour by almost seven minutes before crashing out on Stage 14. Without Merckx taking the start in 1973, Ocaña dominated the race, winning six stages and the overall by almost 16 minutes. It’s a shame Merckx chose not to compete, as the resulting duel could have been one of the most exciting in Tour history.

BERNARD THÉVENET

Roger Viollet Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Peugeot
Year(s):
1975, 1977

While Thévenet is considered a deserving champion of the 1975 Tour, the race will forever be remembered as the year in which a fan punched Merckx as he climbed the Puy de Dôme, severely damaging his chances of taking a record sixth victory. Merckx made a valiant effort to overcome his injuries (he also crashed later in the race, breaking his jaw), but Thévenet held on to win his first of two Tours. He remains one of France’s most popular champions and still visits the race today.

LUCIEN VAN IMPE

TDF 1975
AFP Getty Images

Country: Belgium
Team:
Gitane–Campagnolo
Year(s):
1976

One of the greatest climbers in Tour history, Van Impe holds two distinctions: He’s both the first and last Belgian to win the Tour after Merckx. Climbers dominated in 1976, with Van Impe, Ocaña, and Joop Zoetemelk racing so hard in the mountains that after one stage, 45 of the remaining 93 riders finished outside the time limit. Luckily, an appeal was made and they were allowed to continue racing.

BERNARD HINAULT

AFPGetty Images

Country: France
Teams:
Renault, La Vie Claire
Year(s):
1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985

One of the most colorful personalities in Tour history, “the Badger” began his run of wins in 1978. Known for his time trialing, he often forged his advantage against the clock, then delivered the coup de grâce with aggressive displays of power in the mountains. Hinault wasn’t content with merely defeating his opponents; he wanted to crush them. He’s perhaps best known for his final victory (1985) in which he got considerable help from Greg LeMond, perhaps the strongest rider in the race that year. Hinault made a deal with the young American, promising to ride for LeMond the following year if he sacrificed his present chances to support the Frenchman. Hinault got his fifth Tour, but he did not entirely honour his word in 1986. Hinault remains one of the Tour’s most beloved figures, only recently retiring from his place on its public relations team.

JOOP ZOETEMELK

Ullstein bild Getty Images

Country: The Netherlands
Team:
TI–Raleigh–Creda
Year(s):
1980

After more than a decade in which he raced against legends like Merckx, Thévenet, and Hinault, Zoetemelk finally won a Tour de France in 1980, his 10th attempt. (Aiding him was the fact that Hinault abandoned the race, in secret, while in the lead, after boasting that he would never quit while wearing yellow.) Zoetemelk rode steadily, albeit not spectacularly, and by the end of the Tour he had an advantage of almost six minutes over the next-best rider. In all, the Dutchman raced the Tour 14 times, scoring a win, six second-place finishes, and five more top-10 placings.

LAURENT FIGNON

Jean-Yves Ruszniewski Getty Images

Country: France
Team:
Renault-Elf
Year(s):
1983, 1984

Fignon is known to most American fans as the rider who lost the ’89 Tour by eight seconds to LeMond, despite the fact that he won back-to-back Tours in 1983 and 1984. Hinault’s knee flared up again on the eve of the ’83 race, forcing him to quit before it even started. This opened the door for Fignon, one of Hinault’s young teammates. Riding steadily, he only won a stage on the Tour’s penultimate day (a 50K ITT). But his second victory was even more impressive. Hinault returned to the race, riding for a new team, La Vie Claire. Fignon handled this new challenge beautifully, defeating Hinault by more than 10 minutes.

GREG LEMOND

TOUR DE FRANCE-CYCLING-LEMOND
Getty Images

Country: USA
Teams:
La Vie Claire, AD Renting–W-Cup–Bottecchia, Z–Tomasso
Year(s):
1986, 1989, 1990

LeMond displayed his Tour-winning potential in 1984, a performance that earned the American a three-year, $1 million contract to ride for Hinault with La Vie Claire the following year. What happened next is the stuff of legend, as LeMond helped Hinault win in ’85 and then defeated him (while still his teammate) to win in ’86. But LeMond wasn’t finished. Despite being seriously injured in a hunting accident in April 1987, he came back to race the Tour again, winning the ’89 edition after defeating Fignon in a time trial on the final day. His eight-second winning margin remains the narrowest in Tour history. LeMond then won again in 1990, this time wearing the rainbow jersey as the road world champion. He remains the Tour’s only official American champion following Lance Armstrong’s vacated titles.

STEPHEN ROCHE

TOUR DE FRANCE-TDF-ROCHE
PASCAL PAVANI Getty Images

Country: Ireland
Team:
Carrera
Year(s):
1987

Roche won Ireland’s first and only Tour de France in the midst of an incredible season where he also took the Giro d’Italia and the road world championship, joining Eddy Merckx as the only riders to accomplish the feat. Roche’s Tour win was a nail-biter, as he needed the final time trial to secure his victory—and only after an incredible effort to stay close to Spain’s Pedro Delgado on the final summit finish, closing a 90-second gap at 4K to go down to four seconds at the line.

PEDRO DELGADO

Pedro Delgado au Tour de France
NUTAN Getty Images

Country: Spain
Team:
Reynolds
Year(s):
1988

Fifteen years after Ocaña, Delgado initiated a Spanish renaissance, winning one year after placing second to Roche. Helping him was the fact that LeMond and Roche both skipped the race to recover from surgeries. Delgado also failed a drug test during the race, but since the substance in question was not on the ban list, he was allowed to continue. Karma got the better of him the following year as he showed up almost three minutes late to the opening time trial, making him the first former champion to start his next Tour in last place.

Tour de France Miguel Indurain
Pascal Rondeau Getty Images

Country: Spain
Team:
Banesto
Year(s):
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995

The only rider to win five Tours in a row, Indurain dominated the race like few others in history. An incredible time trialist, he built most of his advantage against the clock, then picked one moment to attack in the mountains to put his lead out of reach. But he also knew how to improvise. For example, he shocked everyone by going on the attack 22K from the end of Stage 7 in 1995, a day no one thought would affect the General Classification. Joined by Belgium’s Johan Bruyneel, Indurain caught the rest of the overall contenders off guard. Bruyneel took the stage win and the yellow jersey, but Indurain gained more than a minute on his competition, a demoralising blow that paved the way for his fifth and final victory.

BJARNE RIIS

Lars Ronbog Getty Images

Country: Denmark
Team:
Team Telekom
Year(s):
1996

Riis ended Indurain’s reign with a controversial win in which, he later admitted, drug use played a role. This wasn’t such a surprise, as the 1990s were notoriously rife with EPO, blood transfusions, and various other nefarious ways of gaining an edge on the competition. After his confession in 2007, Riis’s name was removed from the record books, but organisers reinstated it—with an asterisk—in 2008. “We cannot rewrite history,” the Tour’s media director said at the time.

JAN ULLRICH

Bongarts Getty Images

Country: Germany
Team:
Team Telekom
Year(s):
1997

After helping Riis to victory (and placing second overall) in 1996, Ullrich took the reins of Team Telekom in 1997 after winning Stage 10, a summit finish in the Pyrenees. Ordered to set the pace for Riis, no one was able to follow and Ullrich soon found himself alone at the front. The 23-year-old pulled on his first yellow jersey that afternoon, then consolidated his lead with a crushing win three days later at an individual time trial in Saint-Étienne. Ullrich rode so fast that he caught Richard Virenque, who started three minutes ahead of him and later finished second overall.

MARCO PANTANI

Andreas Rentz Getty Images

Country: Italy
Team:
Mercatone Uno-Bianchi
Year(s):
1998

The last rider to win both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, Pantani was also the first Italian to win the Tour since Gimondi in 1965. He essentially won with an attack on Stage 15, an Alpine stage raced in cold, wet conditions. Accelerating on the slopes of the Galibier, the second-to-last climb of the day, he quickly dropped Ullrich, then in yellow. By the finish atop Les Deux Alpes, Pantani had put more than nine minutes into the German, giving him a lead he would never relinquish.

LANCE ARMSTRONG

Lance Armstrong
Doug Pensinger Getty Images

Country: USA
Teams:
U.S. Postal Service, Discovery Channel
Year(s):
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

You know the story: Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, then came back from the brink to win seven Tours de France from 1999-2005. He retired, then returned to try and win again, angering many of the riders he had used, abused, and tossed away during his reign. The result was an investigation into his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams, which revealed one of the most elaborate and sophisticated organized doping programs the sport had ever seen. His titles were vacated in 2012, leaving no official Tour winners between 1999 and 2005. Instead, a line was struck through Armstrong’s name, a fair reminder of the American’s stunning rise and precipitous fall.

OSCAR PEREIRO

Winner of the 2006 Tour de France Oscar
JAMIE MCDONALD Getty Images

Country: Spain
Team:
Caisse d’Epargne
Year(s):
2006

The late ’90s were a scandalous period in professional cycling, but the late 2000s gave them a run for their money. Take the 2006 Tour: Floyd Landis was originally crowned champion, but we later learned the American had failed a drug test late in the race. He was stripped of his title and Pereiro, the original runner-up, became the victor. Credit Pereiro’s win largely to his second-place finish on Stage 13, when he gained almost 30 minutes on the rest of the GC contenders after spending the day in a long breakaway. Never expected to contend for the overall title, the Spaniard’s opportunistic riding paid off in the end.

ALBERTO CONTADOR

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Country: Spain
Team:
Discovery Channel, Astana
Year(s):
2007, 2009

The 2007 Tour was riddled with doping scandals that kept riders from starting, riders from finishing, and the public from knowing who actually “won” the race. In the end, Contador took his first Tour victory, most notably because Ivan Basso, the pre-race favorite, was barred from starting and Michael Rasmussen was pulled from the race while wearing the yellow jersey. This left a young Contador with a free shot at the title. It was a different story in 2009, when Contador raced alongside Armstrong (in the midst of his attempted comeback) as co-leader of Astana. Here his aggressive style came to the fore, a necessary development given the team’s obvious favouring of Armstrong. Contador won again the following year, though that title was stripped after a failed test for clenbuterol. Still, he remains one of the most popular riders of the past 15 years, thanks in part to his willingness to lose a race in order to win it.

CARLOS SASTRE

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Country: Spain
Team:
Team Saxo Bank
Year(s):
2008

It’s said that riders can win the Tour on Alpe d’Huez. This was certainly the case in 2008, when Sastre attacked near the bottom of the climb and won the stage. He earned the yellow jersey with just enough time to hold off Cadel Evans in the final ITT. A quiet rider who previously was best known for sticking a pacifier in his mouth while celebrating a stage win in 2006, Sastre’s victory is also cited as the catalyst that lured Armstrong out of retirement.

ANDY SCHLECK

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Country: Luxembourg
Team:
Team Saxo Bank
Year(s):
2010

When most people hear the name Andy Schleck, they think of “chaingate”: While leading the 2010 Tour, Schleck dropped his chain near the top of a climb. As he looked down to address the problem, Contador attacked. By the end of the stage, Contador had gained 39 seconds—the exact margin by which he would go on to win the Tour. But after officials retroactively disqualified Contador, they awarded Schleck his yellow jersey in 2012.

CADEL EVANS

 

LIONEL BONAVENTURE Getty Images

Country: Australia
Team:
BMC
Year(s):
2011

The only Australian to ever win the Tour de France, Evans secured his victory on the penultimate day, overtaking Schleck (who started the day in yellow) in the final individual time trial. A prickly rider who famously yelled at a journalist for almost stepping on his dog, Evans was finally rewarded after years of coming close to winning cycling’s biggest race.

 

BRADLEY WIGGINS

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Country: Great Britain
Team:
Team Sky
Year(s):
2012

A year after Evans won Australia’s first Tour, Wiggins won the first for Great Britain. He used a strategy similar to Indurain: dominate the time trials and ride steadily through the mountains. Due to the emergence of Chris Froome, his talented teammate on Sky, Wiggins never returned to defend his title, racing only one more Grand Tour (the 2013 Giro d’Italia) before retiring.

CHRIS FROOME

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Country: Great Britain
Team:
Team Sky
Year(s):
2013, 2015, 2016, 2017

After Froome placed second to Wiggins in 2012, Sky realized he was the team’s best bet to win another Tour de France. Dominating in 2013, Froome went on to win three more times. He’s now one victory away from joining Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain as the only riders to have won the race five times (though he’ll have to skip it this year due to a severe training crash). Froome takes a lot of criticism for his style, but he deserves respect as such a complete rider, able to both time trial and climb with the sport’s best specialists. In May 2018 he took the Giro d’Italia, which made him only the third rider, after Merckx and Hinault, to win three consecutive Grand Tours.

VINCENZO NIBALI

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Country: Italy
Team:
Astana
Year(s):
2014

The only Italian since Pantani to win the Tour de France, Nibali dominated the 2014 edition, winning four stages and wearing the yellow jersey for 19 days. The victory also made him one of six riders (now seven) to have won all three Grand Tours in a career.

GERAINT THOMAS

David Ramos Getty Images

Country: Great Britain
Team:
Team Sky
Year(s):
2018

Thomas, who had never finished better than 15th in a Grand Tour, dominated the 2018 race from start to finish, winning back-to-back stages in the Alps. His biggest competitor might have been Froome, his teammate. The two entered the race as co-leaders of Team Sky, with Thomas given permission to ride for himself when necessary. This came into play early as Froome crashed near the end of Stage 1, losing almost a minute to the other GC contenders. In previous years, Thomas would have been expected to wait for his captain, but not this time. The crash gave Sky a clear rider to support and its sixth Tour victory in seven years.

EGAN BERNAL

tour de france champion egan bernal hometown welcome
Guillermo Legaria Schweizer Getty Images

Country: Colombia
Team: Team INEOS
Year(s): 2019

When Egan Bernal rolled across the finish line to notch a historic first Tour de France win for Colombia in 2019, he set hearts alight at home. At only 22 years (and roughly six months) old, he became the third-youngest Tour champion in history, and the youngest in more than a century. That set minds racing: If Bernal has achieved such a feat at his precocious age, what does the future hold for him?

TADEJ POGAČAR

107th tour de france 2020 stage 21
Stuart Franklin Getty Images

Country: Slovenia
Team: UAE Emirates
Year(s): 2020, 2021

UAE’s Tadej Pogačar won the 2020 Tour de France. Only 21-years-old, Pogačar is the second-youngest winner in Tour history. The Slovenian won three stages on his way to the overall victory, including a stunning victory in the penultimate day’s individual time trial in which he overcame a deficit of about a minute to overtake Primoz Roglič. Pogačar got the repeat win in 2021, and also won the awards for best rider under-25 and the king of the mountains polka-dot jersey—a triple he also achieved in his debut .

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