five times,
Eddy Merckx has ridden the most days wearing the yellow jersey In previous tours, sometimes a stage was broken in two (or three). On such occasions, only the cyclist leading at the end of the day is counted. The "Jerseys" column lists the number of days that the cyclist
wore the yellow jersey; the "Tour wins" column gives the number of times the cyclist
won the general classification. The next four columns indicate the number of times the rider won the points classification, the King of the Mountains classification, and the young rider competition, and the years in which the yellow jersey was worn, with bold years indicating an overall Tour win. For example:
Eddy Merckx has spent 96 days in the yellow jersey, won the
general classification five times, won the
points classification three times, and won the
mountains classification twice, but never won the
young rider classification. He wore the yellow jersey in the Tours of 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 (which he all won) and 1975 (which he did not win). Three cyclists (
Jean Robic in 1947,
Charly Gaul in 1958 and
Jan Janssen in 1968) have won the Tour de France with only two yellow jerseys in their career. Until the results of
Lance Armstrong were annulled for cheating in 2012, he was ranked second in this list, leading the Tour for 83 stages from 1999 to 2005.
Alberto Contador was stripped of the yellow jersey and 6 days of wearing it in 2010 Tour de France because he tested positive for doping.
Fabian Cancellara is, as of 2024, the rider with the most yellow jerseys for someone who has not won the Tour with twenty-nine days in yellow. This table is updated through the
2025 Tour de France. == Number of wearers per year ==