Tour de France winners: Records, youngest, oldest

The record for most Tour de France victories is five, and it’s shared by four riders. Jacques Anquetil was the first five-time winner, claiming the race in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He surpassed the previous record of three wins, which was held at the time by Philippe Thys and Louison Bobet.

Eddy Merckx equalled Anquetil’s haul, winning the Tour in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974. He skipped the 1973 edition to win the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia, and he was prevented from winning a record sixth Tour in 1975 by Bernard Thevenet.

Bernard Hinault scored five TDF wins between 1978 and 1985. His best chances of winning that elusive sixth came in 1980, when a knee injury forced him to abandon in the yellow jersey, and 1986, when he lost out to teammate Greg LeMond.

Winner from 1991 to 1995, Miguel Induráin became the first man to win the Tour de France five times in a row. He fell short in his bid to win a sixth in 1996.

Lance Armstrong would later carry the yellow jersey to Paris on seven consecutive occasions from 1999 to 2005, but he was stripped of those wins after he was found guilty of doping in 2012.

Chris Froome lies behind the record-holders with four Tour victories (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), while Greg LeMond (1986, 1989 and 1990) and Tadej Pogacar (2020, 2021 and 2024) join Thys and Bobet as three-time winners.

Henri Cornet was just a teenager when he won the second Tour de France in 1904. He was promoted from fifth to first after a spate of disqualifications, and he won the Tour at just 19 years and 352 days.

Grand Tour champions might be getting younger in the 2020s, but the record at the Tour de France has endured more than 120 years and will be difficult to beat even if current trends continue.

Tadej Pogačar is next on the list, winning the 2020 Tour de France when he was still a day short of his 22nd birthday.

Prior to Pogačar, Egan Bernal was the youngster TDF champion in over a century when he won the 2019 edition at 22 years and 196 days.

Only rider over the age of 35 has ever won the Tour. Indeed, Firmin Lambot was 36 years old when he achieved the feat in 1923.

In 2011, Cadel Evans became the oldest Tour winner since Gino Bartali in 1948 when he won the race at the age of 34 years and 160 days.

Bartali, meanwhile, achieved the remarkable feat of winning his second Tour a full decade after his first victory in 1938.

This means that history is against Primož Roglič as he lines up for the 2025 Tour de France. 

To conclude, here’s an overview of the most recent Tour de France champions - with a strong chance that one of them will take the title again in 2025.