General classification in the Tour de France
The general classification of the Tour de France is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification has worn the yellow jersey.
History
For the first two Tour de France races, the general classification standings were decided based on the lowest cumulative time. The winner of the first several Tour de France races wore a green armband instead of a yellow jersey. After the second Tour de France, the rules were changed, and the general classification was no longer calculated by time, but by points. This points system was kept until 1912, after which it changed back to the time classification.There is doubt over when the yellow jersey began. The Belgian rider Philippe Thys, who won the Tour in 1913, 1914 and 1920, recalled in the Belgian magazine Champions et Vedettes when he was 67 that he was awarded a yellow jersey in 1913 when the organiser, Henri Desgrange, asked him to wear a coloured jersey. Thys declined, saying making himself more visible in yellow would encourage other riders to ride against him. He said
He then made his argument from another direction. Several stages later, it was my team manager at Peugeot, Baugé, who urged me to give in. The yellow jersey would be an advertisement for the company and, that being the argument, I was obliged to concede. So a yellow jersey was bought in the first shop we came to. It was just the right size, although we had to cut a slightly larger hole for my head to go through.
He spoke of the next year's race, when "I won the first stage and was beaten by a tyre by Bossus in the second. On the following stage, the maillot jaune passed to Georget after a crash."
The Tour historian Jacques Augendre called Thys "a valorous rider... well-known for his intelligence" and said his claim "seems free from all suspicion". But: "No newspaper mentions a yellow jersey before the war. Being at a loss for witnesses, we can't solve this enigma."
According to the official history, the first yellow jersey was worn by the Frenchman Eugène Christophe in the stage from Grenoble to Geneva on July 19, 1919. Christophe disliked wearing it and complained that spectators imitated canaries whenever he passed. There was no formal presentation when Christophe wore his first yellow jersey in Grenoble, from where the race left at 2 am for the 325 km to Geneva. He was given it the night before and tried it on later in his hotel.
The colour was chosen either to reflect the yellow newsprint of the organising newspaper, L'Auto, or because yellow was an unpopular colour and therefore the only one available with which a manufacturer could create jerseys at late notice. The two possibilities have been promoted equally but the idea of matching the colour of Desgrange's newspaper seems more probable because Desgrange wrote: "This morning I gave the valiant Christophe a superb yellow jersey. You already know that our director decided that the man leading the race should wear a jersey in the colours of L'Auto. The battle to wear this jersey is going to be passionate."
In the next Tour de France in 1920, the yellow jersey was initially not awarded but after the ninth stage, it was introduced again.
File:Felice Gimondi, Tour de France 1965 yellow jersey.jpg|thumb|upright|Winner of the 1965 Tour's general classification Felice Gimondi wearing the yellow jersey with the initials of Henri Desgrange, the first organiser of the Tour de France
After Desgrange's death, his stylized initials were added to the yellow jersey, originally on the chest. They moved in 1969 to the sleeve to make way for a logo advertising Virlux. A further advertisement for the clothing company Le Coq Sportif appeared at the bottom of the zip fastener at the neck, the first supplementary advertisement on the yellow jersey. Desgrange's initials returned to the front of the jersey in 1972. They were removed in 1984 to make way for a commercial logo but Nike added them again in 2003 as part of the Tour's centenary celebrations. One set of initials is now worn on the upper right chest of the jersey.
In 2013, a nighttime finish on the Champs-Élysées for the final stage was done to commemorate the race's 100th edition. Race leader Chris Froome wore a special yellow jersey covered in small translucent sequins into Paris as well as on the podium to allow him to be more visible under the lights.
File:Tadej Pogacar wearing yellow jersey of Tour de France 2025 in stage 14 1.jpg|thumb|left|Tadej Pogačar wearing the yellow jersey in the 2025 Tour de France
The original yellow jerseys were of conventional style. Riders had to pull them over their head on the rostrum. For many years the jersey was made in only limited sizes and many riders found it a struggle to pull one on, especially when tired or wet. The presentation jersey is now made with a full-length zip at the back and the rider pulls it on from the front, sliding his hands through the sleeves. He then receives three further jerseys each day, plus money for each day he leads the race.
The yellow jersey on the first day of the Tour is traditionally permitted to be worn by the winner of the previous year's race; however, wearing it is a choice left to the rider, and in recent years has gone out of fashion. If the winner does not ride, the jersey is not worn.
The previous year's winner traditionally has race number "1", with subsequent sets of numbers determined by the highest classified riders for that team in the previous Tour. The lead riders for a particular team will often wear the first number in the series, but these riders are not necessarily contenders for the general classification — teams led by sprinters will often designate the points classification contender as their lead rider.
There is no copyright on the yellow jersey and it has been imitated by many other races, although not always for the best rider overall: in the Tour of Benelux yellow is worn by the best young rider. In professional surf, the current male and female leaders of the World Surf League wear a yellow jersey on all the heats of a tour stop.
In American English it is sometimes referred to as the mellow johnny, a play on its French name maillot jaune, originally by Lance Armstrong, who wore it many times while riding in the 1999–2005 races. Armstrong also uses the name "Mellow Johnny" for his Texas-based bike shop. The Lance Armstrong Foundation donated a yellow jersey from the 2002 Tour de France to the National Museum of American History.
On 19 July 2019, on the occasion of the centenary, a plaque was unveiled on the scene of delivery of the first yellow jersey in Grenoble.
Rules
The Tour de France, and other bicycle stage races, are decided by totalling the time each rider takes on the daily stages. Time can be added or subtracted from this total time as bonuses for winning individual stages or being first to the top of a climb or penalties for rule infractions. The rider with the lowest overall time at the end of each stage receives a ceremonial yellow jersey and the right to start the next stage of the Tour in the yellow jersey. The rider to receive the yellow jersey after the last stage in Paris is the overall winner of the Tour.Similar leader's jerseys exist in other cycling races, but are not always yellow. The Tour of California used gold, the Giro d'Italia uses pink and the Tour Down Under uses an ochre-coloured jersey. Until 2009 the Vuelta a España used gold; since 2010 the leader's jersey is red.
Exceptions
More than one rider leading the general classification
In the early years of the Tour de France the time was measured in minutes although cyclists were usually seconds apart, which meant several cyclists sometimes shared the same time. In 1914 this happened with the two leaders Philippe Thys and Jean Rossius.After the introduction of the yellow jersey in 1919, the general classification leaders shared the same time twice. First in 1929 three riders had the same time when the race reached Bordeaux. Nicolas Frantz of Luxembourg and the Frenchmen Victor Fontan and André Leducq all rode in yellow for Stage 18.
In 1931, Charles Pélissier and Rafaele di Paco led with the same time for Stage 6.
The organisers solved the problem of joint leaders by awarding the jersey to whichever rider had the best daily finishing places earlier in the race. The introduction of a short time trial at the start of the race in 1967 created distinctions down to a fraction of the second between riders' overall times, except for races which did not start with a time-trial, such as the 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2024 editions. According to the ASO rules,
No riders in yellow
Multiple riders who became race leader through the misfortune of others have ridden next day without the yellow jersey.- In 1950, Ferdi Kubler of Switzerland rode in his national jersey rather than yellow when the race leader, Fiorenzo Magni abandoned the race along with the Italian team in protest at threats said to have been made by spectators.
- In 1971, Eddy Merckx declined the jersey after the previous leader, Luis Ocaña, crashed on the col de Mente in the Pyrenees.
- In 1980, Joop Zoetemelk did not wear the yellow jersey that passed to him when his rival, Bernard Hinault, retired with tendonitis.
- In 1991, Greg LeMond rode without the jersey after a crash eliminated Rolf Sørensen.
- In 2005, Lance Armstrong refused to start in the yellow jersey after the previous owner, David Zabriskie, was eliminated by a crash, but put it on after the neutral zone on request of the race organizers.
- In 2015, there was no yellow jersey in Stage 7 after Tony Martin crashed in the previous stage. Martin had finished the previous stage after the crash, but had broken his collarbone in the crash and did not start Stage 7. Chris Froome became the overall leader with Martin's non-start.