Tour de France 2023 JULY 1-23 Spain’s autonomous Basque region stages the Grand Départ for the second time, with Bilbao the host city after San Sebastián had the honour in 1992. It will be the 25th time Le Tour will get underway outside France Elite Club Four riders have conquered Le Tour five times, with Bernard Hinault’s 1985 win providing most recent French victory. 5 Jacques Anquetil FRA 1957, 61, 62, 63, 64 15 5 Eddy Merckx BEL 1969, 70, 71, 72, 74 5 Bernard Hinault FRA 1978, 79, 81, 82, 85 5 Miguel Induráin ESP 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95 4 Chris Froome GBR 2013, 15, 16, 17 Team Jumbo-Visma rider Jonas Vingegaard (yellow, far right) aims to defend 2022 title 2023 Route 21-stage route favours climbers with record 30 categorised climbs and four epic summit finishes, including return of legendary Puy de Dôme for first time since 1988 Stage Start Finish Start / finish Rest day Individual time-trial Mountain stage Sprint stage Transfer Stage Jul km 1 1 182.0 2 2 208.9 3 3 187.4 4 4 181.8 5 5 162.7 6 6 144.9 7 7 169.9 8 8 200.7 9 9 182.4 10 11 167.2 11 12 179.8 12 13 168.8 13 14 137.8 14 15 151.8 15 16 179.0 16 18 22.4 17 19 165.7 18 20 184.9 19 21 172.8 20 22 133.5 21 23 115.1 Total race distance 3399.5km START: Jul 1, Bilbao 1 Vitoria-Gasteiz SPAIN 2 San Sebastián Amorebieta-Etxano 3 Bayonne Dax 4 Nogaro Pau 5 Laruns Tarbes 6 Cauterets-Cambasque Mont-de-Marsan 7 Bordeaux Libourne 8 Limoges St-Léonard-de-Noblat 9 Puy de Dôme Vulcania 10 Issoire Clermont-Ferrand 11 Moulins Roanne 12 Belleville-en-Beaujolais Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne 13 Grand Colombier Annemasse 14 Morzine Les Gets 15 Courchevel Passy 16 Combloux 17 St-Gervais Mont Blanc Moûtiers 18 Bourg-en-Bresse Moirans-en-Montagne 19 Poligny Belfort 20 Le Markstein St-Quentin-en-Yvelines 21 FINISH: Jul 23, Paris Champs-Élysées FRANCE Yellow jersey first awarded in 1919 to help spectators identify race leader. Instantly recognisable and highly sought after, it has since been worn by total of 278 riders from 25 countries HIGHEST NUMBER OF DAYS IN YELLOW JERSEY Eddy Merckx (1969-72, 1974-75) 97 Bernard Hinault (1978-82, 1984-86) 76 Miguel Induráin (1991-95) 60 Chris Froome (2013, 2015-17) 59 Jacques Anquetil (1957, 1961-64) 51 Overall leader: Yellow Awarded to race winner and worn by current race leader at start of each stage – calculated by totalling each day’s finishing time YELLOW JERSEY WEARERS BY COUNTRY France 85 Belgium 58 Others 35 Italy 28 Netherlands 19 Germany 14 Spain 12 Luxembourg 9 Switzerland 9 Britain 9 Total 278 wearers Le Tour: Start to finish 1903: Henri Desgrange (right), editor of L’Auto sports newspaper, creates Tour de France to boost sales. Maurice Garin of France is first winner 1904: Cheating crisis – some riders take trains and sabotage rivals’ bicycles 1905 Inaugural mountain climb, on Ballon d’Alsace 1919 Desgrange introduces yellow jersey (L’Auto is printed on yellow paper) 1930 Manufacturers’ teams replaced by national squads 1937: Derailleur systems permit gear changes without removing wheels 1952 Fausto Coppi wins by postwar record of 28 mins, 27 secs 1967: Drug tests introduced after British cyclist Tom Simpson dies on Mont Ventoux 1969 In stunning debut, Belgian Eddy Merckx (right) wins all three main jerseys – only rider ever to do so 1986: American Greg LeMond becomes first non-European winner 1989: LeMond defeats Laurent Fignon by eight seconds, smallest margin of victory in Tour history 1991-95 Spaniard Miguel Induráin becomes first man to win five consecutive Tours 1998 Major doping scandal involving Festina team rocks Tour – team ejected from race. Later investigations reveal systematic doping within sport 1999-2005: Lance Armstrong (above) wins seven Tours in a row but is stripped of his titles in 2012 after lengthy doping investigation 2012-18 Bradley Wiggins (inset) becomes first British winner. Compatriots Chris Froome (4) and Geraint Thomas (1) win five of next six Tours for Team Sky 2019: Egan Bernal, 22, is first Colombian to win Tour de France 2022: Cycling-obsessed Denmark becomes 10th nation outside France to host Grand Départ of Le Tour Coupe Omnisports Designed in 1971 Source: Le Tour, Encyclopedia of the Yellow Jersey Pictures: AP, Getty Images, Nationaal Archief, National Library of France © GRAPHIC NEWS