<P> This is a list of the Tour de France general classification winners . The Tour de France is an annual road bicycle race held over 23 days in July . Established in 1903 by newspaper L'Auto, the Tour is the most well - known and prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours"; the others are the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España . The race usually covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi), passing through France and neighbouring countries such as Belgium . The race is broken into day - long stages . Individual finishing times for each stage are totalled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race . The course changes every year, but has always finished in Paris; since 1975 it has finished along the Champs - Élysées . </P> <P> The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears the yellow jersey, representing the leader of the general classification . There are other jerseys as well: the green jersey, worn by the leader of the points classification; the polka dot jersey, worn by the leader of the mountains classification; and the white jersey, worn by the leader of the young rider classification . </P> <P> Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, have won the most Tours with five each . Indurain is the only man to win five consecutive Tours . Henri Cornet is the youngest winner; he won in 1904, just short of his 20th birthday . Firmin Lambot is the oldest winner, having been 36 years, 4 months old when he won in 1922 . French cyclists have won the most Tours; 21 cyclists have won 36 Tours among them . Belgian cyclists are second with 18 victories, and Spanish riders are third with 12 wins . The most recent winner is Geraint Thomas of Team Sky, who won the 2018 Tour, his first . His team, Team Sky, have provided three of the last four individual winners, all British, between them winning six of the last seven Tours </P> <P> After it emerged that Lance Armstrong had used performance - enhancing drugs, in October 2012 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) stripped Armstrong of the seven consecutive Tour general classification titles between 1999 and 2005 . </P>

Who has the most wins in tour de france