the yellow jersey was introduced to the tour de france in 1896.
the yellow jersey was introduced to the tour de france in 1896.
when was the yellow jersey introduced to the tour de france?
1896
yellow jersey statistics









































since the first tour de france in 1903, there have been 2,163 stages, up to and including the final stage of the 2019 tour de france. since 1919, the race leader following each stage has been awarded the yellow jersey ().









































although the leader of the classification after a stage gets a yellow jersey, he is not considered the winner of the yellow jersey, only the wearer. only after the final stage, the wearer of the yellow jersey is considered the winner of the yellow jersey, and thereby the winner of the tour de france.
yellow jersey statistics
in the 102 editions of the tour de france to 2015, only seven australian riders have worn the yellow jersey. the first was phil anderson, who in 1981 became the first ever non-european to lead the general classification at the tour de france when he wore the yellow jersey on stage 7 on 1 july. of the seven australians to wear it to date, three are considered to be "general classification riders" (that is, riders who are aiming to win the gc, as opposed to competing in another classification or riding as a "domestique"): anderson in 1981 and 1982, cadel evans in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and simon gerrans in 2013. stuart o'grady and robbie mcewen are sprint specialists, and were successful in the points classification competition in the years when they also wore the yellow jersey; as a result of winning stages early in the race, they received time bonuses which gave them the leadership of the gc for a small number of days early in the tour. brad mcgee was the reigning world champion in the 4000 m individual pursuit when he won the opening prologue time trial, which was similar in length, in 2003. simon gerrans gained his yellow jersey after orica-greenedge's victory in the stage 4 team time trial around nice on 2 july 2013. rohan dennis, while a former hour record holder, was riding the tour de france in support of tejay van garderen when he won the stage 1 individual time trial in utrecht on 4 july 2015, thus becoming the first leader of the general classification for the 2015 tour de france.
list of australian cyclists who have led the tour de france general classification