Riders with the most Tour de France stage wins and other statistics from the race

Sprinter Mark Cavendish has the record for the most Tour de France stage wins in his career. The Manxman took his first win in 2008 at Chateauroux when riding for Team Colombia then took number 35, 16 years later in Saint Vulbas, riding for XDS Astana.

The record makes Cavendish the greatest sprinter in Tour de France history with the four riders directly below him in the stage-wins list all GC riders. André Darrigade, who won his stages in the late 50s and early 60s, is the next sprinter at number six. Below him, Belgian Freddy Maertens won 15 stages and Marcel Kittel, a rival of Cavendish's for several seasons, is on 14.

Part of Cavendish's Tour success was the length of his career as a successful bunch sprinter. Despite facing multiple challenges in the second half of his career, including crashes, non-selection for the Tour, and struggles to find a team to back him, Cavendish continued, always determined to make it back to the Tour and keep winning.

This, fueled in part by his well documented love of the race, kept him racing and winning at the Tour over 16 seasons. Darrigade won his stages over an 11 year period, Maertens was successful over six years while Marcel Kittel packed his wins into just five years.

The only rider in the list still competing is Tadej Pogačar who, after his win on Alpe d'Huez, hit 26. Whether or not he eventually beats Cavendish's record would seem to depend on how long the Slovenian chooses to keep riding as he is still only 27 years old. His 26 wins come from seven editions of the race, an average of 3.7 stage wins a year.

Tour de France stage wins

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) 35
2. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 34
3. Bernhard Hinault (Fra) 28
4. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 26
5. André Leducq (Fra) 25
6. André Darrigade (Fra) 22
7. Nicolas Frantz (Lux) 20
8. François Faber (Lux) 19
9. Jean Alavoine (Fra) 17
=10. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 16
=10. René Le Greves (Fra) 16
=10. Charles Pelissier (Fra) 16
13. Freddy Maertens (Bel) 15
14. Marcel Kittel (Ger) 14
15. Philippe Thys (Bel) 13
*Rider still competing

Tour de France days in yellow

Tadej Pogačar is also climbing up the list riders with the most days in the yellow jersey. Sealing his fifth win from seven attempts (that included two second places) since 2020, he has rarely been out of the yellow jersey. Although his first Tour win in 2020 resulted in just one day in yellow after he took the lead on the penultimate day with a sensational mountain time trial up La Planche des Belles Filles, which saw him snatch yellow from his countryman Primoz Roglič.

1. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 96
2. Bernard Hinault (Fra) 75
3. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 70
4. Miguel Indurain (Esp) 60
5. Chris Froome (GBr) 59
6. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 50
7. Antonin Magne (Fra) 38
=8. Nicolas Frantz (Fra) 37
=8. Philippe Thys (Bel) 37
10. André Leducq (Fra) 35
*Rider still competing

Tour de France General Classification wins

=1. Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 5 (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964)
=1. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 5 (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974)
=1. Bernard Hinault (Fra) 5 (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985)
=1. Miguel Indurain (Esp) 5 (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
=1. Tadej Pogačar* (Slo) 5 (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026)
=5. Chris Froome (GBr) 4 (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017)
=7. Philippe Thys (Bel) 3 (1913, 1914, 1920)
=7. Louison Bobet (Fra) 3 (1953, 1954, 1955)
=7. Greg LeMond (USA) 3 (1986, 1989, 1990)
13 more riders have won the Tour de France twice
*Rider still competing

Tour de France green jersey wins

Peter Sagan holds the record for the most green jerseys won at the Tour de France with seven. From 2012 onwards he was almost unbeatable in the competition as he could compete in bunch sprints, get into breaks and get over the climbs that the pure sprinters couldn't

1. Peter Sagan (Svk) 7
2. Erik Zabel (Ger) 6
3. Sean Kelly (Ire) 4
=4. Robbie McEwen (Aus) 3
=4. Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (Uzb) 3
=4. Freddy Maertens (Bel) 3
=4. Eddy Merckx (Bel) 3
=4 Jan Janssen (Ned) 3