These are records to beat at the Tour de France, which starts on Saturday:
Most wins at a single Tour de France: Eight by Charles Pelissier (1930), Eddy Merckx (1970, 1974) and Freddy Maertens (1976)
Greatest number of stage victories: 34 by Merckx
Greatest number of yellow jersey wearers: Eight in 1958 and 1987
Most days in yellow: 97 by Eddy Merckx
Greatest number of Tour de France wins: Five by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Lance Armstrong won seven but was later stripped of them.
Most top three finishes: Eight by Raymond Poulidor (three second places and five third places) in 14 competitions between 1962-1976
Greatest win margin (since 1947): 28min 17sec by Fausto Coppi in 1952
Smallest win margin: 8sec (Greg LeMond over Laurent Fignon in 1989)
Greatest number of green jersey wins: Six by Erik Zabel
Greatest number of polka dot jersey wins: Seven by Richard Virenque
Longest solo break: 253km by Albert Bourlon in 1947
Biggest time gap on a stage win: 22min 50sec by Jose Luis Viejo in 1976
Fastest time-trial average speed: 55.446km/h by Rohan Dennis in 2015 over 13.8km
Fastest team time-trial: 57.841km/h by Orica in 2013 over 25km
Fastest average speed for a stage win: 50.355 km/h by Mario Cipollini in 1999 over 194.5 km
Fastest average speed of an entire Tour de France: 41.654 km/h by Lance Armstrong in 2005, later downgraded
Oldest winner: Firmin Lambot (36 years, four months and nine days) in 1922
Youngest winner: Henri Cornet (19 years, 11 months and 20 days) in 1904
Oldest stage winner: Pino Cerami (41 years 3 months and 3 days) in 1963
Youngest stage winner: Fabio Battesini (19 years, four months and 13 days) in 1931
Most Tour de France participations: 17 by George Hincapie (between 1996-2012), Stuart O’Grady (1997-2013), Jens Voigt (1998-2014) and Sylvain Chavanel (2001-2017)
– Agence France-Presse
