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50 free Tour de France trivia questions with answers. The Tour de France has been ridden almost every July since 1903, and this quiz covers the whole story. Fifty questions run from the newspaper crisis meeting that invented the race, through the yellow, green, polka dot and white jerseys and what each one means, to the five-time winners, the record-breaking sprinters, the stripped Armstrong titles, the legendary climbs of Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, the Tourmalet and the Galibier, the Champs-Élysées finish, the wartime gaps and the new Tour de France Femmes. Easy questions ask which jersey the sprinters chase and what the last-placed rider is called; the hard ones want the fewest finishers ever, the odd first prize of the 1970s and the chocolate brand behind the spots. It suits anyone who watches three weeks of racing every summer or just wants to sound clever at the pub during it. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the race, its classifications, its climbs and its riders, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which newspaper created the Tour de France in 1903 to boost its sales?
L'Auto
Its rival Le Vélo was the biggest sports daily in France; the race doubled the upstart's circulation and it survives today as L'Équipe.
Q 02In which year was the yellow jersey for the race leader introduced?
1919
It arrived midway through the first post-war edition, and its colour matched the newsprint of the paper that ran the race.
Q 03The green jersey is awarded to the leader of which competition?
Points classification
It is effectively the sprinters' prize, introduced in 1953 for the race's 50th birthday.
Q 04Which jersey is worn by the leader of the mountains classification?
Polka dot
The best-climber prize dates from 1933, but the spotted jersey itself only appeared decades later.
Q 05What colour jersey goes to the best-placed rider aged under 26?
White
Between 1989 and 1999 the young rider classification was still contested but had no jersey of its own.
Q 06Who was the first rider to win the Tour de France five times?
Jacques Anquetil
He won in 1957 and then four in a row from 1961 to 1964, and in 1961 he promised to take the lead on day one and keep it all the way to Paris, which he did.
Q 07Which five-time winner is the only one to take all five titles in a row, from 1991 to 1995?
Miguel Induráin
During those five wins he never won a stage that was not a time trial.
Q 08Which Frenchman won his fifth Tour de France title in 1985?
Bernard Hinault
Known as Le Blaireau, the Badger, he adopted the animal for its aggressive nature; no Frenchman won the men's Tour for decades after him.
Q 09What nickname did Eddy Merckx earn for refusing to let anyone else win?
The Cannibal
The name was reportedly suggested by a teammate's daughter, and Merckx went on to wear yellow for a record 96 stages.
Q 10How many consecutive Tour titles was Lance Armstrong stripped of in 2012?
7
The UCI decided the vacated wins from 1999 to 2005 would not be reallocated to any other rider.
Q 11Tadej Pogačar's 2020 win at 21 made him the second-youngest champion, behind which 1904 winner?
Henri Cornet
He inherited the 1904 title after the first four finishers were disqualified for cheating.
Q 12Before Pogačar in 2024, who was the last rider to win the Giro and the Tour in one year, in 1998?
Marco Pantani
Il Pirata, so called for his shaven head, bandana and earrings, set a 1995 record for the climb of Alpe d'Huez that stood for three decades.
Q 13Before turning pro, 2022 and 2023 winner Jonas Vingegaard worked in what kind of factory?
Fish
His team manager arranged the job at Chrisfish in Hanstholm to give the young rider structure, with training saved for the afternoons.
Q 21From the first edition until 1967, where did the Tour finish?
Parc des Princes
The 1903 riders were timed at Ville-d'Avray and then rode into the velodrome for laps of honour.
Q 22Which city hosted the first Grand Départ outside France, in 1954?
Amsterdam
The Low Countries have since hosted the start more often than any other region abroad.
Q 23On which mountain did British rider Tom Simpson collapse and die during the 1967 Tour?
Mont Ventoux
A granite memorial stands a kilometre below the summit where he fell, and riders still leave bidons and caps there.
Q 14The closest finish in Tour history, in 1989, was decided by how many seconds?
8
It came down to a final-day time trial into Paris in which the winner used triathlon-style aero handlebars.
Q 15Who in 1986 became the first non-European to win the men's Tour de France?
Greg LeMond
He was seriously wounded in a hunting accident the following year yet came back to win twice more.
Q 16Which sprinter broke Eddy Merckx's long-standing record with a 35th Tour stage win in 2024?
Mark Cavendish
The record of 34 had stood since 1975; he was handed a framed black jersey marked CAXXXV on the final podium.
Q 17Which rider holds the record of seven green jerseys?
Peter Sagan
He also won three straight road world championships from 2015 to 2017.
Q 18Which French climber won the King of the Mountains title a record seven times?
Richard Virenque
His seventh, in 2004, broke a tie with Federico Bahamontes and Lucien Van Impe.
Q 19Since which year has the race traditionally finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris?
1975
That first finish was a 25-lap Paris circuit won by Walter Godefroot, and only 2024 has broken the run since.
Q 20Because Paris was preparing to host the Olympics, which city staged the 2024 finish?
Nice
The race ended with an individual time trial there, and Pogačar won it after winning six stages overall.
Q 24How many numbered hairpin bends are there on the classic climb to Alpe d'Huez?
21
The 13.8 km ascent averages 8.1% and each bend carries the name of a past stage winner.
Q 25Who won the first ever stage finish at Alpe d'Huez, in 1952?
Fausto Coppi
It was the Tour's first mountain-top finish, and the first year motorcycle TV crews followed the race.
Q 26Alpe d'Huez was nicknamed which nation's mountain after eight wins in the first 14 finishes?
The Dutch
Coach companies in the Netherlands sell winter trips to the resort, and the church at the top once had a priest from that country.
Q 27Which pass, first crossed in 1910, has featured in more Tours than any other?
Col du Tourmalet
Octave Lapize was first over the top that year and went on to win the race in Paris; a statue of him gasping for air now stands at the col.
Q 28The Tour's first high-mountain stages, in 1910, took the race through which range?
The Pyrenees
The Alps followed a year later, and the two ranges have anchored the route ever since.
Q 29Which Alpine pass, first used in 1911, is the Alps' most-visited mountain and hosts the race founder's monument?
Col du Galibier
The 2011 stage to its summit marked the climb's centenary and, at 2,645 m, the highest finish in Tour history.
Q 30Who was the founding director of the Tour de France, running it until the late 1930s?
Henri Desgrange
He banned multiple gears for years and once insisted every rider use an identical plain yellow bicycle.