2014 Tour de France for stats geeks

Vincenzo Nibali

1974 – The last time a rider won four road stages on his way to overall victory. This year, Nibali won four, but in 1974 Eddy Merckx actually won six. The Belgian also managed four road stage wins throughout his Tour victory in 1970. The only other riders who have achieved this feat since World War II are Luis Ocana (1973), Fausto Coppi (1952) and Gino Bartali (1948).

6 – The number of riders who have now won all three of the Grand Tours: Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana. Nibali joins the elite group containing Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Alberto Contador.

19 – The number of stages Nibali spent in yellow throughout this year’s race. This is the most amount of stages spent in yellow in a single Tour by any rider since Bernard Hinault who held the jersey for 20 stages in 1981.

The Renaissance

1997 – The last time a French rider stood on the final podium of the Tour de France was Richard Virenque when he finished in between Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani. Jean Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot are the first French riders on the podium since then.

1984 – The last time two French riders appeared on the podium together was in 1984 when Bernard Hinault was taught a Tour de France lesson by a dominant Laurent Fignon.

1969 – The last time French riders occupied second and third place on the podium was when Roger Pingeon and Raymond Poulidor finished behind a rampant Eddy Merckx who was busy winning his first Tour de France.

37 – The age of Jean-Christophe Peraud, the oldest rider ever to achieve his first Tour de France podium finish. The previous record holder was Joaquim Agostinho who was 36 when he finished third in 1978.

The Stage Winners

32 – The number of years since there were two Tours de France in succession with no Spanish stage winner. The last Spanish rider to win a stage of the Tour was Alejandro Valverde at Peyragudes in 2012, a stage which was more famous for Chris Froome making a mockery of Bradley Wiggins’s leadership of Team Sky.

7 – The number of stages won by Germans, the most they have ever won in the Tour. Their previous best came in 1977 and 2013 where they won a total of six. The same three riders, Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel and Tony Martin contributed the seven wins this year as won the six stages last year.

5 – The number of riders who won more than one stage in this year’s Tour – Marcel Kittel, Tony Martin, Vincenzo Nibali, Rafal Majka, Alexander Kristoff. The last time this number was bettered was in 1977 when Francesco Moser, Theo Smit, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Thevenet, Lucien van Impe and Rik van Linden all won multiple stages.

1925 – Marcel Kittel is the 11th rider to have won the first and final stage of the Tour de France. But he also achieved this feat last year. The only other rider who has topped and tailed the Tour with stage wins in consecutive years was Ottavio Bottecchia in 1924 and 1925 and unlike Kittel, the Italian also won both of those Tours.

Peter Sagan

10 – The number of riders who have won the Green Jersey of points classification winner without winning a stage of the Tour de France – Peter Sagan (2014), Thor Hushovd (2005), Erik Zabel (1998,1999), Sean Kelly (1983, 1985, 1989), Eddy Planckaert (1988), Eric Vanderaerden (1986), Herman Van SPringel (1973), Jean Gracyzk (1958), Jean Forestier (1957), Stan Ockers (1955).

149 – The winning margin achieved by Peter Sagan in the points competition. The record winning margin is 277 held by Sean Kelly over Bernard Hinault in 1982 (although these tallies are not directly comparable due to changes in the rules of the points competition).

7 – The number of stages in a row that Peter Sagan finished in the top five. The last rider to achieve this was Laurent Fignon in 1984.

58 – The number of stages that Peter Sagan has spent in the Green Jersey during his career. The only riders who have spent more time in Green are Erik Zabel (88) and Sean Kelly (67). But both Zabel and Kelly both took part in 14 Tours de France. Sagan has taken part in three.