Inroad bicycle racing, aGrand Tour is one of the three major European professional cyclingstage races:Giro d'Italia,Tour de France, andVuelta a España. Collectively they are termed theGrand Tours, and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in theUCI regulations: more points for theUCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races,[1] and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days,[2] and these differ from major stage races more than one week in duration.
All three races have a substantial history, with the Tour de France first held in 1903, Giro d'Italia first held in 1909 and the Vuelta a España first held in 1935. The Giro is generally run in May, the Tour in July, and the Vuelta in late August and September. The Vuelta was originally held in the spring, usually late April, with a few editions held in June in the 1940s. In 1995, however, the race moved to September to avoid direct competition with the Giro.
The Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious in terms of points accrued to racers of all three,[1] and is the most widely attended annual sporting event in the world.[3] The Tour, the Giro and theRoad World Cycling Championship make up theTriple Crown of Cycling.
The three Grand Tours are men's events, and as of 2025, no three week races currently exist on thewomen's road cycling circuit. TheVuelta Femenina,Giro d'Italia Women andTour de France Femmes are sometimes considered to be equivalent races for women – taking place over shorter, smaller routes around a week in length. The Vuelta Femenina was first held under that name in 2023, the Giro d'Italia Women was first held in 1988, and variouswomen's Tour de France events have taken place since 1984 – with the Tour de France Femmes having its first edition in 2022.
In their current form, the Grand Tours are held over three consecutive weeks and typically include two rest days near the beginning of the second and third weeks. If the opening stages are in a country not neighbouring the home nation of the race, there is sometimes an additional rest day after the opening weekend to allow for transfers. The stages are a mix of long massed start races (sometimes including mountain and hillclimbs and descents; others are flat stages favoring those with asprint finish) andindividual andteam time trials. Stages in the Grand Tours are generally under 200 kilometres in length.
Grand Tour events have specific rules and criteria as part ofUnion Cycliste Internationale (UCI) regulations. For theUCI World Tour, more points are given in grand tours than in other races; the winner of the Tour de France receives 1000 points, and the winners of the Giro and Vuelta receive 850 points. Depending on the nature of other races, points vary for the winner of the overall classification[1]The grand tours have a special status for the length: they are allowed to last between 15 and 23 days – whereas other stage races are not allowed to last longer than 14 days.[2]
Historically, controversy surrounds which teams are invited to the event by the organiser. Typically, the UCI prefers top-rated professional teams to enter, while operators of the Grand Tours often want teams based in their country or those unlikely to cause controversy. Between 2005 and 2007, organisers had to accept allProTour teams, leaving only two wildcard teams per Tour. However, theUnibet team, a ProTour team normally guaranteed entry, was banned from the three Grand Tours for violating gambling advertising laws. In 2008, following numerous doping scandals, some teams were refused entry to the Grand Tours:Astana did not compete at the2008 Tour de France andTeam Columbia did not compete at the2008 Vuelta a España.
Since 2011, under UCI World Tour rules, all eighteenUCI WorldTeams are guaranteed a place in all three events, as well as the top two UCI ProTeams from the previous year's world ranking. As of 2025, the race organizers are free to invite two morewildcard teams from the top 40 teams in the world ranking (shrinking to the top 30 in 2026).[4] This new rule is intended to prevent organizers from favoring low-ranked domestic teams, such as the2023 Vuelta a España, whereBurgos BH were ranked 62nd and invited over many higher performing teams.[4]
In 2023,Team Jumbo–Visma ridersPrimož Roglič,Jonas Vingegaard andSepp Kuss won theGiro,Tour andVuelta respectively, making the team the first to win all three Grand Tours in a single calendar year.[5]
The main competition is the individualgeneral classification, decided on aggregate time (sometimes after allowance of time bonuses). There are also classifications for teams andyoung riders, and based onclimbing andsprinting points, and other minor competitions. Five riders have won three individual classifications open to all riders (general, mountains, young and points classifications) in the same race:Eddy Merckx in the1968 Giro d'Italia and1969 Tour de France and1973 Vuelta a España,Tony Rominger in the1993 Vuelta a España,Laurent Jalabert in the1995 Vuelta a España,Marco Pantani in the1998 Giro d'Italia, andTadej Pogačar in the2020 Tour de France and2021 Tour de France.
It is rare for cyclists to ride all grand tours in the same year; in 2004, 474 cyclists started in at least one of the grand tours, 68 of them rode two Grand Tours and only two cyclists started in all three grand tours.[6] It is not unusual for sprinters to start each of the Grand Tours and aim for stage wins before the most difficult stages occur.Alessandro Petacchi andMark Cavendish started all three Grand Tours in 2010 and 2011, respectively, as did some of their preferred support riders. For both riders in both years, only the Tour de France was ridden to its conclusion.
Over the years, 36 riders have completed all three Grand Tours in one year:Adam Hansen did so six years in a row. The only riders to have finished in the top 10 in each of the three tours during the same year areRaphaël Géminiani in 1955 andGastone Nencini in 1957. In 2023Sepp Kuss became the first rider since Nencini to start and finish all three tours in one year, while winning one of them - in Kuss' case the2023 Vuelta a España.
Riders from the same country winning all three Grand Tours in a single year has happened only on four occasions. It first occurred in 1964 with French ridersJacques Anquetil andRaymond Poulidor, with the second occurrence in 2008 with Spanish ridersAlberto Contador andCarlos Sastre. 2018 marked the only time three different riders from the same country won all three Tours, these being British ridersChris Froome,Geraint Thomas andSimon Yates. In 2024 Slovenian riders Tadej Pogačar (winning the Giro and the Tour) and Primož Roglič (winning the Vuelta) repeated the accomplishments of the aforementioned French, Spanish and British riders.
As of 2024[update], no three week races currently exist on thewomen's road cycling circuit. Historically, women have participated in three week long stages races, with variouswomen's Tour de France events taking place since 1984.[7][8] In the contemporaryUCI Women's World Tour, theGiro d'Italia Women (first held in 1988), theTour de France Femmes (first held in 2022) and theVuelta Femenina (started in 2015, gaining its current name in 2023) are sometimes considered to be equivalent races for women – taking place over shorter, smaller routes around a week in length.[9][10]The Vuelta Femenina takes place in May, the Giro d'Italia Women is generally run in late June / early July and the Tour de France Femmes is held in late July following the men's Tour de France.
Some media and teams have referred to these women's events as Grand Tours, as they are the biggest events in the women's calendar.[11][10][12] However, they are not three week stage races, they do not have a special status in the rules and regulations of cycling (such as more points in the UCI Women's World Tour, or allowing an increased number of stages),[13][14] and some have argued that the races need to visit high mountains (such as theAlps) or contain time trial stages to be considered an equivalent event.[11][15]
Campaign groups such asLe Tour Entier andThe Cyclists' Alliance continue to push organisers and the UCI to allow for longer stage races for women,[14] as well as to improve the quality and economic stability of the women's peloton to allow for three week long races in future.[15][16]
From 2026, the UCI will award more ranking points to Giro d'Italia Women, Tour de France Femmes and the Vuelta Femenina compared to other races in the UCI Women's World Tour.[17][18]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Rider won 3 Grand Tours in the same year | |
| Rider won 2 Grand Tours in the same year | |
| Flag icon key:List of National Flags | |
A. abcdefgLance Armstrong was declared the winner of seven consecutive Tours from 1999 to 2005. However, on 22 October 2012, he wasstripped of all his titles by the UCI for his use ofperformance-enhancing drugs. The organizers of the Tour de France announced that the winner's slot would remain empty in the record books, rather than transfer the win to the second-place finishers each year.[20]
| Rank | Rider | Total | Giro | Tour | Vuelta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | 5 (1968,1970,1972,1973,1974) | 5 (1969,1970,1971,1972,1974) | 1 (1973) | |
| 2 | 10 | 3 (1980,1982,1985) | 5 (1978,1979,1981,1982,1985) | 2 (1978,1983) | |
| 3 | 8 | 2 (1960,1964) | 5 (1957,1961,1962,1963,1964) | 1 (1963) | |
| 4 | 7 | 5 (1940,1947,1949,1952,1953) | 2 (1949,1952) | – | |
| 7 | 2 (1992,1993) | 5 (1991,1992,1993,1994,1995) | – | ||
| 7 | 2 (2008,2015) | 2 (2007,2009) | 3 (2008,2012,2014) | ||
| 7 | 1 (2018) | 4 (2013,2015,2016,2017) | 2 (2011,2017) | ||
| 8 | 5 | 5 (1925,1927,1928,1929,1933) | – | – | |
| 5 | 3 (1936,1937,1946) | 2 (1938,1948) | – | ||
| 5 | 3 (1967,1969,1976) | 1 (1965) | 1 (1968) | ||
| 5 | 1 (2023) | – | 4 (2019,2020,2021,2024) | ||
| 5 | 1 (2024) | 4 (2020,2021,2024,2025) | – |
Up to the end of World War II, all Grand Tour wins were shared amongst just 5 nations - the three home countries France, Italy and Spain, and Belgium and Luxembourg. Forty years later, by 1985, only four more countries - all still continental Western European - could boast of having a Grand Tour winner - Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden. Since then riders from a further 11 countries have won at least one Grand Tour bringing the total to 20 Grand Tour winning countries across four continents (Europe, North America, South America and Oceania), as at 2025.
| Country | Giro | Tour | Vuelta | Total | 1st win |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 69 | 10 | 6 | 85 | 1909 | |
| 6 | 36 | 9 | 51 | 1903 | |
| 4 | 12 | 32 | 48 | 1941 | |
| 7 | 18 | 8 | 33 | 1912 | |
| 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 2011 | |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 1950 | |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 2019 | |
| 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1909 | |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1986 | |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1967 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1987 | |
| 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1962 | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1994 | |
| 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2022 | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1987 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2011 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1971 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2012 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2019 | |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2006 |
Seven cyclists have won all three of the Grand Tours during their career:[22]
| Rider | Total | Giro | Tour | Vuelta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2 (1960,1964) | 5 (1957,1961,1962,1963,1964) | 1 (1963) | |
| 5 | 3 (1967,1969,1976) | 1 (1965) | 1 (1968) | |
| 11 | 5 (1968,1970,1972,1973,1974) | 5 (1969,1970,1971,1972,1974) | 1 (1973) | |
| 10 | 3 (1980,1982,1985) | 5 (1978,1979,1981,1982,1985) | 2 (1978,1983) | |
| 7 | 2 (2008,2015) | 2 (2007,2009) | 3 (2008,2012,2014) | |
| 4 | 2 (2013,2016) | 1 (2014) | 1 (2010) | |
| 7 | 1 (2018) | 4 (2013,2015,2016,2017) | 2 (2011,2017) |
Hinault and Contador are the only cyclists to have won each Grand Tour at least twice.
No rider has won all three Grand Tours in a single year in any classification (general, points, mountain, young rider). Few riders have evenfinished all three in a single year; of those who have, two finished in the top ten in each:Raphaël Géminiani (4th, 6th and 3rd in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in 1955) andGastone Nencini (1st, 6th and 9th in 1957).
Eleven riders have achieved a double by winning two grand tours in the same calendar year.[22]
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Of the above eleven, Pantani, Roche and Battaglin's doubles were their only Grand Tour victories in their careers.
Merckx, Roche and Pogacar also won themen's road race at the World Championship in the same year as their Giro-Tour double to complete theTriple Crown of Cycling.
The margins between the winner of a Grand Tour and the runner-up are often narrow, and rarely larger than a few minutes.
As of 2021, there have been 54 Grand Tours with a winning margin less than one minute. The smallest margins are as follows:
| Rank | Winner | Time | Runner-up | Margin | Race |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90h 08' 03"" | +00h 00' 06" | Vuelta a España (1984) | ||
| 2 | 87h 38' 35" | +00h 00' 08" | Tour de France (1989) | ||
| 3 | 86h 48' 18" | +00h 00' 11" | Vuelta a España (1974) | ||
| 124h 51' 52" | Giro d'Italia (1948) | ||||
| 5 | 113h 08' 13" | +00h 00' 12" | Giro d'Italia (1974) | ||
| 6 | 105h 37' 52" | +00h 00' 13" | Vuelta a España (1956) | ||
| 108h 56' 12" | Giro d'Italia (1955) | ||||
| 8 | 88h 00" 56' | +00h 00' 14" | Vuelta a España (1975) | ||
| 85h 29" 02' | Giro d'Italia (2023) | ||||
| 10 | 91h 39' 02" | +00h 00' 16" | Giro d'Italia (2012) |
The biggest winning margin in a Grand Tour was 2h 59' 21" inMaurice Garin's win at the first Tour de France in1903. The biggest margin in the history of Giro d'Italia was in1914 whenAlfonso Calzolari won by 1h 57' 26", and the biggest margin in the history of Vuelta a España was in1945 whenDelio Rodríguez finished 30' 08" clear.
In previous tours, sometimes a stage was broken in two (or three). "Days" column gives the number of times the cyclist was a classification leader at the end of the day. Numbers in brackets include split stages.
after the end of2025 Vuelta a España
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Current records | |
| Rider was leading in all Grand Tours | |
| Rank | Rider | Days | Leading span | Giro | Tour | Vuelta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 182(200) | 1968–1975 | 76(78) | 97(111) | 9(11) | |
| 2 | 121(125) | 1978–1986 | 31 | 75(79) | 15 | |
| 3 | 108(110) | 1957–1967 | 42 | 51(52) | 15(16) | |
| 4 | 93 | 1985–1995 | 29 | 60 | 4 | |
| 5 | 89 | 2011–2018 | 3 | 59 | 27 | |
| 6 | 74 | 2020–2025 | 20 | 54 | 0 | |
| 7 | 64 | 1992–2000 | 12 | 4 | 48 | |
| 8 | 63(66) | 1975–1985 | 50(52) | 6(7) | 7 | |
| 9 | 62(73) | 1936–1949 | 42(50) | 20(23) | 0 | |
| 62 | 2019–2025 | 9 | 11 | 42 | ||
| 11 | 61 | 1925–1933 | 61 | 0 | 0 | |
| 12 | 60 | 2007–2015 | 23 | 11 | 26 |
Sixteen other cyclists have led the overall standings in all three Grand Tours during their careers. No rider has done so in a single season.
Tadej Pogačar amassed most Grand Tour days at the top of the classification in a single calendar year - 39 in 2024.
The Tour/Giro/Vuelta triple has been achieved by five riders –Djamolidine Abdoujaparov,Mark Cavendish,Laurent Jalabert,Eddy Merckx andAlessandro Petacchi.
| Rank | Rider | Total | Giro | Tour | Vuelta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 0 | 6 (1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001) | 3 (2002,2003,2004) | |
| 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 (1982,1983,1985,1989) | 4 (1980,1985,1986,1988) | |
| 8 | 1 (2021) | 7 (2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2018,2019) | 0 | ||
| 4 | 7 | 1 (1999) | 2 (1992,1995) | 4 (1994,1995,1996,1997) | |
| 5 | 6 | 2 (1968,1973) | 3 (1969,1971,1972) | 1 (1973) |
The Tour/Giro/Vuelta triple has been achieved by two riders –Federico Bahamontes andLuis Herrera.
| Rank | Rider | Total | Giro | Tour | Vuelta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 7 (1935,1936,1937,1939,1940,1946,1947) | 2 (1938,1948) | 0 | |
| 9 | 1 (1956) | 6 (1954,1958,1959,1962,1963,1964) | 2 (1957,1958) | ||
| 3 | 8 | 2 (1982,1983) | 6 (1971,1972,1975,1977,1981,1983) | 0 | |
| 4 | 7 | 0 | 7 (1994,1995,1996,1997,1999,2003,2004) | 0 | |
| 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 (1965,1966,1967) | 3 (1963,1964,1965) |
The Tour/Giro double has been achieved by three riders –Egan Bernal,Nairo Quintana andAndy Schleck. The Giro/Vuelta double has been achieved by one rider –Miguel Ángel López. The Tour/Vuelta double has been achieved by two riders –Tadej Pogačar andRemco Evenepoel.
| Rank | Rider | Total | Giro | Tour | Vuelta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 (2020,2021,2022,2023) | 1 (2019) | |
| 2 | 4 | 1 (2007) | 3 (2008,2009,2010) | 0 | |
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 (1996,1997,1998) | 0 | |
| 3 | 1 (2014) | 2 (2013,2015) | 0 | ||
| 3 | 2 (2018,2019) | 0 | 1 (2017) |
Three cyclists have won stages in all three of the Grand Tours in the same season:Miguel Poblet in 1956,Pierino Baffi in 1958 andAlessandro Petacchi in 2003.[23] The rider with the most Grand Tour stage wins in one season isFreddy Maertens who won 20 stages in 1977: 13 in theVuelta a España and 7 in theGiro d'Italia.
| Rank | Rider | Total | Giro | Tour | Vuelta | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 64 | 24a | 34 | 6 | 1967–1975 | |
| 2 | 57 | 42 | 12 | 3 | 1989–2003 | |
| 3 | 55 | 17 | 35 | 3 | 2008–2024 | |
| 4 | 48 | 22 | 6 | 20 | 2000–2011 | |
| 5 | 43 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 1925–1933 | |
| 6 | 41 | 6 | 28 | 7 | 1978–1986 | |
| 7 | 39 | 31 | 8 | 0 | 1930–1937 | |
| 39 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 1941–1947 | ||
| 9 | 37 | 12 | 7 | 18 | 1958–1969 | |
| 10 | 35 | 7 | 15 | 13 | 1976–1981 | |
| 11 | 31 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 1940–1955 | |
| 12 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1913–1926 | |
| 30 | 6 | 21 | 3 | 2019–2025 | ||
| 14 | 29 | 17 | 12 | 0 | 1935–1950 | |
| 15 | 27 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 1966–1977 | |
| 27 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 1973–1986 | ||
| 17 | 26 | 15 | 11 | 0 | 1930–1938 | |
| 26 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 1955–1961 | ||
| 26 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 1978–1985 | ||
| 20 | 25 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 1964–1975 | |
| 25 | 16 | 5b | 4 | 1981–1993 | ||
| 25 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 1992–2001 | ||
| 25 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 1927–1938 | ||
| 25 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 1949–1957 | ||
| 25 | 24 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1970–1984 | |
| 24 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 1999–2007 | ||
| 27 | 23 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 1957–1964 | |
| 23 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 1953–1964 | ||
| 29 | 22 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 2008–2017 | |
| 22 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 2016–2024 | ||
| 22 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 1986–1994 | ||
| 32 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1955–1961 | |
| 21 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 1965–1976 | ||
| 21 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 1978–1988 | ||
| 21 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 1988–1996 | ||
| 36 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 1909–1923 | |
| 20 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1924–1929 | ||
| 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1933–1937 | ||
| 20 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 1995–2007 | ||
| 40 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 1908–1914 | |
| 19 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 2011–2017 | ||
| 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 1970–1977 | ||
| 43 | 18 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 1962–1969 | |
| 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 1952–1964 | ||
| 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1938–1951 | ||
| 18 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 2011–2021 | ||
| 47 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 1991–1996 | |
| 17 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 2003–2019 | ||
| 49 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1981–1989 | |
| 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 1989–1995 | ||
| 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 1933–1939 | ||
| 16 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1948–1955 | ||
| 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1994–2000 | ||
| 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 1929–1935 | ||
| 16 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 2020–2025 |
a Not counting the two-man team time trial Prologue win in1973 Giro.
b Not counting the TTT/ITT combined formatPreface win in1988 Tour.
Before 1958, all Grand Tour stage winners had come from just 10 western European countries: France, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal. By 1973 the list of countries had expanded by just four more countries, all European (Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden), to a total of 14. As of 2025, riders representing 42 countries, and all continents except Asia, have won stages in Grand Tours.
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The rider who has finished most Grand Tours isMatteo Tosatto, with 28 across 20 years (12 Tours, 11 Giros and 5 Vueltas, 1997-2016). Tosatto also has the most participations with 34 (12 Tours, 13 Giros and 9 Vueltas).Adam Hansen has finished the most consecutive Grand Tours: 20 tours from2011 Vuelta a España till2018 Giro d'Italia.
Only 36 riders have finished all three Grand Tours in one season.Adam Hansen has done this six times consecutively.Marino Lejarreta completed every grand tour of the season for the 4th time in 1991. His record of 4 was not passed until Adam Hansen completed the Vuelta in 2016.Bernardo Ruiz was the first rider to ride every tour of a season on three occasions which he completed in 1957. BothEduardo Chozas andCarlos Sastre have accomplished the feat twice.[29][30]
Gastone Nencini (1957) andSepp Kuss (2023) are the only cyclists to both ride all three Grand Tours and win one in the same season. The best average finish was in the first year three Grand Tours were finished in one season, 1955, whenRaphaël Géminiani finished 4th, 6th and 3rd in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, respectively. Nencini's 1st, 6th and 9th is the only other time a rider has finished top 10 in all 3 Grand Tours in a year. InMarino Lejarreta's 4 years that he rode 12 Grand Tours, he finished in the top 10 in eight of them including top 5 five times.
After the Tour de France femmes avec Zwift announced its record $250,000 purse, another women's grand tour event, the Giro d'Italia Donne, matched the Tour's prize money amount.
Elite women world circuit The duration of events ... is limited to 6 days unless an exemption is made by the UCI Management Committee
I think if you asked everyone in the peloton what's more important, the prize money or the TV coverage, I think most would say TV coverage.
2.10.017 Points scale Women Elite
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