View source for General classification in the Tour de France

{{short description|Classification that determines the winner of the Tour de France}}
{{Infobox Sports award
| name          = Yellow jersey
| image         = Gele Trui Cancellara 2015 - voorkant.jpg
| caption       = The yellow [[Cycling jersey|jersey]] worn by [[Fabian Cancellara]]  during [[2015 Tour de France]] (collection [[KOERS Museum|KOERS. Museum of Cycle Racing]])
| sport         = [[Road bicycle racing]]
| competition   = [[Tour de France]]
| discipline    =
| givenfor      = Overall best time
| english       =
| localnames    = {{native name|fr|Maillot jaune|nolink=on}}
| nickname      =
| first         = [[1903 Tour de France|1903]]
| number        = 112 (as of [[2025 Tour de France|2025]])
| firstwinner   = {{flagathlete|[[Maurice Garin]]|FRA}}
| mostwins      = {{flagathlete|[[Jacques Anquetil]]|FRA}}<br />{{flagathlete|[[Eddy Merckx]]|BEL}}<br />{{flagathlete|[[Bernard Hinault]]|FRA}}<br />{{flagathlete|[[Miguel Induráin]]|ESP}}
:''5 wins each''
| mostrecent    = {{flagathlete|[[Tadej Pogačar]]|SLO}}
}}
The '''general classification''' of the [[Tour de France]] is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since [[1919 Tour de France|1919]], the leader of the general classification has worn the '''yellow jersey''' ({{langx|fr|maillot jaune}} {{IPA|fr|majo ʒon|}}).

==History==

For the first two Tour de France races, the general classification standings were decided based on the lowest cumulative time. The winner of the first several Tour de France races wore a green armband instead of a yellow jersey.<ref name=jersey>{{cite book|editor-last=Woodland|editor-first=Les |title=Yellow Jersey Companion to the Tour de France|publisher= Yellow Jersey, UK|year= 2007}}</ref> After the [[1904 Tour de France|second Tour de France]], the rules were changed, and the general classification was no longer calculated by time, but by points. This points system was kept until 1912, after which it changed back to the time classification.

There is doubt over when the yellow jersey began. The Belgian rider [[Philippe Thys (cyclist)|Philippe Thys]], who  won the Tour in [[1913 Tour de France|1913]], [[1914 Tour de France|1914]] and [[1920 Tour de France|1920]], recalled in the Belgian magazine ''Champions et Vedettes'' when he was 67 that he was awarded a yellow jersey in 1913 when the organiser, [[Henri Desgrange]], asked him to wear a coloured jersey. Thys declined, saying making himself more visible in yellow would encourage other riders to ride against him.<ref name=jersey/><ref name=Chany>[[Pierre Chany|Chany, Pierre]] (1997) ''La Fabuleuse Histoire du Tour de France'', Ed. de la Martinière, France.</ref> He said<blockquote>He then made his argument from another direction. Several stages later, it was my team manager at [[Peugeot]], (Alphonse) Baugé, who urged me to give in. The yellow jersey would be an advertisement for the company and, that being the argument, I was obliged to concede. So a yellow jersey was bought in the first shop we came to. It was just the right size, although we had to cut a slightly larger hole for my head to go through.<ref name=Chany/><ref>Chany, Pierre: ''La Fabuleuse Histoire de Cyclisme'', Nathan, France</ref><ref>"''C'était en 1913. J'étais leader du classement général. Une nuit, Desgrange rêva d'un maillot couleur or et me proposa de le porter. Je refusais, car je me sentais déjà le point de mire de tous. Il insista, mais je me montrais intraitable. Têtu, H.D. revint à la charge par la tangente. En effet, quelques étapes plus loin, ce fut mon directeur sportif de la marque Peugeot, M. Baugé, qui me conseilla de céder. On acheta donc dans le premier magasin venu, un maillot jaune. Il était juste aux dimensions nécessaires. Trop juste même, puisqu'il fallut découper une encolure plus grande pour le passage de la tête et c'est ainsi que je fis plusieurs étapes en décolleté de grande dame. Ce qui ne m'empêcha pas de gagner mon premier Tour!''"</ref></blockquote>

He spoke of the next year's race, when "I won the first stage and was beaten by a tyre by Bossus in the second. On the following stage, the maillot jaune passed to Georget after a crash."

The Tour historian Jacques Augendre called Thys "a valorous rider... well-known for his intelligence" and said his claim "seems free from all suspicion". But: "No newspaper mentions a yellow jersey before the war. Being at a loss for witnesses, we can't solve this enigma."<ref>Augendre, Jacques: Tour de France, panorama d'un siècle, Soc. du Tour de France, 1996</ref>

[[File:Plaque maillot jaune TDF 1919 - Grenoble (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Plaque in the city of [[Grenoble]], celebrating the centenary of the presentation of the first yellow jersey on 19 July 1919]]
According to the official history, the first yellow jersey was worn by the Frenchman [[Eugène Christophe]] in the stage from [[Grenoble]] to [[Geneva]] on July 19, 1919.<ref name=ABC>Ollivier, Jean-Paul (2001) ''L'ABCdaire du Tour de France'', Flammarion, France.</ref> Christophe disliked wearing it and complained that spectators imitated canaries whenever he passed.<ref>Ollivier, Jean-Paul: Maillot Jaune, Selection Reader's Digest, France, 1999</ref> There was no formal presentation when Christophe wore his first yellow jersey in [[Grenoble]], from where the race left at 2 am for the 325&nbsp;km to Geneva. He was given it the night before and tried it on later in his hotel.<ref name=jersey/>

The colour was chosen either to reflect the yellow [[newsprint]] of the organising newspaper, ''[[L'Équipe|L'Auto]]'', or because yellow was an unpopular colour and therefore the only one available with which a manufacturer could create jerseys at late notice.<ref name=jersey/> The two possibilities have been promoted equally but the idea of matching the colour of Desgrange's newspaper seems more probable because Desgrange wrote: "This morning I gave the valiant Christophe a superb yellow jersey. You already know that our director decided that the man leading the race [''de tête du classement général''] should wear a jersey in the colours of ''L'Auto''. The battle to wear this jersey is going to be passionate."<ref>Desgrange, Henri, L'Auto, 1919</ref>

In the next Tour de France in [[1920 Tour de France|1920]], the yellow jersey was initially not awarded but after the ninth stage, it was introduced again.<ref name="Gann1920">{{cite book|last=McGann|first=Bill|author2=McGann, Carol|title=The Story of the Tour de France|publisher=Dog Ear Publishing|year=2006|access-date=12 June 2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxq20JskqMUC|isbn=1-59858-180-5|pages=56–57}}</ref>

[[File:Felice Gimondi, Tour de France 1965 yellow jersey.jpg|thumb|upright|Winner of the [[1965 Tour de France|1965 Tour]]'s general classification [[Felice Gimondi]] wearing the yellow jersey with the initials of [[Henri Desgrange]], the first organiser of the [[Tour de France]]]]
After Desgrange's death, his stylized initials were added to the yellow jersey,<ref name=ABC/> originally on the chest. They moved in 1969 to the sleeve to make way for a logo advertising Virlux. A further advertisement for the clothing company [[Le Coq Sportif]] appeared at the bottom of the zip fastener at the neck, the first supplementary advertisement on the yellow jersey. Desgrange's initials returned to the front of the jersey in 1972. They were removed in 1984 to make way for a commercial logo but [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] added them again in [[2003 Tour de France|2003]] as part of the Tour's centenary celebrations.  One set of initials is now worn on the upper right chest of the jersey.<ref name=jersey/>

In [[2013 Tour de France|2013]], a nighttime finish on the Champs-Élysées for the final stage was done to commemorate the race's 100th edition.  Race leader [[Chris Froome]] wore a special yellow jersey covered in small translucent sequins into Paris as well as on the podium to allow him to be more visible under the lights.

[[File:Tadej Pogacar wearing yellow jersey of Tour de France 2025 in stage 14 1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Tadej Pogačar]] wearing the yellow jersey in the [[2025 Tour de France]]]]
The original yellow jerseys were of conventional style. Riders had to pull them over their head on the rostrum. For many years the jersey was made in only limited sizes and many riders found it a struggle to pull one on, especially when tired or wet. The presentation jersey is now made with a full-length zip at the back and the rider pulls it on from the front, sliding his hands through the sleeves. He then receives three further jerseys each day, plus money (referred to as the "rent") for each day he leads the race.

The yellow jersey on the first day of the Tour is traditionally permitted to be worn by the winner of the previous year's race; however, wearing it is a choice left to the rider, and in recent years has gone out of fashion. If the winner does not ride, the jersey is not worn.
The previous year's winner traditionally has race number "1" (with his teammates given the other single-digit racing numbers), with subsequent sets of numbers determined by the highest classified riders for that team in the previous Tour. The lead riders for a particular team will often wear the first number in the series (11, 21, 31 and so forth), but these riders are not necessarily contenders for the general classification&nbsp;— teams led by sprinters will often designate the [[points classification in the Tour de France|points classification]] contender as their lead rider.

There is no copyright on the yellow jersey and it has been imitated by many other races, although not always for the best rider overall: in the Tour of Benelux yellow is worn by the best young rider. In professional surf, the current male and female leaders of the [[World Surf League]] wear a yellow jersey on all the heats of a tour stop.

In American English it is sometimes referred to as the ''mellow johnny'', a play on its French name ''maillot jaune'', originally by [[Lance Armstrong]], who wore it many times while riding in the 1999–2005 races. Armstrong also uses the name "Mellow Johnny" for his [[Texas]]-based [[bike shop]]. The Lance Armstrong Foundation donated a yellow jersey from the [[2002 Tour de France]] to the [[National Museum of American History]].<ref name="NMAH">{{cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/sports/exhibit/removers/armstrong/index.cfm|title=Lance Armstrong, The Healing Cyclist and Tour de France Champion|publisher=National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution|access-date=2008-07-08}}</ref>

On 19 July 2019, on the occasion of the centenary, a plaque was unveiled on the scene of delivery of the first yellow jersey in [[Grenoble]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/culture-loisirs/photos-il-y-a-100-ans-le-premier-maillot-jaune-du-tour-de-france-etait-remis-a-grenoble-1563547084|title=PHOTOS - Il y a 100 ans le premier maillot jaune du Tour de France était remis à Grenoble|date=July 19, 2019|website=ici, par France Bleu et France 3}}</ref>

==Rules==
The Tour de France, and other bicycle stage races, are decided by totalling the time each rider takes on the daily stages. Time can be added or subtracted from this total time as bonuses for winning individual stages or being first to the top of a climb or penalties for rule infractions. The rider with the lowest overall time at the end of each stage receives a ceremonial yellow jersey and the right to start the next stage of the Tour in the yellow jersey.<ref name="ASO">{{cite web|url=http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|publisher=ASO/letour.fr|title=Regulations of the race|format=PDF|access-date=2009-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060705025939/http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/docs/reglement_2006_us.pdf|archive-date=2006-07-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> The rider to receive the yellow jersey after the last stage in Paris is the overall winner of the Tour.

Similar leader's jerseys exist in other cycling races, but are not always yellow. The [[Tour of California]] used gold, the [[Giro d'Italia]] uses pink and the [[Tour Down Under]] uses an [[ochre]]-coloured jersey. Until 2009 the [[Vuelta a España]] used gold; since 2010 the leader's jersey is red.

==Exceptions==
===More than one rider leading the general classification===
In the early years of the Tour de France the time was measured in minutes although cyclists were usually seconds apart, which meant several cyclists sometimes shared the same time. In [[1914 Tour de France|1914]] this happened with the two leaders [[Philippe Thys (cyclist)|Philippe Thys]] and [[Jean Rossius]].<ref name="shared1914">{{cite web
|url= http://www.radsport-seite.de/tour1914.html
|title= Tour de France 1914
|access-date= 2008-03-17
|publisher= www.radsport-seite.de
|language= de
}}</ref>

After the introduction of the yellow jersey in [[1919 Tour de France|1919]], the general classification leaders shared the same time twice. First in [[1929 Tour de France|1929]] three riders had the same time when the race reached [[Bordeaux]]. [[Nicolas Frantz]] of [[Luxembourg]] and the Frenchmen [[Victor Fontan]] and [[André Leducq]] all rode in yellow for Stage 18.<ref name="Velo-news online, US, June 29, 2003">Velo-news online, US, June 29, 2003</ref><ref name="shared1929">{{cite book |last= McGann|first= Bill |author2=McGann, Carol |title= The Story of the Tour de France|year= 2006|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jxq20JskqMUC|access-date= 2008-03-17|publisher= Dog Ear Publishing|isbn= 1-59858-180-5|page=92|quote="Frantz, André Leducq and Victor Fontan, who were in that winning stage 17 break, were exactly tied in time. Today the judges would go back to the time trial and look at the fractions-of-a-second differences. If that doesn't resolve the tie, then a look at placings solves the problem. The Tour didn't have rules to take care of ties, so 3 Yellow Jerseys were awarded."}}</ref>
In [[1931 Tour de France|1931]], [[Charles Pélissier]] and [[Rafaele di Paco]] led with the same time for Stage 6.<ref name="shared1931">{{cite book |last= McGann|first= Bill |author2=McGann, Carol |title= The Story of the Tour De France|year= 2006|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jxq20JskqMUC|access-date= 2008-03-17|publisher= Dog Ear Publishing|isbn= 1-59858-180-5|page=118|quote="Leading up to the Pyrenees, Italy's ace sprinter Rafaelo di Paco dueled with France's Charles Pélissier for stage wins and the lead. After stage 5 they shared the lead for a single day."}}</ref>

The organisers solved the problem of joint leaders by awarding the jersey to whichever rider had the best daily finishing places earlier in the race. The introduction of a short time trial at the start of the race in [[1967 Tour de France|1967]] created distinctions down to a fraction of the second between riders' overall times, except for races which did not start with a time-trial, such as the [[2008 Tour de France|2008]], [[2011 Tour de France|2011]], [[2013 Tour de France|2013]], and [[2024 Tour de France|2024]] editions. According to the ASO rules,<ref name="ASO"/>
:"In the event of a tie in the general ranking, the hundredth of a second recorded by the timekeepers during the individual time trial stages will be included in the total times in order to decide the overall winner and who takes the yellow jersey. If a tie should still result from this, then the places achieved for each stage are added up and, as a last resort, the place obtained in the final stage is counted."

===No riders in yellow===
Multiple riders who became race leader through the misfortune of others have ridden next day without the yellow jersey.<ref name="Velo-news online, US, June 29, 2003"/>
* In [[1950 Tour de France|1950]], [[Ferdi Kubler]] of Switzerland rode in his national jersey rather than yellow when the race leader, [[Fiorenzo Magni]] abandoned the race along with the Italian team in protest at threats said to have been made by spectators.
* In [[1971 Tour de France|1971]], [[Eddy Merckx]] declined the jersey  after the previous leader, [[Luis Ocaña]], crashed on the col de Mente in the [[Pyrenees]].<ref name="VN NMIY">{{cite news|url=http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/froome-in-yellow-on-friday-its-his-choice_377475|title=Froome in yellow on Friday? It's his choice|work=[[VeloNews]]|date=July 9, 2015|access-date=July 9, 2015|author=VeloNews.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709235146/http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/froome-in-yellow-on-friday-its-his-choice_377475|archive-date=July 9, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In [[1980 Tour de France|1980]], [[Joop Zoetemelk]] did not wear the yellow jersey that passed to him when his rival, [[Bernard Hinault]], retired with [[tendonitis]].<ref name="VN NMIY"/>
* In [[1991 Tour de France|1991]], [[Greg LeMond]] rode without the jersey after a crash eliminated [[Rolf Sørensen]].<ref name="VN NMIY"/>
* In [[2005 Tour de France|2005]], [[Lance Armstrong]] refused to start in the yellow jersey after the previous owner, [[David Zabriskie]], was eliminated by a crash, but put it on after the neutral zone on request of the race organizers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tdfblog.com/2005/07/armstrong_wont_.html|title=Tour de France 2011: Armstrong declines yellow jersey, organizers insist}}</ref>
* In [[2015 Tour de France|2015]], there was no yellow jersey in Stage 7 after [[Tony Martin (cyclist)|Tony Martin]] crashed in the previous stage.  Martin had finished the previous stage after the crash (and officially retained the yellow jersey as a result), but had broken his collarbone in the crash and did not start Stage 7.  [[Chris Froome]] became the overall leader with Martin's non-start.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/07/new-tour-de-france-leader-refuses-to-wear-yellow-jersey-out-of-respect-to-injured-cyclist|title=New Tour de France leader isn't wearing a yellow jersey on Friday|date=10 July 2015}}</ref>

In [[2007 Tour de France|2007]], there was neither a yellow jersey at the start of the race nor a number 1; the winner from the previous year, [[Floyd Landis]] of the United States, [[Floyd Landis doping case|failed a doping control]] after the race, and organisers declined to declare an official winner pending arbitration of the Landis case. On September 20, 2007, Landis was officially stripped of his title following the arbitration court's guilty verdict, and the 2006 title passed to [[Óscar Pereiro]]. In [[2008 Tour de France|2008]], the runner-up from the previous year, [[Cadel Evans]], was given the race number "1" when the 2007 winner, [[Alberto Contador]] was unable to defend his title due to a dispute between the organisers ASO and his new team Astana barring that team from riding the Tour.

===Doping violations===
In 1978, the Belgian rider [[Michel Pollentier]] became race leader after attacking on the [[Alpe d'Huez]]. He was disqualified the same day after trying to cheat a drug test.

In 1988, [[Pedro Delgado]] of Spain won the Tour despite a drug test showing he had taken a drug that could be used to [[Masking agent|hide the use of steroids]]. News of the test was leaked to the press by the former organiser of the Tour [[Jacques Goddet]].<ref name=Goddet/> Delgado was allowed to continue because the drug, [[probenecid]], was not banned by the [[Union Cycliste Internationale]].<ref name=jersey/>

The 1996 winner [[Bjarne Riis]] revealed in 2007 that he used drugs during the 1996 race. He was asked to stay away from the 2007 Tour in his role as [[directeur sportif]] of the Danish [[Team CSC]].

The 2006 winner [[Floyd Landis]] was disqualified more than a year after the race. After he failed a doping control test following his stunning Stage 17 victory, an arbitration panel declared him guilty of doping in September 2007; the official title for the 2006 Tour passed to [[Óscar Pereiro]]. Landis appealed his case to the [[Court of Arbitration for Sport]], but lost this appeal at the end of June 2008<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/7478019.stm | publisher=BBC News | title=Landis ban appeal is turned down | date=June 30, 2008 | access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> allowing Óscar Pereiro to start the 2008 edition of Le Tour de France as the unqualified 2006 Tour champion.

In 2007, the Danish rider [[Michael Rasmussen (cyclist)|Michael Rasmussen]] was withdrawn from the race by his team after complaints that he had not made himself available for drug tests earlier in the year. Rasmussen said that he was in Mexico, but there were reports that he was seen training in Italy. He later admitted doping for more than a decade.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/9839691/Danish-cyclist-Michael-Rasmussen-admits-doping-for-more-than-a-decade-and-quits-the-sport.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/9839691/Danish-cyclist-Michael-Rasmussen-admits-doping-for-more-than-a-decade-and-quits-the-sport.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Jacquelin | last=Magnay | title=Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen admits doping for more than a decade and quits the sport | date=January 31, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[Maurice Garin]] won the Tour de France before yellow jerseys were awarded; but in 1904, he was disqualified as winner after complaints that he and other riders cheated. The allegations disappeared with the Tour de France's other archives, when they were taken south in 1940 to avoid the German invasion. But a man, who knew Garin as a small boy, recalled that Garin admitted catching a train part of the way.<ref>Woodland, Les: The Unknown Tour de France, van de Plas Publishing, US</ref>

In 2012, [[Lance Armstrong]] was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by [[Union Cycliste Internationale|UCI]], following a report by the [[United States Anti-Doping Agency]] revealing that Armstrong had systematically used performance-enhancing drugs for much of his career, including all seven Tour victories.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/20008520|title=Lance Armstrong stripped of all seven Tour de France wins by UCI|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=22 October 2012}}</ref>

==Record days in yellow==
{{See also|Yellow jersey statistics}}

The rider who has most worn the yellow jersey is the Belgian [[Eddy Merckx]], who wore it 96 days. Only five other riders have worn it more than 50 days: [[Bernard Hinault]], [[Miguel Induráin]], [[Chris Froome]], [[Jacques Anquetil]] and [[Tadej Pogačar]]. Until his records were revoked in 2012 due to disqualification by reason of doping, [[Lance Armstrong]] was in 2nd with 83.

[[Greg LeMond]] won the tour three times, [[Laurent Fignon]] won it twice and [[Joop Zoetemelk]] won it once, each of them have spent 22 days in the race lead.

Among active riders Froome is in the lead with 59, [[Tadej Pogačar]] has 54, [[Jonas Vingegaard]] has 27, [[Julian Alaphilippe]], 18 and [[Geraint Thomas]], 15.

The rider to wear the Jersey in the most tours is Hinault with 8, which was every Tour he entered. Merckx, [[André Darrigade]] and [[Fabian Cancellara]] wore it in 6 and Indurain, Anquetil and Zoetemelk wore it in 5 Tours.

The greatest number of riders to wear the jersey in a single edition of Le Tour de France is eight, which happened in [[1958 Tour de France|1958]] and [[1987 Tour de France|1987]].

==Refusal of synthetic materials==
The yellow jersey was made for decades, like all other cycling jerseys, from [[wool]]. No synthetic fibres existed which had both the warmth and the absorption of wool. Embroidery was expensive and so the only lettering to appear on the jersey was the H.D. of Desgrange's initials. Riders added the name of the team for which they were riding or the professional team for which they normally rode (in the years when the Tour was for national rather than sponsored teams) by attaching a panel of printed cloth to the front of the jersey by pins.

While synthetic material did not exist in a way to create whole jerseys, synthetic thread or blends were added in 1947, following the arrival of Sofil as a sponsor. Sofil made artificial yarn.<ref name=Goddet>Goddet, Jacques, ''L'Équipée Belle'', Laffont, France</ref> Riders, especially the Frenchman [[Louison Bobet]] (Louis Bobet as he was still known), believed in the pureness of wool. Bobet insisted that cyclists needed wool for their long days of sweating in the heat and dust. It was a matter of hygiene. Artificial fabrics made riders sweat too much. And, in his first Tour de France, he refused to wear the jersey with which he had been presented.

Goddet recalled:

:"It produced a real drama. Our contract with Sofil was crumbling away. If the news had got out, the commercial effect would have been disastrous for the manufacturer. I remember debating it with him a good part of the night. Louison was always exquisitely courteous but his principles were as hard as the granite blocks of his native Brittany coast."<ref name=Goddet/>

=="Elegance in yellow"==
For the veteran writer and television broadcaster Jean-Paul Ollivier, the woollen yellow jersey...

:"...gave the riders a rare elegance, even if the way it caught the air left something to be desired. In wool, then in Rhovyl&nbsp;— a material used for making underwear&nbsp;— it entered into legend for the quality of those who wore it. Those were the years of national teams. In 1930 Henri Desgrange, the organiser, decided that commercially-sponsored teams were contriving to spoil his race and opted instead for teams representing countries. The Tour de France stayed that way until 1962, when it reverted to commercial teams with the exception of 1967 and 1968 and the riders knotted on their jerseys a spare tyre [across the shoulders] A narrow slip of white cotton placed on the chest showed discreetly the name of the sponsor outside the Tour: La Perle, [[Cycles Mercier|Mercier]], Helyett..."<ref name=ABC/>

The advent of printing by flocking, a process in which cotton fluff is sprayed on to stencilled glue, and then of screen printing, combined with the domination of synthetic materials to increase the advertising on jerseys: the domination which Ollivier regrets. "All sorts of fantasies such as fluorescent jerseys or shorts", he said.<ref name=ABC/> Such was the quantity of advertising when [[Bernard Thévenet]] accepted the yellow jersey when the Tour finished for the first time on the [[Champs-Élysées]] in 1975 that the French sports minister counted all the logos and protested to broadcasters. Since then the number of people with access to the podium has been restricted.<ref name=Goddet/>

==Sponsorship==
The French bank [[Crédit Lyonnais]] has sponsored the ''maillot jaune'' since 1987.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=LCL rides in yellow through 2028 - Tour de France 2023 |url=https://www.letour.fr/en/news/2023/lcl-rides-in-yellow-through-2028/1316763 |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=www.letour.fr |language=en}}</ref> The company has been a commercial partner of the Tour since 1981.<ref name=":0" /> It awards a toy lion - ''le lion en peluche'' - to each day's winner as a play on its name. In 2007, sponsorship of the jersey was credited to [[LCL S.A.|LCL]], the new name for Crédit Lyonnais following its takeover by another bank, [[Crédit Agricole]].

The jersey has been produced by a variety of manufacturers – [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] from 1996 to 2011, [[Le Coq Sportif]] from 2012 to 2021 and [[Santini SMS|Santini]] from 2022.

==See also==
*[[List of Tour de France general classification winners]]
*[[Yellow jersey statistics]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Yellow jersey (Tour de France)|General classification in the Tour de France}}

{{Tour de France general classification winners}}
{{Tour de France}}
{{Grand Tour}}

[[Category:Tour de France classifications and awards]]
[[Category:Cycling jerseys]]