Right now, that record book is dominated by one name: Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian won the 2025 Tour, his fourth title, and enters the 2026 race chasing a fifth that would tie him with the four legends who share the all-time record.
His rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard has defined modern cycling, with the two finishing first and second at five straight Tours.
The chart below lists the recent Tour de France winners, the all-time leaders, and the records that define the race. Take a look, then we’ll get into the history.
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The four kings tied at five
The summit of Tour de France history is shared by four riders, each with a record five overall victories: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain. They span different eras of the sport, from Anquetil’s elegance in the late 1950s and early 1960s to Merckx’s total dominance around 1970, Hinault’s ferocity in the late 1970s and 1980s, and Indurain’s time-trial mastery in the early 1990s. Indurain holds a distinction the others lack: he is the only rider ever to win five Tours in a row, from 1991 to 1995.
Of the four, Eddy Merckx is often considered the greatest cyclist of all time, nicknamed “The Cannibal” for his insatiable appetite for winning. He not only claimed five Tours but also holds the record for most days in the yellow jersey at 96, a mark that reflects how completely he ruled the race during his peak. These four legends set the standard that every modern champion is measured against.
Pogacar and the chase for history
The modern Tour belongs to Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian burst onto the scene by winning in 2020 at just 21, then repeated in 2021 before reclaiming the title in 2024 and 2025. With four wins, he now stands alongside Chris Froome and just one victory shy of the all-time record. If Pogacar wins the 2026 Tour, he will join Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain as a five-time champion, at a remarkably young age that could set him up to break the record outright.
What makes Pogacar special is his versatility: he can climb with the best, time-trial with the best, and even win sprints, a complete rider in the mold of Merckx himself. In 2024 he achieved the rare Giro-Tour-Worlds triple in a single season, a feat managed only by Merckx and Stephen Roche before him. His era of dominance shows no sign of slowing.
The Vingegaard rivalry
Pogacar’s reign has not gone unchallenged. His rivalry with Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard has defined the past five Tours, with the two finishing first and second at five consecutive editions. Vingegaard got the better of their battles in 2022 and 2023, beating Pogacar in two thrilling, closely fought races, before Pogacar reasserted himself in 2024 and 2025. Analysts have described the pair as “lightyears ahead” of the rest of the peloton.
Their duels have produced some of the most gripping racing in years, settled in the high mountains where the smallest crack can decide everything. Before Pogacar and Vingegaard took over, the 2010s were dominated by Britain’s Team Sky, which produced four-time winner Chris Froome along with champions Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, and Egan Bernal, a remarkable run of British and team success.
The shadow of doping
No discussion of Tour winners is complete without acknowledging the sport’s troubled history with doping. The most infamous case is Lance Armstrong, who crossed the line first in seven straight Tours from 1999 to 2005 but was stripped of all of them in 2012 after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency found systematic doping. Notably, no replacement winners were named for those years, the record books simply list them as blank, a stark reminder of the scandal’s depth.
Armstrong is not the only example. The 1996 winner Bjarne Riis admitted to doping, and several other results have been annulled or clouded over the decades, including Alberto Contador’s 2010 title, which was stripped and awarded to Andy Schleck. The sport has worked hard to clean up its image since, but the era remains a permanent asterisk on the Tour’s history.
Final Word
The list of Tour de France winners is cycling’s hall of fame, from the four legends tied at five titles, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain, to the modern brilliance of Tadej Pogacar, now chasing that very record. Every champion earned their place over three of the most grueling weeks in sport, surviving mountains, time trials, and relentless rivals to wear the final yellow jersey in Paris.
As the 2026 Tour approaches, the central question is whether Pogacar can claim a record-tying fifth title, or whether Vingegaard or a new challenger can stop him. Whatever happens, another name will be added to one of the most storied winners’ lists in all of sports. For more on the prize they are all chasing, see our explainer on what the yellow jersey means.