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  • Celebrating 100 years of the Yellow Jersey.

  • Celebrating 100 years of the Yellow Jersey.

  • Celebrating 100 years of the Yellow Jersey.

  • Celebrating 100 years of the Yellow Jersey.

It was in 1919, during the 11th edition of the Tour de France, that Henri Desgrange, founder of the cycling race and director of that year’s edition, created the legendary “Yellow Jersey”. It featured the colours of the L’Auto newspaper, the main sponsor of the race at the time. From then on, the jersey would be worn by the race’s “general classification” leader, making them easily recognizable to other riders.

The Yellow Jersey was awarded for the first time on July 19th, during the competition, and quickly became highly sought after by riders and a main feature of the race.

In July, the sun beat down on the crowds that had been standing on the sides of the road for hours. The first race vehicles led the way and the crowd buzzed with excitement, until finally the racers were visible in the distance, and everyone was looking for the one and only “yellow jersey”.

2019 will mark 100 years since the creation of this legendary cycling jersey! A dream of cyclists everywhere, a key part of the Tour’s history, and a symbol of success and achievement, it has the respect and admiration of every rider who has worn it. Eddy Merckx, the undisputed champion of bicycle racing, still holds the record, having worn the Yellow Jersey 111 times throughout his career.

Here’s a list of the many Belgian cyclists that have proudly worn the Yellow Jersey!

(These figures show the number of times the jersey was worn, not the number of days.)

* Jean Rossius: Though he was a leader that year, he didn’t wear the Yellow Jersey, as it was created during the race.

DateCyclistNumber
1919Jean Rossius *1
1919/1920Firmin Lambot 5
1920/1921Louis Mottiat2
1920Philippe Thys 14
1921Léon Scieur 14
1922Hector Heusghem 1
1925Adelin Benoît5
1926Jules Buysse 2
1926Gustaaf Van Slembrouck 7
1926Lucien Buysse 8
1927Hector Martin 4
1929Aimé Dossche 3
1929Maurice De Waele 16
1929Gaston Rebry1
1931 Alfred Hamerlinck 1
1932Jean Aerts 1
1933 Georges Lemaire2
1935/1939Romain Maes 22
1936/1937/1939Sylvère Maes26
1937 Marcel Kint1
1938Félicien Vervaecke 8
1948 Jean Engels 1
1948/1949Roger Lambrecht 3
1949 Norbert Callens1
1952Rik Van Steenbergen 2
1958/1959 Jos Hoevenaars4
1959/1963 Eddy Pauwels 5
1960 Julien Schepens 1
1962Willy Schroeders3
1962 Joseph Planckaert7
1964/1965Bernard Van De Kerckhove6
1968 eorges Vandenberghe12
1956/1963Gilbert Desmet 14
1956/1960 Jean Adriaensens 7
1964Ward Sels2
1965 Rik Van Looy 2
1967 Willy Van Neste1
1967Joseph Spruyt1
1968/1973Herman Van Springel9
1969 Julien Stevens3
1969/1972/1974/1975Eddy Merckx111
1973Willy Teirlinck1
1974/1978Joseph Bruyère12
1974Patrick Sercu1
1976 Freddy Maertens10
1976 Lucien Van Impe12
1980Rudy Pevenage9
1982/1984Ludo Peeters2
1983/1985Eric Vanderaerden5
1993 Wilfried Nelissen3
1993/1994 Johan Museeuw 5
1995Johan Bruyneel 1
2001Marc Wauters1
2006 Tom Boonen4
2011Philippe Gilbert 1
2013Jan Bakelants2
2016/2018Greg Van Avermaet10

Useful information:

  • The yellow jersey was introduced to the Tour de France in 1919.
  • Up until this day, 25 cyclists who’ve worn the Yellow Yersey are still amongst us.
  • From 1919 until 16/07/2019, the Yellow Jersey was worn 403 times by a Belgian cyclist (for a total of 57 different cyclists)
  • The Tour the France has been won 18 times by a Belgian.

Here’s a list of the winners:

DateCyclist
1912Odile Defraye
1913, 1914Philippe Thys
1919Firmin Lambot
1920Philippe Thys
1921Léon Scieur
1922Firmin Lambot
1926Lucien Buysse
1929Maurice De Waele
1935Romain Maes
1936, 1939Sylvère Maes
1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974Eddy Merckx
1976Lucien Van Impe

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