A Brief History of Tour de France Rules

Cycling likes to thing it is timeless, the embodiment of nostalgia itself, constantly referring back to it’s previous exploits and attempting to make the new mirror the old. But the laws by which the Tour have been governed haven’t always been the same, and that’s not just the tinkering with points and mountains classifications and time bonuses in recent years – no, its been very different. How different? Read on…

1903 – There are no teams – just professionals and semi-professionals riding individually. Riders paid to enter, either ten francs to do the entire race, or five for just a stage. Four of the six stages start before dawn, with the last stage departing at 9pm, and the first stage the only one to mirror modern times by beginning at 3.16pm. Pacers, a popular feature of the sport at the time, are banned – Henri Desgrange does not approve.
1905 – Night riding no longer allowed, meaning the 19 hour, 28 minute final stage of the 1904 event ends up as the longest in history, and riders no longer finish at eight in the morning.
1905 – Winner is decided by points, rather than accumulated time. Riders were still not in teams, but could now have an sponsor.
1905 – Two categories of riders – coureurs de vitesse and the coureurs sur machines poinçonnées. Riders in the first category were allowed to change their bikes.

1906 – First time a stage had started in a different place to where the previous stage had finished.
1906 – Flamme Rouge, the 1km kite, introduced.

The inflatable red kite used until the 2020s, when Adam Yates’s 2016 crash caused by a deflating banner caused a change of design to stop them collapsing onto the road.

1906 – First foreign visit, into Alsace Lorraine, Germany.
1907 – Coureurs de vitesse could seek help from a mechanical assistance vehicle if they had problems – coureurs sur machines poinçonnées had to fix their own machines.
1907 – “Tourist” riders were allowed, and Henri Pepin hired two riders to help him on his “pleasure tour” of France, the first “team” to compete, as in not looking out for their own individual interests, albeit non competitively. These are generally acknowledged as the first domestiques.

1908 – The two categories are abolished, and all riders have to use the same model of bicycle as provided by the organiser.
1908 – Whilst teams did not officially exist, riders sharing a common sponsor acted as though in one. Labor riders all wore yellow jerseys, and Peugeot and Alcyon also had “teams”
1909 – Riders could enter in teams, albeit still technically riding as individuals.
1909 – The need to use a frame provided by the organiser was abolished, however, riders still had to have their frame stamped to prove they finished on the same machine they started with.
1909 – Two classes of rider appeared once more – Those with sponsors, and those without – Isole.
1910 – Broomwagon introduced to stop riders cheating in the mountains by taking a lift, and sweeping up those without team support.

1910 – Gears were allowed for the first time.
1911 – Sponsored riders were allowed to take on food and drink at stage checkpoints, individual riders were not, which rather sounds like an attempt at killing them.
1912 – A derailleur, or at least a version of one, is used for the first time by Stephanois Panel, only to be quickly banned.
1912 – Ten teams of five riders each competed, with the remaining riders “isole”.
1913 – Overall victory is again decided by accumulated time, rather than by points.
1913 – Riders are explicitly allowed to ride in teams for the first time, rather than being forbidden to work together, albeit told that individual riding is preferred. Winning by more than 20 minutes would mean a rider would get half the prize money from every other rider for that stage.
1914 – Frame numbers were introduced.

1919 – Post WW1, Bike manufacturers grouped together to form “La Sportive”, a grey wearing pseudo team to sponsor riders after suffering financially during the conflict.
1919 – Food was now provided by the race organisers.
1919 – Leader’s Malliot Jaune introduced.

1919 – Two categories of rider once more – A (professional) and B (amateur)
1920 – Rule introduced that riders have to finish with everything the started with, including clothing.
1923 – Mechanical assistance from a team is now allowed without penalty, although changing equipment with another rider is still forbidden.
1923 – La Sportive is disbanded, and sponsored teams return.
1923 – Time bonuses introduced – the stage winner has two minutes removed from their time.
1924 – Time bonuses increased to three minutes.
1925 – Time bonuses removed. Obviously organisers not quite sure on this one.
1925 – First race start outside Paris.
1927 – Flat stages are started with teams 15 minutes apart, to try and encourage racing other than bunch sprints. This was the beginning of the “team time trial”
1928 – Substitutes are allowed in the race for the first time, to replace “exhausted or injured” riders from stage 12. This is quickly abandoned.
1928 – Regional teams, of parts of France, are introduced.
1929 – Riders have to fix punctures by themselves.

Riders perhaps should count themselves lucky they just need to change a wheel with a teammate, rather than the entire tyre.

1930 – Trade teams are removed, replaced by National teams of eight riders. All riders returned to identical, yellow coloured bicycles.
1930 – The organisers now had to pay for food, lodgings and transport for riders now that sponsors only paid their salary, so began the publicity caravan to help pay these costs.
1930 – Team time trials were abandoned, and riders were once again allowed to take assistance for mechanical problems.
1931 – Time bonuses returned: three minutes were given to the winner if they finished three minutes clear of second place, effectively doubling their advantage, and touriste-rouleurs now had to start 10 minutes behind the professionals.

1932 – The time bonuses system is modified to reward the day’s podium with 4, 2 and 1 minute respectively, plus the same “3 minutes for 3 minutes” rule as seen previously in 1931.
1933 – Time bonuses reduced to two minutes, after the 1932 race was technically only won by 3 seconds, but time bonuses stretched it to 24 minutes.
1933 – The King of the Mountains classification is decided by points gained at the top of climbs, rather than by the judgement of the organisers, for the first time.
1934 – Individual time trial introduced.
1934 – Time bonuses again amended to 90 seconds for the winner and 45 for second, with an extra bonus of the gap between 1st and 2nd up to the total of two minutes.
1934 – “Individual” riders get equitable status with team riders.
1935 – First stage start and finish in a city outside of France – Geneva, Switzerland.

1935 – Teams start sending individual riders who can replace those who drop out of their own team.
1937 – Gear changes finally re-allowed, although derailleurs only became a more permanent fixture the following year when they can be cable operated. A team car is also allowed.
1938 – Time bonuses reduced once more – now 60 seconds, with a maximum of 75 for the margin for second. Bonuses on mountaintops are also reduced to a minute.
1938 – Despite teams of 12, France get two extra teams – Cadets and Bleulets – to stop individuals helping the French team.
1939 – “Devil takes the Hindmost” introduced from stage two till seven, where the last placed rider on GC is removed.
1947 – Ten teams of ten are invited – Germany are not, and Italy is comprised of French citizens living in Italy as they are technically still at war. The Dutch-British Team becomes “Dutch-French Strangers” after the Dutch protest the Brits aren’t good enough.
1948 – Devil takes the hindmost returns between stages 3 and 18. The first TV broadcast, of the arrival in Paris, takes place.

1948 – Mountain categorisation begins, with two categories being introduced. A third will be added the following year.
1950 – Time cut offs were reduced, and the bonuses given at the top of mountains reduced from a minute to 40 seconds.
1953 – Time bonuses were removed for crossing a mountaintop first, and team sizes were increased from 8 riders to 10.
1953 – The Points classification, and accompanying green jersey, are introduced.

1954 – The first start outside of France, with a “Grand Depart” from Amsterdam.
1954 – Team Time Trials return, except that the time is given for the team as a whole, rather than individual riders.
1957 – A mobile press centre was introduced to keep Journalists happy.
1957 – Time cuts were again tightened up to make the race tougher.
1957 – Riders are allowed to carry sponsors on their jerseys for the first time since 1930, but are still National teams.
1960 – The big four nations, France, Italy, Belgium, and Spain, all had fourteen rider teams, whilst other nations/regions had smaller representations of eight, including West Germany, finally readmitted for the first time since 1938.
1962 – Trade teams return, replacing national teams, albeit still drawn mostly on national ties: teams had to have a dominant nationality, with at least six riders from one nation and ideally only two nationalities represented on the team. 15 teams of 10 were selected from 22 applications.
1964 – Team size increased to 11, with 12 teams competing.
1965 – Team size reverted to 10, with the “rule of six” on nationality returning. Combined teams were allowed – Molteni-Ignis was a combination of the two Italian squads.
1966 – The intermediate sprints competition is introduced.
1967 – National teams returned following a strike over drugs tests in 1966 that was blamed on sponsors, although secondary national teams were required to bulk up the pack. Red Devils (Belgium), Primavera (Italy) and Esperanza (Spain) thus joined the returning Bluetes and Coqs de France.
1967 – The first prologue time trial is introduced, run on the evening of the first weekend.
1968 – Doping controls are introduced following the death of Tom Simpson, and riders are allowed to take on water during the race.

1968 – The points jersey becomes red for a year, and the combination classification is introduced to increase revenue. This uses a white jersey.
1969 – Commercially sponsored teams returned, with 13 teams of 10 riding.
1971 – Teams could now enter by one of two methods: being invited, or paying a 25,000 franc entry fee.
1972 – Team size increases to 11.
1973 – A second team classification is added, calculated on points, rather than time.
1974 – The first overseas stage takes place in Plymouth, UK.

The infamously awful Plymouth Tour stage – 102 miles of a new five mile section of a bypass, with overzealous British customs officials on either side of the trip making life difficult for what was envisioned as an attempt to promote a new ferry crossing and, er, Breton artichokes.

1974 – Team size reverts back to 10 riders.
1975 – The young rider classification for riders who had only been a professional for less than three years was introduced, with the white jersey now being used to represent this, rather than the combination classification.

Francesco Moser in the White Jersey in 1975.

1975 – The polka dot jersey is introduced for the King of the Mountains competition.

Poulain, the sponsor, are a chocolate manufacturer, who apparently made a bar in a polka dot wrapper, not that I can find any images of what must surely have been a popular product.

1977 – Only ten teams took part due to the need to pay to enter, rather than be invited.
1981 – Amateur teams were expected to be invited, but this did not materialise.
1982 – The American national team were invited to the race, but did not accept, with teams subsequently remaining at 10 riders rather than reducing to 9.
1983 – Amateur teams are finally introduced, with a Columbian team riding the race.
1984 – The leader of the intermediate sprints competition is awarded a red jersey.

1986 – The first team from the US rides the race, after 23 applications are whittled down to 21 by the organisers. Team size is intended to be reduced to eight, but remains at 10.
1987 – Team size is reduced from 10 to 9, allowing more teams into the race.
1987 – The young riders classification becomes available to all riders aged 26 or younger on the January 1st following the Tour.
1988 – The secondary team classification, based on points, is abolished after this edition.
1988 – UCI rules limit the field size to 200, so ASO only invite 22 teams of 9: 198 riders. Three reserve teams were named due to previous experience of teams dropping out.
1989 – Teams were now no longer selected by the organiser, but based on the rankings of the Federation Internationale de Cyclisme Professional (FICP). 18 teams were selected based on their rankings, with four “wild cards” allowed to be selected by the organisers.
1989 – The white jersey is no longer awarded for best young rider, but the competition still exists. Similarly, the red jersey of the intermediate sprints competition disappears, as does the competition, subsumed into the points classification.
1990 – The split of qualifications to wildcards changes from 18-4 to 16-6.
1993 – The peloton size is reduced to improve rider safety, with 14 teams getting automatic invitations, and the same six wildcards.
1994 – Fifteen teams were invited based on UCI rankings, with 6 wildcards.
1996 – The split changes again – the top 18 UCI teams are invited, with four wildcards.
1997 – Now the top 16 UCI teams are invited, with six wildcards.
1998 – The peloton was reduced from 22 teams to 21 to try and reduce crashes, with the number of wildcards dropping by one.
1999 – After the Festina scandal, ASO banned certain riders from the race, and so only 17 teams qualified, with 3 wild cards selected.
2000 – The white jersey is once again awarded for the best young rider competition.
2001 – The team selection procedure was again amended to increase French representation. The teams of the previous winner, the UCI World Cup, and the team classification at the three Grand Tours were all invited, plus twelve teams based on UCI rankings. This left five wildcards to be added.
2003 – The fourteen highest ranked UCI teams qualified, with two rounds of four wildcards then given out at different points of the year for 22 teams in total.
2005 – The introduction of the UCI ProTour meant the 20 ProTeams were obliged to attend the race, giving ASO just a single wildcard.

2005 – Due to the dominance of teams in the Team Time trial, a new rule is introduced to prevent teams losing too much time. This meant the amount of time teams could lose was capped at a certain amount depending on their finishing position – the maximum amount of time that a rider who finishes with their team can lose to the riders on the winning team is determined by the placing of their team: riders in the team that finishes second can lose no more than 20 seconds, 3rd – 30 seconds, 4th – 40 seconds and so on in ten second increments down to the 15th team, who can lose no more than 2.30, and then in five second increments down to the 21st team whose riders can lose no more than 3 minutes. If the team finishes closer to the winners than the maximum, the riders get the actual team time. Just to confuse things further, the actual times count towards the team classification, just not the GC.
2005 – The winner is given the opportunity to make a speech on the podium for the first time.

Lance Armstrong begins the tradition of getting to make a speech, rather than waving and wondering off.

2008 – Time bonuses were entirely scrapped from the race, including at intermediate sprints.
2008 – An argument between ASO and the UCI over the ProTour sees ASO not invite the team of the defending champion, Astana, although they do invite every other ProTeam as well as three wildcards.
2010: Sixteen teams were invited automatically despite not all being part of the ProTour, with six wildcards added.
2011: The points and mountains classifications are overhauled, with the points classification seeing a single, higher weighted intermediate sprint on each stage and more weighting towards stage wins, whilst the mountains competition saw double points awarded on summit finishes to shift the balance the the GC riders rather than barodeurs.
2012 – The leaders of the team classification are now allowed to wear yellow helmets to better show off their lead in the classification.

Sky riders wearing yellow helmets as the best team. They were initially criticised for “being presumptuous” as to Bradley Wiggins winning the race, till it was explained this was the organiser’s doing.

2015 – Time bonuses returned, albeit lower than they had been, with 10, 6 and 4 seconds awarded to the stage podium rather than the 20, 12 and 8 they had been previously.
2018 – The UCI reduced the number of riders on a team from 9 to 8, whilst keeping the number of teams the same, in order to reduce the size of the peloton and supposedly increase safety.
2018: “Bonus Sprints” were introduced where time bonuses of 3, 2 and 1 second could be gained were added to certain stages, designed to liven up the racing by encouraging attacks later on in the stage.

A stage profile from 2018 with a “B” for time bonus.

2021: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UCI allows the Grand Tours to invite an extra wildcard team if they would like.
2022: The two year experiment with “Bonus sprints” is quietly ended…
2023:…but then reappears in 2023, even if he bonuses for a climb on the opening stage are removed to ensure that the stage winner also takes the yellow jersey.