Tour de France 2016: Opta Fact Pack

Omnisports

June 28, 2016 1:56 AM

We take a look at some Opta facts relating to the Tour de France, ahead of Saturday's Grand Depart in the 103rd edition of the race.

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The Tour de France begins on Saturday at the foot of the Mont-Saint-Michel, with Team Sky's Chris Froome hoping to defend his crown.

Ahead of the 103rd edition of cycling's most famous race, we take a look at a selection of interesting facts and figures, provided by Opta.

- There have been 36 French winners of the Tour de France, but a home rider has not triumphed since Bernard Hinault's fifth and final victory in 1985.

- Three of the last four editions of the Tour de France have been won by British riders, Froome's successes in 2013 and 2015 following Bradley Wiggins' victory in 2012.

- Excluding the expunged results of Lance Armstrong, Froome is aiming to become the first rider to win back-to-back editions of the Tour de France since Miguel Indurain (1991-1995).

- Froome and Alberto Contador are among 20 riders to have won the Tour de France at least twice. If one of them wins this race they will become the eighth rider to win the race three or more times.

- Froome is the only active rider to have won a Tour de France stage on Mont Ventoux. Stage 12 of this year's race will finish there on July 14.

- Contador and Hinault are the only riders to have won each of three Grand Tours at least twice.

- Since 1970, only two riders have won both the general classification and King of the Mountains classification in the same edition of the Tour de France: Carlos Sastre in 2008 and Froome in 2015.

- Nairo Quintana has finished second to Froome in each the two editions of the Tour de France that he has participated in (2013 and 2015).

- Fabio Aru will participate in his first Tour de France. Aru has finished in the top five at each of the four Grand Tours he has taken part in since 2014, winning last year's Vuelta.

- Peter Sagan has won the points classification in the last four editions of the Tour de France. He could become only the second rider to win five in a row after Erik Zabel, who triumphed in six successive years from 1996-2001.

- Mark Cavendish has won 26 stages of the Tour de France, more than any other current rider. If he wins three more stages he will move up to second on the all-time list, overtaking Hinault. Eddy Merckx leads the way with 34 stage victories.

- Sylvain Chavanel will participate in his 16th Tour de France. Only George Hincapie, Stuart O'Grady and Jens Voigt have participated more often (17).

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