The Tour de France is a long slog of time trial, mountain and sprint stages held over multiple days, with the winner being the rider that completes the tour in the lowest cumulative time.
As, in its current form, it is a 23 or 24 day event, the famed yellow jersey can change hands a multitude of times throughout.
Alternatively, a dominant rider has plenty of time to open up a wide margin over the competition, should they be an all-rounder that competes in most - if not all - of the stages.
Italian great Fausto Coppi currently holds the record for the biggest winning margin in the modern era, as he romped home with a 28 minute and 27 second lead over Constant Ockers in 1952.
Incredibly, in 1903 Maurice Garin led second placed Lucien Pothier home by two hours, 59 minutes and 21 seconds, which is by far the largest margin in the history of the tour, despite trailing Hippolyte Aucouturier by over two hours after the first stage.
Find a list of the biggest Tour de France winning margins below.
Largest winning margins in Tour de France history
Rider | Nationality | Winning Margin | Year |
Maurice Garin | French | 2:59.21 | 1903 |
Fausto Coppi | Italian | 0:28.27 | 1952 |
Gino Bartali | Italian | 0:26.16 | 1948 |
Hupo Koblet | Switzerland | 0:22.00 | 1951 |
Eddie Merckx | Belgian | 0:17.54 | 1969 |
Luis Ocana | Spanish | 0:15.51 | 1973 |
