The Maillot blanc (French for white jersey) is the jersey given to the best young rider in the Tour de France as determined by the best overall time. The winner must be under the age of 25 on January 1 the year of the Tour. The jersey holder is thus determined by looking at the maillot jaune classification, then removing all riders born before the cut-off date.

History

Before 1975, awards of the maillot blanc had meant the lead rider in the Combination Classification (best rider in the overall, points and climbing competitions). In 1975 the award of the Maillot Blanc was changed to the Best Young Rider Classification (less than 26 years of age) and calculated using the rankings for the maillot jaune. Between 1983 and 1986, the competition was only open for first-time competitants, but after 1987, it was again for all cyclist less than 26 years of age. After 1989, the white jersey was no longer awarded, although the competition was still calculated. In 2000, the white jersey was awarded again. In 1997, the name of the competition officially changed to 'Souvenir Fabio Casartelli'. Czech auto manufacturer Škoda has sponsored the white jersey ever since it took over the auto sponsorship of the Tour de France from FIAT in 2003.

Since the maillot blanc was introduced in 1975, it has been won by 29 different cyclists. Of those, five cyclists also won the yellow jersey during their careers (Fignon, LeMond, Pantani, Ullrich and Contador). On three occasions a cyclist has won the maillot blanc and the overall yellow jersey in the same year - Fignon in 1983, Ullrich in 1997 and Contador in 2007. The only cyclists to win the maillot blanc in multiple Tours are Marco Pantani (two wins) and Ullrich (three wins - also finishing first or second for the overall yellow jersey on all three of these occasions).

Winners of the Maillot blanc

Year	Name	Country	Team	GC Position
1975	Francesco Moser		Filotex	7th
1976	Enrique Martinez-Heredia		Kas-Campagnolo	23rd
1977	Dietrich Thurau		TI-Raleigh	5th
1978	Henk Lubberding		TI-Raleigh	8th
1979	Jean-Rene Bernaudeau		Renault	5th
1980	Johan Van der Velde		TI-Raleigh	12th
1981	Peter Winnen		Capri Sonne	5th
1982	Phil Anderson		Peugeot	5th
1983	Laurent Fignon		Renault	1st
1984	Greg LeMond		Renault	3rd
1985	Fabio Parra		Cafe de Colombia	8th
1986	Andrew Hampsten		La Vie Claire	4th
1987	Raúl Alcalá		7-11	9th
1988	Erik Breukink		Panasonic	12th
1989	Fabrice Philipot		Toshiba	24th
1990	Gilles Delion		Helvetia	15th
1991	Álvaro Mejía		Ryalco	19th
1992	Eddy Bouwmans		Panasonic	14th
1993	Antonio Martín Velasco		Amaya Seguros	12th
1994	Marco Pantani		Carrera	3rd
1995	Marco Pantani		Carrera	13th
1996	Jan Ullrich		Deutsche Telekom	2nd
1997	Jan Ullrich		Deutsche Telekom	1st
1998	Jan Ullrich		Deutsche Telekom	2nd
1999	Benoît Salmon		Casino	16th
2000	Francisco Mancebo		Banesto	9th
2001	Oscar Sevilla		Kelme	7th
2002	Ivan Basso		Fassa Bortolo	11th
2003	Denis Menchov		iBanesto.com	11th
2004	Vladimir Karpets		Illes Balears	13th
2005	Yaroslav Popovych		Discovery Channel	12th
2006	Damiano Cunego		Lampre-Fondital	12th
2007	Alberto Contador		Discovery Channel	1st
2008	Andy Schleck		Team CSC Saxo Bank	12th

Winners by Nation

Rank	Country	Most Recent Winner	Wins
1		Benoît Salmon 1999	5
		Damiano Cunego 2006	5
		Eddy Bouwmans 1992	5
		Alberto Contador 2007	5
5		Jan Ullrich 1998	4
6		Álvaro Mejía 1991	2
		Vladimir Karpets 2004	2
		Andrew Hampsten 1986	2
9		Phil Anderson 1982	1
		Raúl Alcalá 1987	1
		Yaroslav Popovych 2005	1
		Andy Schleck 2008	1

External links

• Official Tour de France website
• CyclingNews winners list 1975-2005

Notes