The Tour de France is typically decided by minutes, sometimes even seconds, but what happens when that gap disappears altogether? While rare, the rulebook does account for ties in all classifications, ensuring that every jersey and title has a definitive winner.
Can the Tour de France general classification end in a tie?
In theory, yes. In practice, no. The GC, based on total elapsed time, can go down to hundredths of a second, even if we rarely hear about it.
Under Tour de France rules, if riders are tied on time, race officials include the hundredths of seconds recorded in the time trial stage. These tiny margins, captured by timing chips and photo-finish systems, are only activated when needed. So while you may never see a GC gap of 0.01 seconds on the daily results, that data exists and can be used.
If there’s no time trial in a given Tour de France, or if riders are still tied after including those fractions, the next step is a countback of stage finishing positions. The rider with the lowest total of placings across all stages wins. If it’s still a draw, it goes to who finishes higher on the final stage in Paris.
In short, a tie in the GC is impossible under the rules. Someone will always be awarded the yellow jersey.
Photo Credit: Tim de Waele/GettyHow about ties in the Points classification?
The green jersey, awarded to the most consistent finisher on flat and rolling stages, has its own tiebreakers.
If two or more riders finish the race on the same number of points, the first differentiator is the number of stage wins. Failing that, it goes to intermediate sprint wins and then, finally, the rider with the better position in the general classification.
In a stage dead heat – when two sprinters cross the line together – the points for those positions are added together and split evenly, rounded to the nearest half-point. This means the standings can include .5 differences, something not seen in GC.
Photo Credit: GettyWhat happens if the King of the Mountains jersey is tied?
The polka dot jersey goes to the rider who collects the most points at the summit of classified climbs. If riders end up with the same tally, the tiebreakers follow a descending scale of difficulty.
The first deciding factor is most first places on hors catégorie climbs (the toughest classification), then category 1, 2, 3, and 4. If they’re still equal, the rider placed higher in the general classification is awarded the jersey.
So while a rider can theoretically share mountain points with a rival, it’s the quality of their results on the hardest climbs that matters most.
Can the team classification be tied?
Teams wear yellow bib numbers and helmets when leading this category, based on the combined time of their best three riders on each stage.
If two teams are level after a stage, organisers add up the three highest finishing positions from each team on that day. If that doesn’t separate them, it goes to the highest-placed rider from either team on that stage.
For the overall standings, ties are broken by the number of stage wins by each team. If that’s also level, then second places are counted, then thirds, and so on. The final fallback is, again, the best GC position of any rider on the team.
Can the Tour de France end in a dead heat?
Technically, no. Even if a high-speed sprint finish couldn’t be separated by the photo-finish cameras (an almost impossibly rare scenario), the time trial data, stage results, and GC placings are more than enough to settle things. The rulebook ensures that every jersey, every prize, and every honour has one clear winner; however close it might get.
The closest men’s Tour de France in history remains Greg LeMond’s 8-second win over Laurent Fignon in 1989. But if it had come down to the tiniest sliver of time, the rules would have handled it, right down to 0.01 seconds.
