The 1994 Tour de France was the 81st edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began on 2 July with a prologue around the French city Lille. After 21 more days of racing, the Tour came to a close on the street of the Champs-Élysées. Twenty-one teams entered the race that was won by Miguel Induráin of the team. Second and third respectively were the Latvian Piotr Ugrumov and the Italian rider, Marco Pantani.
Miguel Induráin first captured the lead after the stage 9 individual time trial. Chris Boardman was the first rider to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification after winning the opening prologue. Boardman lost the lead to Johan Museeuw after Museeuw's team won the stage three team time trial. Flavio Vanzella took the lead away from Museeuw the next day as the Tour made its way into Great Britain. Vanzella lost the lead to Sean Yates after the race's sixth stage. Yates led the race for a single day before losing it to Museeuw after the conclusion of stage 7. Museeuw lost the lead to Indurain after the stage 9 individual time trial, who then successfully defended the lead through the Alps and Pyrenees and to the Tour's finish in Paris.
Indurain became the third rider to win four consecutive Tours de France. In the race's other classifications, rider Djamolidine Abdoujaparov won the points classification, Richard Virenque of the team won the mountains classification, rider Marco Pantani won the youth classification for the best rider aged 26 or under in the general classification after having finished third overall, and Eros Poli of the team won the combativity classification. Festina–Lotus won the team classification, which ranked each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.
Teams
A total of 21 teams were invited to participate in the 1994 Tour de France. Fifteen teams were announced in May, based on their UCI ranking: Although the organisation had planned to give five additional wildcards in June, after the 1994 Giro d'Italia, it was decided to invite one extra team, and six wildcards were given. The team of Zenon Jaskuła, who had finished in third place in the 1993 Tour de France, was not selected. of these, a total of 117 riders made it to the finish in Paris. Stage 4 began in the Channel port of Dover, running through the Kent and Sussex countryside to Brighton, and Stage 5 was a loop around the naval city of Portsmouth.
Of the stages that contained mountains, four contained summit finishes: stage 11 to Hautacam, stage 12 to Luz Ardiden, stage 16 to Alpe d'Huez, and stage 17 to Val Thorens. The nineteenth stage, an individual time trial, had a summit finish to Avoriaz. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Val Thorens climb on stage 17.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Stage characteristics and winners
|-
! scope="col" | Stage
! scope="col" | Date
! scope="col" | Course
! scope="col" | Distance
!colspan="2"|Type
! scope="col" | Winner
|-
! scope="row" | P
| style="text-align:center;" | 2 July
| Lille
| style="text-align:center;" |
| 20px|alt=|link=
| Individual time trial
|
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| style="text-align:center;" | 3 July
| Lille to Armentières
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| style="text-align:center;" | 4 July
| Roubaix to Boulogne-sur-Mer
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| style="text-align:center;" | 5 July
| Calais to Eurotunnel
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |20px|link=|alt=
| Team time trial
|
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| style="text-align:center;" | 6 July
| Dover (United Kingdom) to Brighton (United Kingdom)
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| style="text-align:center;" | 7 July
| Portsmouth (United Kingdom)
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| style="text-align:center;" | 8 July
| Cherbourg-en-Cotentin to Rennes
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| style="text-align:center;" | 9 July
| Rennes to Futuroscope
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| style="text-align:center;" | 10 July
| Poitiers to Trélissac
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| style="text-align:center;" | 11 July
| Périgueux to Bergerac
| style="text-align:center;" |
| 20px|alt=|link=
| Individual time trial
|
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| style="text-align:center;" | 12 July
| Bergerac to Cahors
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| style="text-align:center;" | 13 July
| Cahors to Hautacam
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
| Stage with mountain(s)
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 14 July
| colspan="2" | Lourdes
|
| colspan="2" | Rest day
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| style="text-align:center;" | 15 July
| Lourdes to Luz Ardiden
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
| Stage with mountain(s)
|
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| style="text-align:center;" | 16 July
| Bagnères-de-Bigorre to Albi
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| style="text-align:center;" | 17 July
| Castres to Montpellier
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| style="text-align:center;" | 18 July
| Montpellier to Carpentras
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
| Stage with mountain(s)
|
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| style="text-align:center;" | 19 July
| Valréas to Alpe d'Huez
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
| Stage with mountain(s)
|
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| style="text-align:center;" | 20 July
| Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Val Thorens
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
| Stage with mountain(s)
|
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| style="text-align:center;" | 21 July
| Moutiers to Cluses
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
| Stage with mountain(s)
|
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| style="text-align:center;" | 22 July
| Cluses to Avoriaz
| style="text-align:center;" |
| 20px|alt=|link=
| Mountain time trial
|
|-
! scope="row" | 20
| style="text-align:center;" | 23 July
| Morzine to Lac Saint-Point
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" |20px|link=|alt=
| Hilly stage
|
|-
! scope="row" | 21
| style="text-align:center;" | 24 July
| Disneyland Paris to Paris (Champs-Élysées)
| style="text-align:center;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|link=|alt=
|Plain stage
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center"| Total
| colspan="4" style="text-align:center"|
|}
Race overview
thumb|[[Miguel Induráin, wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification, on stage 16's ascent to the finish at Alpe d'Huez]]
The 1994 edition of the Tour de France began with a brief prologue around the city of Lille. Englishman Chris Boardman set a blistering pace on the course en route to winning the stage by fifteen seconds over the second-place finisher Miguel Induráin.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; font-size:smaller;"
|+Classification leadership by stage
! scope="col" style="width:1%;" rowspan="2" | Stage
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" rowspan="2" | Winner
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" rowspan="2" | General classification<br>25px|link=General classification in the Tour de France|alt=A yellow jersey.
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" rowspan="2" | Points classification<br>25px|link=Points classification in the Tour de France|alt=A green jersey
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" rowspan="2" | Mountains classification<br>25px|link=Mountains classification in the Tour de France|alt=A white jersey with red polka dots.
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" rowspan="2" | Young rider classification
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" rowspan="2" | Team classification<!-- no yellow number bib given before 2006 -->
! scope="col" style="width:14%;" colspan="2" | Combativity<!-- no red number bib given before 1998 -->
|-
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" | Award
! scope="col" style="width:12%;" | Classification
|-
! scope="row" | P
| Chris Boardman
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="3"|Chris Boardman
| style="background:#9CE97B;"|Chris Boardman
| style="background:#EFEFEF;"| not awarded
| rowspan="3"|Eddy Seigneur
| rowspan="3"|
| colspan="2"|no award
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
| style="background:#9CE97B;" rowspan="21"|Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
| style="background:#FFA8A4;"|Jean-Paul van Poppel
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| Jean-Paul van Poppel
| style="background:#FFA8A4;" rowspan="10"|Peter De Clercq
| Stephen Swart
| rowspan="2"|Stephen Swart
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| GB-MG Maglifico
| style="background:#FFEB64;"|Johan Museeuw
| rowspan="6"|Lance Armstrong
| rowspan="3"|
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| Francisco Cabello
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="2"|Flavio Vanzella
| Francisco Cabello
| rowspan="2"|Francisco Cabello
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| Nicola Minali
| Giancarlo Perini
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| Gianluca Bortolami
| style="background:#FFEB64;"|Sean Yates
| rowspan="3"|
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| Ján Svorada
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="2"|Johan Museeuw
| Eros Poli
| rowspan="3"|Eros Poli
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| Bo Hamburger
| Luc Leblanc
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| Miguel Induráin
| style="background:#FFEB64;" rowspan="13"|Miguel Induráin
| rowspan="3"|Abraham Olano
|
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| Jacky Durand
| Castorama
| Gianluca Bortolami
| rowspan="3"|Jacky Durand
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| Luc Leblanc
|
| Massimo Ghirotto
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| Richard Virenque
| style="background:#FFA8A4;" rowspan="10"|Richard Virenque
| rowspan="7"|Richard Virenque
| rowspan="10"|
| Richard Virenque
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| Bjarne Riis
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| Rolf Sørensen
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| Eros Poli
| Eros Poli
| rowspan="7"|Eros Poli
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| Roberto Conti
| Hernán Buenahora
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| Nelson Rodríguez Serna
|
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| Piotr Ugrumov
| Piotr Ugrumov
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| Piotr Ugrumov
| rowspan="3"|Marco Pantani
| no award
|-
! scope="row" | 20
| Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
|
|-
! scope="row" | 21
| Eddy Seigneur
|
|-
! colspan="2"| Final
! style="background:#FFDB00;"|Miguel Induráin
! style="background:#46E800;"|Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
! style="background:#FF3E33;"|
! Marco Pantani
!
! colspan="2" | Eros Poli
|}
- In stage 1, Miguel Induráin wore the green jersey.
Final standings
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=4| Legend
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 20px|alt=Yellow jersey|link=
| style="text-align:center;" | Denotes the winner of the general classification
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Time
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| 20px|alt=Yellow jersey || || style="text-align:right;" | 103h 38' 38"
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 5' 39"
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 7' 19"
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 10' 03"
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| 20px|alt=Polka dot jersey || || style="text-align:right;" | + 10' 10"
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 12' 29"
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 20' 17"
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 20' 35"
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 25' 19"
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| || || style="text-align:right;" | + 25' 28"
|}
{| class="collapsible collapsed wikitable" style="width:46em;margin-top:-1px;"
|-
! scope="col" colspan="4" | Final general classification (11–117)
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Rider
! scope="col" | Team
! scope="col" | Points
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| 20px|alt=Green jersey || || style="text-align:right;" | 322
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 273
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 230
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 188
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| 20px|alt=Yellow jersey || || style="text-align:right;" | 132
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 122
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 118
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 105
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 103
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| || || style="text-align:right;" | 102
|}
Mountains classification
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Final mountains classification (1–10)