There have been quite a few British riders in the Tour de France over the years. The most recent debutantes are Tao Geoghegan Hart, Mark Donovan and Fred Wright. They became the 70th, 71st and 72nd different British riders to start the Tour de France in 2021.
The first British riders to take part, were Charles Holland and Bill Burl who rode the 1937 Tour de France together. The first fully British team took part in 1955, back when Tour de France teams were nationality-based. Since 1955, only three Tours de France have taken part with no Brits. They were 1976, 2004 and 2005.
There’s a great book by William Fotheringham called Roule Britannia which details all of the British Tour de France riders up until roughly the Armstrong era in the early 00s. It perfectly describes the plucky Brits who gave it a go with limited success over the years. I believe the updated 2012 edition may include Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins’ successes too.
Below is a run-down of all 67 riders, the years they’ve taken part, their best GC result and the odd interesting titbit.
I’ve also covered the British riders to have taken part in the Giro d’Italia.
British cyclist in the Tour de France list
1930s
Charles Holland (1937)
Best finish: DNF, 1937
Bill Burl (1937)
Best finish: DNF, 1937
1950s
Dave Bedwell (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Tony Hoar (1955)
Best finish: 69th, 1955
Stan Jones (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Fred Krebs (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Bob Maitland (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Ken Mitchell (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Bernard Pusey (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Ian Steel (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Bevis Wood (1955)
Best finish: DNF, 1955
Brian Robinson (1955-1961)
Best finish: 14th, 1956
Stage Wins: 2
Stan Brittain (1958, 1960-1961)
Best finish: 66th, 1958
Ron Coe (1958, 1961)
Best finish: DNF, 1958/1961
John Andrews (1959, 1960)
Best finish: DNF, 1959/1960
Tony Hewson (1959)
Best finish: DNF, 1959
Victor Sutton (1959, 1960)
Best finish: 37th, 1959
1960s
John Kennedy (1960)
Best finish: DNF, 1960
Harry Reynolds (1960)
Best finish: DNF, 1960
Norman Sheil (1960)
Best finish: DNF, 1960
Tom Simpson (1960-1962, 1964-1967)
Best finish: 6th, 1962
Days in Yellow:
Vin Denson (1961, 1964-1968)
Best finish: 62nd, 1968
Albert Hitchen (1961, 1967)
Best finish: DNF, 1961/1967
Ken Laidlaw (1961)
Best finish: 65th, 1961
George O’Brien (1961)
Best finish: DNF, 1961
Peter Ryalls (1961)
Best finish: DNF, 1961
Sean Ryan (1961)
Best finish: DNF, 1961
Alan Ramsbottom (1962, 1963)
Best finish: 16th, 1963
Barry Hoban (1964, 1967-1975, 1977, 1978)
Best finish: 33rd, 1968
Stage Wins: 8
Michael Wright (1964, 1965, 1967-1969, 1972-1974)
Best finish: 24th, 1965
Stage Wins: 3
Peter Chisman (1967)
Best finish: DNF, 1967
Peter Hill (1967)
Best finish: DNF, 1967
Colin Lewis (1967, 1968)
Best finish: 84th, 1967
Arthur Metcalfe (1967, 1968)
Best finish: 69th, 1967
Robert Addy (1968)
Best finish: DNF, 1968
John Clarey (1968)
Best finish: 63rd, 1968
Derek Green (1968)
Best finish: DNF, 1969
Derek Harrison (1968, 1969)
Best finish: 32nd, 1969
Hugh Porter (1968)
Best finish: DNF, 1968
1970s
Bill Nickson (1977)
Best finish: DNF, 1977
Paul Sherwen (1978-1982, 1984, 1985)
Best finish: 70th, 1978
1980s
Graham Jones (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987)
Best finish: 20th, 1981
Robert Millar (1983-1993)
Best finish: 4th, 1984
Overall Polka Dot Jersey: 1984
Stage Wins: 3
Sean Yates (1984-1995)
Best finish: 45th, 1989
Days in Yellow: 1
Stage Wins: 1
Adrian Timmis (1987)
Best finish: 70th, 1987
Paul Watson (1987)
Best finish: DNF, 1987
Malcolm Elliott (1987, 1988)
Best finish: 90th, 1988
1990s
Max Sciandri (1990, 1995-1998)
Best finish: 47th, 1995
Stage Wins: 1
In 1990, Max Sciandri raced as Italian
Chris Boardman (1994-1999)
Best finish: 39th, 1996
Days in Yellow: 6
Stage Wins: 3
2000s
David Millar (2000-2003, 2006-2013)
Best finish: 55th, 2003
Days in Yellow: 3
Stage Wins: 4 + 1 team time trial
Sir Bradley Wiggins (2006, 2007, 2009-2012)
Best finish: 1st, 2012
Overall Yellow Jersey: 2012
Days in Yellow: 14
Stage Wins: 2
Mark Cavendish (2007-2018, 2021)
Best finish: 128th, 2009/2011
Overall Green Jersey: 2011
Days in Yellow: 1
Stage Wins: 30
Charly Wegelius (2007, 2009-10)
Best finish: 45th, 2007
Geraint Thomas (2007, 2010, 2011, 2013-2019, 2021-2022)
Best finish: 1st, 2018
Overall Yellow Jersey: 2018
Days in Yellow: 15
Stage Wins: 3
Chris Froome (2008, 2012-2018, 2021-2022)
Best finish: 1st, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017
Overall Yellow Jersey: 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017
Overall Polka Dot Jersey: 2015
Days in Yellow: 59
Stage Wins: 7
In 2008, Chris Froome raced as Kenyan
2010s
Steve Cummings (2010, 2012, 2015-2017, 2019)
Best finish: 86th, 2015
Stage Wins: 2
Jeremy Hunt (2010)
Best finish: 160th, 2010
Daniel Lloyd (2010)
Best finish: 161st, 2010
Ben Swift (2011, 2017)
Best finish: 83rd, 2017
Ian Stannard (2013, 2015-2016)
Best finish: 128th, 2015
Pete Kennaugh (2013, 2015)
Best finish: 77th, 2013
Simon Yates (2014-2015, 2017, 2019, 2021)
Best finish: 7th, 2017
Overall White Jersey: 2017
Luke Rowe (2015-2022)
Best finish: 128th, 2018
Alex Dowsett (2015, 2019)
Best finish: 151st, 2019
Adam Yates (2015-2016, 2018-2020, 2022)
Best finish: 4th, 2016
Overall White Jersey: 2016
Dan McLay (2016-2017, 2021)
Best finish: 170th, 2016
Scott Thwaites (2017)
Best finish: 107th, 2017
2020s
Connor Swift (2020-2022)
Best finish: 89th, 2021
Hugh Carthy (2020)
Best finish: 37th, 2020
Tao Geoghegan Hart (2021)
Best finish: 60th, 2021
Mark Donovan (2021)
Best finish: 45th, 2021
Fred Wright (2021-2022)
Best finish: 96th, 2021
Tom Pidcock (2022)
Best finish: TBC, 2022
Owain Doull
Best finish: TBC, 2022
British winners of Tour de France
Bradley Wiggins (2012)
Chris Froome (2013, 2015-2017)
Geraint Thomas (2018)
