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This page explains what governing bodies, standards bodies and road authorities publish. It is not a substitute for cycle training from a qualified instructor, for a qualified bike mechanic, or for medical advice.
The UCI's Part 2 has been amended since the 1 July 2025 version we read (a Japan Cycling Federation edition lists changes applying on 1 November 2025, 1 January 2026 and 19 October 2026). The race's own regulations and the commissaires decide on the day. Results of 2026 races are for the events section, not this page.
What counts as a stage race
Under article 2.6.001, a stage race runs over at least two days and has a general classification on time, made up of road race stages and time trial stages. A team time trial stage must be held in the first third of the race (article 2.6.003). A prologue is an individual time trial of no more than 8 km, or under 4 km in elite women's and junior races; it counts towards the general classification and counts as a race day (article 2.6.006).
How long, how far
| Rule | Article | What it says (1 July 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Tour duration | 2.6.007 | 15 to 23 days, counting race days, any prologue and rest days. Other WorldTour durations are set by the Professional Cycling Council. |
| Distant starts | 2.6.007 | Every four years a WorldTour organiser may ask for one extra day to start in a non-adjacent territory or one needing a long transfer. |
| New races | 2.6.007 | New men's ProSeries stage races: 6 days in Europe, 8 outside. New women's class 1 and 2: 6 days. New junior: 4 days. Exemptions possible. |
| Stage length, men | 2.6.008 | Maximum 240 km in men's elite WorldTour and continental stage races; time trial stages, individual or team, maximum 60 km. |
| Longer stages | 2.6.009 | With a waiver, men's elite races of 10 days or more may include up to two stages over 240 km. |
| Stage length, women | 2.6.008 | Women's WorldTour stages maximum 160 km, with an average daily maximum of 140 km. |
| Half-stages | 2.6.010 | Two stages in one day are forbidden in the UCI WorldTour. |
| Grand Tour total | 2.6.011 | Maximum 3,500 km. |
| Rest days | 2.6.012 | Races over 10 days need at least one rest day after at least 5 days of racing. Grand Tours have two, evenly spread. A transfer is not a rest day without a UCI derogation. |
Riders must complete the whole distance of every stage to be classified and to stay in the race (article 2.6.008). A rider who abandons may not ride any other event while the stage race is still running unless the UCI grants an exception (article 2.6.026).
Classifications
Classifications may be based only on sporting criteria (article 2.6.013). The individual general classification on time and the team general classification on time are compulsory in the men's WorldTour, the Women's WorldTour and women's ProSeries, and men's ProSeries and class 1 and 2 stage races. The team classification adds each team's three best individual times on each stage (article 2.6.016).
If two riders are level on time in the general classification, article 2.6.015 breaks the tie in three steps: first by adding back the fractions of a second recorded in individual time trials, including the prologue; then by adding up their stage placings; then by their placing on the last stage.
Time bonuses
Article 2.6.019 allows bonuses at up to three intermediate sprints per stage, worth 3, 2 and 1 seconds (doubled if a stage has only one sprint and the race's technical guide says so), and at stage finishes, worth 10, 6 and 4 seconds, or 6, 4 and 2 on half-stages. Bonuses count only in the individual general classification on time and are not given in individual or team time trials (article 2.6.021).
Jerseys
Article 2.6.018 limits leader's jerseys to four in the men's WorldTour, the Women's WorldTour, and men's ProSeries and class 1 events, and up to six elsewhere; only the general classification jersey is compulsory. When one rider leads several classifications, the jersey worn follows a fixed priority: general classification by time first, then points, then the climbers' classification, then the others, such as young rider or combined, in an order the organiser sets.
Crashes near the finish: the 3 km rule
The 3 km rule is article 2.6.027 in the 2025 edition. After a duly noted incident in the last three kilometres of a road stage, such as a crash involving several riders, a puncture or a mechanical problem, the riders affected are given the time of the group they were in when it happened. Their placing is the order in which they actually cross the line. A rider who cannot finish after such a crash is placed last on the stage with the time of their group. The article does not apply to hill-top finishes, and the commissaires decide independently.
The text was changed on 12 June 2024, 1 January 2025 and 1 July 2025. For stages expected to end in a bunch sprint, the UCI may, on application, extend the distance from 3 km to 5 km, mainly for safety. Since 1 January 2025, article 2.6.027 bis has required the timing provider to put a timing tape at the 3 km point, or the extended distance, as well as at the finish.
The article number has moved. Older press, including Cycling Weekly's explainer, cites the rule as article 2.6.026; the 2025 edition numbers it 2.6.027, and 2.6.026 is now the rule on riders who abandon.
Time limits
A rider who finishes outside the time limit in the race's own regulations is disqualified (article 2.6.032). Each race sets its limit according to the character of the stage. Only in unforeseeable cases of force majeure may the commissaires extend it, and riders reinstated that way lose their points in the secondary classifications. Since 1 January 2025, article 2.6.032 bis has let the president of the commissaires' panel set a maximum time to reach the line where stage times were taken before the finish after an incident.
The Grand Tour jerseys
Jersey colours are set by organisers, not by the UCI. The Tour de France organiser's own website could not be reached for our research, so the Tour colours below are as described by the L'Etape series, which is linked to the organiser; the Giro and Vuelta colours are from Wikipedia, because the official Giro page returned an error.
| Classification | Tour de France (L'Etape) | Giro d'Italia (Wikipedia) | Vuelta a Espana (Wikipedia) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall leader | Yellow, since 1919 | Pink (maglia rosa) | Red since 2010; earlier yellow, then gold (a 2025 Ara article says the leader of the first Vuelta, in 1935, wore orange) |
| Points | Green, since 1953 | Cyclamen (maglia ciclamino), brought back in 2017 | Green |
| Mountains | Red polka dots, since 1975 | Blue (maglia azzurra) | White with blue dots, since 2010 |
| Best young rider | White, reintroduced in 1975 | White (maglia bianca), under 25 | White, since 2019, when the combination classification ended |
The Tour's young rider age limit is worded differently by different sources. The L'Etape page says riders aged 25 or under. A 2011 blog, read only in a search summary, said under 25, which would be a year younger. We could not check the Tour's current regulations.
The first yellow jersey is also disputed. The L'Etape page dates the yellow jersey from 1919. Search summaries of press histories, which we could not open, report that Philippe Thys said in a 1956 interview that he had been offered a yellow jersey in 1913. The 1919 date is the one given as official in those same summaries; neither account was confirmed from the organiser.
Sources
- UCI Cycling Regulations Part 2, Road Races (version on 1 July 2025, document E0725)
- Cycling Weekly, explaining the three-kilometre rule
- L'Etape series (ASO), the colourful history behind the Tour de France jerseys
- Blog post on the yellow jersey (2011, search summary)
- Wikipedia, List of Giro d'Italia classification winners (secondary)
- Wikipedia, Vuelta a Espana (secondary)
- Ara, Toni Padilla, on the organiser of the first Tour of Spain (26 August 2025)
- Rouleur, the yellow jersey at the Tour de France: a brief history (search summary)