Cycling News, in their recap of today’s stage, offered this brief history of race leaders who deferred wearing the yellow jersey for a day:

Article 10 of the Tour De France rules states, “The wearing of the leader’s yellow (and all others) is mandatory from the signing in before the stage until after the press conference after the stage.” This kind of episode has happened in the past history of Le Tour, most notably three times in the last 35 years. In 1971, Eddy Merckx refused to wear the maillot jaune when his rival Luis Oca?a crashed out of the Tour during a torrential downpour on the Col de Mente. Nine years later, Joop Zoetemelk wouldn’t don the maillot jaune for a day when he inherited it upon the abandon of Bernard Hinault in 1980. 11 years later, it was Greg LeMond’s turn, as he also refused to put on his inherited maillot jaune because race leader Rolf Sorensen was forced to abandon due to a broken collarbone from a crash.

Posted on 6 July 2005