<P> The Tour has been won four times by a racer who led the general classification on the first stage and held the lead all the way to Paris . Maurice Garin did it during the Tour 's very first edition , 1903 ; he repeated the feat the next year , but the results were nullified as a response to widespread cheating . Ottavio Bottechia completed a GC start - to - finish sweep in 1924 . In 1928 , Nicolas Frantz also led the GC for the entire race , and the final podium was made up of three riders from his Alcyon -- Dunlop team . 1935 , Belgian Romain Maes took the lead in the first stage , and never gave it away . There have been four tours in which a racer has taken over the GC lead on the second stage and held the lead all the way to Paris . After dominating the ITT during Stage 1B of the 1961 Tour de France Jacques Anquetil held the Maillot Jaune from the first day all the way to Paris . </P>
who led the tour de france from start to finish
Maurice Garin Ottavio Bottechia Nicolas Frantz Romain Maes