How is the winner of a multiday stage race decided?

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Olympic road cycling — cycling Individual Neutral Athlete Gleb Syritsa, a Russian passport holder, cycling past Les Invalides during the men's road cycling individual time trial at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In a multiday cycling stage race, the overall winner is the cyclist who has the lowest cumulative time for the entire race at the conclusion of the final stage.1

While individual stages are won by the first rider to cross the finish line on a given day, the race leader—often identified by a special garment like the yellow jersey—is determined by the total elapsed time across all completed stages.1

To achieve this, riders rely on their teams for tactical support, such as drafting to conserve energy, providing mechanical assistance, and controlling the pace of the peloton to protect the team leader from rivals. Although bonus seconds may be awarded to the top finishers of specific stages or at designated sprint sites, these deductions are applied to the rider's overall cumulative time, further influencing the general classification.1