Who was the first Italian cyclist to win the Tour de France?

Ottavio Bottecchia was the first Italian cyclist to win the Tour de France.

He achieved the milestone in 1924, winning the race’s 18th edition. Bottecchia took the opening stage and then held the yellow jersey from the first day through the finish in Paris. That combination made him not only Italy’s first Tour winner but also the first rider to lead the entire event from start to finish.

The 1924 race covered 5,425 kilometres across 15 stages. Bottecchia finished ahead of Luxembourg’s Nicolas Frantz and Belgium’s Lucien Buysse. His victory helped establish Italy as a major force in Tour history, a status later reinforced by champions such as Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi.

Bottecchia successfully defended his title in 1925, becoming the first Italian to win the Tour twice. He is sometimes confused with Coppi or Bartali because those riders became iconic figures of Italian cycling, but both won their first Tours later: Coppi in 1949 and Bartali in 1938. Bottecchia’s breakthrough came a generation earlier.