Tour de France points available for harder climbs. The classification was preceded by the "meilleur grimpeur" () which was awarded by the organising newspaper "l'Auto" to a cyclist who completed each race. The classification awarded no jersey to the leader until the 1975 Tour de France, when the organizers decided to award a distinctive white jersey with red dots to the leader. The climbers' jersey is worn by the rider who, at the start of each stage, has the largest number of climbing points. If a rider leads two or more of classifications, the climbers' jersey is worn by the rider in second,
1994 Tour de France who then successfully defended the lead through the Alps and Pyrenees and to the Tour's finish in Paris. Indurain became the third rider to win four consecutive Tours de France. In the race's other classifications, rider Djamolidine Abdoujaparov won the points classification, Richard Virenque of the team won the mountains classification, rider Marco Pantani won the youth classification for the best rider aged 26 or under in the general classification after having finished third overall, and Eros Poli of the team won the combativity classification. Festina-Lotus won the team classification, which ranked each of the twenty teams contesting the race