2001 Tour de France climbs as either hors catégorie, first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists to reach the top of these climbs, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification and was identified with a polkadot jersey. The fourth individual classification was the young rider classification, which was marked by the white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years of age were eligible. For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per
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