[2] After the 1991 Giro d'Italia and the Dauphiné Libéré, the Tour organiser gave six additional wildcards.

[4] The average age of riders in the race was 28.30 years,[5] ranging from the 21-year-old Dimitri Zhdanov (Panasonic–Sportlife) to the 36-year-old Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (Z).

[8] The Guardian's Stephen Bierley wrote that "it is excruciatingly difficult to make out a strong case for the Californian not to finish first in Paris".

[8] As had become the norm for LeMond, his early season results had been disappointing, since he chose to use those races as preparation for the Tour instead of trying to be competitive.

[8] Winner of the 1990 Giro d'Italia, he had finished the Italian Grand Tour fourth this year.

In the 1990 Tour de France, he had finished seventh overall and won two stages, including one to the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez.

His strong abilities in individual time trials were counted as an advantage, having won one of them in the previous year's Tour.

However, his tendency to experience one day of bad form in every Tour he had competed in so far was considered to be the major weakness he had to overcome.

Since his breakthrough performance in 1990, he had won the Milan–San Remo one-day race and finished second at the Giro d'Italia.

[9] Laurent Fignon (Castorama–Raleigh), who had won the race in 1983 and 1984, had, like LeMond, retired from the Giro d'Italia and experienced an early season without major results.

[8] Stephen Roche (Tonton Tapis–GB), winner in 1987, had won the Critérium International earlier in the season, but having finished the Tour in 1990 only 44th, was considered to mainly compete for stage wins.

[8] Other names listed as possible contenders for overall victory were Steve Bauer and Andrew Hampsten of Motorola, Raúl Alcalá (PDM–Concorde–Ultima), Gert-Jan Theunisse (TVM–Sanyo), Steven Rooks (Buckler–Colnago–Decca), Charly Mottet (RMO), and Jean-François Bernard (Banesto).

[9] Bookmaker William Hill listed LeMond at 2-1 odds, followed by Bugno at 7–2, Breukink and Chiappucci at 6–1, and Delgado at 10–1.

[8] Olaf Ludwig (Panasonic–Sportlife), who had won the points classification the year before, was again considered the favourite for it going into the 1991 Tour.

[9] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,115 m (6,939 ft) at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage 13.

[17] After the eleventh stage, there was a rest day, on which the cyclists were transferred from Nantes to Pau, by airplane.

A group escaped with some strong outsiders: Luc Leblanc, Charly Mottet and Pascal Richard.

Mottet won the stage, and Leblanc became the new leader in the general classification, with LeMond now in second place.

The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and wore a white jersey with red polka dots.