Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) won the overall general classification, and became the first British rider to win the Tour.

BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen, in fifth place overall, won the young rider classification.

[18][19] The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin–Sharp), Fränk Schleck (RadioShack–Nissan), Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel–Euskadi), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto–Belisol), Tony Martin (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step), Denis Menchov (Team Katusha), Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank).

[11] The 2011 Tour winner Evans came back from an illness earlier in the season to win the two-day Critérium International and place third at the Dauphiné.

[14] The sprinters considered favourites for the points classification and wins in bunch sprint finishes were Mark Cavendish (Team Sky), André Greipel (Lotto–Belisol), Matthew Goss (Orica–GreenEDGE), Peter Sagan (Liquigas–Cannondale) and Marcel Kittel (Argos–Shimano).

[22] Goss was second to Cavendish at the world championships and was the new sprint leader of his team, although he had only one win in the year up to the Tour.

[33] The entire route of the race was accidentally published on the ASO website on 10 October 2011, eight days before the official presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

[36] Due to a clash with the start of the Olympics at the end of July, the Tour began a week earlier than usual.

[42] The Col du Grand Colombier, in the Alps, was included for the first time,[35] and was among six hors catégorie (English: beyond category) rated climbs in the race.

[29] The highest point of elevation in the race was the 2,115 m (6,939 ft)-high Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage sixteen.

[46] The next stage was won by Mark Cavendish from a bunch sprint finish in Tournai, Belgium, with Sagan taking the green jersey.

[47] Stage three, the first in France, saw Sagan win again, crossing the finish line with a comfortable margin on the short steep climb in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

[51] In stage seven, the first at altitude, the last of the day's breakaway riders were caught with 1.5 km (0.9 mi) remaining, on the final climb to La Planche des Belles Filles.

A select group of five – Wiggins and his compatriot and teammate Chris Froome, Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) – then pulled clear in the final kilometre.

[53] The eighth stage saw breakaway rider Thibaut Pinot attack a reduced break on the final climb, the Col de la Croix, and solo to the finish in Porrentruy, Switzerland, taking the victory by margin of 26 seconds.

The Col du Grand Colombier broke apart a 25-rider breakaway, leaving a small group to contest the finish at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine; Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) claimed the stage win and the polka dot jersey.

A number of attacks followed, until Team Europcar's Pierre Rolland escaped with 10 km (6.2 mi) to go and took the win at the Les Sybelles ski resort.

Evans was not in the leading contenders group and, due to the time lost, he dropped from second to fourth overall, over three minutes in arrears.

[57] In stage twelve, a large breakaway formed 20 km (12.4 mi) in, before later reducing to five riders across the Col du Granier.

They stayed together until the finish, where, with a kilometre remaining, David Millar (Garmin–Sharp) escaped to take victory, closely followed by Jean-Christophe Péraud (Ag2r–La Mondiale).

As the peloton (the main group) passed the Mur de Péguère, a large number of riders suffered tyre punctures; it was later discovered that the race course had been sabotaged with carpet tacks.

[62] In the final stage in the Pyrenees, the seventeenth, after a number of attacks on the leading group containing the overall contenders, Alejandro Valverde moved clear over the hors categorie Port de Balès.

[63] In the following stage, six riders from a breakaway were caught on the finishing straight in Brive-la-Gaillarde by the head of the chasing peloton, with Cavendish taking the victory ahead of Matthew Goss and Sagan respectively.

[67] During the race's first rest day, the team hotel of the Cofidis squad, in Bourg-en-Bresse, was searched by French police and gendarmerie.

[68] The second rest day was marked by a positive drugs test by Fränk Schleck, the third-placed rider from the 2011 Tour.

[69] In July 2014, Denis Menchov was retroactively disqualified from the race by cycling's governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale, for "abnormalities in his biological passport".

[74][75][a] In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "made the greatest effort and who has demonstrated the best qualities of sportsmanship".

[74] At the conclusion of the Tour, Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank) won the overall super-combativity award,[67] again, decided by a jury.

[77] There were also two special awards each with a prize of €5,000,[78] the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer in stage eleven,[b] and the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, given to the first rider to pass Goddet's memorial at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet in stage sixteen.

[57][80] Riders from the ProTeams competing individually, as well as for their teams and nations, for points that contributed towards the World Tour rankings.