The 1990 Tour de France was the 77th edition of the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
, one of
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
's
Grand Tours
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...
. It took place between 30 June and 22 July 1990. The race consisted of 21 stages and a prologue. American
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...
() repeated his 1989 victory in the
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...
, ahead of
Claudio Chiappucci
Claudio Chiappucci (born 28 February 1963 in Uboldo, Varese, Lombardy) is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 19 ...
() and
Erik Breukink
Erik Breukink (born 1 April 1964) is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, finished 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France. Most recently, he served as the manager o ...
() in second and third place respectively.
The Tour started with a prologue
time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...
at the
Futuroscope
Futuroscope, or Parc du Futuroscope (), formerly known as Planète Futuroscope, is a French theme park based upon multimedia, cinematographic futuroscope and audio-visual techniques. It has several 3D cinemas and a few 4D cinemas along with ...
theme park, won by
Thierry Marie
Thierry Marie (born 25 June 1963) is a French former cyclist. Marie often performed well in prologue stages: he won the Tour de France prologue three times in his career, and because of that he wore the yellow jersey in those three years, for sev ...
(). On the first stage, a four-rider group escaped and gained more than ten minutes on the rest of the field.
Steve Bauer
Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de Fr ...
() became the new leader of the race, but faltered in the Alps as
Ronan Pensec
Ronan Pensec (born 10 July 1963) is a former French professional road bicycle racer. He was professional from 1985 to 1997.
Racing career
Pensec was born in Douarnenez, Finistère, France. He became professional in 1985 with the Peugeot cyclin ...
(), also from the escape group, took over the race lead. Two days later, during a mountain time trial to
Villard-de-Lans
Villard-de-Lans (; oc, Lo Vilar de Lanç) is a commune in the Isère department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. The town is also situated in the Vercors Massif. It was the administrative centre of the eponymous ca ...
, the lead passed to Claudio Chiappucci, who had been in the same group as well. Chiappucci fought to hang on to his advantage over defending champion LeMond, but was overtaken in the final time trial on the penultimate stage. It was LeMond's third Tour victory, a feat he achieved without winning an individual stage.
The
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
was won by
Olaf Ludwig (), while the
mountains classification
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
was won by
Thierry Claveyrolat
Thierry Claveyrolat (31 March 1959 – 7 September 1999) was a French road bicycle racer. He was King of the Mountains in the 1990 Tour de France.
Racing career
Claveyrolat grew up in the shadow of the Alps in the Isère region near Grenoble ...
().
Gilles Delion
Gilles Delion (born 5 August 1966) is a French former road bicycle racer. His greatest achievements include winning the Giro di Lombardia in 1990 and the young rider classification in the 1990 Tour de France.
Early in his career, Delion was se ...
() was the
best young rider, while
Eduardo Chozas
Eduardo Chozas Olmo (born 5 July 1960 in Madrid) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won four stages at the Tour de France and three in the Giro d'Italia. He was also chosen as the most combative rider of 1990 Tour de Fran ...
() was awarded the
super-combativity prize. , the team of race winner LeMond, won the
team classification The team classification is one of the different rankings for which competitors can compete in a multiple stage cycling race. It differs from the other usual rankings (general classification, points, king of the mountain and best young rider competi ...
.
The 1990 race was the first edition in which riders from
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
nations participated. Ludwig became the first rider from
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and
Dimitri Konyshev
Dimitri Konyshev (Russian Дмитрий Борисович Конышев; born 18 February 1966 in Gorky) is a Russian former road bicycle racer. During the 1989 World Championship he can be seen in a rather famous photo of cycling history s ...
() was the first Soviet rider to win a stage at the Tour.
Teams
![Futuroscope France 2001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Futuroscope_France_2001.jpg)
The 1990 Tour had a starting field of 22 teams of 9 cyclists.
Of those 22, 16 teams qualified based on the
FICP
The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
The UCI issues racing ...
team rankings, while six teams were given
wildcards. Notable teams who failed to qualify and were not invited were
BH–Amaya Seguros and
Café de Colombia
Café de Colombia () was a Colombian based professional road bicycle racing Cycling team active from 1983 to 1990. The team was sponsored by the Colombian coffee growers Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia.
History
The team came into ...
with
Luis Herrera, a double former winner of the
mountains classification
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
.
The largest numbers of riders from a nation came from France (35), with the next largest coming from Belgium (27), Spain (25), Italy (22), Netherlands (19), Colombia (14) and Switzerland (13).
For the first time, riders from the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
competed in the Tour, ten in total, enabled by the changing political climate brought about by the
revolutions in the Eastern Bloc countries. While several riders from
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
nations had transferred to established Western teams, the team was made up of exclusively Soviet cyclists. Three more teams included cyclists of a single nationality: (Belgian), (Colombian), and (Italian).
Of the 198 cyclists starting the race, 58 were riding the Tour de France for the first time. The average age of riders in the race was 27.77 years, ranging from the 21-year-old
Antonio Miguel Díaz () to the 35-year-old
Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle
Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (born 25 August 1954) is a former French professional road racing cyclist who was a specialist at one-day classic cycling races. He raced from 1977 to 1995, one of the best French riders of a generation that included Ber ...
(). The cyclists had the youngest average age while the riders on had the oldest. The presentation of the teams – where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place at the lakeside arena at
Futuroscope
Futuroscope, or Parc du Futuroscope (), formerly known as Planète Futuroscope, is a French theme park based upon multimedia, cinematographic futuroscope and audio-visual techniques. It has several 3D cinemas and a few 4D cinemas along with ...
theme park, north of the city of
Poitiers
Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...
, west-central France, which later hosted the
prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...
stage.
The teams entering the race were:
Qualified teams
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Invited teams
*
*
*
*
*
*
Pre-race favourites
In the lead up to the Tour, the main contenders for the
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...
were
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...
(),
Laurent Fignon
Laurent Patrick Fignon (; 12 August 1960 – 31 August 2010) was a French professional road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and the Giro d'Italia in 1989. He is former FICP World No. 1 in 1989. He nearly captured t ...
(),
Pedro Delgado
Pedro Delgado Robledo (; born 15 April 1960), also known as Perico (), is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989.
Delgado is 171 centimetres tall (5& ...
(), and
Stephen Roche
Stephen Roche (; born 28 November 1959) is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de Fr ...
(). All four were former Tour winners. They were the preeminent
stage race
A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...
specialists, with each one focusing their season around the Tour.
The leading favourite was two-time Tour winner LeMond, who returned to defend his title. After winning the Tour in
1989 and the
World Championship road race, LeMond had not taken another victory. He had finished
Paris–Nice
Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...
more than eight minutes behind the winner and struggled at the
Giro d'Italia, where he placed 105th. He was considered overweight due to lack of training
and had been suffering from
mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adult ...
. Encouraging signs came during the
Tour de Suisse
The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...
, just weeks before the start of the Tour de France, where he finished tenth. LeMond did not consider himself a favourite for victory going into the race, but declared that he would be disappointed should he not finish on the podium. For the first time at a Tour, LeMond had the support of his whole team, including
Robert Millar
Philippa York (born Robert Millar on 13 September 1958) is a Scottish journalist and former professional road racing cyclist.
York, who competed when known as Robert Millar, is one of Britain's most successful cyclists. York won the "King of ...
, who had won the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and placed second at the Tour de Suisse just prior to the start of the Tour.
The sport newspaper ''
L'Équipe
''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, ...
'' was expecting a close battle between LeMond and Fignon, who had finished in second place in 1989, only eight seconds behind LeMond.
Fignon had previously won the Tour in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
and
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
.
A crash on stage 5 of the Giro had forced Fignon to abandon the race he had won
in 1989. He returned to racing at the
Route du Sud
The Route d'Occitanie is a road bicycle race with 4 stages held annually in Southern France. It was first held in 1977 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is usually held a week before the Tour de France ...
and later competed in the
Tour de Luxembourg
The Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.Pro race, the highest rating below the World Tour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the ...
as preparation for the Tour de France and had apparently overcome his injuries. Writing in his autobiography, Fignon later admitted that his crashes and poor results earlier in the season had left him "a tired man, physically and mentally" and that he entered the Tour with "few illusions about what was coming". Fignon's squad was not seen as the strongest, but they were dedicated to him and managed by
Cyrille Guimard
Cyrille Guimard (born 20 January 1947) is a French former professional road racing cyclist who became a directeur sportif and television commentator. Three of his riders, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe, won the Tour de Franc ...
, who had led multiple riders to Tour victories.
Delgado, the winner of the
1988 Tour, was in good form after placing second at the
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...
earlier in the year. He was part of the strong team, with
Miguel Induráin
Miguel Induráin Larraya (; born 16 July 1964) is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. Induráin won five Tours de France from 1991 Tour de France, 1991 to 1995 Tour de France, 1995, the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five- ...
to help him in the mountains.
Roche, winner of the
1987 edition, was on the start line, but still troubled by recurring knee pain. His best result of the season had been a second place behind Induráin at Paris–Nice.
Erik Breukink
Erik Breukink (born 1 April 1964) is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, finished 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France. Most recently, he served as the manager o ...
was among several other riders named as favourites.
Sean Kelly, was the record winner of the
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
and appeared in good form, having just won the Tour de Suisse, but was thought to be working for Breukink. Spanish newspaper ''
El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
'' considered Delgado to be the top favourite, but also named Fignon, LeMond, and
Gianni Bugno
Gianni Bugno (; born 14 February 1964) is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Biography
Bugno was a versatile rider, able to do well in different types of races. He won numerous stages in the Tour de France, and the Milan–S ...
(), who had won the Giro earlier that year, as potential winners. ''
Mundo Deportivo
''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona.
History and profile
''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1 ...
'' also named
Charly Mottet
Charly Mottet (born 16 December 1962 in Valence, Drôme) is a French former professional cyclist (1983 to 1994). He was one of the best French road cyclists of his era.
His daughter, Eva Mottet, was also a road racing cyclist. She competed as a ...
() among the favourites. His best result that season had been a second place behind Bugno at the Giro. Also on the start line was
Marco Giovannetti
Marco Giovannetti (born 4 April 1962) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer and Olympic gold medalist who won the Vuelta a España in 1990. He has also won stages at the Tour de Suisse and the Giro d'Italia.
Giovannetti was bor ...
, winner of the Vuelta and third at the Giro. According to cycling journalist Geoffrey Nicholson, his ability to perform in another three-week
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
was doubted from the start, and it was agreed that he only participated to ensure a wildcard entry for his team,
Seur
Seur () is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department in central France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department
The following is a list of the 267 communes of the Loir-et-Cher department of France.
The communes coo ...
.
Gert-Jan Theunisse
Gert-Jan Theunisse (born 14 January 1963) is a Dutch former road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 edition of the Clásica San Sebastián one-day race. In the 1989 Tour de France, he won the King of the Mountains competition.
Biography
Theuniss ...
(), fourth the previous year and winner of the mountains classification, did not start due to two positive
doping tests earlier in the season.
Route and stages
![Col du Tourmalet - panoramio - Fuchs Robert (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Col_du_Tourmalet_-_panoramio_-_Fuchs_Robert_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The 1990 Tour de France started on 30 June, and had two rest days. The race had its ''
Grand Départ'' (opening stages) in and around the Futuroscope theme park, whose owners paid around $1 million for the right to host the beginning of the race. After two stages, both held on the same day, also at Futuroscope, the Tour took a clockwise route around France. The race traveled north towards the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
and then east to
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
. A plane transfer on the first rest day brought the field to
Sarrebourg
Sarrebourg (; also , ; Lorraine Franconian: ; older la, Pons Saravi) is a commune of northeastern France.
In 1895 a Mithraeum was discovered at Sarrebourg at the mouth of the pass leading from the Vosges Mountains.
Geography
Sarrebourg is ...
on the border to Germany before the race turned south towards the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
. On the second rest day, the Tour remained in
Villard-de-Lans
Villard-de-Lans (; oc, Lo Vilar de Lanç) is a commune in the Isère department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. The town is also situated in the Vercors Massif. It was the administrative centre of the eponymous ca ...
. The race then turned south-west to the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
before turning north again towards Paris, ending with the ceremonial
Champs-Élysées stage.
Stage 5 from
Avranches
Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''.
History
By the end of the Roman period, t ...
to Rouen was the longest at . , this is the last time that a Tour de France stage exceeded . The shortest road stage was the tenth, from
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
to
Saint-Gervais, at . The
highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the
Col du Tourmalet
Col du Tourmalet (; elevation ) is one of the highest paved mountain passes in the French Pyrenees, in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. Sainte-Marie-de-Campan is at the foot on the eastern side and the ski station La Mongie two-thirds of ...
mountain pass on stage 16.
It was among five ''
hors catégorie
''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass.
The HC climb is the ...
'' (beyond category) rated climbs in the race.
Race overview
''Grand Départ'' at Futuroscope
![Thierry Marie (1993)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Thierry_Marie_%281993%29.jpg)
The prologue at Futuroscope was won by
Thierry Marie
Thierry Marie (born 25 June 1963) is a French former cyclist. Marie often performed well in prologue stages: he won the Tour de France prologue three times in his career, and because of that he wore the yellow jersey in those three years, for sev ...
(), a specialist in the discipline, who had also taken the first yellow jersey in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
. He recorded a time of 7:49 minutes, four seconds faster than LeMond and
Raúl Alcalá
Raúl Alcalá Gallegos (born 3 March 1964) is a former professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 1985 and 1999 and again in 2008 and 2010. As an amateur, Alcalá competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, fin ...
() in second and third respectively. Fignon finished in 15th place, 19 seconds slower than Marie, with Delgado in 26th place losing a further five seconds.
The first and the second stage were run on the same day, the second stage in the
team time trial
A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events).
The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ( ...
format. After just of the first stage,
Claudio Chiappucci
Claudio Chiappucci (born 28 February 1963 in Uboldo, Varese, Lombardy) is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 19 ...
() broke away from the field. He had won the mountain classifications at both Paris–Nice and the Giro d'Italia that year and aimed at getting the jersey early on in the Tour as well. He was joined in his breakaway by
Steve Bauer
Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de Fr ...
(),
Ronan Pensec
Ronan Pensec (born 10 July 1963) is a former French professional road bicycle racer. He was professional from 1985 to 1997.
Racing career
Pensec was born in Douarnenez, Finistère, France. He became professional in 1985 with the Peugeot cyclin ...
(), and
Frans Maassen
Franciscus ("Frans") Albertus Antonius Johannes Maassen (born 27 January 1965 in Haelen, Limburg) is a directeur sportif. He was a professional road racing cyclist between 1987 and 1995. He completed seven Tour de France stage races, including th ...
(). With the team time trial looming in the afternoon, the field allowed the break to draw out an advantage. Additionally, a blockade by sheep farmers delayed the
peloton
In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...
, the main field, and caused several crashes, including one involving Delgado. Chiappucci took the points at the mountain sprints, ensuring that he would wear the polka-dot jersey for the next stage. from the finish, the lead was still at 13 minutes. As Maassen took the stage victory ahead of Pensec, the four-man group still retained an advantage of 10:35 minutes over the rest of the field. Bauer took the lead in the general classification, having posted the fastest time in the prologue. Later in the day the team time trial was won by the team. Seven seconds slower, finished in second place. Fignon's Castorama squad finished fifth, 33 seconds slower than Panasonic, but 20 seconds faster than LeMond's Z team, who were seventh. In between them were 7-Eleven with yellow-jersey wearer Bauer, who retained his overall lead.
North-west
Stage 3 began with an early attack by Stephen Roche, who was followed by LeMond. This prompted the teams of Bauer and Delgado to give chase, and the field was back together after . At , Fignon
punctured a tyre, but he was able to rejoin shortly after. After the race was interrupted by another protest from sheep farmers, who had four fallen trees ready to block the road. The organisers received news of the blockade early and used a local youth on a motorcycle to lead the field through backstreets around the protest. The stage distance therefore increased by , with a total of of the race neutralised. With of the stage remaining,
Roque de la Cruz () became the first rider to abandon the Tour, following a crash which also brought down Fignon, who again had to chase in order to regain contact with the main group. At this point,
Moreno Argentin
Moreno Argentin (born 17 December 1960) is an Italian former professional cyclist (from 1981 to 1994) and race director.
Born in San Donà di Piave (Veneto), he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, and the Tour de Suisse. Know ...
() had already attacked and was building an advantage on the rest of the field. He also crashed, but was able to remount and continued to win the stage by 2:29 minutes. In the peloton,
Christophe Lavainne
Christophe Lavainne (born 22 December 1963 in Châteaudun, Eure-et-Loir) is a French former professional bicycle racer. Lavaine was a two time French national cyclo-cross champion, and won a stage in the 1987 Tour de France.
Major results Roa ...
() won the sprint and raised in arms in celebration, unaware that Argentin had already finished. Through obtaining bonuses at intermediate sprints,
Olaf Ludwig () took the lead in the points classification.
Stage 4 saw
Gilles Delion
Gilles Delion (born 5 August 1966) is a French former road bicycle racer. His greatest achievements include winning the Giro di Lombardia in 1990 and the young rider classification in the 1990 Tour de France.
Early in his career, Delion was se ...
() attack while
Gerard Rué () was greeting his family in his home town. Delion was caught by
Edwig Van Hooydonck (), but both were quickly brought back by the Panasonic team, who were working for Ludwig to win the stage. Next,
Søren Lilholt
Søren Lilholt (born 22 September 1965) is a Danish former racing cyclist. He rode in eight Grand Tours between 1987 and 1992 completing five of them. He also competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics. During the 1990 Tour de France he was involved in ...
() attacked and was later joined by
Kurt Steinmann () and
William Pulido (). The escapees enjoyed a maximum advantage of 45 seconds, but were caught with to go. later, the peloton passed through the narrow streets of Villechèrel, causing a crash and the field to split. Bugno, Delgado, and Fignon were caught out behind the incident. While Delgado and Bugno lost 21 seconds in the end, Fignon lost 44 seconds to his rivals in the general classification. At the finish, which for the first time was at
Mont-Saint-Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France.
The island lies approximately off the country's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is ...
, Ludwig opened his sprint too early, allowing
Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw (born 13 October 1965) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed ''The Lion of Flanders'', he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and No ...
(), who won the stage, and
Guido Bontempi
Guido Bontempi (born 12 January 1960 in Gussago) is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Bontempi's career highlights include winning the spring's classic Gent–Wevelgem two times (1984 and 1986) and a total of 16 stages in the Giro d'Italia ...
() to pass him. Robert Millar was caught up in a crash, losing nine minutes, effectively ruling him out from competing in the general classification.
Stage 5, by far the longest at , was run in wet weather. As the peloton sped up to catch an early breakaway, Fignon drifted backwards and ultimately abandoned the Tour at the first feeding station. After the breakaway was caught,
Gerrit Solleveld () attacked and stayed away, winning the stage 4:27 minutes ahead of Museeuw, who won the sprint of the field. Argentin, still bruised from his fall on stage 3 and another on stage 5, abandoned after the rest day.
North-east and Jura
During stage 6, Chiappucci sustained two punctured tyres, both times at the start of the two ascents of the day. This meant that he was unable to defend his lead in the mountain classification, and the polka-dot jersey went to
Dimitri Konyshev
Dimitri Konyshev (Russian Дмитрий Борисович Конышев; born 18 February 1966 in Gorky) is a Russian former road bicycle racer. During the 1989 World Championship he can be seen in a rather famous photo of cycling history s ...
(), who became the first Soviet rider to wear a leader's jersey at the Tour de France. Bugno attacked shortly behind the feed zone, leading to a number of reactions from the field, but after , the peloton was back together. A small group, containing Museeuw and
Viatcheslav Ekimov
Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov ( Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born 4 February 1966), nicknamed ''Eki'', is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the tit ...
(), among others, leapt away from the finish.
Jelle Nijdam
Jelle Nijdam (born 16 August 1963) is a Dutch former professional road cyclist. Nijdam turned professional after the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He participated in the Tour de France 10 times, winning six stages and wearing the yellow j ...
() accelerated from this group with to go and won the stage, ahead of
Jesper Skibby
Jesper Skibby (born 21 March 1964 in Silkeborg, Denmark) is a retired professional road racing cyclist. He won at least one stage at each of the major tours. He was one of the most popular in Denmark, not only because of his talent, but also bec ...
() and Museeuw.
![Raul ALCALA (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Raul_ALCALA_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Stage 7's individual time trial was run in changing conditions. While the early starters competed in the dry, the later riders rode on wet roads. Miguel Induráin set an early fast time and held the lead for most of the day. Greg LeMond started fast, but faded later on to eventually finish fifth. Alcalá, also a late starter, was the fastest rider, 1:24 ahead of Induráin's time. Bugno was third, ahead of Delgado. Of the riders from the stage-1 breakaway, Pensec was fastest, in seventh place. He remained second overall however, 17 seconds behind Bauer, who finished the time trial in 14th place, one place ahead of Chiappucci. Stephen Roche lost 3 minutes in the last alone, suffering from
hyperglycemia
Hyperglycemia is a condition in which an excessive amount of glucose circulates in the blood plasma. This is generally a blood sugar level higher than 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL), but symptoms may not start to become noticeable until even ...
. Likewise, Charly Mottet lost significant time, finishing 3½ minutes behind Alcalá. Alcalá moved into fifth place overall, still more than seven minutes behind Bauer.
Early during stage 8, a four-man breakaway went ahead, but was quickly caught. The speed of the peloton saw
Álvaro Pino
Álvaro Pino Couñago (born 17 August 1956) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Galicia who raced between 1981 through 1991 and is most famous for winning the overall title at the 1986 Vuelta a España over favorites Robert Millar ...
(), winner of the
1986 Vuelta a España
The 41st Edition ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 22 April to 13 May 1986. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Álvaro Pino of the ...
, abandon the race.
Michel Vermote () then attacked after on a section of cobbled road. His maximum lead was over 11 minutes, but after about on his own, he was brought back by the main field. In the final , a group of 13 riders escaped, including Ludwig and Museeuw. Ludwig judged his sprint well this time and beat Museeuw for the win. It was the first stage victory by a rider from
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and from the Eastern Bloc in the Tour de France.
Stage 9 headed into Switzerland and was the last day that featured rain, before temperatures began to rise significantly. An escape group went clear after , which included Frans Maassen, who was still in fourth place overall. This prompted Bauer's team to chase, bringing the group back after . At the Côte des Rousses, the first second-category climb of the Tour,
Massimo Ghirotto
Massimo Ghirotto (born 25 June 1961, in Boara Pisani) is an Italian former road bicycle racer.
Major results
;1987
:1st, Trofeo Baracchi
:1st, Trofeo Matteotti
:1st, Coppa Placci
:1st, Stage 10, Tour de Suisse
;1988
:1st, GP Industria & A ...
() and
Eduardo Chozas
Eduardo Chozas Olmo (born 5 July 1960 in Madrid) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won four stages at the Tour de France and three in the Giro d'Italia. He was also chosen as the most combative rider of 1990 Tour de Fran ...
() were out in front alone. On the same climb,
Jean-François Bernard
Jean-François Bernard (born 2 May 1962) is a French former professional road bicycle racer.
Career
He turned professional in 1984 for La Vie Claire, led by Bernard Hinault. He was seen as Hinault’s successor as a winner of stage races from ...
(), third in the 1987 Tour, fell behind and out of contention. The two escapees held on to their advantage into the finish town of Geneva, where Ghirotto edged out Chozas in the sprint.
Alps
![Ronan Pensec (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Ronan_Pensec_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Stage 10 was the first real test in the mountains, with a summit finish at the Saint Gervais-les-Baines ski resort on
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and i ...
. On the first climb of the day, the
Col de la Colombière
Col de la Colombière (elevation 1613 m) is a mountain pass in the Alps in the department of Haute-Savoie in France.
It connects Cluses in the Arve valley with Le Grand-Bornand in the Bourne valley. The road then leads further to Annecy ...
,
Omar Hernández () attacked, followed by
Thierry Claveyrolat
Thierry Claveyrolat (31 March 1959 – 7 September 1999) was a French road bicycle racer. He was King of the Mountains in the 1990 Tour de France.
Racing career
Claveyrolat grew up in the shadow of the Alps in the Isère region near Grenoble ...
(). As Hernández slowed, Claveyrolat overtook him and continued on alone, riding the rest of the stage on his own to take victory. He also took the lead in the mountains classification, which he would retain for the rest of the Tour. Behind him, Delgado attacked on the final climb with remaining, putting Bauer into difficulty. Pensec, who celebrated his 27th birthday, stayed with the other favourites and took over the yellow jersey. He led Chiappucci by 50 seconds, while Bauer fell back to third, 1:21 minutes adrift. Among the pre-race favourites, LeMond lost 19 seconds to Delgado, but finished with Bugno, Induráin, Alcalá, and Breukink. Bugno received a 20-second penalty for accepting food late in the stage, when it was no longer allowed.
On stage 11, the course ended with the final ascent to
L'Alpe d'Huez
L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Western Alps, in the commune of Huez, which is part of the department of Isère in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
It is part of ...
, considered one of the most iconic climbs in cycling. Two mountains had to be crossed beforehand: the
Col de la Madeleine
Col de la Madeleine (el. 1,993 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Alps in the department of Savoie in France which connects La Chambre in Maurienne with La Léchère in Tarentaise. The pass is closed from November to the beginning of June. It h ...
and the
Col du Glandon. Claveyrolat attacked again, early on during the ascent of the Madeleine, and gathered the mountain points at the summit. Mottet started to drop behind the group of favourites on the Madeleine, while Bernard retired. On the descent, Induráin got away but was overtaken by Claveyrolat on the climb of the Glandon. In between the climbs, at the feed zone, LeMond was involved in a crash, but able to carry on. On the Glandon, Delgado accelerated and only LeMond and Bugno were able to follow. Together they caught Induráin, who set the pace in the group through the ensuing valley and ensured that they reached Claveyrolat by the foot of the final climb. Shortly after the group began the ascent, Delgado attacked, with LeMond and Bugno following. As the pace slowed, Claveyrolat, Parra, and Breukink managed to catch back up. from the finish, Delgado lost contact with Bugno, who accelerated and took LeMond, Breukink, Claveyrolat, and Parra with him. It were Bugno and LeMond who were fastest along the finishing straight, with Bugno coming out on top to win the stage. Breukink finished third, one second behind LeMond in second place. Meanwhile, Millar paced Pensec up the climb, who finished 48 seconds behind Bugno and retained the race lead. Delgado lost forty seconds, while Induráin, exhausted by his work on the flat, lost 12 minutes on Alpe d'Huez, falling from contention. Chiappucci finished 1:48 minutes behind Bugno. This left Pensec first overall, 1:28 minutes ahead of Chiappucci, with LeMond up to third, but still 9:04 minutes behind his teammate. Alcalá had lost 5:41 minutes on Bugno, and therefore dropped to eighth place overall.
Pensec lost the yellow jersey the following day, at stage 12's mountain time trial to Villard-de-Lans. He finished almost three minutes slower than Chiappucci, who took the overall lead, now 1:17 minutes ahead of Pensec. The winner of the stage was Breukink, with Delgado in second place, thirty seconds slower. Delgado performed well despite problems with his rear wheel which forced him to change bikes within the last kilometre. Induráin produced another good performance, finishing third at 43 seconds. LeMond suffered during the second half of the climb and finished fifth, dropping to fourth in the general classification behind Breukink. Breukink was 6:55 minutes behind new leader Chiappucci, with LeMond a further 32 seconds adrift. In fifth place followed Delgado, now 9:02 minutes in arrears.
Massif Central transition
Stage 13 to
Saint-Etienne took place on
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...
, the French national holiday.
Phil Anderson () led down the descent from Villard-de-Lans, followed by Mottet, which prompted a reaction by the main field and both riders were brought back after . Several attempts to form lasting breakaways followed, but it took until the climb of the Côte d'Ardoix at for a 30-rider group to get away, including Pensec and Claveyrolat. Chiappucci, without the help of strong teammates, had to lead the chase himself, bringing back the breakaway from the finish. Just as the contact was made, a group of ten riders attacked, among them LeMond, Breukink, Induráin, and
Andrew Hampsten
Andrew Hampsten (born April 7, 1962) is an American former professional road bicycle racer who won the 1988 Giro d'Italia and the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 1992 Tour de France. Between 1986–1994 he finished in the Top 10 of eight Grand Tour ...
(). At the foot of the last climb of the day, the
Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, Delgado led a counter-attack with Bugno and
Marino Lejarreta
Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga (born 14 May 1957) is a retired Basque professional road racing cyclist. His biggest victory was capturing the 1982 Vuelta a España, a Grand Tour stage race, and he is the inaugural and record three-time winner of ...
(). Although Induráin dropped back to aid Delgado's chase, the LeMond group maintained an advantage of thirty seconds until the finish. Here, Chozas won the sprint from Breukink and Hampsten. A group containing Alcalá, Roche, and Parra lost 3:09 minutes. Chiappucci came in with the peloton, losing 4:53 minutes. Pensec dropped from second to fourth in the general classification, arriving 7:47 minutes after Chozas. Chiappucci now led the race by 2:02 minutes over Breukink, with LeMond third at 2:34.
![Marino Lejarreta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Marino_Lejarreta.jpg)
During the early part of stage 14,
Jean-Claude Colotti
Jean-Claude Colotti (born 1 July 1961) is a French former professional road bicycle racer (from 1986 to 1996). Colotti won a stage in the 1992 Tour de France. He was part of a breakaway that finished about fifteen minutes ahead of the peloton. Co ...
() was highly active. He joined an attack by teammate Claveyrolet at , before setting off on his own after a further unsuccessful attempt to form a breakaway. After , 17 more riders caught up to him.
Jean-Claude Bagot
Jean-Claude Bagot (born 9 March 1958) is a French former professional cyclist. He raced professionally between the years of 1983 and 1994. He is most known for winning one stage in the 1987 Giro d'Italia and winning the general classification ...
() then attacked from the lead group with left to ride, but he was caught by the peloton on the final ascent to
Causse Noir
The Causses () are a group of limestone plateaus (700–1,200 m) in the Massif Central. They are bordered to the north-west by the Limousin and the Périgord uplands, and to the east by the Aubrac and the Cévennes. Large river gorges cut through ...
near
Millau
Millau (; oc, Milhau ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Aveyron Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region in Southern France. One of two Subprefectures in France, subp ...
. Lejarreta accelerated from the group of favourites with to go, and was followed by Induráin and Bugno. At the finish, Lejarreta took victory, but did not raise his arms in celebration, thinking someone had finished ahead of him. 24 seconds later followed Induráin and Bugno. LeMond and Breukink finished together, another ten seconds behind. Chiappucci could only finish 13th, losing 13 seconds to LeMond and Breukink, whom he now led by 1:49 minutes in the general classification. Lejarreta moved up to seventh place overall.
Stage 15 was a transition stage, the last before the Pyrenees, and featured only smaller climbs.
Adri van der Poel
Adrie van der Poel (born 17 June 1959 in Bergen op Zoom) is a retired Dutch cyclist. Van der Poel was a professional from 1981 to 2000. His biggest wins included six classics, two stages of the Tour de France and the World Cyclo-Cross Championsh ...
() launched an attack that resulted in an eleven-rider strong breakaway. This group was almost caught after of racing, but while three riders dropped back into the peloton, eight remained in front and were later joined by several others, who bridged across, including Roche, Mottet, Claveyrolet, and Chozas. The now 19-rider strong group increased their advantage to up to eight minutes, which would have moved Chozas up to fourth place overall. Therefore, the main field began to cut into their advantage, led by , , and . Eventually, Mottet attacked from the lead group and held on to the finish, winning the stage by 2:02 minutes ahead of
Giuseppe Calcaterra
Giuseppe Calcaterra (born 9 December 1964) is an Italian racing cyclist.
His name was on the list of doping tests published by the French Senate on 24 July 2013 that were collected during the 1998 Tour de France and found suspicious for EPO whe ...
(). When the peloton reached the finish, a split occurred in the field, which gained Chiappucci three seconds on his rivals in the general classification.
Pyrenees
![Claudio Chiappucci Tour 1993 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Claudio_Chiappucci_Tour_1993_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In very hot weather, stage 16 saw the last mountain-top finish of the Tour. In the second half of the stage, the summits of the
Col d'Aspin
Col d'Aspin ( oc, Còth d'Aspin) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the French Pyrenees in the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It connects Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, in the upper Adour valley, with Arreau, on the River Neste.
Details of the cl ...
, the Col du Tourmalet, and the final ascent to
Luz Ardiden
Luz Ardiden is a ski resort in the Pyrenees. It is situated in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Occitanie Region. The ski resort lies at a height of 1720 meters and was opened on January 16, 1975. In recent years the road to Luz Ardiden ...
had to be climbed. On the early slopes of the Aspin, Chiappucci followed an attack by
Jörg Müller
Jörg Müller (, ; born 3 September 1969) is a Dutch-born German BMW factory driver.
Racing career
Born in Kerkrade, Netherlands, Müller won the titles in 1989 German Formula Opel Lotus Challenge and in 1989 European Formula Ford 1600.
The 199 ...
() and found himself in a lead group, building an advantage on his rivals. At the summit, he led the group across 45 seconds ahead of the main field. As began to chase for LeMond on the approach to the Tourmalet, the gap began to decrease. In the front group,
Miguel Ángel Martínez Torres
Miguel Ángel Martínez Torres (born 28 June 1967) is a Spanish former cyclist.
Major results
;1986
: 1st Clásica de Almería
;1988
: 1st Memorial Manuel Galera
: 2nd Subida a Urkiola
: 3rd Clásica a los Puertos de Guadarrama
;1990
: 1st Pru ...
() attacked and got away on his own. Behind, in the group of favourites, Breukink experienced a ''jour sans'', a day without energy, and began to fall behind. At the top of the Tourmalet, Chiappucci's lead over LeMond and Delgado was still 1:07 minutes, but in the valley before the final climb, he was caught with to go.
On the ascent to Luz Ardiden, Chiappucci defiantly set the pace at the front of the group. However, with left to race, an attack by Parra was too much and while LeMond, Induráin, and Lejarreta followed, Chiappucci fell behind. LeMond moved to the front and set a high pace as Parra was quickly dropped. They then caught the lone leader Martínez Torres with to go. Lejarreta was dropped shortly thereafter. For the duration of the climb LeMond worked at the front setting the pace to increase his time gains essentially winning the Tour on this attack. Induráin overtook him as they approached the summit and coming around the final turn he quickly turned his head around to verify LeMond was not going to challenge him for the stage win and began clapping his hands in celebration as he claimed the victory six seconds ahead of LeMond. Chiappucci eventually lost 2:19 minutes, which reduced his advantage over LeMond, who was now second overall, to just five seconds. Breukink lost 4:16 minutes, dropping to fourth behind Delgado, who finished 1:32 behind teammate Induráin.
The next day's route from
Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...
to
Pau was considered easier than the day before, with the two major climbs, the ''hors categorie''
Col d'Aubisque
The Col d'Aubisque ( oc, Còth d'Aubisca) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees south of Tarbes and Pau in the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the Aquitaine region of France.Chany, Pierre (1988), La Fabuleuse Histoire du T ...
and the first-category Col de Marie-Blanque both coming during the first half of the stage. Early on, a 19-man breakaway formed, including riders such as Bauer, Konyshev,
Acácio da Silva
Acácio Mora da Silva (born 2 January 1961 in Montalegre, Portugal) is a Portuguese former professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1982 to 1994 during which he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and stages ...
(),
Johan Bruyneel
Johan Bruyneel (born 23 August 1964) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and a former directeur sportif for UCI ProTour team , and (later known as Discovery Channel), a US-based UCI ProTour cycling team. On 25 October 2018, the W ...
(), as well as LeMond's teammates Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle and
Atle Kvålsvoll. On the Aubisque,
Óscar Vargas () attacked and reached the summit ahead of the lead group. On the Marie-Blanque, the situation had changed and Delgado's teammate
Dominique Arnaud
Dominique Arnaud (19 September 1955 – 20 July 2016) was a French racing cyclist. He rode in eleven editions of the Tour de France.
Arnaud won three stages in the Vuelta a España, a stage in the Midi Libre and the Tour du Limousin in 1983 ...
led solo over the top, 10:20 minutes ahead of the peloton. LeMond, already suffering with a saddle sore and swollen feet, got into even more trouble: isolated from his teammates, he punctured a tyre about from the summit. With the group of favourites, including yellow jersey Chiappucci, leaving him behind, LeMond had to wait 1:20 minutes for his team car to arrive. The new wheel given to him was rubbing on the frame, which meant that LeMond had to dismount again and change bikes. By now, he crossed the top of the Marie-Blanque 1:27 minutes behind Chiappucci. Teammates
Eric Boyer
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
and
Jérôme Simon
Jérôme Simon (born 5 December 1960 in Troyes) is a French professional road bicycle racer. Jérôme Simon is the brother of cyclists Pascal Simon, François Simon and Régis Simon.
Major results
;1988
:Briénon
:Puy l'Evêque
:GP de Cannes
...
joined him, but had problems keeping up with LeMond during the descent, which he took flat out and without braking in order to catch back up. Duclos-Lassalle and Kvålsvoll were ordered by the team to stop and drop back from the lead group to aid LeMond in reaching Chiappucci after of chasing.
Up ahead, Bruyneel attacked from the lead group and was followed by Konyshev, who got the better of the Belgian in the two-man sprint for the stage victory. It was the first time that a Soviet or Russian rider had won a stage of the Tour de France. LeMond accused Chiappucci of violating the unwritten rules of the sport, where traditionally a leader is not attacked if they have a crash or mechanical difficulties. Indeed, the team had even called back da Silva from the breakaway to assist Chiappucci in extending his advantage.
Final stages
![Lemond](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Lemond.jpg)
Stage 18 led the Tour to
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
, a finishing town traditionally favouring the sprinters. The field started the day slowly and a real attack did not materialise until Anderson broke away after . He was soon joined by six other riders, but the break was caught later. With to go, a more serious move formed, with 19 riders, which included LeMond, Chiappucci, Breukink, Bugno, and Alcalá. At remaining, Breukink, Bugno, and the latter's teammate,
Roberto Gusmeroli, attacked from the leading group. The other 16 riders fell behind and were soon caught by the main field. At the finish, Gusmeroli led out Bugno, who easily beat Breukink to become the first rider to win two stages at that year's Tour. Breukink meanwhile gained 18 seconds on Delgado and therefore moved into third place overall.
The next day, the peloton equally made a slow start to the stage, with the first real attack coming more than halfway into the race, after . Fifteen riders broke away from the field, including van der Poel, Pensec,
Tony Rominger
Tony Rominger (born 27 March 1961 in Vejle, Denmark) is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.
He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition wi ...
(), and Bontempi. After , the group had swollen to 24 riders. Bontempi, formerly a very good sprinter, but now considered past his prime, attacked from the breakaway and went solo to the finish, where he won the stage, 1:28 minutes ahead of
Dag Otto Lauritzen
Dag Otto Lauritzen (born 12 September 1956) is a Norwegian television personality and retired professional cyclist. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he won a bronze medal in the individual road race. He was the first Norwegian to win ...
(). During the stage, the Tour circumvented another blockade by sheep farmers, which only managed to hold up the press caravan, but did not influence the race.
The individual time trial on the penultimate day, stage 20, became decisive for the race's outcome. LeMond easily made up the five seconds needed to overcome Chiappucci at the top of the standings. He finished fifth on the day, 2:21 minutes ahead of Chiappucci, who was 17th. Erik Breukink claimed the stage victory, 28 seconds ahead of his teammate Alcalá, with Lejarreta in third, ahead of Induráin. Delgado was eighth fastest, 2:21 behind Breukink, which put him in fourth place overall and left him just short of making the final podium for the fourth year in a row. Through their strong performances, Alcalá and Induráin returned to the top-ten riders in the general classification.
The final stage to Paris was by tradition a ceremonial one, apart for the final section on the
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
, when the stage victory is decided.
Stephen Hodge tried to break away in Paris, in an attempt to make up the 16 seconds his team trailed in the
team classification The team classification is one of the different rankings for which competitors can compete in a multiple stage cycling race. It differs from the other usual rankings (general classification, points, king of the mountain and best young rider competi ...
, but he was not successful. The stage came down to a sprint, won by Museeuw, ahead of
Adriano Baffi
Adriano Baffi (born 7 August 1962) is a former Italian bicycle road racer. After his career as a rider, he became a team director. He is the son of Italian bicycle racer Pierino Baffi.
Baffi was born in Vailate, Italy. He joined Luxembourg team ...
() and Olaf Ludwig. It was the only time during that year's Tour that a stage finished in a mass sprint. LeMond crossed the finish line safely in the middle of the field, his arms aloft in celebration at his third overall Tour victory. 156 riders out of 198 starters reached the finish in Paris. In last place, the ''
lanterne rouge
The ''lanterne rouge'' is the competitor in last place in the Tour de France. The phrase comes from the French for "Red Lantern" and refers to the red lantern hung on the rear vehicle of a passenger railway train or the brake van of a freight tr ...
'', was
Rodolfo Massi
Rodolfo Massi (; born 17 September 1965) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He won a stage in 1996 Giro d'Italia and 1998 Tour de France, but was expelled from the 1998 Tour de France after illegal doping was found in his hot ...
(). Four teams managed to reach Paris with all nine riders: , , , and .
LeMond had won the Tour without taking a stage win. Since the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, only
Roger Walkowiak
Roger Walkowiak (; 2 March 1927 – 6 February 2017) was a French road bicycle racer who won the 1956 Tour de France. He was a professional rider from 1950 until 1960. He died on 6 February 2017 at the age of 89.
The 1956 Tour de France
From 19 ...
(
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
),
Gastone Nencini
Gastone Nencini (; 1 March 1930 – 1 February 1980) was an Italian road racing cyclist who won the 1960 Tour de France and the 1957 Giro d'Italia.
Nicknamed ''Il Leone del Mugello'', "The Lion of Mugello" (from his birthplace Barberino di Mu ...
(
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
), and
Lucien Aimar
Lucien Aimar (; born 28 April 1941) is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer. He was born in Hyères, France.
Amateur career
Lucien Aimar came second in the T ...
(
1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
) had done so. He countered criticism that he had not shown enough fighting spirit by not taking an individual stage win, saying: "If I had worried about individual stage victories, it's possible I would have lost the Tour de France." Particular praise was given after the Tour to Miguel Induráin, who some, such as his biographer
Alasdair Fotheringham, speculated could have challenged for the overall victory had he not worked for Delgado, in particular on the stage to Alpe d'Huez, where he lost 12 minutes.
Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were four main classifications in the 1990 Tour de France. The most important was the
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...
, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey; the winner of this classification is considered the winner of the Tour. Time bonuses were distributed to the first three finishers of each stage that was not a mountain stage or a time trial. The winner received a 20-second time bonus, with 12 seconds for second and eight seconds for third place respectively. These bonuses were reduced to 12, 8, and 4 seconds on stage 1, since two stages were held on the same day. In addition, time bonuses could be won at intermediate sprints during the first half of the race. The first three riders across the line were granted a bonus of 6, 4, and 2 seconds respectively.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1988-0422-029, Olaf Ludwig](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1988-0422-029%2C_Olaf_Ludwig.jpg)
The
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
was calculated in another way: the first cyclists to finish in a stage received points, based on their rank and the type of stage. Flat stages awarded the winner 35 points, down to one point for 25th place. On medium mountain stages, 25 points were given to the winner, down to one point for 20th place. On a mountainous stage, the first rider across the finish received 20 points, down to one point for 15th place. In time trials, 15 points were given to the winner, down to one point for tenth place. All stages, except time trials, also had one or more intermediate sprints, where some points could be won. All road stages included two intermediate sprints, except for stage 5 with eight sprints. The first three riders across the intermediate sprint line received 6, 4, and 2 points respectively. The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and was identified with a green jersey. Olaf Ludwig won the classification with 256 points, 35 points ahead of Museeuw. The
intermediate sprints classification, held until the year before, was abandoned for 1990.
Additionally, there was the
mountains classification
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
. The organisation ranked climbs by difficulty, with the hardest ascents rated ''hors catégorie'' and the easiest as fourth category. Points for this classification were won by the cyclists that reached the top of these climbs first. An ''hors catégorie'' climb gave the first rider across 40 points, down to one point for 15th place. First-category mountains awarded 30 points for the first rider, with second-, third-, and fourth-category giving out 20, 10, and 5 points respectively to the first across the summit. The cyclist with the most points led the classification, and wore a white jersey with red
polka dot
Red polka dots on a yellow background
Girl wearing polka dot dress
Polish ceramics
German ceramics
Polka dot is a pattern consisting of an array of large filled circles of the same size.
Polka dots are commonly seen on children's clothing, ...
s. Thierry Claveyrolat won the classification with 321 points, while Chiappucci placed second on 179 points.
There was also the
young rider classification Young rider classification (french: classement général des jeunes) is a cycling jersey competition in multi-day stage race events, such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and many others, which awards the current leader by overall time for rid ...
. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1966 were eligible. Until 1988, the leader of this classification had worn a white jersey, while in 1989, the leader was highlighted by wearing the logo of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
on his shoulder. Both were not used in the 1990 Tour. Gilles Delion won the classification, finishing in 15th place on the general classification.
The 1989 Tour had included the
combination classification, which was also no longer run. Both the intermediate sprint as well as the combination classification were scrapped to allow for more prize money to be paid out to the other classifications, a move instigated by new race director
Jean-Marie Leblanc
Jean-Marie Leblanc (born 27 July 1944, in Nueil-sur-Argent, now Nueil-les-Aubiers, Deux-Sèvres) is a French retired professional road bicycle racer who was general director of the Tour de France from 1989 to 2007, when he reached pensionable ...
, who had taken over the position in late 1988. The 1990 Tour was the first run completely under his control.
For the
team classification The team classification is one of the different rankings for which competitors can compete in a multiple stage cycling race. It differs from the other usual rankings (general classification, points, king of the mountain and best young rider competi ...
, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time. The riders in the team that led this classification wore yellow
caps
Caps are flat headgear.
Caps or CAPS may also refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters
* Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...
. won the classification, just 16 seconds ahead of .
In addition, there was a
combativity award
The combativity award is a prize given in road bicycle racing to a stage's or the overall race's most aggressive rider.
References
{{cycling-stub
Cycling jerseys ...
given after each
mass-start stage to the cyclist considered the most combative. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification. Eduardo Chozas won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award. The
Souvenir Henri Desgrange
The Souvenir Henri Desgrange is an award and cash prize given in the yearly running of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. It is won by the rider that crosses a particular point in the race, mostly the summits of the highest a ...
was given in honour of Tour founder
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 – 16 August 1940) was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.
Yo ...
to the first rider to pass the summit of the
Col du Tourmalet
Col du Tourmalet (; elevation ) is one of the highest paved mountain passes in the French Pyrenees, in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. Sainte-Marie-de-Campan is at the foot on the eastern side and the ski station La Mongie two-thirds of ...
on stage 16. This prize was won by Miguel Ángel Martínez Torres.
The Tour de France paid out
F10,073,450 as prize money in total, two million of which went to the winner of the general classification (about $363,000 or £200,000 at the time). The prizes were mainly raised by the fees paid by departure and arrival cities along the course of the race. 550,000 francs had to be paid to host both the start and finish of a stage, with 300,000 francs asked for just one of the two.
$75,000 each came from the entry fees paid by the teams to compete. Eventually, received the biggest share of prize money, £248,480, ahead of 's £115,830. Last in the list was , who gathered only £2,207. The overall budget of the Tour was around £10,000,000.
Final standings
General classification
Points classification
Mountains classification
Young rider classification
Team classification
Combativity classification
Doping and penalties
No rider tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during doping tests at the 1990 Tour.
Eric Vanderaerden
Eric Vanderaerden (born 11 February 1962) is a retired road cyclist from the town of Lummen, Belgium.
He was a considerable talent, winning the prologue time trial of the Vuelta a España in his debut year of 1983. During the 1983 Tour de Fran ...
() was expelled from the race on stage 11 for repeatedly holding on to the doors of team cars during the ascent to Alpe d'Huez.
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Tour De France
Tour de France by year
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...