Bernard Thévenet
Encyclopedia
Bernard Thévenet, born 10 January 1948, in Saint-Julien-de-Civry
, Saône-et-Loire
, is a retired French bicycle racer. He is a two-time winner of the Tour de France
and known for ending the reign of five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx
. He also won the Dauphiné Libéré
in 1975 and 1976.
in Burgundy and lived in a hamlet called Le Guidon (The Handlebar). It was there in 1961 that he saw the Tour de France for the first time, on, a 123 km stage from Nevers
to Lyon
. Thévenet was a choir boy in the village church. He said: "The priest brought forward the time for Mass so that we could watch the riders go by. The sun was shining on their toe-clips and the chrome on their forks. They were modern-day knights. I had already been dreaming of becoming a racing cyclist and that magical sight convinced me definitively. It was never that magical when I was actually in the peloton of the Tour!"
From the age of six he went to school on the rack of his sister's bike. He got his own bike a year later and pedalled the 10 km round journey himself. His first adult bike, not a racing machine but a sporty cross between a racer and a touring bike, came as a present for passing school examinations at 14. His parents needed him on the farm too much to be keen on his racing, but they knew their son's ambitions. Thévenet rode his first race and his parents found out only when they read the local paper. There was a row and the club president intervened by inviting the parents to see their son's next race. Thévenet won it.
He was champion of Burgundy in 1965 and 1966 and French junior champion in 1968. In 1967 the manager of the ACBB club in Boulogne-Billancourt
Mickey Weigant, drove to his house to enrol him. The ACBB was an accepted development team for professionalism, particularly for the Peugeot
team.During 1968, he rode for the amateur team of Jean de Gribaldy
, Cafés Ravis-Wolhauser-de Gribaldy, which won the amateur Route de France. After that Thévenet did his military service
in 1969.
in 1970. He rode the Tour de France
for the first time in 1970, as a last-minute stand-in. He said: "I wasn't even a reserve in 1970 but, because two riders in the team had fallen ill at Peugeot, the directeur sportif
picked me two days before the start." Gaston Plaud had to call a neighbour in the village because neither Thévenet's nor many other families had telephones. Thévenet had left to train with a friend, Michel Rameau, and his mother got a message to him at Rameau's house.
Thévenet asked the advice of Victor Ferrari, a friend who rode the Tour in 1929. Thévenet said: "He was probably afraid that I'd hesitate and he said: 'You're not going to say No, are you crazy? Go on, go...'" Thévenet remembered:
Thévenet won a mountain stage ending at the ski resort of La Mongie
, most of the way up the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees
. He said: "That evening, it was all clear [j'ai compris bien des choses]. That I'd saved my season and, because of that, my job, because the obligatory two-year contracts for new professionals didn't exist then."
In the 1972 Tour he crashed badly on a descent and was temporarily amnesic
. As he began to regain his memory, he looked down at his own Peugeot jersey and wondered whether he might be a cyclist. On recognizing the team car, he exclaimed: “I’m riding the Tour de France!”
He refused to abandon the race and four days later won a stage
over Mont Ventoux
. In the 1973 Tour, he finished second, behind Luis Ocaña
, but in 1974 he was forced to abandon the Tour on Stage 11 due to illness.
In the 1975 Tour, Thévenet attacked Eddy Merckx
on the col d'Izoard
on 14 July, France's national day. Merckx, who was suffering back pain and from a punch by a spectator, fought back but lost the lead and never regained it. Pierre Chany
wrote:
A British writer, Graeme Fife, wrote:
Beside the road, a woman in a bikini
waved a sign that said: "Merckx is beaten. The Bastille
has fallen." Thévenet - who had taken the climb on the larger chainring - went on to win the Tour, which that year finished on the Champs-Élysées
for the first time. Merckx finished second, three minutes behind.
Thévenet won his second and last Tour in 1977. That winter was hospitalized with a liver ailment he attributed to long-term use of steroids. Several months later Thévenet lined up for the 1978 Tour de France
but had to abandon the second mountain stage in an ambulance. He left the Peugeot cycling team
after 1979 and signed for the Spanish
team Teka, where he won two races and a six days race
with the Australia
n rider Danny Clark.
He returned to a French team in his final year, 1981, where he won a stage in the Circuit de la Sarthe
.
His 1978 season was a shadow of his years of winning the Tour de France. He had trouble finishing even minor races. When a journalist at the radio station France Inter
wondered aloud if Thévenet's repeated poor performances might be due to doping, Thévenet and his team-mates refused to talk to the station.
Thévenet went to hospital, where tests showed serious trouble with his adrenal glands. He admitted taking steroids and called for an end to drugs in the sport. "I was doped by cortisone for three years and there were many like me," he told Pierre Chany
in Vélo-France. The steroids had been prescribed to him by François Bellocq, the Peugeot doctor, who had qualified only in 1976. Thévenet told Chany:
in 1984 of the La Redoute team of Stephen Roche
, then of RMO in 1986 and 1987. He became a television commentator and opened a company selling cycling clothes bearing his name. He was asked whether it was hard being a racing cyclist; his reply was that being a French farmer was harder.
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1980
1981
Saint-Julien-de-Civry
Saint-Julien-de-Civry is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.-Geography:The Arconce forms part of the commune's northwestern border. The village lies on the left bank of the Lucenay, a tributary of the Arconce.-Demography:...
, Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
, is a retired French bicycle racer. He is a two-time winner of the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
and known for ending the reign of five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...
. He also won the Dauphiné Libéré
Dauphiné Libéré
The Critérium du Dauphiné is an annual cycling road race, run over eight stages in the Dauphiné region in France during the first half of June. The race was inaugurated by a local newspaper, the Dauphiné Libéré, which gave its name to the event...
in 1975 and 1976.
Origins
Thévenet was born to a farming family in Saône-et-LoireSaône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
in Burgundy and lived in a hamlet called Le Guidon (The Handlebar). It was there in 1961 that he saw the Tour de France for the first time, on, a 123 km stage from Nevers
Nevers
Nevers is a commune in – and the administrative capital of – the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne region in central France...
to Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
. Thévenet was a choir boy in the village church. He said: "The priest brought forward the time for Mass so that we could watch the riders go by. The sun was shining on their toe-clips and the chrome on their forks. They were modern-day knights. I had already been dreaming of becoming a racing cyclist and that magical sight convinced me definitively. It was never that magical when I was actually in the peloton of the Tour!"
From the age of six he went to school on the rack of his sister's bike. He got his own bike a year later and pedalled the 10 km round journey himself. His first adult bike, not a racing machine but a sporty cross between a racer and a touring bike, came as a present for passing school examinations at 14. His parents needed him on the farm too much to be keen on his racing, but they knew their son's ambitions. Thévenet rode his first race and his parents found out only when they read the local paper. There was a row and the club president intervened by inviting the parents to see their son's next race. Thévenet won it.
He was champion of Burgundy in 1965 and 1966 and French junior champion in 1968. In 1967 the manager of the ACBB club in Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....
Mickey Weigant, drove to his house to enrol him. The ACBB was an accepted development team for professionalism, particularly for the Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
team.During 1968, he rode for the amateur team of Jean de Gribaldy
Jean de Gribaldy
Jean de Gribaldy was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif.-Biography:Born in Besançon, former professional racing cyclist from 1945 to 1954, Jean de Gribaldy began a successful career as a directeur sportif in the mid-1960s .Called le Vicomte , he discovered Sean Kelly, Joaquim Agostinho...
, Cafés Ravis-Wolhauser-de Gribaldy, which won the amateur Route de France. After that Thévenet did his military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
in 1969.
Professional career
He turned professional with Peugeot-BP-MichelinPeugeot (cycling team)
Peugeot team was a French professional cycling team that promoted and rode Peugeot racing bikes.It is listed as the most successful cycling team of all time, on www.cyclingranking.com, with a large margin on the second placed team, Alcyon.-History:...
in 1970. He rode the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
for the first time in 1970, as a last-minute stand-in. He said: "I wasn't even a reserve in 1970 but, because two riders in the team had fallen ill at Peugeot, the directeur sportif
Directeur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...
picked me two days before the start." Gaston Plaud had to call a neighbour in the village because neither Thévenet's nor many other families had telephones. Thévenet had left to train with a friend, Michel Rameau, and his mother got a message to him at Rameau's house.
Thévenet asked the advice of Victor Ferrari, a friend who rode the Tour in 1929. Thévenet said: "He was probably afraid that I'd hesitate and he said: 'You're not going to say No, are you crazy? Go on, go...'" Thévenet remembered:
- I can remember perfectly getting to LimogesLimogesLimoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
[for the start]. I was anxious and scared at the same time, but full of pride. I was given a new suitcase, seven jerseys, six pairs of shorts, overclothes, sweaters, shirts and so on and so on. Everyone else had a brand new bike, but not me, because I wasn't on the team's entry list.
Thévenet won a mountain stage ending at the ski resort of La Mongie
La Mongie
The village of La Mongie is at 1800 metres altitude. There are also residences at 1850 and the Tourmalet building at 1900. It lies below the Col du Tourmalet . It is in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France and around 20 km from the Spanish border...
, most of the way up the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. He said: "That evening, it was all clear [j'ai compris bien des choses]. That I'd saved my season and, because of that, my job, because the obligatory two-year contracts for new professionals didn't exist then."
In the 1972 Tour he crashed badly on a descent and was temporarily amnesic
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
. As he began to regain his memory, he looked down at his own Peugeot jersey and wondered whether he might be a cyclist. On recognizing the team car, he exclaimed: “I’m riding the Tour de France!”
He refused to abandon the race and four days later won a stage
Stage (bicycle race)
In sports, a stage, or leg, or heat, is a unit of a race which 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 are held as an individual time trial or a...
over Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some 20 km northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the Drôme département. It is the largest mountain in the region and has been nicknamed the "Giant of Provence", or "The Bald...
. In the 1973 Tour, he finished second, behind Luis Ocaña
Luis Ocaña
Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1973 and the Vuelta a España in 1970.- Early professional career :...
, but in 1974 he was forced to abandon the Tour on Stage 11 due to illness.
In the 1975 Tour, Thévenet attacked Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...
on the col d'Izoard
Col d'Izoard
Col d'Izoard is a high mountain pass in the Alps in the department of Hautes-Alpes in France.It is accessible in summer via the D902 road, connecting Briançon on the north and the valley of the Guil in Queyras, which ends at Guillestre in the south. There are forbidding and barren scree slopes...
on 14 July, France's national day. Merckx, who was suffering back pain and from a punch by a spectator, fought back but lost the lead and never regained it. Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...
wrote:
- Those who were there will be slow to forget Bernard Thévenet's six successive attacks in the never-ending climb of the col des Champs, Eddy Merckx's immediate and superb response, the alarming chase by the Frenchman after a puncture delayed him on the descent of the col, the Belgian's attack on the way to the summit of the Allos, his breath-taking plunge towards the Pra-Loup valley, his sudden weakening four kilometres from the top and, to finish, Thévenet's furious push. The end of the race was frenetic. Has Eddy Merckx's long reign in the Tour de France come to an end on the Pra-Loup. Some think so; others believe that it will happen tomorrow.
A British writer, Graeme Fife, wrote:
- Thévenet caught Merckx, by now almost delirious, 3km from the finish and rode by. The pictures show Merckx's face torn with anguish, eyes hollow, body slumped, arms locked shut on the bars, shoulders a clenched ridge of exertion and distress. Thévenet, mouth gaping to gulp more oxygen, looks pretty well at the limit, too, but his effort is gaining; he's out of the saddle, eyes fixed on the road. He said he could see that one side of the road had turned to liquid tar in the baking heat and Merckx was tyre-deep in it.
Beside the road, a woman in a bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
waved a sign that said: "Merckx is beaten. The Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
has fallen." Thévenet - who had taken the climb on the larger chainring - went on to win the Tour, which that year finished on the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
for the first time. Merckx finished second, three minutes behind.
Thévenet won his second and last Tour in 1977. That winter was hospitalized with a liver ailment he attributed to long-term use of steroids. Several months later Thévenet lined up for the 1978 Tour de France
1978 Tour de France
The 1978 Tour de France was the 65th Tour de France, taking place June 29 to July 23, 1978. The total race distance was 22 stages over 3908 km, with riders averaging 36.084 km/h...
but had to abandon the second mountain stage in an ambulance. He left the Peugeot cycling team
Peugeot (cycling team)
Peugeot team was a French professional cycling team that promoted and rode Peugeot racing bikes.It is listed as the most successful cycling team of all time, on www.cyclingranking.com, with a large margin on the second placed team, Alcyon.-History:...
after 1979 and signed for the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
team Teka, where he won two races and a six days race
Six-day racing
A six or six-day is a track cycling race that lasts six days. Six-day races started in Britain, spread to many regions of the world, were brought to their modern style in the United States and are now mainly a European event. Initially, individuals competed alone, the winner being the individual...
with the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rider Danny Clark.
He returned to a French team in his final year, 1981, where he won a stage in the Circuit de la Sarthe
Circuit de la Sarthe (cycling)
The Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire is an early-season short road bicycle racing stage race held annually in Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France. Since 2005, it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour....
.
Doping
Thévenet insisted "I have never taken drugs; they wouldn't be any use." Then he was caught taking drugs, in the 1977 Paris–Nice.His 1978 season was a shadow of his years of winning the Tour de France. He had trouble finishing even minor races. When a journalist at the radio station France Inter
France Inter
France Inter is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and intelligent spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of...
wondered aloud if Thévenet's repeated poor performances might be due to doping, Thévenet and his team-mates refused to talk to the station.
Thévenet went to hospital, where tests showed serious trouble with his adrenal glands. He admitted taking steroids and called for an end to drugs in the sport. "I was doped by cortisone for three years and there were many like me," he told Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...
in Vélo-France. The steroids had been prescribed to him by François Bellocq, the Peugeot doctor, who had qualified only in 1976. Thévenet told Chany:
- We were all convinced we were doing the right thing [être dans le vrai] and we were certain we were a step ahead of the rest so far as what we were doing to prepare for competition. The young doctor with our team had taken the time to explain to us how the body reacted to effort, which nobody had done before him. His words convinced us of his competence, and maybe we were overconfident, but I had the feeling that he was taking us out of the continual experimentation [l'empirisme habituel] to get us on a more methodical and scientific road. From then on, everything that was said around us seemed to come from ignorance, jealousy or malveillance. I was at ease with myself, satisfied deep down that I was doing my job seriously. That was how it was from 1975 until just recently.
Retirement
Thévenet became directeur sportifDirecteur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...
in 1984 of the La Redoute team of Stephen Roche
Stephen Roche
Stephen Roche is a retired professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming only the second cyclist to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia stage races, plus the World road race championship...
, then of RMO in 1986 and 1987. He became a television commentator and opened a company selling cycling clothes bearing his name. He was asked whether it was hard being a racing cyclist; his reply was that being a French farmer was harder.
Palmarès
1970- Tour de France1970 Tour de FranceThe 1970 Tour de France was the 57th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 19, 1970. It consisted of 23 stages over 4366 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.589 km/h....
:- Winner stage 18
1971
- Tour de France1971 Tour de FranceThe 1971 Tour de France was the 58th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 18, 1971. It consisted of 22 stages over , ridden at an average speed of ....
:- Winner stage 10
- 4th place overall classification
1972
- Bussières
- La Souterraine
- Le Creusot
- Montceau-les-Mines
- Plaintel
- Tour de RomandieTour de RomandieThe Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling....
- Tour de France1972 Tour de FranceThe 1972 Tour de France was the 59th Tour de France, taking place July 1 to July 22, 1972. It consisted of 20 stages over 3846.6 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.371 km/h. The long awaited clash between Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocaña after Ocaña crashed on Col de Menté in the 1971 Tour de...
:- Winner stages 11 and 17
- 9th place overall classification
1973
- Le Creusot
- Montceau-les-Mines
- national road race champion
- Vuelta a España1973 Vuelta a EspañaThe 28th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 26 to May 13, 1973. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of 3,061 km, and was won by Eddy Merckx of the Molteni cycling team...
:- Winner stage 11
- 3rd place overall classification
- Chateau-Chinon
- Saussignac
- Tour de France1973 Tour de FranceThe 1973 Tour de France was the 60th Tour de France, taking place June 30 to July 22, 1973. It consisted of 20 stages over 4140.4 km, ridden at an average speed of 33.918 km/h. After winning the 1973 Vuelta a España and the 1973 Giro d'Italia, Eddy Merckx did not participate in the Tour...
:- Winner stages 7B and 20B
- 2nd place overall classification
1974
- Auzances
- Bussières
- Critérium InternationalCritérium InternationalThe Critérium International is a two-day bicycle stage race held in France every spring. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in 1932....
- Dunières
- La Clayette
- Setmana Catalana de CiclismeSetmana Catalana de CiclismeThe Catalan Cycling Week was an important multi-stage road bicycle race held in Catalonia, Spain. It was last organised in 2005 as a 2.HC race on the UCI Europe Tour...
- Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- Saint-Quentin
1975
- Antibes
- Beaulac-Bernos
- Brette-les-Pins
- Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- La Rochelle
- Montceau-les-Mines
- Paray-le-Monial
- Rodez
- Saint-Brieuc
- Saint-Martin en Ré
- Seignelay
- Aulnay-sous-Bois
- Jeumont
- Ronde de Seignelay
- Vendôme
- Tour de France1975 Tour de FranceThe 1975 Tour de France was the 62nd Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 20, 1975. It consisted of 22 stages over 3999 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.899 km/h. Eddy Merckx was attempting to win his sixth Tour de France, but became a victim of violence. Many Frenchmen were...
:
Winner overall classification- Winner stages 15 and 16
1976
- Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- Ploërdut
- Serenac
- Pogny
- Mende
- Six-Days of GrenobleSix-Days of GrenobleThe Six Days of Grenoble is a six-day track cycling race held annually in Grenoble, France.It takes place in the Palais des Sports in Grenoble since 1971.The 2010 event is scheduled to take place from 28 October to 2 November.-External links:*...
(with Günter HaritzGünter HaritzGünter Haritz is a retired road and track cyclist from West Germany, who won the gold medal in the Men's 4.000 Team Pursuit at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, alongside Günther Schumacher, Jürgen Colombo, and Udo Hempel...
)
1977
- Bourges
- Circuit des genêts verts
- Circuit du Cher
- Maël-Pestivien
- Tour du Haut-Var
- Ronde de Seignelay
- Saclas-Mereville
- Tour de France1977 Tour de FranceThe 1977 Tour de France was the 64th Tour de France, taking place June 30 to July 24, 1977. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4096 km, with riders averaging 35.419 km/h....
:- Winner overall classification
- Winner stage 20
1978
- Chauffailles
- Nogaro
1980
- Concarneau
- Polynormand
- Villefranche-en-Rouerge
- Saint-Martin de Landelles
- Six-Days of GrenobleSix-Days of GrenobleThe Six Days of Grenoble is a six-day track cycling race held annually in Grenoble, France.It takes place in the Palais des Sports in Grenoble since 1971.The 2010 event is scheduled to take place from 28 October to 2 November.-External links:*...
(with Danny Clark)
1981
- Châteauroux - Classic de l'Indre
- Les Herbieres
- Castillon-la-Bataille)
Grand Tour results timeline
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour Tour de France The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The... |
35 1970 Tour de France The 1970 Tour de France was the 57th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 19, 1970. It consisted of 23 stages over 4366 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.589 km/h.... |
4 1971 Tour de France The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 18, 1971. It consisted of 22 stages over , ridden at an average speed of .... |
9 1972 Tour de France The 1972 Tour de France was the 59th Tour de France, taking place July 1 to July 22, 1972. It consisted of 20 stages over 3846.6 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.371 km/h. The long awaited clash between Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocaña after Ocaña crashed on Col de Menté in the 1971 Tour de... |
2 1973 Tour de France The 1973 Tour de France was the 60th Tour de France, taking place June 30 to July 22, 1973. It consisted of 20 stages over 4140.4 km, ridden at an average speed of 33.918 km/h. After winning the 1973 Vuelta a España and the 1973 Giro d'Italia, Eddy Merckx did not participate in the Tour... |
DNF-11 1974 Tour de France The 1974 Tour de France was the 61st Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 21, 1974. It consisted of 22 stages over 4098 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.241 km/h... |
1 1975 Tour de France The 1975 Tour de France was the 62nd Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 20, 1975. It consisted of 22 stages over 3999 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.899 km/h. Eddy Merckx was attempting to win his sixth Tour de France, but became a victim of violence. Many Frenchmen were... |
DNF-19 1976 Tour de France The 1976 Tour de France was the 63rd Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 18, 1976. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4017 km, with riders averaging 34.518 km/h.It was won by mountain specialist Lucien Van Impe... |
1 1977 Tour de France The 1977 Tour de France was the 64th Tour de France, taking place June 30 to July 24, 1977. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4096 km, with riders averaging 35.419 km/h.... |
DNF-11 1978 Tour de France The 1978 Tour de France was the 65th Tour de France, taking place June 29 to July 23, 1978. The total race distance was 22 stages over 3908 km, with riders averaging 36.084 km/h... |
DNE | 17 1980 Tour de France The 1980 Tour de France was the 67th Tour de France. The total distance was 3945.5 km over 22 stages, the average speed of the riders was 35.317 km/h.... |
37 1981 Tour de France The 1981 Tour de France was the 68th Tour de France, taking place June 25 to July 19, 1981. The total race distance was 24 stages over 3753 km, with riders averaging 38.96 km/h.... |
| Stages won | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| Mountains classification | NR | 7 | 8 | 4 | NR | 4 | NR | 4 | NR | — | NR | NR |
| Points classification | NR | 11 | 16 | 4 | NR | 11 | NR | 8 | NR | — | NR | NR |
| Giro Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar... |
DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | 31 | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| Mountains classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NR | — | — |
| Points classification | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NR | — | — |
| Vuelta Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages... |
DNE | 44 | DNE | 3 | DNF | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | DNE | 14 | DNE |
| Stages won | — | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| Mountains classification | — | NR | — | NR | NR | — | — | — | — | — | NR | — |
| Points classification | — | NR | — | NR | NR | — | — | — | — | — | NR | — |