1961_Tour_de_France

1961 Tour de France

1961 Tour de France

Cycling race

The 1961 Tour de France was the 48th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 25 June and 16 July, with 21 stages covering a distance of 4,397 km (2,732 mi). Out of the 132 riders who started the tour, 72 managed to complete the tour's tough course. Throughout the 1961 Tour de France, two of the French national team's riders, André Darrigade and Jacques Anquetil held the yellow jersey for the entirety 21 stages. There was a great deal of excitement between the second and third places, concluding with Guido Carlesi stealing Charly Gaul's second-place position on the last day by two seconds.

Quick Facts Race details, Dates ...

Teams

For a more comprehensive list, see List of teams and cyclists in the 1961 Tour de France.

The teams entering the race were:[1][2]

  • Italy
  • France
  • Belgium
  • Spain
  • Netherlands
  • West Germany
  • Switzerland/Luxembourg
  • Great Britain
  • Paris/North-East
  • Centre-Midi
  • West/South-West

Pre-race favourites

Pre-race favourite Jacques Anquetil (pictured during the Tour)

Since Jacques Anquetil had won the 1957 Tour de France, he was unable to repeat it, due to illness, tiredness and struggle within the French team. For 1961, he asked the team captain Marcel Bidot to make a team that would only ride for him, and Bidot agreed. Anquetil announced before the race that he would take the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification on the first day, and wear it until the end of the race in Paris.[3]

Gastone Nencini, who won the previous edition, did not enter in 1961, but Graziano Battistini, his teammate and runner-up of 1960, started the race as leader of the Italian team. If the French team would again have internal struggles, the Italian team could emerge as the winner.

The Spanish team had two outsiders, José Pérez Francés and Fernando Manzaneque. The last outsider was Charly Gaul, winner of the 1958 Tour de France, who rode in the mixed Luxembourg/Swiss team. He considered his teammates so weak that he did not seek their help, and rode the race on his own.[3] Raymond Poulidor was convinced by his team manager Antonin Magne that it would be better to skip the Tour, because the national team format would undermine his commercial value.[4]

Route and stages

The 1961 Tour de France started on 25 June in Rouen, and had one rest day, in Montpellier.[5] For the first time the finish on top of the Superbagnères was included to the race.[6] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,115 m (6,939 ft) at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage 17.[7][8]

More information Stage, Date ...

Race overview

Emile Daems crossing the finish line in Charleroi, Belgium, to win the third stage

André Darrigade won the opening stage, and it became the fifth time that he won the opening stage.[6] Darrigade had been in a small group that broke away, which included Anquetil. Other competitors, such as Gaul and Battistini, already lost more than 5 minutes.[3] After that, there was a time trial, won by Jacques Anquetil. Anquetil became the leader of the race, with his teammate Joseph Groussard in second place, almost five minutes behind him.[3]

The second stage, run in bad weather, featured small roads in Northern France. Several cyclists got into problems, and seven cyclists already had to leave the race; the favourites were not harmed.[13] In the sixth stage, West German Horst Oldenburg fell down on the descent of the Col de la Schlucht, and the Dutch team captain Ab Geldermans ran into him. Geldermans was taken to the Belfort hospital by helicopter, and the Dutch team had lost its captain.[13]

Unlike previous years, the French team continued without fights, and won five of the first eight stages.[3] The ninth stage included four major climbs. On the second climb, Gaul escaped. He crashed on the descent of the third mountain, but managed to stay away and win the stage; Anquetil was not far behind and kept the lead.[3] Anquetil had a five-minutes margin on the second-placed rider, which was Manzaneque. In the eleventh stage, Graziano Battistini was hit by a car, and had to leave the race.[13] This situation had not changed when the sixteenth stage started. It was expected that Gaul, in third place more than six minutes behind, would attack, but this did not happen,[3] because Gaul had been injured in his crash in the previous stage.[13]

The last chance for the opposition to win back time on Anquetil was in the seventeenth stage, but Anquetil stayed close to his direct competitors, and only allowed lower classified riders to escape. The press criticized Anquetil's tactics, saying he was riding passively.[14] In the nineteenth stage, an individual time trial, Gaul was on his way to win back a little time on Anquetil, when he crashed heavily, and could not find his pace again. Anquetil won almost three minutes on Gaul and extended his lead to more than ten minutes.[15]

In the final two stages, Anquetil did not get into problems. His main rival Gaul even lost time in the last stage, and conceded his second place to Guido Carlesi.[13]

Classification leadership and minor prizes

There were several classifications in the 1961 Tour de France, two of them awarding jerseys to their leaders.[16] The most important was the general classification, 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.[17]

Additionally, there was a points classification. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and was identified with a green jersey.[18]

There was also a mountains classification. Most stages of the race included one or more categorised climbs, in which points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit first. The climbs were categorised as third-, second- or first-category, with the more difficult climbs rated lower. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, but was not identified with a jersey.[19]

For the team classification The calculation was different from previous years. Before 1961, the classification was based on time, but in 1961, it was based on points; times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the team with the lowest time on a stage won the team prize for that stage.[20] The overall team classification was calculated by counting the number of team prizes.

In addition, there was a combativity award, in which a jury composed of journalists gave points after each stage to the cyclist they considered most combative. The split stages each had a combined winner.[21] At the conclusion of the Tour, the entire West/South-West team won the overall super-combativity award, also decided by journalists.[5] The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Ballon d'Alsace on stage 6. This prize was won by Jef Planckaert.[22][23]

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Final standings

General classification

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More information Final general classification (11–72), Rank ...

Points classification

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Mountains classification

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Team classification

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Aftermath

As Anquetil had led the race after every stage, there was not much competitiveness, which organiser Jacques Goddet termed a "fiasco".[4] After the race, the system with national teams was abandoned, and it was announced that the 1962 Tour de France would be run with sponsored teams.[4]

Notes

  1. No jersey was awarded to the leader of the mountains classification until a white jersey with red polka dots was introduced in 1975.[19]

References

  1. [1]
    "The history of the Tour de France – Year 1961 – The starters". Tour de France. Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. [2]
    "Los datos funamentales del 48 "Tour"" [The fundamental data of the 48th "Tour"] (PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 24 June 1961. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. [3]
    McGann & McGann 2006, pp. 249–253.
  4. [4]
    Dauncey & Hare 2003, p. 112.
  5. [5]
    Augendre 2016, p. 52.
  6. [6]
    Amaury Sport Organisation. "The Tour - Year 1961". letour.fr. Archived from the original on 17 July 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  7. [7]
    Augendre 2016, p. 188.
  8. [8]
    "De bergen in de Ronde van Frankrijk 1961" [The mountains in the Tour de France 1961]. Algemeen Handelsblad (in Dutch). 29 June 1961. p. 12 – via Delpher.
  9. [9]
    "48ème Tour de France 1961" (in French). Mémoire du cyclisme. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  10. [10]
    Zwegers, Arian. "Tour de France GC top ten". CVCC. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  11. [11]
    "The history of the Tour de France – Year 1961 – The stage winners". Tour de France. Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  12. [12]
    Augendre 2016, p. 109.
  13. [13]
    Amels, Wim (1984). De geschiedenis van de Tour de France 1903–1984 (in Dutch). Sport-Express. pp. 88–89.
  14. [14]
    Boyce, Barry (2004). "Anquetil Blossoms". Cyclingrevealed. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  15. [15]
    "48ème Tour de France 1961 - 19ème étape" (in French). Mémoire du cyclisme. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  16. [16]
    Nauright & Parrish 2012, pp. 452–455.
  17. [17]
    Nauright & Parrish 2012, pp. 452–453.
  18. [18]
    Nauright & Parrish 2012, pp. 453–454.
  19. [19]
    Nauright & Parrish 2012, p. 454.
  20. [20]
    Nauright & Parrish 2012, p. 455.
  21. [21]
    van den Akker 2018, pp. 211–216.
  22. [22]
    "Uitslagen Tour de France" [Tour de France results]. Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant (in Dutch). 1 July 1961. p. 6 – via Krantenbank Zeeland.
  23. [23]
    "Ab Geldermans door val uit de Tour Jos Planckaert etappe-winnaar met ruim 5 min. voorsprong" [Ab Geldermans due to fall from the Tour Jos Planckaert stage winner with more than 5 minutes lead]. Friese Koerier (in Dutch). 1 July 1961. p. 7 – via Delpher.
  24. [24]
    van den Akker, Pieter. "Informatie over de Tour de France van 1961" [Information about the Tour de France from 1961]. TourDeFranceStatistieken.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  25. [25]
    "The history of the Tour de France – Year 1961 – Stage 21 Tours > Paris". Tour de France. Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 2 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  26. [26]
    van den Akker, Pieter. "Puntenklassementsdingen in de Tour de France 1961" [Points classification standings in the Tour de France 1961]. TourDeFranceStatistieken.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  27. [27]
    "Massignan re della montagna" [Massignan king of the mountain]. Corriere dello Sport (in Italian). 24 September 2019. p. 2. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019.
  28. [28]
    van den Akker, Pieter. "Stand in het ploegenklassement – Etappe 21" [Standings in the team classification – Stage 21]. TourDeFranceStatistieken.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

Bibliography

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