1970 Tour de France
Merckx's second, with only Zoetemelk inside a quarter of an hour.
The 1970 Tour de France was the 57th edition, held from 27 June to 19 July over 23 stages and 4,254 km, and brought the second victory of the Belgian Eddy Merckx, who also won the mountains classification and missed the points title by five points to Walter Godefroot. Only four riders finished within twenty minutes of him and only the debutant Joop Zoetemelk within fifteen. Fifteen teams of ten from five countries started; Paul Gutty was dropped by Frimatic days before the race after a positive test at the French championship. Of 86 journalists asked to predict the top five, 85 named Merckx; Luis Ocaña and Bernard Thévenet were expected to be his main rivals, and Merckx arrived having already won Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Nice that season.
Quick Facts
- Date
- 27 June – 19 July 1970
- Stages
- 23 + Prologue, including five split stages
- Distance
- 4254
- First
- Eddy Merckx
- First team
- Faemino (1970)
- First color
- yellow
- Second
- Joop Zoetemelk
- Second team
- Flandria (1970)
Facts from the source article.
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