1974 Tour de France
Five from five: Merckx matches Anquetil and takes the Tour to Plymouth.
The 1974 Tour de France was the 61st edition, held from 27 June to 21 July over 22 stages and 4,098 km. Eddy Merckx, back after sitting out 1973, won his fifth Tour in five starts, equalling Jacques Anquetil's record, and won eight stages and the combination classification along the way. With Luis Ocaña and Joop Zoetemelk absent he won comfortably but less crushingly than before, with eight riders within twenty minutes and two within ten. The race made its first visit to the United Kingdom with a circuit stage on the Plympton by-pass near Plymouth. Patrick Sercu won the points classification and Domingo Perurena the mountains; thirteen teams of ten started.
Quick Facts
- Date
- 27 June – 21 July 1974
- Stages
- 22 + Prologue, including four split stages
- Distance
- 4098
- First
- Eddy Merckx
- First team
- Molteni (1974)
- First color
- yellow
- Second
- Raymond Poulidor
- Second team
- Gan–Mercier
Facts from the source article.
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