1969 Tour de France
Route of the 1969 Tour de France
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| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Dates | 28 June – 20 July | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 22 + Prologue, including three split stages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 4,117 km (2,558 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 116h 16' 02" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Winner |
 Eddy Merckx (BEL)
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(Faema) |
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| Second |
 Roger Pingeon (FRA)
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(Peugeot–BP–Michelin) | |
| Third |
Raymond Poulidor (FRA)
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(Mercier–BP–Hutchinson) | |
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Points |
Eddy Merckx (BEL)
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(Faema) |
| Mountains |
Eddy Merckx (BEL)
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(Faema) | |
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Combination |
Eddy Merckx (BEL)
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(Faema) |
| Team | Faema | ||
The 1969 Tour de France was the 56th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 28 June and 20 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 4,117 km (2,558 mi). The participant teams were no longer national teams, but were once more commercially sponsored.
The 1969 race is unique in that it is the only time that a single cyclist has won not only the general classification, but the points classification and mountains classification as well. Eddy Merckx rode on the winning team, Faema, won the combination classification and the combativity award.
In 1967 and 1968, the Tour was contested by national teams, but in 1969 the commercially sponsored teams were back. The Tour started with 13 teams, each with 10 cyclists:Eddy Merckx had been removed from the 1969 Giro d'Italia in leading position because of a positive doping result, and was initially not allowed to join the 1969 Tour de France, but his suspension was later lifted.
The teams entering the race were:
The 1969 Tour de France started on 28 June, and had no rest days.
Rudi Altig won the prologue, where Merckx finished second. In the team time trial in the second part of the first stage, Merckx's team won, and this gave Merckx the lead.
In the second stage, a group escaped, with Merckx's team mate Julien Stevens as highest-ranked cyclist. There were no dangerous competitors in the escape, so Merckx did not chase them. The group stayed away, and Stevens took over the lead, with Merckx in second place.
In the fourth stage, Rik Van Looy escaped, because he wanted to show himself, such that he would be selected for the Belgian squad for the 1969 UCI Road World Championships. Van Looy quickly took several minutes, and became the virtual leader of the race. With less than 40 km to go, Stevens tried to defend his lead by attacking. He was followed by a group of cyclists, including René Pijnen, one of Van Looy's team mates. Pijnen was trying to stop the chase, and this angered the other cyclists in the group. The group nonetheless was able to reduce the margin to less than a minute, and Stevens conserved his lead.
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