The 1964 Tour de France was the 51st edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 22 June and 14 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of . Stages 3, 10 and 22 were all two-part stages with the first half being a regular stage and the second half being a team or individual time trial. It was the only Tour de France to include a mid-stage climb to the Alpe d'Huez ski resort. The race was eventually won by Jacques Anquetil following an epic shoulder-to-shoulder battle with Raymond Poulidor during stage 20.

Teams

The 1964 Tour started with 132 cyclists, divided into 12 teams of 11 cyclists.

The teams entering the race were:

Pre-race favourites

The main favourite was defending champion Jacques Anquetil. He had won the 1964 Giro d'Italia earlier that year, and was trying to win a Tour-Giro double, which at that moment had only been done by Fausto Coppi.

Route and stages

The 1964 Tour de France started on 22 June, and had one rest day in Andorra. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the Cime de la Bonette loop road on stage 9.

+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 122 June Rennes to Lisieux Plain stage 223 June Lisieux to Amiens Plain stage 3a24 June Amiens to Forest (Belgium) Plain stage 3b Forest (Belgium) Team time trial 425 June Forest (Belgium) to Metz Plain stage 526 June Lunéville to Freiburg (West Germany) Plain stage 627 June Freiburg (West Germany) to Besançon Plain stage 728 June Besançon to Thonon-les-Bains Plain stage 829 June Thonon-les-Bains to Briançon Stage with mountain(s) 930 June Briançon to Monaco Stage with mountain(s) 10a1 July Monaco to Hyères Plain stage 10b Hyères to Toulon Individual time trial 112 July Toulon to Montpellier Plain stage 123 July Montpellier to Perpignan Plain stage 134 July Perpignan to Andorra Stage with mountain(s) 5 July Andorra Rest day 146 July Andorra to Toulouse Stage with mountain(s) 157 July Toulouse to Luchon Stage with mountain(s) 168 July Luchon to Pau Stage with mountain(s) 179 July Peyrehorade to Bayonne Individual time trial 1810 July Bayonne to Bordeaux Plain stage 1911 July Bordeaux to Brive Plain stage 2012 July Brive to Puy de Dôme Stage with mountain(s) 2113 July Clermont-Ferrand to Orléans Plain stage 22a14 July Orléans to Versailles Plain stage 22b Versailles to Paris Individual time trial Total

Race overview

Anquetil, who was looking for his fifth Tour victory, was superior in the time trials, of which he won all three. But Raymond Poulidor dominated in the mountains, and Anquetil was close to losing.

The ninth stage finished in Monaco, where the riders would ride one extra lap, crossing the finish line twice. When the first group, including Poulidor and Anquetil, reached the finish line for the first time, Poulidor had forgotten the extra lap, and sprinted in avail for the victory. When the group reached the finish line for the second time, Anquetil won the sprint, and one minute of bonification time.

In the second part of the tenth stage, the time trial, Anquetil won. Poulidor finished in second place, losing 36 seconds, with a flat tire costing him some time.

In the rest day between the thirteenth and the fourteenth stage, Anquetil had joined a lamb barbecue, and in the fourteenth stage he was immediately dropped. His team director gave him a bottle of champagne, which washed away the indigestion, and then Anquetil was able to get back to Poulidor. Poulidor then broke a spoke, the repair cost him some time, even more because a team mechanic, trying to help him gain speed, made him fall.

Poulidor attacked in the fifteenth stage, and stayed away. He won the stage, and in the general classification climbed to third place, nine seconds behind second-placed Anquetil.

Anquetil won the time trial of stage 17, and became the leader; Poulidor was in second place, only 56 seconds behind. In the twentieth stage, Poulidor did not have the right bicycle for the climb, but did not tell it to his team director. Poulidor dropped Anquetil in the climb, but the margin was not big enough for him to take over the lead, and Anquetil remained leader of the race by 14 seconds.

In the final time trial, Anquetil was the favourite, being the specialist. Poulidor rode as fast as he could, and with all other cyclists but Anquetil finished, had the best time. Anquetil was the last rider to ride the time trial, and was five seconds slower at the intermediate time check, which gave Poulidor hope that he could emerge as winner. However, Anquetil was clearly faster in the second part, and won the time trial. Anquetil won the Tour by only 55 seconds, which was at that moment the smallest margin in history.

Classification leadership and minor prizes

There were several classifications in the 1964 Tour de France, two of them awarding jerseys to their leaders. 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.

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.

There was also a mountains classification. The organisation had categorised some climbs as either first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists that reached the top of these climbs first, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, but was not identified with a jersey.

For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time. The riders in the team that led this classification wore yellow caps.

In addition, there was a combativity award, in which a jury composed of journalists gave points after certain stages to the cyclist they considered most combative. The split stages each had a combined winner. At the conclusion of the Tour, Henry Anglade won the overall super-combativity award, also decided by journalists. The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass a point by his final residence, the "Villa Mia" in Beauvallon, Grimaud, on the French Riviera on stage 10a. This prize was won by André Darrigade.

+Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Team classification Combativity award Bad luck award 1 Edward Sels Edward Sels Edward Sels Raymond Poulidor Henry Anglade Rik Van Looy 2 André Darrigade Jan Janssen Robert Poulot Rik Van Looy Guy Seyve 3a Bernard Van de Kerckhove Bernard Van de Kerckhove Valentín Uriona 3b 4 Rudi Altig Rudi AltigJulio Jiménez no award Emile Daems 5 Willy Derboven Rudi Altig Rudi Altig Joaquim Galera François Mahé 6 Henk Nijdam Henk Nijdam Ferdinand Bracke 7 Jan Janssen Jan Janssen Julio Jiménez Guy Epaud no award 8 Federico Bahamontes Georges Groussard Federico Bahamontes Jacques Anquetil 9 Jacques Anquetil Federico Bahamontes Jacques Anquetil no award 10a Jan Janssen no award no award 10b Jacques Anquetil 11 Edward Sels no award no award 12 Jo de Roo Jos Hoevenaers 13 Julio Jiménez Julio Jiménez Armand Desmet 14 Edward Sels Rudi Altig Henry Anglade Raymond Poulidor 15 Raymond Poulidor Jan Janssen Raymond Poulidor no award 16 Federico Bahamontes Federico Bahamontes no award 17 Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil no award Raymond Poulidor 18 André Darrigade André Darrigade no award 19 Edward Sels Jean Graczyk 20 Julio Jiménez Jacques Anquetil Luis Otaño 21 Jean Stablinski Joseph Novales no award 22a Benoni Beheyt Benoni Beheyt no award 22b Jacques Anquetil FinalJacques AnquetilJan Janssen Federico Bahamontes Henry Anglade Rik Van Looy

Final standings

General classification + Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 127h 09' 44" 2 + 55" 3 + 4' 44" 4 + 6' 42" 5 + 10' 34" 6 + 10' 36" 7 + 12' 13" 8 + 12' 17" 9 + 14' 02" 10 + 14' 19" Final general classification (11–81) Rank Rider Team Time 11 + 25' 11" 12 + 32' 09" 13 + 41' 47" 14 + 41' 50" 15 + 42' 08" 16 + 42' 16" 17 + 43' 47" 18 + 46' 16" 19 + 48' 49" 20 + 50' 02" 21 + 52' 00" 22 + 55' 06" 23 + 55' 14" 24 + 59' 31" 25 + 1h 05' 24" 26 + 1h 08' 16" 27 + 1h 13' 45" 28 + 1h 16' 34" 29 + 1h 18' 50" 30 + 1h 23' 26" 31 + 1h 28' 20" 32 + 1h 30' 13" 33 + 1h 31' 35" 34 + 1h 33' 12" 35 + 1h 34' 10" 36 + 1h 37' 52" 37 + 1h 41' 30" 38 + 1h 46' 24" 39 + 1h 47' 44" 40 + 1h 48' 12" 41 + 1h 49' 33" 42 + 2h 00' 17" 43 + 2h 00' 23" 44 + 2h 01' 11" 45 + 2h 01' 34" 46 + 2h 03' 28" 47 + 2h 06' 26" 48 + 2h 06' 35" 49 + 2h 08' 07" 50 + 2h 08' 08" 51 + 2h 09' 40" 52 + 2h 11' 03" 53 + 2h 15' 34" 54 + 2h 15' 59" 55 + 2h 18' 38" 56 + 2h 19' 08" 57 + 2h 21' 29" 58 + 2h 21' 57" 59 + 2h 24' 21" 60 + 2h 25' 47" 61 + 2h 30' 22" 62 + 2h 31' 29" 63 + 2h 32' 09" 64 + 2h 34' 06" 65 + 2h 38' 48" 66 + 2h 41' 02" 67 + 2h 41' 09" 68 + 2h 42' 09" 69 + 2h 47' 36" 70 + 2h 48' 28" 71 + 2h 50' 23" 72 + 2h 57' 23" 73 + 2h 57' 57" 74 + 2h 59' 28" 75 + 3h 03' 06" 76 + 3h 04' 21" 77 + 3h 07' 07" 78 + 3h 12' 55" 79 + 3h 12' 57" 80 + 3h 17' 07" 81 + 3h 19' 02"

Points classification

+ Final points classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points1 2082 1993 1654 1475 1336 1117 1037 1039 8310 79

Mountains classification

+ Final mountains classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Points1 1732 1673 894 475 436 347 338 279 2610 23

Team classification

+ Final team classification Rank Team Time1 381h 33' 26"2 + 30' 24"3 + 30' 49"4 + 53' 09"5 + 1h 07' 44"6 + 1h 50' 42"7 + 2h 02' 53"8 + 2h 11' 22"9 + 2h 27' 35"10 + 4h 32' 17"11 + 4h 39' 05"12 + 5h 35' 10"

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links