Since Jacques Anquetil had won in 1957, he was unable to repeat it, due to illness, tiredness and struggle within the French team. For the 1961 Tour de France, 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. 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. 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.

Start list

By team

+Italy No. Rider Pos. 1 43 2 DNF 3 DNF 4 DNF 5 2 6 50 7 DNF 8 4 9 44 10 56 11 DNF 12 16+France No. Rider Pos. 13 18 14 1 15 40 16 32 17 68 18 35 19 DNF 20 45 21 DNF 22 19 23 31 24 42+Belgium No. Rider Pos. 25 10 26 17 27 36 28 DNF 29 11 30 9 31 15 32 DNF 33 13 34 DNF 35 61 36 DNF+Spain No. Rider Pos. 37 DNF 38 DNF 39 55 40 DNF 41 69 42 6 43 62 44 DNF 45 38 46 DNF 47 7 48 49+Netherlands No. Rider Pos. 49 51 50 DNF 51 DNF 52 DNF 53 58 54 DNF 55 DNF 56 DNF 57 DNF 58 64 59 DNF 60 66+Germany No. Rider Pos. 61 DNF 62 DNF 63 DNF 64 DNF 65 5 66 DNF 67 DNF 68 DNF 69 DNF 70 54 71 DNF 72 DNF+Switzerland/Luxembourg No. Rider Pos. 73 63 74 DNF 75 60 76 DNF 77 67 78 12 79 DNF 80 33 81 37 82 3 83 DNF 84 DNF+Great Britain No. Rider Pos. 85 DNF 86 DNF 87 DNF 88 47 89 DNF 90 65 91 DNF 92 DNF 93 DNF 94 DNF 95 53 96 DNF+France - Paris/North-East No. Rider Pos. 101 DNF 102 DNF 103 DNF 104 72 105 26 106 70 107 29 108 DNF 109 71 110 DNF 111 57 112 24+France - Centre No. Rider Pos. 113 52 114 46 115 48 116 8 117 39 118 DNF 119 22 120 34 121 DNF 122 DNF 123 DNF 124 41+France - West/South-West No. Rider Pos. 125 28 126 23 127 DNF 128 20 129 14 130 30 131 DNF 132 59 133 DNF 134 27 135 21 136 25

By rider + Legend No. Starting number worn by the rider during the Tour Pos. Position in the general classification DNF Denotes a rider who did not finish

No. Name Nationality Team Pos. 1 Renzo Accordi Italy 43 2 Graziano Battistini Italy DNF 3 Guido Boni Italy DNF 4 Carlo Brugnami Italy DNF 5 Guido Carlesi Italy 2 6 Roberto Falaschi Italy 50 7 Vito Favero Italy DNF 8 Imerio Massignan Italy 4 9 Mario Minieri Italy 44 10 Armando Pellegrini Italy 56 11 Ezio Pizzoglio Italy DNF 12 Adriano Zamboni Italy 16 13 Henry Anglade France 18 14 Jacques Anquetil France 1 15 Robert Cazala France 40 16 André Darrigade France 32 17 Pierre Everaert France 68 18 Jean Forestier France 35 19 René Privat France DNF 20 Joseph Groussard France 45 21 François Mahé France DNF 22 Raymond Mastrotto France 19 23 Louis Rostollan France 31 24 Jean Stablinski France 42 25 Jan Adriaensens Belgium 10 26 Frans Aerenhouts Belgium 17 27 Jean-Baptiste Claes Belgium 36 28 Emile Daems Belgium DNF 29 Jos Hoevenaers Belgium 11 30 Eddy Pauwels Belgium 9 31 Jef Planckaert Belgium 15 32 Louis Proost Belgium DNF 33 Michel Van Aerde Belgium 13 34 René Vanderveken Belgium DNF 35 Martin Van Geneugden Belgium 61 36 Joseph Vloeberghs Belgium DNF 37 Jaime Alomar Spain DNF 38 Antonio Bertrán Spain DNF 39 Juan Campillo Spain 55 40 José Gómez del Moral Spain DNF 41 Vicente Iturat Spain 69 42 Fernando Manzaneque Spain 6 43 René Marigil Spain 62 44 Carmelo Morales Erostarbe Spain DNF 45 Luis Otaño Spain 38 46 Miguel Pacheco Spain DNF 47 José Pérez Francés Spain 7 48 Julio San Emeterio Spain 49 49 Piet Damen Netherlands 51 50 Jo de Haan Netherlands DNF 51 Dick Enthoven Netherlands DNF 52 Albertus Geldermans Netherlands DNF 53 Jaap Kersten Netherlands 58 54 Jef Lahaye Netherlands DNF 55 Coen Niesten Netherlands DNF 56 Piet van Est Netherlands DNF 57 Wim van Est Netherlands DNF 58 Antoon van der Steen Netherlands 64 59 Wout Wagtmans Netherlands DNF 60 Jan Westdorp Netherlands 66 61 Josef Borghard Germany DNF 62 Manfred Donike Germany DNF 63 Friedhelm Fischerkeller Germany DNF 64 Hans Jaroscewicz Germany DNF 65 Hans Junkermann Germany 5 66 Dieter Kemper Germany DNF 67 Helmut Kuckelkorn Germany DNF 68 Horst Oldenburg Germany DNF 69 Reinhold Pommer Germany DNF 70 Dieter Puschel Germany 54 71 Siegfried Renz Germany DNF 72 Ludwig Troche Germany DNF 73 Fritz Gallati Switzerland/Luxembourg 63 74 Kurt Gimmi Switzerland/Luxembourg DNF 75 Rolf Graf Switzerland/Luxembourg 60 76 Jean Luisier Switzerland/Luxembourg DNF 77 Serge Ruchet Switzerland/Luxembourg 67 78 Alfred Rüegg Switzerland/Luxembourg 12 79 Raymond Bley Switzerland/Luxembourg DNF 80 Aldo Bolzan Switzerland/Luxembourg 33 81 Marcel Ernzer Switzerland/Luxembourg 37 82 Charly Gaul Switzerland/Luxembourg 3 83 Jean-Pierre Sintges Switzerland/Luxembourg DNF 84 Roger Thull Switzerland/Luxembourg DNF 85 Stan Brittain Great Britain DNF 86 Ron Coe Great Britain DNF 87 Vin Denson Great Britain DNF 88 Seamus Elliott Great Britain 47 89 Albert Hitchen Great Britain DNF 90 Ken Laidlaw Great Britain 65 91 Ian Moore Great Britain DNF 92 George O'Brien Great Britain DNF 93 Peter Ryalls Great Britain DNF 94 Sean Ryan Great Britain DNF 95 Brian Robinson Great Britain 53 96 Tom Simpson Great Britain DNF 101 Albert Bouvet France - Paris/North-East DNF 102 Henri Duez France - Paris/North-East DNF 103 Philippe Gaudrillet France - Paris/North-East DNF 104 André Geneste France - Paris/North-East 72 105 Elio Gerussi France - Paris/North-East 26 106 Raymond Hoorelbeke France - Paris/North-East 70 107 Stéphane Lach France - Paris/North-East 29 108 André Le Dissez France - Paris/North-East DNF 109 Jean-Claude Lefebvre France - Paris/North-East 71 110 Claude Sauvage France - Paris/North-East DNF 111 Bernard Viot France - Paris/North-East 57 112 Joseph Wasko France - Paris/North-East 24 113 Antoine Abate France - Centre 52 114 Louis Bergaud France - Centre 46 115 Emmanuel Busto France - Centre 48 116 Jean Dotto France - Centre 8 117 Valentin Huot France - Centre 39 118 Camille Le Menn France - Centre DNF 119 Claude Mattio France - Centre 22 120 Jean Milesi France - Centre 34 121 Anatole Novak France - Centre DNF 122 Marcel Rohrbach France - Centre DNF 123 Pierre Ruby France - Centre DNF 124 Gérard Thiélin France - Centre 41 125 Pierre Beuffeuil France - West/South-West 28 126 Edouard Bihouée France - West/South-West 23 127 André Cloarec France - West/South-West DNF 128 André Foucher France - West/South-West 20 129 Jean Gainche France - West/South-West 14 130 Georges Groussard France - West/South-West 30 131 Marc Huiart France - West/South-West DNF 132 Guy Ignolin France - West/South-West 59 133 Félix Lebuhotel France - West/South-West DNF 134 Fernand Picot France - West/South-West 27 135 Marcel Queheille France - West/South-West 21 136 Joseph Thomin France - West/South-West 25

References