For the 1973 Tour de France, the winner of the previous four editions, Eddy Merckx had changed sponsors to the Italian Molteni. His contract said that he had to start in the 1973 Vuelta a España and the 1973 Giro d'Italia, and Merckx thought it was impossible to start in three grand tours in one year, so he stayed away from the Tour. Ocana, who was in great shape, was now the main favourite, with Fuente, Poulidor and Thevenet as his biggest threats. However, Ocana was not the clear favorite; he had already crashed out of the Tour three times, and he was seen as fragile. Zoetemelk had changed teams, because he did not have the full support of his team leader.

The Italian teams did not join the 1973 Tour de France, because no top French cyclist joined the 1973 Giro d'Italia. This meant that world champion Marino Basso and former Tour winner Felice Gimondi were absent. The Tour started with the following 12 teams, each with 11 cyclists: Gan–Mercier Sonolor Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria Peugeot–BP Bic Watney–Maes Rokado Gitane–Frigécrème Canada Dry–Gazelle De Kova–Lejeune Kas La Casera–Bahamontes

Start list

By team

+Gan–Mercier No. Rider Pos. 1 DNF 2 82 3 46 4 26 5 67 6 DNF 7 43 8 12 9 79 10 76 11 7+Sonolor No. Rider Pos. 12 61 13 71 14 DNF 15 80 16 78 17 51 18 DNF 19 60 20 48 21 5 22 DNF+Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria No. Rider Pos. 23 74 24 DNF 25 DNF 26 72 27 24 28 55 29 65 30 18 31 34 32 62 33 DNF+Peugeot–BP No. Rider Pos. 34 56 35 22 36 11 37 68 38 30 39 69 40 10 41 DNF 42 36 43 2 44 37+Bic No. Rider Pos. 45 8 46 28 47 14 48 27 49 21 50 19 51 1 52 31 53 77 54 32 55 53+Watney–Maes No. Rider Pos. 56 DNF 57 DNF 58 DNF 59 DNF 60 DNF 61 DNF 62 DNF 63 DNF 64 DNF 65 DNF 66 DNF+Rokado No. Rider Pos. 67 DNF 68 81 69 DNF 70 16 71 DNF 72 DNF 73 DNF 74 DNF 75 66 76 6 77 52+Gitane–Frigécrème No. Rider Pos. 78 64 79 DNF 80 73 81 42 82 49 83 35 84 DNF 85 63 86 59 87 57 88 4+Canada Dry–Gazelle No. Rider Pos. 89 DNF 90 DNF 91 DNF 92 75 93 33 94 DNF 95 45 96 DNF 97 DNF 98 70 99 DNF+De Kova–Lejeune No. Rider Pos. 100 17 101 85 102 58 103 86 104 44 105 DNF 106 DNF 107 84 108 83 109 87 110 DNF+Kas No. Rider Pos. 111 DNF 112 3 113 20 114 47 115 50 116 29 117 9 118 15 119 41 120 40 121 23+La Casera–Bahamontes No. Rider Pos. 122 DNF 123 25 124 54 125 DNF 126 DNF 127 39 128 DNF 129 38 130 13 131 DNF 132 DNF

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 Raymond Poulidor Gan–Mercier DNF 2 Régis Delépine Gan–Mercier 82 3 Jean-Pierre Genet Gan–Mercier 46 4 René Grelin Gan–Mercier 26 5 Charly Grosskost Gan–Mercier 67 6 Cyrille Guimard Gan–Mercier DNF 7 Barry Hoban Gan–Mercier 43 8 Mariano Martínez Gan–Mercier 12 9 Gérard Moneyron Gan–Mercier 79 10 Jack Mourioux Gan–Mercier 76 11 Michel Périn Gan–Mercier 7 12 Gérard Besnard Sonolor 61 13 Jacques Botherel Sonolor 71 14 Yves Hézard Sonolor DNF 15 Robert Mintkiewicz Sonolor 80 16 Raymond Riotte Sonolor 78 17 Michel Roques Sonolor 51 18 Tino Tabak Sonolor DNF 19 Willy Teirlinck Sonolor 60 20 Claude Tollet Sonolor 48 21 Lucien Van Impe Sonolor 5 22 Willy Van Neste Sonolor DNF 23 Wilfried David Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 74 24 Lucien De Brauwere Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria DNF 25 Ludo Delcroix Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria DNF 26 Marc Demeyer Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 72 27 Ronald De Witte Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 24 28 Daniel Ducreux Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 55 29 Walter Godefroot Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 65 30 Fernando Mendes Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 18 31 Michel Pollentier Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 34 32 Jean-Jacques Sanquer Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria 62 33 Ronny Van Marcke Carpenter–Shimano–Flandria DNF 34 Robert Bouloux Peugeot–BP 56 35 Jean-Pierre Danguillaume Peugeot–BP 22 36 Raymond Delisle Peugeot–BP 11 37 Jacques Esclassan Peugeot–BP 68 38 Pierre Martelozzo Peugeot–BP 30 39 André Mollet Peugeot–BP 69 40 Régis Ovion Peugeot–BP 10 41 Jean-Pierre Paranteau Peugeot–BP DNF 42 Charles Rouxel Peugeot–BP 36 43 Bernard Thévenet Peugeot–BP 2 44 Jürgen Tschan Peugeot–BP 37 45 Joaquim Agostinho Bic 8 46 Roland Berland Bic 28 47 José Catieau Bic 14 48 Jean-Claude Genty Bic 27 49 Bernard Labourdette Bic 21 50 Leif Mortensen Bic 19 51 Luis Ocaña Bic 1 52 Alain Santy Bic 31 53 Guy Santy Bic 77 54 Johny Schleck Bic 32 55 Sylvain Vasseur Bic 53 56 Willy Abbeloos Watney–Maes DNF 57 Paul Aerts Watney–Maes DNF 58 Émile Bodart Watney–Maes DNF 59 Michel Coulon Watney–Maes DNF 60 André Doyen Watney–Maes DNF 61 Englebert Opdebeeck Watney–Maes DNF 62 Walter Planckaert Watney–Maes DNF 63 Gustaaf Van Cauter Watney–Maes DNF 64 Ludo Van Staeyen Watney–Maes DNF 65 Frans Verbeeck Watney–Maes DNF 66 Eddy Verstraeten Watney–Maes DNF 67 Willy De Geest Rokado DNF 68 Alfred Gaida Rokado 81 69 Roger Gilson Rokado DNF 70 Antoon Houbrechts Rokado 16 71 Pieter Nassen Rokado DNF 72 Wilfried Peffgen Rokado DNF 73 Georges Pintens Rokado DNF 74 Wim Schepers Rokado DNF 75 Staf Van Roosbroeck Rokado 66 76 Herman Van Springel Rokado 6 77 Albert Van Vlierberghe Rokado 52 78 Joaquim Andrade Gitane–Frigécrème 64 79 Gilbert Bellone Gitane–Frigécrème DNF 80 Francis Campaner Gitane–Frigécrème 73 81 Ferdinand Julien Gitane–Frigécrème 42 82 Jean-Claude Largeau Gitane–Frigécrème 49 83 Raymond Martin Gitane–Frigécrème 35 84 Joël Millard Gitane–Frigécrème DNF 85 Alain Nogues Gitane–Frigécrème 63 86 Gerard Vianen Gitane–Frigécrème 59 87 Michael Wright Gitane–Frigécrème 57 88 Joop Zoetemelk Gitane–Frigécrème 4 89 Matthijs de Koning Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 90 Ben Janbroers Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 91 Wim Kelleners Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 92 Jan Krekels Canada Dry–Gazelle 75 93 José Freitas Martins Canada Dry–Gazelle 33 94 Ludovic Noels Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 95 Herculano de Oliveira Canada Dry–Gazelle 45 96 Wim Prinsen Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 97 Mathieu Pustjens Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 98 Theo Van Der Leeuw Canada Dry–Gazelle 70 99 Jo Vrancken Canada Dry–Gazelle DNF 100 Lucien Aimar De Kova–Lejeune 17 101 Jean-Claude Baud De Kova–Lejeune 85 102 Christian Blain De Kova–Lejeune 58 103 Jean-Claude Blocher De Kova–Lejeune 86 104 Marcel Boishardy De Kova–Lejeune 44 105 Joseph Carletti De Kova–Lejeune DNF 106 Andrés Gandarias De Kova–Lejeune DNF 107 Noël Geneste De Kova–Lejeune 84 108 Charles Genthon De Kova–Lejeune 83 109 Jacques-André Hochart De Kova–Lejeune 87 110 Richard Podesta De Kova–Lejeune DNF 111 Gonzalo Aja Kas DNF 112 José Manuel Fuente Kas 3 113 Francisco Galdós Kas 20 114 José Antonio González Kas 47 115 José Grande Kas 50 116 Santiago Lazcano Kas 29 117 Vicente López Carril Kas 9 118 Antonio Martos Kas 15 119 Carlos Melero Kas 41 120 Antonio Menéndez Kas 40 121 Luis Zubero Kas 23 122 José Luis Abilleira La Casera–Bahamontes DNF 123 Luis Balagué La Casera–Bahamontes 25 124 Jesús Esperanza La Casera–Bahamontes 54 125 José Gómez La Casera–Bahamontes DNF 126 Félix González La Casera–Bahamontes DNF 127 Jesús Manzaneque La Casera–Bahamontes 39 128 Agustín Tamames La Casera–Bahamontes DNF 129 Dámaso Torres La Casera–Bahamontes 38 130 Pedro Torres La Casera–Bahamontes 13 131 José Viejo La Casera–Bahamontes DNF 132 Juan Zurano La Casera–Bahamontes DNF

References