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80-498: Stage Races One-day races and Classics Hendrik Gerardus Joseph " Joop " Zoetemelk ( pronounced [joːp ˈsutəmɛl(ə)k] ; born 3 December 1946) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist . He started and finished the Tour de France 16 times, which were both records when he retired. He also holds the distance record in Tour de France history with 62,885 km ridden. He won

160-456: A cyclo-sportive over 45, 75 or 150 km, is held every March, organised by the Swift club of which Zoetemelk is a member. The course passes his statue. Race stage In an ordinary stage of road bicycle racing , all riders start simultaneously and share the road. Riders are permitted to touch and to shelter behind each other. Riding in each other's slipstreams is crucial to race tactics:

240-524: A directeur sportif and from the sport after the 2006 Vuelta a España . Zoetemelk married Françoise Duchaussoy, daughter of the Tour de France executive, Jacques Duchaussoy. They owned and ran the Richemont hotel in Meaux , near Paris. Their son, Karl, was a French mountain bike rider and champion. Joop Zoetemelk was the second Dutch winner of the Tour de France after Jan Janssen . The Dutch cycling federation,

320-402: A breakaway (as described below). Occasionally, the distinction between medium mountain and mountain in stage classification, decided by race officials, can be controversial. The Giro d'Italia has had a reputation of labeling selective, very difficult stages as merely medium mountain. Lastly, a handful of stages each year are known as being "good for a breakaway"—when one or a few riders attacks

400-405: A group known as the "bus" or "autobus" and ride at a steady pace to the finish. Their only goal is to cross the line within a certain limit—usually the stage winner's time plus 15% – or else they'll be disqualified from the race (at the discretion of the officials; on rare occasions a lead breakaway becomes so large that the entire peloton falls that far back and would normally be allowed to remain in

480-473: A group of favourites was established. On the following climb of the Col du Galibier , Ocaña led. After the descent, Ocaña and Fuente had a minute on Thévenet, while the next group were five minutes and 30 seconds behind. Fuente suffered a flat tire and Ocaña won by 52 seconds over Fuente, almost seven minutes over Thévenet & Martinez, and 20 minutes & 24 seconds over Zoetemelk, Van Impe and Poulidor. Ocaña then led

560-452: A lone rider has little chance of outracing a small group of riders who can take turns in the strenuous position at the front of the group. The majority of riders form a single large group, the "pack" (in French , the " peloton "), with attacking groups ahead of it and the occasional struggling rider dropping behind. In mountainous stages the peloton is likely to become fragmented, but in flat stages

640-500: A low wall. Ocaña could not avoid Merckx and fell himself. Merckx was up quickly and sped away. Ocaña struggled to release his cleats from the toe clips and was struck by the pursuing Joop Zoetemelk . The leader of the general classification lay on the ground screaming with pain. He was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Saint-Gaudens . He recovered but his 1971 Tour dreams had come to an end. The following day Merckx refused to wear

720-406: A split is rare. Where a group of riders reach the finish line together, they do not race each other for a few seconds of improvement to their finishing time. There is a rule that if one rider finishes less than three seconds behind another then he is credited with the same finishing time as the first. This operates transitively, so when the peloton finishes together every rider in it gets the time of

800-415: A sprint against the youngest, strongest riders in the world he launched an attack with over a kilometer to go. Going into the second to last turn Zoetemelk got to the front of the group, moved all the way to the outside of the road then swept back along the inside charging forward into the straightaway. Perhaps, as he was by far the oldest rider in the group and considered long past his prime, his attack caught

880-401: A total of 16 World Championships which is notable considering more than half the field abandons nearly every World Championship and in addition to his win he has come in the top 10 seven other times. As of 2024, he is the oldest men's individual road race world champion. His record number of starts in the Tour de France was surpassed when George Hincapie started for the 17th time, but Hincapie

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960-581: A valid winner." Gerald O'Donovan, the TI–Raleigh director behind sponsorship of the team, said: Of one-day races he won La Flèche Wallonne in 1976, and the Grand Prix d'Automne in 1977 and 1979. He came in fourth in the World Championships of 1976 & 1982, and placed in the top 10 in 1972, 1973, 1975, 1978 and 1984 before winning in 1985. Of the major week long stage races he won Tirreno–Adriatico ,

1040-485: A yellow flag. The top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages are awarded bonus championship points. The points earned are added to a driver/owner's regular season points total, while the winner of the stage receives an additional point that can be carried into the NASCAR playoffs . The stage lengths vary by track, but the first two stages usually combine to equal about half of the race. The final stage (which still pays out

1120-503: The 1971 Tour de France he launched an amazing solo breakaway that put him into the Yellow Jersey and stunned the rest of the main field, including back to back Tour champion Eddy Merckx , but abandoned in the fourteenth stage after a crash on the descent of the Col de Menté. Ocaña would abandon many Tours, but he finished every Vuelta a España he entered except for his first, and finished in

1200-501: The 1971 Vuelta a España and was considered one of the best climbers of his generation. If not for a ten minute time penalty for a doping infraction in 1977 , he would have finished in the top 5 in each of the first 12 Tours he entered. He won the World Professional Road Championship in 1985 at the age of 38, with a late attack surprising the favorites of LeMond , Roche , Argentin and Millar . He completed

1280-468: The 1975 Tour de France . He had won 110 races including nine stages of the Tour de France. He retired to his vineyard in 1977. It is said that despite their rivalry on the road, Merckx organised for a Belgian distributor to order a sizeable quantity of wine from Ocaña's ailing vineyard. Ocaña died by suicide , in Nogaro , Gers , France by gunshot in 1994. It is said he was depressed over financial matters and

1360-521: The 1979 Vuelta a España and the 1980 Tour de France . Besides winning the Tour de France he also finished the Tour in 8th, 5th, 4th (three times) and 2nd (six times) place for a total of eleven top 5 finishes which is a record. He was the first rider to wear the Tour de France's polka dot jersey as the King of the Mountains and even though he never won this classification in the Tour de France, he did win it in

1440-404: The 1982 Tour de France . While he was in his late 30s during his final Tours between 1982 and 1986 and was no longer a pre-race favorite he still remained the strongest GC general classification rider on his team and always had a respectable placing in the overall standings. Including in his final Tour, which he rode wearing the rainbow jersey as reigning World Champion and late in his career he

1520-557: The Col de Menté , a crash in which Zoetemelk was involved but somehow managed to avoid injury. In fact, early in the 1971 Tour de France Zoetemelk wore the Yellow Jersey for the first time becoming the first GC contender to take the Yellow from Merckx. Then in the 1979 Hinault victory nearly the entire field finished a half hour or more behind him, but Zoetemelk was able to keep him within about three minutes to finish in second place, becoming

1600-642: The KNWU , named Zoetemelk the best Dutch rider of all time at a gala to mark its 75th anniversary. A statue of him at Rijpwetering, where he grew up, was unveiled on 31 May 2005. He was named sportsman of the year in the Netherlands in 1980 and 1985. Between 1972 and 1985, he won the Gerrit Schulte Trophy nine times as best rider of the year, more than anybody else in Dutch professional racing. The Joop Zoetemelk Classic ,

1680-466: The Tour de Romandie and three editions of Paris–Nice . While he was never victorious in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré , he did place in the top 10 on eight occasions. In 18 years as a professional (1969–1987), Zoetemelk had a remarkable record of consistency. In grand tours and major stage races he entered 57 races, completing 55 of them, or 96.5% of them. Of these 55 completed races he finished inside

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1760-611: The Tour de Romandie in 1974. He then had a near-death experience during a violent crash, once again involving Luis Ocaña, except this time Zoetemelk had to be taken to the hospital as he crashed heavily into a car left unattended at the finish of the Midi Libre in Valras-Plage, France. He cracked his skull and came close to dying. He returned the next season to win Paris–Nice again, and then caught meningitis . He never fully recovered and

1840-529: The Volvo Ocean Race , Velux 5 Oceans Race , Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and Global Challenge . Luis Oca%C3%B1a Stage races One-day races and Classics Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía ( pronounced [xeˈsus ˈlwis oˈkaɲa peɾˈnia] ; 9 June 1945 – 19 May 1994) was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the 1973 Tour de France and the 1970 Vuelta a España . During

1920-607: The Vuelta a España . In 1969, he won the Catalan Cycling Week . In 1970, Ocaña signed with the French team Bic . In the 1970 Vuelta a España , he battled with Agustín Tamames , losing the leader's jersey to him on the 13th stage. Ocaña performed well in the time-trial on the final day putting himself back into the Gold jersey as he won his first Grand Tour with an advantage of 1:18 over Tamames. The Spanish newspaper Dicen said Ocaña

2000-489: The general classification by nine minutes over Fuente, ten minutes on Thevénet, with Zoetemelk fifth, over 23 minutes behind. Ocaña then won the stage 12 time trial. A duel in the Pyrenees was expected between Ocaña and Fuente but Ocaña won the longest stage in the Pyrenees. L'Equipe had the headline Ocaña appuie sur l'accélérateur translated as Ocaña steps on the accelerator . Ocaña won the last individual time trial and also

2080-517: The 1974 Vuelta a España , won by Fuente. Ocaña was unable to defend his Tour de France win in 1974 due to an injury sustained during the Midi-Libre. He finished fourth again in the 1975 Vuelta a España. In 1976, he was back to top form and finished third in Paris–Nice and second overall in the Vuelta a España , a minute behind José Pesarrodona. Ocaña retired at the end of 1977 after finishing 25th in

2160-527: The 1985 race all of them were between 24 and 28 years old. Regarding his victory in the 1980 Tour de France, Peter Post , directeur sportif of the TI–Raleigh team in the Netherlands, approached Zoetemelk through his wife, Françoise, after the world championship in 1979. Zoetemelk had long lived in France and ridden for French teams. His sponsor, the bicycle company Mercier , had ended its sponsorship and Zoetemelk

2240-510: The Tour of Yugoslavia, the Circuit des Mines, three stages and the mountains prize in the Tour of Austria, and the 1969 Tour de l'Avenir. He also won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City in the 100 km team time-trial with Fedor den Hertog , Jan Krekels and René Pijnen . Zoetemelk turned professional for Briek Schotte 's Belgian Mars–Flandria team in 1970. Initially he

2320-462: The Tour or the Giro, there is a secondary competition on points (e.g. Points classification in the Tour de France ), which tends to be contested by sprinters. Riders collect points for being one of the first to finish the stage and also for being one of the first three to finish an "intermediate" sprint. Sprinters also can get time bonuses, meaning that good sprinters may lead the general classification during

2400-408: The chasing group reduced this to two and a half minutes at the finish. However, Fuente finished seven minutes back. Ocaña won the first mountain stage and took the yellow jersey, while Thévenet won the second mountain stage. L'Equipe newspaper predicted a duel. However, on the third mountain stage, Ocaña delivered a crushing defeat to his rivals. Fuente attacked early on the Col du Télégraphe and

2480-495: The competition to avoid having only a small field still in competition). Meanwhile, the lighter climbers hurl themselves up the slopes at a much higher speed. Usually, the General Classification riders try to stay near the front group, and also try to keep a few teammates with them. These teammates are there to drive the pace—and hopefully "drop" the opposition riders—and to provide moral support to their leader. Typically,

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2560-455: The end of most of their Tour victories it was Zoetemelk who proved to be the only rider in the entire field capable of keeping either one of them within striking distance. Specifically in Merckx's 1969 and 1970 Tour wins nobody was able to keep him within fifteen minutes in 1969 and in 1970 Zoetemelk was the only rider to do so. He also finished 2nd to Merckx in 1971 following Ocana's infamous crash on

2640-423: The entire stage and Zoetemelk was given a ten-minute doping penalty after the race was over. During the 1983 Tour de France he was given a doping penalty. At his stage of his career, he was no longer a favorite for victory and was not taking substances for "performance enhancement", but just to "survive" the race. Much later it was revealed by riders from this era they would often times take substances just to finish

2720-487: The favourites for that year's Tour, which included Merckx. He succeeded in a 15-second gain on Merckx but built on that the following day. Then on stage 11 to Orcières-Merlette , Ocaña rode himself into the yellow jersey with eight minutes over Merckx. After a rest day, Merckx cut that lead to 7 minutes and in the Pyrenees , on the Col de Menté , Merckx attacked as he descended the mountain. Merckx lost control and skidded into

2800-518: The final climb there were less than 20 riders still in contention, but it was a very strong surviving group that was going to come down to a sprint finish with riders including former champs LeMond and Criquielion, as well as Andersen, Roche, Robert Millar , Marc Madiot , Italian riders Argentin and Claudio Corti , who finished 2nd the previous year, as well as three Dutch riders in Zoetemelk, Van der Velde and Gerard Veldscholten . Knowing he would not win

2880-546: The final time trial. In 1979 he rode the Vuelta a España for the second time in his career. He previously rode the 1971 edition where he placed 6th overall and won the King of the Mountains competition. He would win the 1979 edition . In the 1979 Tour de France he survived the "hell of the north" cobbles of Roubaix on Stage 9, which is a notorious stage where several riders can get multiple flat tires and there are always many crashes. Zoetemelk survived with four other riders in

2960-406: The finish line approached he looked over his shoulder one final time and began celebrating. He crossed the line with his hands in the air and as his teammates Van der Velde and Veldscholten crossed the line in 9th and 14th place, they too threw their hands in the air in celebration. As of 2020 Zoetemelk is still the oldest world champion in the history of this event and of the other top 10 finishers in

3040-522: The first few stages of a big multi-day event. In NASCAR racing, starting with the 2017 season, races in the top three national touring series are completed in three stages, four in the case of the NASCAR Cup Series's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 . A stage consists of normal green flag racing followed by a stoppage on a designated lap signified by the waving of a green and white checkered flag, then

3120-416: The first time, but due to critics saying that Merckx only won the Tour because of Ocaña's fall, Merckx decided to ride. There was speculation of a duel. Ocaña had won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the national championship. In the Pyrenees, Ocaña repeatedly attacked Merckx without success, before withdrawing with bronchitis. In 1973, Merckx decided to ride the Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia . It

3200-400: The first time. On stage 10 however, Ocaña stole the show in one of the most memorable attacks in Tour history taking the jersey from Zoetemelk and distancing all of the other favorites. On stage 14 Ocaña and Zoetemelk were involved in one of the most famous crashes in Tour history on the Col de Menté . Zoetemelk managed to survive the impact but Ocaña was seriously injured and had to be taken to

3280-498: The head injury reduced his sense of taste. Nevertheless, he won 20 races that season, including Paris–Nice, the Tour of Holland and the Dwars door Lausanne and a stage of the Tour de France. He also came fourth in the 1975 Tour de France. During that year's Tour he won stage 15 and finished strongly overall, placing behind only Thévenet, Merckx and Lucien Van Impe in a Tour where the next closest contenders were close to 20:00 or more behind

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3360-416: The high mountains. Hinault withdrew and Zoetemelk remained the strongest rider in the Tour despite suffering a violent crash on Stage 16 which cut his arm and leg open. He would also claim another stage win during the final ITT winning the 1980 Tour de France by nearly 7:00 over Hennie Kuiper and Raymond Martin . In 1981 he would finish 4th overall and he would finish 2nd for the 6th and final time during

3440-508: The hospital. From that point on Merckx would lead the race and Zoetemelk would finish 2nd for the second consecutive year. He wore the yellow jersey for the second time after winning the Prologue in the 1973 Tour de France , which took place in his home country of the Netherlands. He also picked up another stage win in that year's edition. Zoetemelk won Paris–Nice , the Semana Catalana and

3520-462: The instructions had to come from Gerrie Knetemann and Jan Raas ." Peter Post said: "Joop would fit in any team. I've known only a few riders who were so easy. He followed the rules, he got on with people. That's the way he is. He never asked for domestiques . Joop never demanded anything." After retiring, Zoetemelk became a directeur sportif with Superconfex, which became Rabobank in 1996. Zoetemelk stayed with Rabobank for 10 years, retiring as

3600-448: The leader will attack very hard when there are only a few kilometres to go, trying to put time into his main rivals. Gaps of two and even three minutes can be created over just a few kilometres by hard attacks. In larger stage races, some stages may be designated as "medium mountain", "hilly" or "intermediate" stages. These stages are more difficult than flat stages, but not as difficult as the mountain stages. They are often well-suited for

3680-414: The line—200 metres away is about the maximum—the sprinter launches himself around his final lead-out man in an all-out effort for the line. Top speeds can be in excess of 72 km/h (about 45 mph). Sprint stages rarely result in big time differences between riders (see above), but contenders for the General Classification tend to stay near the front of the peloton to avoid crashes. Mountain stages, on

3760-513: The most championship points) usually equals the other half. The first driver to win a National Series race under the stage race format was GMS Racing Camping World Truck Series driver Kaz Grala who won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February 2017 after holding off Austin Wayne Self . Round-the-world sailing races are sometimes held over stages. Notable examples are

3840-502: The mountain stage to Puy-de-Dôme , eventually winning the race with 15 minutes over Bernard Thévenet . He also won the combativity award . After his win, Ocaña declared that after the 1974 Tour de France , he wanted to try the hour record. After his win in the Tour de France, Ocaña finished third and won the bronze medal in the world championship road race. He also won the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco in 1973 and finished fourth in

3920-403: The only rider in Tour history to challenge the yellow jersey on the final stage into Paris in the process. Zoetemelk finished second to Hinault in 1978 and 1979, before outlasting and defeating him in 1980, and again during his sixth and final second-place finish in 1982. During his remarkable career Zoetemelk spent 22 days in the Yellow Jersey and won 10 individual stages in the Tour de France,

4000-524: The other hand, often do cause big "splits" in the finishing times, especially when the stage actually ends at the top of a mountain. (If the stage ends at the bottom of a mountain that has just been climbed, riders have the chance to descend aggressively and catch up to anyone who may have beaten them to the summit.) For this reason, the mountain stages are considered the deciding factor in most Tours, and are often attended by hundreds of thousands of spectators. Mountains cause big splits in finishing times due to

4080-423: The peloton and beats it to the finish line. Typically these stages are somewhere between flat and mountainous. Breakaway stages are where the rouleurs, the hard-working, all-around riders who make up the majority of most teams, get their chance to grab a moment in the spotlight. (The climbers will want to save their energy for the mountains, and the sprinters are not built for hills.) In the big multi-day events like

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4160-450: The peloton—there are no big hills to slow it down. So more often than not, the entire peloton approaches the finish line en masse. Some teams are organized around a single specialized sprinter, and in the final kilometres of a sprint stage, these teams jockey for position at the front of the peloton. In the final few hundred metres, a succession of riders "lead out" their sprinter, riding very hard while he stays in their slipstream. Just before

4240-412: The podium for the 5th time. The following year he was riding with a new team in TI–Raleigh, who was one of the strongest cycling teams in the world and they grew even stronger after signing Zoetemelk. At one point in this Tour TI–Raleigh won seven stages in a row, one of which was an ITT won by Zoetemelk where he gained 1:39 on Hinault and pulled within 0:21 of the overall lead prior to the first stages in

4320-448: The race had come back together and riders such as Moreno Argentin , Australian Michael Wilson and Criquielion had launched attacks but before long they had been brought back. By the final lap Zoetemelk had been all but invisible within the pack no different than many other riders, but he was still in the race as riders like Stephen Roche of Ireland and Kim Andersen of Denmark launched attacks that were eventually brought back. Following

4400-407: The race he had a gap of 500 meters and Argentin was at the front of the pack trying to bring back Zoetemelk's attack but couldn't, so he actually put his arm in the air and waved for someone else to come forward and help. No one did, including LeMond who stated after the race that he just wasn't strong enough to bring back this final attack after chasing down the attacks of other riders all day long. As

4480-445: The race. He was not implicated during his Tour win in 1980. Zoetemelk is one of the most successful Tour riders of all time; he finished second a record six times and won once. His career coincided with the rise and fall of both Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault , riders considered by many to be the #1 and #2 in all of Tour de France history. While Merckx was rivaled by Luis Ocaña and Hinault by Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond , by

4560-471: The rider at the front of the peloton, even though the peloton takes tens of seconds, and possibly even a couple of minutes, to cross the finish line. Riders who crash within the last three kilometres of the stage are credited with the finishing time of the group that they were with when they crashed, if that is better than the time in which they actually finish. This avoids sprinters being penalized for accidents that do not accurately reflect their performance on

4640-435: The second crash on lap 12 (of 18) allowed a breakaway to form with five riders including Jens Veggerby , Dominique Arnaud and Johan van der Velde . This group built up a gap of over two minutes before the surviving peloton began reeling them back in. Hinault had an off day, suffered a flat tire and abandoned the race, as did several other strong riders including Hennie Kuiper , Dietrich Thurau and Urs Freuler . By lap 17

4720-424: The simple laws of physics. Firstly, the slower speeds mean that the aerodynamic advantage gained by slipstreaming is much smaller. Furthermore, lighter riders generate more power per kilogram than heavier riders; thus, the sprinters and the rouleurs (all-around good cyclists), who tend to be a bit bigger, suffer on the climbs and lose much time—40 minutes over a long stage is not unheard-of. Generally, these riders form

4800-518: The sport to run a hotel at Meaux , France. Zoetemelk was raised in Rijpwetering , the son of Maria and Gerard Zoetemelk. He started working as a carpenter. He became a speed-skater and a regional champion before turning to cycling in 1964. He joined the Swift club in Leiden and made a fast impression, winning youth races in his first season. He rode particularly well as a senior in multi-day races. He won

4880-518: The stage as a whole given that crashes in the final three kilometre can be huge pileups that are hard to avoid for a rider farther back in the peloton. A crashed sprinter inside the final three kilometres will not win the sprint, but avoids being penalised in the overall classification. Ordinary stages can be further classified as "sprinters' stages" or "climbers' stages". The former tend to be raced on relatively flat terrain, which makes it difficult for small groups or individual cyclists to break away from

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4960-523: The stage on Alp d'Huez Zoetemelk, Michel Pollentier and Tour debutant Bernard Hinault were separated from one another by only 0:18. At the end of the stage he led Hinault by +0:14 but was 2nd in the overall classification to Pollentier; however due to the Pollentier doping incident following the post-stage drug test, he took over the yellow jersey . He rode strongly and kept his narrow lead, which he would hold for several stages before losing it to Hinault on

5040-465: The surviving contenders by surprise and he quickly opened a gap of fifty meters. His teammates in Van der Velde and Veldscholten moved to the front of the group, but we're not actually chasing Zoetemelk down and were therefore slowing the chase group. As he went under the flamme rouge banner he had a gap of over 300 meters and was continuing to pull away from the best riders in the world. With 400 meters to go in

5120-585: The top 10 thirty-eight times, made the podium twenty-one times and claimed seven victories. He only finished outside the top 25 on four occasions. He entered the Tour de France sixteen times and finished the race sixteen times, the latter of which is a record that Sylvain Chavanel tied when he finished the 2018 Tour de France . He holds the record for total kilometers ridden, a record that will be very difficult to break as modern stages are considerably shorter than they were during Zoetemelk's era. Another record he held

5200-593: The top 5 seven times in a row. Ocaña was born in Priego , Cuenca , Spain but his family moved to Mont-de-Marsan ( Landes , France ) in 1957. Ocaña took up racing with a club in Mont-de-Marsan and began his professional career in 1968 with the Spanish Fagor team, becoming Spanish champion that year. The following year he won the prologue and two time trials, the mountains classification as well as finishing second in

5280-480: The tour. Zoetemelk would win again on Stage 20 but he remained more than 4:00 behind Van Impe as every other rider was more than 12:00 back. In the 1977 Tour de France he would have the worst Tour placing of his career up to that point, which was partially because he was penalized ten minutes and had a stage win revoked. He still finished in the Top 10 overall. During the 1978 Tour de France he won stage 14 and going into

5360-438: The winner. In the 1976 Tour de France he won stage 9 up Alp d'Huez by :03 in a hard-fought climb where he and Van Impe dropped all other riders and were alone crossing the finish. In stage 10 Zoetemelk once again won the stage, this time beating Van Impe and Thévenet by just one second, in the process coming within just seven seconds of the Yellow Jersey. On stage 14 however, Van Impe attacked and for all intents and purposes won

5440-500: The winning group, won 3:45 over the next finishers and moved into the yellow jersey, which he would hold for 6 stages. Following the stage 11 time trial it was a two-way battle between him and Hinault and it was possible that he would win the Vuelta-Tour Double. Hinault steadily chipped away at Zoetemelk's lead and then steadily built his lead over Zoetemelk while all other GC contenders were distanced further and further. Zoetemelk

5520-424: The world in that year's Tour de France, and was not challenging him for victory, he managed to finish on the podium in 2nd place and was the only rider to finish within 15:00 of Merckx during his first two Tour victories in 1969 and 1970 . He would wear the yellow jersey for the first time in the 1971 Tour de France , following a stage in which he, Luis Ocaña and Bernard Thévenet were able to drop Merckx for

5600-407: The yellow jersey, in tribute to Ocaña. There is a memorial at the scene of the accident on the western side of the Col de Menté in the Pyrenees (at 42°54′55.9″N 0°44′37.7″E  /  42.915528°N 0.743806°E  / 42.915528; 0.743806 ). The following year, 1972, Merckx had intended on not participating in the 1972 Tour de France in order to ride the Vuelta a España for

5680-431: Was "the best time-trialist that Spanish cycling has ever had". In the 1970 Tour de France , Ocaña won the stage to Puy-de-Dôme and finished 31st in the Tour. Before the Tour de France, Ocaña finished third behind Eddy Merckx in Paris–Nice and second behind Merckx in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré . On the uphill finish of stage eight with four kilometres to go, Ocaña launched the decisive move and broke away from

5760-407: Was able to drop Hinault on Alpe d'Huez and claim the stage win. He was able to take back just under a minute, but he needed to win by +3:00. In the end Hinault would keep the lead and he and Zoetemelk finished nearly a half hour ahead of the rest of the field as Zoetemelk refused to give up and attacked on the final stage into Paris. It was not enough to break Hinault however as he took 2nd place on

5840-470: Was disqualified from three tours in October 2012, for doping offenses, giving the number of starts record back to Zoetemelk. Nobody other than Zoetemelk achieved sixteen Tour de France finishes until Sylvain Chavanel did so in the 2018 Tour de France . Currently, three riders have had more than 16 starts in the Tour de France, but no one has yet exceeded the record of finishing the event 16 times. He retired from

5920-502: Was for the most stages completed in TDF history with 365, a record that was not broken until 2018 by Chavanel. During the 1977 Tour de France he won the mountain time trial on stage 15B, several days later it was revealed he took a banned substance and had the stage win revoked and was penalized ten minutes. In the 1979 Tour de France Zoetemelk tried attacking Hinault on the final stage of the race into Paris. Hinault and Zoetemelk stayed away for

6000-433: Was looking for a new team. The following year Zoetemelk won his – and TI–Raleigh's – only Tour de France. The pre-race favourite, Bernard Hinault had retired halfway due to knee-problems. Zoetemelk objected to claims that he had won only because Hinault had dropped out, saying: "Surely winning the Tour de France is a question of health and robustness. If Hinault doesn't have that health and robustness and I have, that makes me

6080-579: Was not competing, had picked José Manuel Fuente , Joop Zoetemelk and Raymond Poulidor for the podium. Indeed, Zoetemelk and Poulidor had finished first and second after the prologue while Ocaña crashed during the first stage when a dog ran into the peloton. However, on the third stage, Ocaña and his team distanced his rivals. The stage began in Roubaix and when the peloton went over cobblestones at Querenaing, Ocaña and four teammates together with six others, attacked, and gained five minutes at one point, although

6160-468: Was riding in support of team leader Roger De Vlaeminck , but the Belgian abandoned the race due to a crash near the end of the first week. Zoetemelk proved to be by far the strongest remaining rider on the team. Of his teammates who finished the race the highest placed was 69th, with the majority of others coming in the range of 80th to 100th place. While he admitted that Eddy Merckx was the strongest rider in

6240-691: Was still good enough to win major races including the 1985 World Championship, Tirreno–Adriatico and the Amstel Gold Race . Going into the 1985 World Championship the primary favorites were thought to include Bernard Hinault , Greg LeMond and being as it was thought the course could produce a sprint finish riders like Sean Kelly or even defending world champion Claude Criquielion . There were several early breakaways, but none of them included any riders considered threats to stay away and never extended their gap much beyond two minutes. There were two major crashes, both of which Zoetemelk managed to avoid but

6320-438: Was the first time that Merckx contested the Vuelta a España and that year he would not be contesting the Tour de France. Ocaña battled Merckx in the race with Bernard Thévenet also present. In the end Ocaña finished second, almost 4 minutes behind Merckx. Because Ocaña had only finished one of the four previous editions of the Tour de France that he had started, he was not considered a favourite for overall victory. Merckx, who

6400-401: Was the overall winner of the Vuelta a España in 1979, the King of the Mountains in 1971, and won the 1985 UCI Road World Championships . A fellow Tour rider, Rini Wagtmans , said: "Joop Zoetemelk is the best rider that the Netherlands has ever known. There has never been a better one. But he could not give instructions. He was treated and helped with respect. But when Zoetemelk won the Tour,

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