1965 Tour de France

The 1965 Tour started with 130 cyclists, divided into 13 teams of 10 cyclists.[2] Each team had to include at least six cyclists with the same nationality.[3] The Molteni–Ignis team was a combined team, with 5 cyclists from Molteni and 5 from Ignis.[2]

The teams entering the race were:[2]

Jacques Anquetil, who won the previous four Tours de France (1961–1964), did not participate in this tour. Cyclists in that time earned most of their income in criteriums, and Anquetil believed that even if he would win a sixth time, he would not get more money in those races.[4]

This made Raymond Poulidor, who became second in the previous Tour, the main favourite.[1]

Other favourites were Italians Vittorio Adorni and Gianni Motta. Adorni had won the Giro d'Italia earlier that year, helped by his team-mate Felice Gimondi who finished third in his first year as a professional. Originally, Gimondi was not planning to start the 1965 Tour, but was asked to do so after several team-mates were ill.[4]

The 1965 Tour de France started on 22 June, and had one rest day in Barcelona.[5] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,360 m (7,740 ft) at the summit of the Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage 16.[6][7]

Stage characteristics and winners[1][5][8][9]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1a	22 June	Cologne (West Germany) to Liège (Belgium)	149 km (93 mi)		Plain stage	Rik Van Looy (BEL)
1b		Liège (Belgium)	22.5 km (14.0 mi)		Team time trial	Ford France–Gitane
2	23 June	Liège (Belgium) to Roubaix	200.5 km (124.6 mi)		Plain stage	Bernard Van De Kerkhove (BEL)
3	24 June	Roubaix to Rouen	240 km (150 mi)		Plain stage	Felice Gimondi (ITA)
4	25 June	Caen to Saint-Brieuc	227 km (141 mi)		Plain stage	Edgard Sorgeloos (BEL)
5a	26 June	Saint-Brieuc to Châteaulin	147 km (91 mi)		Plain stage	Cees van Espen (NED)
5b		Châteaulin	26.7 km (16.6 mi)		Individual time trial	Raymond Poulidor (FRA)
6	27 June	Quimper to La Baule	210.5 km (130.8 mi)		Plain stage	Guido Reybroeck (BEL)
7	28 June	La Baule to La Rochelle	219 km (136 mi)		Plain stage	Edward Sels (BEL)
8	29 June	La Rochelle to Bordeaux	197.5 km (122.7 mi)		Plain stage	Johan de Roo (NED)
9	30 June	Dax to Bagnères-de-Bigorre	226.5 km (140.7 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Julio Jiménez (ESP)
10	1 July	Bagnères-de-Bigorre to Ax-les-Thermes	222.5 km (138.3 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Guido Reybroeck (BEL)
11	2 July	Ax-les-Thermes to Barcelona (Spain)	240.5 km (149.4 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	José Perez-Frances (ESP)
	3 July	Barcelona			Rest day
12	4 July	Barcelona (Spain) to Perpignan	219 km (136 mi)		Plain stage	Jan Janssen (NED)
13	5 July	Perpignan to Montpellier	164 km (102 mi)		Plain stage	Adriano Durante (ITA)
14	6 July	Montpellier to Mont Ventoux	173 km (107 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Raymond Poulidor (FRA)
15	7 July	Carpentras to Gap	167.5 km (104.1 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Giuseppe Fezzardi (ITA)
16	8 July	Gap to Briançon	177 km (110 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Joaquim Galera (ESP)
17	9 July	Briançon to Aix-les-Bains	193.5 km (120.2 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Julio Jiménez (ESP)
18	10 July	Aix-les-Bains to Le Revard	26.9 km (16.7 mi)		Mountain time trial	Felice Gimondi (ITA)
19	11 July	Aix-les-Bains to Lyon	165 km (103 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Rik Van Looy (BEL)
20	12 July	Lyon to Auxerre	198.5 km (123.3 mi)		Plain stage	Michael Wright (GBR)
21	13 July	Auxerre to Versailles	225.5 km (140.1 mi)		Plain stage	Gerben Karstens (NED)
22	14 July	Versailles to Paris	37.8 km (23.5 mi)		Individual time trial	Felice Gimondi (ITA)
	Total		4,188 km (2,602 mi)[10]

Riders climbing the Côte des Forges during stage one between Rennes and Lisieux

The race started in Germany, and the first stage, ending in Belgium, was won by Belgian Rik Van Looy. On the second stage, run over cobbles, three riders escaped: Bernard Vandekerkhove, Felice Gimondi and Victor Van Schil. Vandekerkhove won the stage, and became the new leader.[4]

On the third stage, there was again a group away, including Gimondi and André Darrigade. Darrigade was one of the best sprinters of that time, so Gimondi knew he would not win if it would end in a sprint. Gimondi therefore escaped with one kilometer to go. Gimondi was able to stay away, and won the stage; it was the first victory in his professional career.[4] Gimondi also took the lead in the general classification, represented by the yellow jersey; this made Gimondi a protected rider in his team because his sponsor wanted to keep the publicity associated with the yellow jersey as long as possible.[4]

The second part of the fifth stage was run as an individual time trial. It was won by Raymond Poulidor, but Gimondi was second, and kept his lead. He had a margin in the general classification of over two minutes on Vandekerkhove, while his team leader Adorni was in third place.[4]

In the seventh stage, Adorni fell. His team-mates, including Gimondi, waited for him and lost some time; because of this, Vandekerkhove took back the lead.[4]

The ninth stage was the first Pyrenean stage, and during that stage eleven riders abandoned because of sickness. This included the leader of the general classification Vandekerkhove, and also Adorni. Rumours about doping that went wrong circulated, but nothing was ever proven. Gimondi became the leader of the general classification again, and because his team leader Adorni had left the race, he also became the undisputed leader of this team.[4]

Felice Gimondi, winner of the general classification, pictured after he won the 1964 Tour de l'Avenir – the then semi-professional equivalent of the Tour de France

There were two more days in the Pyrenees, but these gave no big changes in the general classification. After stage eleven, Gimondi was still leading, with Poulidor in second place, more than three minutes behind. Poulidor expected that the inexperienced Gimondi would fail somewhere, and expected fourth-placed Motta to be his biggest rival. Poulidor announced he would attack on Mont Ventoux in stage fourteen.[4]

During that stage, Poulidor showed his strength, and won. He had a big margin over Motta, but Gimondi had stayed surprisingly close, and kept the lead in the general classification with 34 seconds.[4]

In the following Alp stages, Poulidor did not attack; he planned to take the lead in the mountain time trial of stage eighteen. But this was won by Gimondi, who thus increased his lead.[4]

The only realistic chance left for Poulidor to win back time was in the individual time trial that ended the race. Poulidor was a good time trialist, and on a good day he should have been able to win back enough time to win the race. But Gimondi was the fastest man that day, and won the stage, and thereby the Tour de France.[4]

There were several classifications in the 1965 Tour de France, two of them awarding jerseys to their leaders.[11] 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.[12]

Additionally, there was a points classification. In the points classification, cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and was identified with a green jersey.[13]

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.[14]

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.[15]

In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the cyclist considered most combative. The split stages each had a combined winner. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave "stars". The cyclist with the most "stars" in all stages lead the "star classification".[16] Felice Gimondi won this classification.[5] The jury gave Cees Haast the prize more most unlucky cyclist, because he lost his sixth place in the general classification after a fall, and the prize for most sympathetic cyclist to Gianni Motta, because he was always in a good mood and did not look for apologies after losing to Gimondi.[17] The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass the summit of the Col du Lautaret on stage 17. This prize was won by Francisco Gabica.[18]

Classification leadership by stage[19][20]

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification[lower-alpha 1]	Team classification	Combativity		Bad luck award
						Award	Classification
1a	Rik Van Looy	Rik Van Looy	Rik Van Looy	Frans Brands	Solo–Superia	Frans Brands	Frans Brands	Peter Post
1b	Ford France–Gitane
2	Bernard Van De Kerkhove	Bernard Van de Kerckhove	Bernard Van de Kerckhove			Felice Gimondi	Felice Gimondi	Edward Sels
3	Felice Gimondi	Felice Gimondi				Anatole Novak		Georges Groussard
4	Edgard Sorgeloos					Jozef Timmerman		Jozef Timmerman
5a	Cees van Espen				Televizier	Frans Brands		Michel Nédélec
5b	Raymond Poulidor				Solo–Superia
6	Guido Reybroeck		Guido Reybrouck			Jo de Roo	Frans Brands	no award
7	Edward Sels	Bernard Van de Kerckhove				Edward Sels		Désiré Letort
8	Johan de Roo		Jo de Roo			Roger Pingeon	Jo de Roo	Guido Reybrouck
9	Julio Jiménez	Felice Gimondi	Felice Gimondi	Julio Jiménez	Peugeot–BP–Michelin	Julio Jiménez		André Foucher
10	Guido Reybroeck		Jo de Roo			Rik Van Looy		Ferdinand Bracke
11	José Pérez Francés					José Pérez Francés	Felice Gimondi	Georges Van Coningsloo
12	Jan Janssen					Angelino Soler		Ambrogio Colombo
13	Adriano Durante					Hubert Ferrer	Frans Brands	Hubert Ferrer
14	Raymond Poulidor		Jan Janssen		Pelforth–Sauvage–Lejeune	Raymond Poulidor	Felice Gimondi	André Foucher
15	Giuseppe Fezzardi					José Antonio Momeñe		Rik Van Looy
16	Joaquim Galera				Kas–Kaskol	Joaquim Galera		Cees Haast
17	Julio Jiménez					Frans Brands		Cees Haast
18	Felice Gimondi					Felice Gimondi		no award
19	Rik Van Looy					Henry Anglade		Johny Schleck
20	Michael Wright					André Darrigade		Tom Simpson
21	Gerben Karstens					Gerben Karstens		Armand Desmet
22	Felice Gimondi					no award		Henri Duez
Final		Felice Gimondi	Jan Janssen	Julio Jiménez	Kas–Kaskol	Felice Gimondi		Cees Haast

• Augendre, Jacques (2016). Guide historique [Historical guide] (PDF). Tour de France (in French). Paris: Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
• McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2008). The Story of the Tour de France: 1965–2007. 2. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59858-608-4.
• Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles (2012). Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-300-2.
• van den Akker, Pieter (2018). Tour de France Rules and Statistics: 1903–2018. Self-published. ISBN 978-1-79398-080-9.

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