1995 Tour de France

There were 21 teams in the 1995 Tour de France, each composed of 9 cyclists.[3] The teams were selected in two rounds. In May 1995, the first fifteen teams were announced.[4] In June, five wildcards were announced.[5] Shortly before the start, Le Groupement folded because their team leader Luc Leblanc was injured,[6] and because of financial problems. Their spot went to Aki–Gipiemme, the first team in the reserve list.[7] Additionally, the organisation decided to invite one extra team: a combined team of Team Telekom and ZG Mobili, with six riders from Telekom and three from ZG Mobili.[8]

The teams entering the race were:[3]

Qualified teams

Invited teams

Banesto's Indurain, the winner of the four previous Tours, was the clear favourite for the overall victory. His main challengers were expected to be Rominger from Mapei, Berzin from Gewiss and Zülle from ONCE.[6]

The 1995 Tour de France started on 1 July, and had two rest days, the first at 10 July when the cyclists were transferred from Seraing to Le Grand-Bornand, and the second on 17 July in Saint-Girons.[9] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,115 m (6,939 ft) at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage 15.[10][11]

Stage characteristics and winners[12][13]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
P	1 July	Saint-Brieuc	7.3 km (4.5 mi)		Individual time trial	Jacky Durand (FRA)
1	2 July	Dinan to Lannion	233.5 km (145.1 mi)		Plain stage	Fabio Baldato (ITA)
2	3 July	Perros-Guirec to Vitre	235.5 km (146.3 mi)		Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
3	4 July	Mayenne to Alençon	67.0 km (41.6 mi)		Team time trial	Gewiss–Ballan
4	5 July	Alençon to Le Havre	162.0 km (100.7 mi)		Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
5	6 July	Fécamp to Dunkirk	261.0 km (162.2 mi)		Plain stage	Jeroen Blijlevens (NED)
6	7 July	Dunkirk to Charleroi (Belgium)	202.0 km (125.5 mi)		Plain stage	Erik Zabel (GER)
7	8 July	Charleroi (Belgium) to Liège (Belgium)	203.0 km (126.1 mi)		Hilly stage	Johan Bruyneel (BEL)
8	9 July	Huy (Belgium) to Seraing (Belgium)	54.0 km (33.6 mi)		Individual time trial	Miguel Indurain (ESP)
	10 July	Le Grand-Bornand			Rest day
9	11 July	Le Grand-Bornand to La Plagne	160.0 km (99.4 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Alex Zülle (SUI)
10	12 July	La Plagne to L'Alpe d'Huez	162.5 km (101.0 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Marco Pantani (ITA)
11	13 July	Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne	199.0 km (123.7 mi)		Hilly stage	Maximilian Sciandri (GBR)
12	14 July	Saint-Étienne to Mende	222.5 km (138.3 mi)		Hilly stage	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)
13	15 July	Mende to Revel	245.0 km (152.2 mi)		Plain stage	Serhiy Utchakov (UKR)
14	16 July	Saint-Orens-de-Gameville to Guzet-Neige	164.0 km (101.9 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Marco Pantani (ITA)
	17 July	Saint-Girons			Rest day
15	18 July	Saint-Girons to Cauterets	206.0 km (128.0 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Richard Virenque (FRA)
16	19 July	Tarbes to Pau	149.0 km (92.6 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	—[lower-alpha 1]
17	20 July	Pau to Bordeaux	246.0 km (152.9 mi)		Plain stage	Erik Zabel (GER)
18	21 July	Montpon-Ménestérol to Limoges	166.5 km (103.5 mi)		Plain stage	Lance Armstrong (USA)
19	22 July	Lac de Vassivière to Lac de Vassivière	46.5 km (28.9 mi)		Individual time trial	Miguel Indurain (ESP)
20	23 July	Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois to Paris (Champs-Élysées)	155.0 km (96.3 mi)		Plain stage	Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (UZB)
	Total		3,635 km (2,259 mi)[15]

Miguel Indurain (pictured at the 1993 Tour), winner of the general classification

The first riders in the prologue rode in sunny weather, but then it started to rain, and the riders who started late had to ride on slippery roads. Chris Boardman, a big favourite for the prologue and an outsider for the overall classification, crashed during his ride, was then hit by his team's car, and had to abandon due to injury. The winner of the prologue was Jacky Durand, one of the early starters.[14]

Durand stayed in the lead until the third stage, when Laurent Jalabert overtook him due to time bonuses won in intermediate sprints. Jalabert kept the yellow jersey for two stages, losing it due to a crash in the fourth stage. Ivan Gotti, member of the Gewiss-team that had won the team time trial in stage three, became the new leader.[14] A surprising attack from Indurain in stage seven changed the standings. Indurain attacked in the hilly Ardennes, and only Johan Bruyneel was able to follow him. Indurain did all the work, creating a margin of almost one minute, and Bruyneel only followed him, but beat Indurain in the sprint, winning the stage and becoming the new leader.[14] Indurain was now in second place in the general classification, and after winning the time trial in the eighth stage, he became the new leader. His closest rival in the overall classification was Bjarne Riis at 23 seconds, the others were more than two minutes behind.[14]

The Tour then reached the high mountains in stage nine. Zülle escaped, and created a margin of several minutes. Indurain calmly chased him until the final climb, where he sped away from the others. Zülle won the stage and jumped to the second place in the overall classification, but Indurain won minutes on all other cyclists.[14] The tenth stage was again in the high mountains. Pantani, already irrelevant for the overall classification, won the stage; behind him Indurain, Zülle and Riis finished together.[14]

Stage twelve was not expected to be relevant for the general classification. But when Laurent Jalabert attacked early in the stage, this changed. Jalabert was a teammate of second-placed Zülle, and he was sixth in the general classification, more than nine minutes behind Indurain. Jalabert was joined by three other cyclists, of which two teammates. One of them, Melchior Mauri, was in eighth place, and was himself also a threat. The teammates worked together well, and when they were more than ten minutes ahead, Jalabert was the virtual leader. At that moment, Indurain's Banesto team and Riis' Gewiss team started to work together to close the gap. They reduced it to almost six minutes, which meant that Jalabert jumped to third place in the general classification. ONCE now had three cyclists in the top five: Zülle in second place, Jalabert in fourth place and Mauri in fifth place.[14]

In stage thirteen Serhiy Utchakov and Lance Armstrong broke clear and were alone heading for the finish where Utchakov won the sprint. Armstrong was asked why he wasn't living up to expectations as far as competing with Indurain to which he replied that Indurain didn't finish his first two Tours and finished in the bottom half of several others before blossoming in to who he is. "They expect you to be with Miguel Indurain all the time and that's just... You just can't do that in a race like this. This is a man's race and it's hard for kid to compete."

The Pyrenées were reached in stage fourteen. Pantani again showed his strengths in the mountains, winning the stage. The other favourites stayed more or less together, so there were no big changes in the general classification.[14]

In the fifteenth stage, Richard Virenque escaped early in the stage, reaching all six tops in the stage first, and won the stage. Behind him, several cyclists crashed on the descent of the Portet d'Aspet, including Fabio Casartelli. Casartelli's head hit a concrete barrier at high speed without wearing a helmet, and he was declared dead in the hospital.[14]

Out of respect for Casartelli, the sixteenth stage was raced non-competitively. Casartelli's teammates from Motorola were allowed to cross the finish line first. The eighteenth stage was won by Lance Armstrong, a teammate of Casartelli. Armstrong dedicated this stage victory to Casartelli.[14] Indurain was still leading firmly, and extended his lead by winning the last time trial.

Miguel Indurain's yellow jersey of the 1995 Tour

There were several classifications in the 1995 Tour de France.[16] 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.[17]

Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. 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.[18]

There was also a mountains classification. The organisation had categorised some climbs as either hors catégorie, 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, and wore a white jersey with red polka dots.[19]

The fourth individual classification was the young rider classification, which was not marked by a jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders under 26 years were eligible.[20]

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.[21]

In addition, there was a combativity award given after each mass-start stage to the cyclist considered most combative. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification.[22] Hernán Buenahora won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award.[9] 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 Tourmalet on stage 15. This prize was won by Richard Virenque.[23]

Classification leadership by stage[24][25]

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Young rider classification[lower-alpha 2]	Team classification	Combativity
							Award	Classification
P	Jacky Durand	Jacky Durand	Jacky Durand	Arsenio Gonzalez	Gabriele Colombo	Castorama	no award
1	Fabio Baldato		Fabio Baldato	François Simon			Erik Dekker	Erik Dekker
2	Mario Cipollini	Laurent Jalabert	Djamolidine Abdoujaparov		Dirk Baldinger		Eric Vanderaerden
3	Gewiss–Ballan				Gabriele Colombo	Gewiss–Ballan	no award
4	Mario Cipollini	Ivan Gotti	Mario Cipollini		Evgeni Berzin		Francisco Cabello
5	Jeroen Blijlevens			Dimitri Konyshev			Rolf Järmann	Rolf Järmann
6	Erik Zabel	Bjarne Riis	Djamolidine Abdoujaparov				Herman Frison
7	Johan Bruyneel	Johan Bruyneel	Laurent Jalabert	Richard Virenque			Miguel Indurain	Miguel Indurain
8	Miguel Indurain	Miguel Indurain					no award
9	Alex Zülle				Marco Pantani	ONCE	Alex Zülle	Alex Zülle
10	Marco Pantani						Laurent Brochard
11	Max Sciandri						Hernán Buenahora
12	Laurent Jalabert						Laurent Jalabert	Laurent Jalabert
13	Serguei Outschakov						Serguei Outschakov
14	Marco Pantani						Marco Pantani
15	Richard Virenque						Richard Virenque	Hernán Buenahora
16	—[lower-alpha 1]						no award
17	Erik Zabel						Thierry Marie
18	Lance Armstrong						Lance Armstrong
19	Miguel Indurain						no award
20	Djamolidine Abdoujaparov						Serhiy Utchakov
Final		Miguel Indurain	Laurent Jalabert	Richard Virenque	Marco Pantani	ONCE	Hernán Buenahora

• In stage 1, Thierry Laurent wore the green jersey.
• Stage 16 was annulled after Fabio Casartelli died during stage 15. The peloton rode the stage slowly and allowed Casartelli's teammates, riding side-by-side, to cross the finish line first.

• 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1995 Tour de France.

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 May 1998) (in French)
• 1995 Tour de France at Cyclingnews.com