Tour de France 1976
| 63rd Tour de France 1976 - final result | ||
| Route length | 22 stages, 4023.25 km | |
| Tour winner | Lucien Van Impe | 116: 22: 23 h (34.572 km / h) |
| Second | Joop Zoetemelk | + 4:14 min |
| Third | Raymond Poulidor | + 12:08 min |
| Fourth | Raymond Delisle | + 12:17 min |
| fifth | Walter Riccomi | + 12:39 min |
| Sixth | Francisco Galdós | + 14:50 min |
| seventh | Michel Pollentier | + 14:59 min |
| Eighth | Freddy Maertens | + 16:09 min |
| Ninth | Fausto Bertoglio | + 16:36 min |
| Tenth | Vicente Lopez-Carril | + 19:28 min |
| Green jersey | Freddy Maertens | 293 P. |
| Second | Pierino Gavazzi | 140 p. |
| Third | Jacques Esclassan | 128 P. |
| Dotted jersey | Giancarlo Bellini | 170 p. |
| Second | Lucien Van Impe | 169 P. |
| Third | Joop Zoetemelk | 119 P. |
| White jersey | Enrique Martínez Heredia | 117: 07: 13 h |
| Team evaluation | CHEESE | |
The 63rd Tour de France took place from June 24th to July 18th, 1976 and ran over 4016 km on 22 stages. The five-time winner Eddy Merckx did not start, the French Bernard Thévenet was in weaker form than when he won last year , he finally gave up on the 19th stage. 130 cyclists took part in the tour , of which 87 were classified.
Race course
The Belgian Freddy Maertens won the prologue and the first stage and was able to defend the yellow jersey up to the eighth stage. Overall, Maertens managed to win eight stages, setting the record for Charles Pélissier and Eddy Merckx , who had also managed to win eight stages in a Tour de France in 1930 and 1974 respectively. The Belgian also wore the green jersey from day one to the last and won the points standings by a large margin.
On the stage to L'Alpe d'Huez , the Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk won ahead of the Belgian Lucien Van Impe , who took the overall lead. The next day, too, the stage win went to Zoetemelk, but Van Impe only lost one second to the Dutchman.
Raymond Delisle won the 12th stage to Pyrénées in 2000 after a solo escape and took over the yellow jersey. But after only two stages he had to hand it over to Van Impe, who won the 14th stage with a lead of over three minutes over the second stage, Zoetemelk. Van Impe won the tour in the end ahead of Joop Zoetemelk and the 40-year-old Raymond Poulidor . The Frenchman made his announcement from the previous year true to achieve a podium again on his last tour. In 1975 Poulidor had only reached 19th place in the overall ranking because of bronchitis.
The Polka Dot Jersey won Giancarlo Bellini with a point ahead of Tour winner Van Impe, who previously was three times the mountain classification decide for themselves.
On the stage to Manosque , the Spaniard José-Luis Viejo , who played no role in the overall standings , drove a gap of 22:50 minutes. His solo trip over 160 kilometers made him the stage winner with the greatest advantage in the history of the Tour de France. (As of 2015)
The stages
| Stages | Day | Start finish | km | Stage winner |
 Yellow jersey
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| prolog | June 24th | Saint-Jean-de-Monts | 8 ( EZF ) | Freddy Maertens | Freddy Maertens |
| 1st stage | 25th June | Saint-Jean-de-Monts - Angers | 173 | Freddy Maertens | |
| 2nd stage | June 26th | Angers - Caen | 236.5 | Giovanni Battaglin | |
| 3rd stage | June 27th | Le Touquet-Paris-Plage - Le Touquet-Paris-Plage | 37 (EZF) | Freddy Maertens | |
| 4th stage | June 28th | Le Touquet-Paris-Plage - Bornem ( BEL ) | 258 | Hennie Kuiper | |
| 5th stage (a) | June 29th | Lions (BEL) - Lions (BEL) | 4.3 ( MZF ) | TI-Raleigh | |
| 5th stage (b) | June 29th | Lions (BEL) - Verviers (BEL) | 144 | Miguel-Maria Lasa | |
| 6th stage | June 30th | Bastogne (BEL) - Nancy | 209 | Aldo Parecchini | |
| 7th stage | July 1 | Nancy - Mulhouse | 205.5 | Freddy Maertens | |
| Rest day | |||||
| 8th stage | 3rd of July | Valentigney - Divonne-les-Bains | 220.5 | Jacques Esclassan | Freddy Maertens |
| 9th stage | July 4th | Divonne-les-Bains - L'Alpe d'Huez | 258 | Joop Zoetemelk | Lucien Van Impe |
| 10th stage | 5th July | Le Bourg-d'Oisans - Montgenèvre | 166 | Joop Zoetemelk | |
| 11th stage | July 6th | Montgenèvre - Manosque | 224 | José Luis Viejo | |
| Rest day | |||||
| 12th stage | 8th of July | Port Barcares - Pyrénées 2000 | 205.5 | Raymond Delisle | Raymond Delisle |
| 13th stage | July 9 | Font Romeu - Saint-Gaudens | 188 | Willy Teirlinck | |
| 14th stage | 10th of July | Saint-Gaudens - Saint-Lary-Soulan | 139 | Lucien Van Impe | Lucien Van Impe |
| 15th stage | July 11th | Saint-Lary-Soulan- Pau | 195 | Wladimiro Panizza | |
| 16th stage | July 12 | Pau - Fleurance | 152 | Michel Pollentier | |
| 17th stage | July 13th | Fleurance - too | 38.75 (EZF) | Ferdi Bracke | |
| 18th stage (a) | July 14th | Also - Langon | 86 | Freddy Maertens | |
| 18th stage (b) | July 14th | Langon - Lacanau-Océan | 123 | Freddy Maertens | |
| 18th stage (c) | July 14th | Lacanau-Océan - Bordeaux | 70.5 | Karstens tanning | |
| 19th stage | 15th of July | Sainte-Foy-la-Grande - Tulle | 219.5 | Hubert Mathis | |
| 20th stage | 16th of July | Tulle - Puy de Dôme | 220 | Joop Zoetemelk | |
| 21st stage | 17th July | Montargis - Versailles | 145.5 | Freddy Maertens | |
| 22nd stage (a) | July 18th | Paris - Paris | 6 (EZF) | Freddy Maertens | |
| 22nd stage (b) | July 18th | Paris - Paris | 90.7 | Karstens tanning | |
Web links
- Tour de France 1976 in the ProCyclingStats.com database
- radsport-seite.de for the 1976 tour