Description

1963 Tour de France

The 1963 Tour de France was the 50th edition of one of cycling’s Grand Tours. It took place between 23 June and 14 July, with 21 stages covering a distance of 4,138 km (2,571 mi). Stages 2 and 6 were both two-part stages, with the first half being a regular stage and the second half being a team or individual time trial.

The Tour organizers were trying to break the dominance of Anquetil, who had already won three Tours, by reducing the time trials to only 79 km (49 mi) so that the climbing capabilities would be more important.

Nonetheless, Anquetil won the race. He was able to stay close to his main rival, Federico Bahamontes, in the mountains, one time even faking a mechanical problem to get a bicycle that was more suited for the terrain. Bahamontes finished as the second-placed cyclist but won the mountains classification. Rik Van Looy won the points classification.

The main favorite before the race was Jacques Anquetil, at that moment, already a three-time winner of the Tour, including the previous two editions. Anquetil had shown good form before the Tour, as he won Paris–Nice, the Dauphiné Libéré, the Critérium National, and the 1963 Vuelta a España. Anquetil was not sure if he would ride the Tour until a few days before the start; he had been infected by a tapeworm and was advised not to start. Anquetil had chosen to ride races with tough climbs to prepare for the 1963 Tour de France.

Raymond Poulidor, who had shown his capabilities in the 1962 Tour de France, was thought to be the major competitor.

Four men escaped in the first stage. One of them was Federico Bahamontes, the winner of the 1959 Tour de France. Bahamontes was known as a climber, so it was unexpected that he gained time on a flat stage. The third stage saw another successful breakaway. Seamus Elliott won the stage and became the new leader in the race; it was the first time that an Irish cyclist led the Tour de France.

The time trial in stage 6b was won by Anquetil, with Poulidor in second place. Gilbert Desmet became the new leader. The situation did not change much in the next stages until the stages in the Pyrenees, starting with the tenth stage. Bahamontes led the first group, but Anquetil was able to stay in that first group, which was a surprise. Anquetil stayed in that first group until the finish, where he outsprinted the rest to win his first mountain stage. In the other two stages in the Pyrenees, Anquetil was able to stay in the first group, lost little time on his competitors, and kept getting closer to Desmet, who was still leading the general classification.

The fifteenth stage was the first in the Alps. Bahamontes won this stage and, in the general classification, jumped to second place, three seconds ahead of Anquetil. In the sixteenth stage, Fernando Manzaneque won, eight minutes ahead of Bahamontes and Anquetil, who stayed together. Because Desmet was further behind, Bahamontes became the new leader of the race, with a margin of three seconds on Anquetil.

The race was decided in the seventeenth stage. The rules in 1963 did not allow cyclists to change bicycles unless there was a mechanical problem. Anquetil’s team director, Raphaël Géminiani, thought that Anquetil could use a different bicycle on the ascent of the Col de la Forclaz, so he advised Anquetil to fake a mechanical problem at the start of that climb; Géminiani cut through a gear cable, and claimed that it snapped. Anquetil could thus use a light bicycle with lower gears, especially suited for a climb, which gave him an advantage over his competitors. Bahamontes reached the top of the Forclaz first, and only Anquetil had been able to follow him. After the top, Anquetil got his regular bicycle back, and rode to the finish together with Bahamontes. Anquetil won the sprint, and the bonus time made him the new leader. As expected, Anquetil won some more time in the time trial in stage 19 and became the winner of the 1963 Tour.

Excerpt from Wikipedia – Read the full article HERE

***********************************************

This is a one-of-a-kind item; please review the photos carefully to determine the condition.