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1974 Tour de France
The 1974 Tour de France was the 61st edition of the race, held from June 27 to July 21 over approximately 4,100 kilometers. It became another landmark in the extraordinary career of Eddy Merckx. Riding for Molteni, the 29-year-old Belgian won his fifth Tour de France in five starts, equaling Jacques Anquetil’s then-record of five overall victories. Merckx finished 8 minutes 4 seconds ahead of 38-year-old Raymond Poulidor, with Spain’s Vicente López-Carril third at 8:09. Patrick Sercu won the points classification and green jersey, Domingo Perurena took the mountains classification, and the powerful Spanish KAS team won the team classification. There was no young rider classification in 1974—it was introduced at the Tour the following year.
Merckx announced his intentions immediately, winning the 7.1-kilometer opening prologue in Brest. The yellow jersey changed hands several times during the opening days as time bonuses favored the sprinters, but Merckx regained the race lead at Châlons-sur-Marne and ultimately established permanent control of the Tour. The early stages also included an historic first for the race: on Stage 2 the Tour crossed the English Channel for a circuit around Plymouth, marking the first time the Tour de France had visited Great Britain. Dutchman Henk Poppe won the stage.
As the race reached more demanding terrain, Merckx steadily strengthened his position. He won Stage 9 from Besançon to Gaillard and followed it the next day with another victory from Gaillard to Aix-les-Bains. His ability to win on virtually every type of terrain remained remarkable: during the 1974 Tour he collected eight individual stage victories, including the prologue, road stages, a short time trial in Bordeaux and, eventually, the final stage into Paris.
The Pyrenees provided some of the most memorable racing of the Tour. On Stage 15, a 225-kilometer run from Colomiers to Seo de Urgel in Spain, Merckx won after a day that crossed the high Port d’Envalira, consolidating his overall advantage. The following day produced one of Raymond Poulidor’s great late-career performances. The 209-kilometer stage to the summit finish at Pla d’Adet crossed the Port de Cantó, Port de la Bonaigua, Col du Portillon and Col de Peyresourde before the final climb. Poulidor attacked on Pla d’Adet and won the stage, beating López-Carril by 41 seconds and Merckx by 1 minute 49 seconds. At 38 years old, Poulidor’s ride helped propel him toward what would become his third second-place finish in the Tour.
Merckx nevertheless remained firmly in command. He added another victory in the short individual time trial at Bordeaux and, remarkably, was still hunting stage wins in the final days. He won the first half of Stage 21 at Orléans and then won the Tour’s final road stage from Orléans to Paris, finishing on the track at the Vélodrome de la Cipale in Vincennes. It was a characteristically aggressive conclusion from a rider who already had the overall race securely won.
Merckx finished the Tour in 116 hours, 16 minutes and 58 seconds. Poulidor was second at 8:04, with López-Carril only five seconds farther back in third. Wladimiro Panizza finished fourth and Gonzalo Aja fifth. Patrick Sercu narrowly defeated Merckx in the points competition, 283 points to 270, while Domingo Perurena won the mountains competition ahead of Merckx.
The victory carried significance beyond the Tour itself. Merckx had already won the Giro d’Italia that spring, completing his third Giro-Tour double. Later that season he would win the World Road Championship in Montreal, making 1974 the celebrated year in which he became the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and World Championship road race in the same season. His fifth Tour victory also placed him alongside Jacques Anquetil as the most successful Tour rider in history to that point—a fitting conclusion to another extraordinary Tour from cycling’s dominant champion.
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