The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th Tour de France, taking place 26 June to 18 July 1971. It consisted of 22 stages over 3,689 km (2,292 mi), ridden at an average speed of 36.925 km/h (23 mph).
The race was won by Eddy Merckx, his third consecutive victory. It was no easy win; after the 13th stage, Merckx was more than eight minutes behind Luis Ocaña in the general classification. In the 14th stage, Ocaña crashed in the descent of the Col de Menté and had to leave the race, what is named the most famous fall in Tour de France history.
Read more about 1971 Tour De France: Differences From The 1970 Tour De France, Participants, Race Details, Stages, Classification Leadership, Results, Aftermath, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words tour and/or france:
“Left Washington, September 6, on a tour through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.... Absent nineteen days. Received every where heartily. The country is again one and united! I am very happy to be able to feel that the course taken has turned out so well.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“But as some silly young men returning from France affect a broken English, to be thought perfect in the French language; so his Lordship, I think, to seem a perfect understander of the unintelligible language of the Schoolmen, pretends an ignorance of his mother-tongue. He talks here of command and counsel as if he were no Englishman, nor knew any difference between their significations.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)