Participants
The following thirteen teams each sent 10 cyclists, for a total of 130:
- Renault-Gitane-Campagnolo
- Ti Raleigh-Creda
- Puch-Sem-Campagnolo
- Peugeot-Esso-Michelin
- Daf Trucks-Lejeune-PZ
- Splendor-Admiral-TV Ekspres
- Marc-IWC-VRD
- Miko-Mercier-Vivagel
- La Redoute-Motobecane
- Ijsboerke-Warncke Eis-Koga Miyata
- Boston-Mavic-Amis du Tour
- Teka
- Kelme
The three most important favourites for the victory were Bernard Hinault, Joop Zoetemelk and Hennie Kuiper. Hinault was the winner of the two last editions, and had earlier that year won the 1980 Giro d'Italia. Zoetemelk, the runner-up of the last two editions, had switched teams to the Ti Raleigh team, which was considered one of the strongest teams. Kuiper had left the Ti Raleigh team and moved to the Peugeot team. The manager of that team, Maurice De Muer, had already managed Bernard Thévenet to a Tour win, and this made Kuiper confident.
The teams with Italian and Spanish sponsors were focussed on the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, and thought their cyclist were not able to compete in two grand tours in one year. This prevented Giovanni Battaglin, the winner of the mountains classification of 1979, from defending his title. Francesco Moser, who had left the 1980 Giro d'Italia injured, was the only Italian cyclist on the initial starting list, but he was not able to start, so the 1980 Tour was without Italian cyclists.
Read more about this topic: 1980 Tour De France
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“A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)