1984 Tour | 1986 Tour | Tour de France Database | 1985 Tour Quick Facts | 1985 Tour de France Final GC | Stage results with running GC | The Story of the 1985 Tour de France
1985 Tour de France route
Plato's Apology is available as an audiobook here.
1985 Tour de France quick facts
The 1985 Tour had 23 stages (counting 2 half-stages) plus a prologue that totaled 4127.8 kilometers.
It was ridden at an average speed of 36.215 km/hr.
180 riders started and there were 144 classified finishers.
This was Bernard Hinault's fifth Tour victory. Before, only Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx had won 5.
It was a controversial Tour. Hinault was struggling after he broke his nose in a crash near the end of stage 14.
On the ascent to Luz-Ardiden in stage 17 Greg LeMond was ordered to wait for his teammate, Bernard Hinault.
LeMond was told Hinault was just behind him and would catch him quickly. In fact, Hinault was several minutes back and LeMond lost at least, the chance for an important stage win.
In all likelihood the falsehood LeMond was told cost the gifted young racer the Tour de France itself.
It was also Miguel Indurain's first Tour. He abandoned on stage four.
Climbers Competition:
Points Competition:
Team Classification:
Best Young Rider:
Prologue: Friday, June 28, Plumelec 6.8 km Individual Time Trial. Stage and GC times and places are the same.
Stage 1: Saturday, June 29, Vannes - Lanester, 256 km
GC after Stage 1:
Stage 2: Sunday, June 30, Lorient - Vitré, 242 km
GC after Stage 2:
Stage 3: Monday, July 1, Vitré - Fougères 73 km Team Time Trial
GC after Stage 3:
Stage 4: Tuesday, July 2, Fougères - Port Audemer, 239.5 km
GC after Stage 4:
Stage 5: Wednesday, July 3, Neufchatel en Bray - Roubaix, 224 km
GC after Stage 5:
Stage 6: Thursday, July 4, Roubaix - Reims, 221.5 km
GC after stage 6:
Stage 7: Friday, July 5, Reims - Nancy, 217.5 km
GC after Stage 7:
Stage 8: Saturday, July 6, Sarrebourg - Strasbourg 75 km Individual Time Trial
GC after Stage 8:
Stage 9: Sunday, July 7, Strasbourg - Epinal, 173.5 km
Major Ascents: Champ du Feu, Donon
GC after Stage 9:
Stage 10: Monday, July 8, Epinal - Pontarlier, 204.5 km
Major Ascents: Côte du Désert, Côte de Larmont
GC after Stage 10:
Stage 11: Tuesday, July 9, Pontarlier - Morzine Avoriaz, 195 km
Major Ascents: Pas de Morgins, Corbier, Avoriaz
GC after Stage 11:
Stage 12: Wednesday, July 10, Morzine - Lans en Vercors, 269 km
Major Ascents: Colombière. Leschaux, Plainpalais, Granier, Montaud, St. Nizier, Lans en Vercors
GC after Stage 12:
Stage 13: Thursday, July 11, Villard de Lans 31.8 km Individual Time Trial
GC after Stage 13:
Stage 14: Saturday, July 13, Autrans - St. Etienne, 179 km
Major Ascent: L'Oeillon
GC after Stage 14:
Stage 15: Sunday, July 14, St. Etienne - Aurillac, 237.5 km
Major Ascent: Pas de Peyrol
GC after stage 15:
Stage 16: Monday, July 15, Aurillac - Toulouse, 247 km
GC after Stage 16:
Stage 17: Tuesday, July 16, Toulouse - Luz Ardiden, 209.5 km
Major Ascents: Aspin, Tourmalet, Luz Ardiden
GC after stage 17:
Stage 18A:Wednesday, July 17, Luz St.Sauveur - Col d'Aubisque, 52.5 km
Major Ascents: Soulor, Aubisque
GC after Stage 18A:
Stage 18B: Wednesday, July 17, Lauruns - Pau. 83.5 km
Major Ascent: Aubisque
Stage 19: Thursday, July 18, Pau - Bordeaux, 203 km
GC after Stage 19:
Stage 20: Friday, July 19, Montpon Menestrel - Limoges, 225 km
GC after Stage 20:
Stage 21: Saturday, July 20, Lac de Vassivière 45.7 km Individual Time Trial
GC after Stage 21:
22nd and Final Stage: Sunday, July 21, Orléans - Paris (Champs Elysées), 196 km
Complete Final 1985 Tour de France General Classification
The Story of the 1985 Tour de France
This excerpt is from "The Story of the Tour de France", Volume 2. If you enjoy it we hope you will consider purchasing the book, either print, eBook or audiobook. The Amazon link here will make the purchase easy.
Laurent Fignon could not return to defend his title. An inflamed Achilles tendon required surgery, forcing Fignon to sit this one out. So who was there to fill the vacuum? Hinault, of course. He could never be written off in any race he entered. To many, last year's Tour de France third-place Greg LeMond had matured and was the other choice as a possible winner.
The politics of this Tour were as complicated as any and they would have repercussions for both Hinault and LeMond for more than just this Tour. Hinault's La Vie Claire team hired the talent-filled LeMond from Renault. Cynics say that this was to neutralize LeMond, the greatest single threat to an attempt on a fifth Tour win by Hinault.
But why would LeMond go to La Vie Claire, centered around the single most driven racer in the world? What room would there be for LeMond? My understanding is that LeMond took a thoughtful approach to switching teams. He is said to have liked Koechli, the director of La Vie Claire, better than Renault's Guimard. His good friend Steve Bauer was on La Vie Claire, begging LeMond to come on over. And, not knowing that Fignon would drop out of competition in 1985, Hinault seemed to be preferable to the difficult Fignon. In addition, Bernard Tapie, the owner of La Vie Claire, had scads of money and was using it to promote his various companies. LeMond made no secret of his belief that racers were underpaid for the value they brought to their sponsors and deserved a substantial increase in pay. In no small way, over time, LeMond's financial demands elevated the pay of good racers on the other teams as well. The contract with La Vie Claire was said to be for three years and worth a million dollars (actually it was $225,000 the first year, $260,000 the second year and $300,000 the third year). This was big money in those days.
Moreover, LeMond was very unhappy with the way the Renault team and its sponsors had handled the use of his name. Manufacturers who had supplied the Renault team with its racing equipment had used LeMond's name and picture, claiming an endorsement of these products by LeMond. As was the usual practice of the time, they had done this without securing LeMond's explicit permission. LeMond sued several of the suppliers.
Guimard, negotiating with LeMond, believed he was in the driver's seat and told LeMond "You need me. I don't need you…if you don't stay with me you'll never win the Tour," and refused to give in to LeMond's demand to increase his then $125,000 salary. He wasn't asking Guimard to match Tapie's big bag of cash. He says he would have been happy with $150,000. As we shall see, it probably would have been better for both of them to reach an accommodation. For starters, in this Tour with Fignon out, Guimard didn't have a General Classification contender.
I have long held that the single most talented bicycle racer to have ever turned a pedal in the post-Merckx era and probably since Coppi is Greg LeMond. As a junior he won everything and he did it with the natural ease of a born winner. That is not to say he didn't work hard. Lots of racers work hard. The ones who float to the top are the talented winners.
As a junior he went over to Belgium to race. Back in the '70s and '80s many Americans traveled to Belgium to try to make it in the tough, high speed, ultra-competitive arena of the world's most bike-mad country. Almost all faltered or failed, going home broke, tired, sick and miserable. LeMond didn't falter. He thrived. For the week he was there he won or placed second in every single race he entered. Then he won the Junior World Championships. It was always one natural step after another. Winning the World Pro Road Championships in Switzerland at the ripe old age of 22 surprised no one. He was signed by the finest team in the world with the most respected director in the world, Renault and Cyrille Guimard. His freshman Tour yielded a third place amid the blistering war being fought by Hinault and Fignon.
I was in a race with LeMond only once (I can't say I raced him). It was a criterium in the little tourist town of Solvang, California, my last race as a Category 1 racer before I retired. From the gun the race was red hot. Lap after lap had the peloton strung in one long line that extended halfway around the town. I was in the middle of the pack saying my prayers, hoping that I would not be the one who let the string break. Then the pace eased. I knew that probably whatever break had been dangling off the front was either caught or was out of sight. A few laps later a slender rider went right by me, bumping me gently. It was LeMond. He had lapped a field with another rider and was headed for the front for more. He was still a damn junior!
To resume. It was announced that the La Vie Claire riders would ride for whichever of the two showed the best and most likely Tour-winning form. LeMond had helped Hinault win the Giro in the spring. This Tour Hinault was going for his second Giro-Tour double.
Let's follow this Tour in detail because it is fascinating. Hinault used every tool at his disposal to keep LeMond, a man he knew to be at least his equal and possibly his superior, in a subordinate position.
Hinault showed his stuff by winning the Prologue with LeMond suffering a mechanical near the end, coming in fifth, 21 seconds back.
Hinault wins the Prologue. |
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The relative position between Hinault and LeMond (still 21 seconds behind Hinault) had not changed much by the end of the 3 stages. The La Vie Claire team time trial win did put 8 of their riders in the top 10 in the General Classification.
Stage 4 saw La Vie Claire rider Kim Andersen get in a 7-man break that beat the pack to the finish by 46 seconds, thereby earning him the Yellow Jersey. Stage 6 reminded the world that LeMond was a complete rider when, apparently on a lark, he sprinted with the kamikazes into Reims. Kelly and Vanderaerden won the sprint that was far from clean. Vanderaerden, moving up through holes in the peloton that weren't there, came even with Kelly and started to force him into the barriers. Kelly pushed back. Vanderaerden put his arm out against Kelly. The sprint went to Vanderaerden but the 2 carried their argument all the way to the awards podium where Vanderaerden was given the Yellow Jersey. The judges decided to relegate both of them. LeMond, who had crossed the line fourth was moved up to second in the stage and bagged the 20-second time bonus. He was now in third place in the General Classification, 2 seconds ahead of Hinault. This situation was only to last until stage 8.
75 kilometers long, the stage 8 individual time trial through the Vosges started to sort things out. Hinault was by far the best man at the discipline that he had almost made his own. No one came within 2 minutes of him that day. There had been some speculation as to why Hinault had not been chasing time bonuses this Tour as in some years past. Perhaps he had been saving his energy so that he could deliver a smashing time trial and unquestionably demonstrate his superiority. He did indeed establish that superiority. Hinault caught his 2-minute man Sean Kelly, and then, despite's Kelly's efforts to remain close to the Frenchman, Hinault went on to take almost another minute out of him. German rider Didi Thurau was penalized for drafting Charly Mottet. When he assaulted a racing official at the start of the next day's stage Thurau was thrown out of the Tour.
The time trial's results:
With only a couple of stages before the Alps, Hinault, back in his familiar Yellow Jersey, led the General Classification. La Vie Claire was putting on an impressive display of force with their Hinault, LeMond and Bauer in the top 4. The General Classification now stood thus:
The next 2 stages took the Tour south through the Vosges and the Jura. Again, no change in the relative positions of the contenders for the overall lead.
Stage 11 was the first day of heavy climbing, going 195 kilometers from Pontarlier up to Morzine/Avoriaz. The race would climb the first-category Pas de Morgins, the second-category Le Corbier and finally the first-category finish up the Avoriaz to Morzine. It was a classic Hinault performance. He went away early with Luis Herrera, who was too far down in the General Classification to be a threat to Hinault. Hinault made the usual deal, letting Herrera take the summits and the Climbers' points and the stage win while Hinault got the improvement to his overall time. Hinault wasn't interested in anything except gaining that time and doing it in such a way as to leave no doubt who was the leader of the team and the Patron of the Tour. Herrera won the stage with Hinault 7 seconds back. LeMond was blocked. He couldn't chase his teammate but he eventually attached himself to Pedro Delgado and Fabio Parra, another of the Colombians, and finished fifth, losing 1 minute, 41 seconds. He was now 4 minutes behind Hinault. Stephen Roche was 5 minutes, 52 seconds adrift.
The twelfth stage didn't change anything even though it had 3 first and 4 second category climbs. The General Classification at the top was unchanged.
It was clear that the effort was telling on Hinault. The stage 13 time trial was won by Eric Vanderaerden with Hinault about 1 minute slower over the 31.8 kilometers. LeMond, hit yet again with mechanical trouble, lost another minute and a half to Hinault, being 2 minutes, 30 seconds slower than Vanderaerden.
The General Classification now stood thus:
The Tour, before it had made it to the Pyrenees, looked to be about wrapped up.
Stage 14 changed everything. It was a little detour through the Massif Central of France with a single first category climb. Again Herrera took off early. LeMond joined Delgado, Millar and 5 others in a hard chase. Back in the peloton Hinault marked Roche and the others, hoping that LeMond would get away and solidify his hold on second place. The strategy worked and the Hinault group came in to the finish 2 minutes behind winner Luis Herrera (who had crashed earlier that day and remounted) and 1 minute behind the LeMond group. With less than a kilometer to go Hinault, Phil Anderson and 4 others crashed badly. The riders were beginning their sprint and touched wheels. Hinault lay there for some minutes being checked over by the Tour's doctor. He climbed back on his bike and rode across the line, his face and particularly his nose a bloody mangle of flesh. That's a scene that gets played over and over again when TV shows want to show something dramatic about the Tour: Hinault determined to finish, blood dripping from his face.
Stage 14: Herrera goes and stays gone. He missed all of the excitement by winning the stage all alone, 47 seconds ahead of the LeMond/Millar group. |
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When a rider crashes inside the final kilometer as Hinault did, Tour rules say that a rider gets the same time as the group he was in. He lost time on LeMond, but was still well in control of the lead. But more importantly, his nose was broken. Hinault found it difficult to breathe. In addition, his hard work in the Alps had left him showing signs of fatigue.
LeMond was now 3 minutes, 32 seconds behind Hinault with Roche still 6 minutes, 14 seconds off Hinault's pace.
Stage 17 is the stage everyone still talks about. It was a very tough Pyrenean stage from Toulouse to Luz-Ardiden totaling 209.5 kilometers. They had to climb the second-category Aspin followed by the 2 hors category mountains, the Tourmalet and Luz-Ardiden.
On the Tourmalet Hinault's trouble became crystal-clear when he couldn't stay with the leaders. First LeMond, Roche and Delgado dropped him. Then, struggling with bronchitis in the moist air as well as having breathing trouble caused by his broken nose, Hinault also lost contact with his group which contained Herrera, Millar, Kelly, Anderson and several others. On the descent Hinault caught Kelly's group.
Up ahead Delgado was away. Stephen Roche, with LeMond (who had been told to mark Roche), was chasing and feeling good. Roche wanted the stage win. At the base of the road up to Luz-Ardiden a television crew told LeMond that the Hinault group was several minutes back. Roche and LeMond pulled away from those chasing them on the final climb to Luz Ardiden. LeMond could see that he was the stronger of the 2 as Roche lifted the duo further and further away from the chasers.
La Vie Claire Team assistant director Maurice Le Guilloux drove up next to LeMond. LeMond asked for permission to attack Roche and take the stage win. Le Guilloux forwarded the orders of team director Koechli. Koechli, afraid that LeMond would take the lead and the Yellow Jersey, told LeMond to wait for Hinault. LeMond pressed him for the exact time gap. Le Guilloux, a former devoted domestique of Hinault's, was evasive. LeMond pressed him harder and was told that Hinault was only 40 seconds behind. The momentum was coming out of the break as LeMond and Le Guilloux argued. Herrera caught and passed them. LeMond waited some more. Anderson and Kelly arrived but without Hinault.
Hinault was still several minutes back down the mountain. LeMond had acquired a decisive lead that was now melting away. The Tour could have been his right there. No doubt. None whatsoever. LeMond was getting stronger with every passing day of the Tour as Hinault was weakening.
LeMond relates, "Koechli said to me, 'How dare you attack Hinault when he's in difficulty?' " Koechli denies saying this, only that LeMond was not yet strong enough to take on the responsibilities of the leadership of the Tour. The real story was that La Vie Claire, a French company was not yet ready for their young American to be the leader of the Tour and put their beloved Hinault in the shadow. A French La Vie Claire winner served the best commercial interests of the company. Also, international professional racing had not become as cosmopolitan as it is now. English speaking riders often faced resentment and hostility from the teams that hired them and sometimes sabotaged them when they did too well.
Later on when LeMond learned that Koechli had lied to him about the time gap he was furious.
But maybe it wasn't quite that way. Velonews editorial director John Wilcockson talked to Koechli about this in 2005. Koechli denies making LeMond wait, saying that he authorized LeMond to make one attack and that he had to drop Roche. Roche was riding well and too dangerous to play with. So, did Le Guilloux make up the orders? Hard to know at this point.
Wait. Let's let Greg LeMond tell the story. In 1999 Bicyclist Magazine interviewed LeMond about that fateful time.
Robert Millar noted that when Hinault saw he was in trouble, Hinault remained a calm professional and rode in his 25-tooth sprocket at his normal cadence rather than dropping to a bigger gear and ruining his legs for the next day in the mountains.
Stage 17: Delgado rides away from the field while confusion reigns back down the hill. |
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So there you have it.
The stage results:
The General Classification after stage 17:
William Faulkner once wrote that at least once in his life every Southern boy imagines that it's a hot day in July, referring to Gettysburg and particularly Pickett's Charge. How would he have reacted if he were being misused by General Lee that day and ordered into that inferno? I think the same is true of every cyclist of the right age. We all imagined ourselves on the mountain, climbing to Luz-Ardiden. In our imagination, awaiting us at the top of the mountain is a stage win in the Tour de France and the real possibility of cycling immortality by cinching ownership of the Yellow Jersey. How would we react if Paul Koechli demanded that we slacken our pace for a wounded teammate? When we found that we had been lied to and Hinault was much further down the hill, would we continue to wait? None of us could answer that question. I still can't 20 years later. I do know that one of the greatest injustices in the history of sport was done to LeMond that day.
At the finish of the stage LeMond was in tears, frustrated with rage. Hinault, knowing that he had been handed his fifth Tour on a platter because LeMond had been willing to wait, promised to help him win the Tour next year. Greg had said that his real goal was a stage win and the Yellow Jersey for a few days. He felt that these were legitimate goals which he had the right to expect in this situation.
Regarding Hinault's promise to help LeMond, we'll see in 1986 how much that was worth.
The next stage went over the Soulor and the Aubisque. Roche got his stage win and LeMond, understanding that La Vie Claire had decreed that Hinault was to win the Tour, took only 15 seconds out of Hinault. It should be noted that Roche was flying and if he had taken a lot of time out of Hinault in stage 17 he would have been extremely dangerous in the stage 18 double stage in the mountains. Koechli's concern about Roche was quite rational.
There was the formality of the final time trial. LeMond won it, his first Tour stage win, beating Hinault by only 5 seconds but confirming his ability as a natural stage racer, one who grew stronger during a 3-week race.
The final General Classification of the 1985 Tour de France:
Climbers' Competition:
Points Competition:
Hinault claimed his fifth Tour joining Anquetil and Merckx in the record books. He also did his second Giro-Tour double. But the win was cheap and could never be held on the same level as those of his 2 predecessors.
Epilogue to 1985: In the 1987 Giro d'Italia Stephen Roche rode with Roberto Visentini on the Italian Carrera team. Roche had lost the lead to Visentini in a time trial. In the mountains Roche flew while Visentini could not keep up with the leaders. Like Koechli to LeMond in the 1985 Tour, Roche's director told Roche to wait for his faltering leader. Roche told him no, and hammered up the mountain and re-took the lead. Visentini came in many minutes later, completely out of contention for the lead. Roche won the Giro while Visentini later abandoned.
Jacques Goddet, who had taken over management of the Tour when Tour father Henri Desgrange took ill in 1936, retired from active direction of his share of the Tour. Félix Lévitan was left the sole manager of the enterprise. Goddet was responsible for restarting the Tour after World War Two. He oversaw the Tour while the nature of bike racing changed, from the use of 1-speed bikes ridden on long stages that emphasized endurance to the quicker, speedier sport we know today. Goddet worked to preserve Desgrange's original intent of making the Tour "inhuman" in its difficulty. This caused Goddet to be insensitive to the rider's demands that split stages be ended. Yet, he bent when he had to. His legacy to us is the Tour. All sports fans should be grateful for his determination to preserve the Tour's culture and to continue the race we all love the most.