1995 Tour | 1997 Tour | Tour de France database | 1996 Tour Quick Facts | Final 1996 Tour GC | Stage results with running GC | The Story of the 1996 Tour de France
Map of the 1996 Tour de France. The race started at 's-Hertogenbosch at the top of the map.
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The 1996 Tour de France was 3,764.9 kilometers long and was ridden at an average speed of 39.236 km/hr.
There were 198 starters of whom 129 made it to Paris.
The 1996 Tour had two major revelations.
First, Miguel Indurain, who was thought to be a shoo-in for a record-setting sixth Tour win bonked near the end of stage seven.
From there through the rest of the Tour he struggled.
Secomd, winner Bjarne Riis clearly tired towards the end of the Tour but his superb domestique, Jan Ullrich, grew stronger with every passing day and was clearly the race's strongest rider by the time the Tour reached Paris.
Complete Final 1996 Tour de France General Classification:
Climbers' Competition:
Points Competition:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
Individual Stage Results with running GC
Prologue: Saturday, June 29, 's Hertogenbosch 9.4 km individual time trial.
Stage 1: Sunday, June 30, 's Hertongenbosch - 's Hertogenbosch, 209 km.
GC after Stage 1:
Stage 2: Monday, July 1, 's Hertogenbosch - Wasquehal, 247.5 km.
GC after stage 2:
Stage 3: Tuesday, July 2, Wasquehal - Nogent sur Oise, 195 km.
GC after Stage 3:
Stage 4: Wednesday, July 3, Soissons - Lac de Madine, 232 km.
GC after Stage 4:
Stage 5: Thursday, July 4, Lac de Madine - Besançon, 242 km.
GC after Stage 5:
Stage 6: Friday, July 5, Arc et Senans - Aix les Bains, 207 km.
Major Climb: Croix de la Serra
17 riders abandoned including Lance Armstrong, who thought he had bronchitis. He quit after 70 kilometers during the rainy stage with a sore throat and back pains. He later learned his body was riddled with cancer.
GC after Stage 6:
Stage 7: Saturday, July 6, Chambery - Les Arcs, 200 km.
Major Climbs: Madeleine, Cormet de Roseland, Les Arcs
GC after Stage 7:
Stage 8: Sunday, July 7, Bourg St. Maurice - Val d'Isère 30.5 km Individual Time Trial
Major Climb: hilltop finish at Val d'Isère
GC after Stage 8:
Stage 9: Monday, July 8, Le Monetier les Bains - Sestriere, 46 km.
Major climbs: Originally the Iseran and Galibier were scheduled, but dangerous weather caused the stage to be shortened to include only the Montgenèvre and Sestriere ascents.
GC after Stage 9:
Stage 10: Tuesday, July 9, Torino - Gap, 208.5 km.
Major Climbs: Montgenèvre and Sentinelle
GC after Stage 10:
Stage 11: Thursday, July 11, Gap - Valence, 202 km.
Major climbs: Cabre, Le Rousset, La Chaux
GC after Stage 11:
Stage 12: Friday, July, 12, Valence - Le Puy en Velay, 143.5 km.
Major climb: Lachamp.
GC after Stage 12:
Stage 13: Saturday, July 13, Le Puy en Velay - Superbesse, 177 km.
Major climbs: St. Anastaise, Superbesse
GC after Stage 13:
Stage 14: Sunday, July 14, Besse en Chandesse - Tulle, 186.5 km.
Major Climb: Le Croix Morand
GC after Stage 14:
Stage 15: Monday, July 15, Brive La Gaillarde - Villeunve sur Lot, 175 km.
GC after Stage 15:
Stage 16: Tuesday, July 16, Agen - Lourdes/Hautacam, 199 km.
Major climb: Lourdes/Hautacam
GC after stage 16:
Stage 17: Wednesday, July 17, Argelès Gazost - Pamplona, 262 km.
Major climbs: Soulor, Aubisque, Marie-Blanque, Soudet, Port de Larrau
GC after stage 17:
Stage 18: Thursday, July 18, Pamplona - Hendaye, 154.5 km.
Major Climbs: Ispéguy, Puerto Otxondo
GC after stage 18:
Stage 19: Friday, July 19, Hendaye - Bordeaux, 226.5 km.
GC after stage 19:
Stage 20: Saturday, July 20, Bordeaux - St. Emilion 63.5 km individual time trial.
GC after Stage 20:
21st and Final Stage: Sunday, July 21, Palaiseau - Paris (Champs Elysées), 147.5 km.
The Story of the 1996 Tour de France:
This excerpts 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.
Why shouldn't Miguel Indurain be considered a shoo-in for a record-breaking sixth Tour win? He was the reigning World Time Trial Champion. In June he won the Dauphiné Libéré against most of the riders he would face in July, winning 2 of the 8 stages along the way. Tony Rominger was second to the Spaniard in that race and Richard Virenque was third. Fernando Escartin and Luc Leblanc were excellent racers but they came in far behind Indurain. Indurain's other major threat, Telekom's Bjarne Riis, didn't finish the Dauphiné. 1994 Giro winner Evgeni Berzin could not be ignored, but having come in tenth in the 1996 Giro, over 14 minutes behind winner Pavel Tonkov, he seemed like an unlikely man to topple Indurain.
Alex Zülle, who came closest to Indurain in 1995 didn't ride the Dauphiné. Riding for the Spanish ONCE outfit his efforts were centered on Iberian races, of which he won 2.
Riis, like Indurain, had been slow to mature. He rode his first Tour de France in 1989 and came in an undistinguished ninety-fifth. He didn't finish the next year and in 1991 he was 107th. 1993 was his breakout year with a stage win and fifth overall in the Tour. The next year he slid to fourteenth but still captured a stage win. 1995 was even better with a very fine third place and a day in Yellow. In the winter, tired of friction with Evgeni Berzin, he moved from Gewiss to the well-financed and organized German Telekom team, managed since 1992 by Belgian tough-guy Walter Godefroot. As a racer Godefroot had been an entirely self-motivated champion with 150 pro victories to his name. He expected his riders to be filled with the same discipline that drove him to win ParisRoubaix, the Tour of Flanders, LiègeBastogneLiège and 10 Tour stages. He was not the right manager for men of a gentler mentality and as the years progress we'll see him squander some of the finest talent in the world. But for now Riis, also a man of drive and self-confidence, was the man Godefroot was looking for. His team was lacking a first-class Grand Tour man, someone who could unseat Indurain. Riis' leaving the Gewiis team was the answer to Godefroot's prayers.
The 1996 Tour started with a prologue in 'S Hertogenbosch in Holland, headed south to the Alps, then into the Massif Central, followed by the Pyrenees. After the mountains the Tour headed north through Aquitaine on the southwest coast of France. From there, the riders would endure a transfer for the final stage into Paris. This was one of those rare Tours that didn't go through either Normandy or Brittany. While there were 103.4 kilometers of individual time trialing, there were no team time trials.
Zülle showed that he was one of the finest riders in the world when racing against the clock (he became World Time Trial Champion that fall) when he won the prologue in wet, rainy, slippery roads, beating time trial specialist Chris Boardman by 2 seconds. Riis and Indurain were almost tied, being 11 and 12 seconds slower, respectively. Indurain said that he rode carefully, wanting to avoid an accident.
The first 5 stages, with the exception of stage 4, were the playground of the sprinters. Frédéric Moncassin, Mario Cipollini and Erik Zabel, the fastest men in the world, each won stages. Only in stage 4 were they unable to control events when a 5-man break won with a 4½ minute lead. GAN team member Stéphane Heulot was the highest placed of the escapees and therefore took the lead, which he held until stage 7 when the Tour hit the Alps.
Stage 6 had one notable and famous abandon. In miserably wet and cold conditions Lance Armstrong climbed off his bike, feeling poorly, thinking he had bronchitis. Full of optimism, he said he would concentrate on preparing for the Olympics in Atlanta. His Olympic performances in the fall were well below what a man soaring to the top of cycling's best should have done. Indicative of the expectations others had for him, the professional team Cofidis signed him for a $2.5-million, 2-year contract. It was during that fall that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had metastasized all over his body. We'll pick up his story in 1999.
Before the climbing started, the General Classification after stage 6 looked like this:
1. Stéphane Heulot
2. Mariano Piccoli @ 20 seconds
3. Alex Zülle @ 4 minutes 5 seconds
4. Laurent Jalabert @ 4 minutes 6 seconds
5. Evgeni Berzin @ 4 minutes 8 seconds
6. Abraham Olano @ 4 minutes 12 seconds
7. Bjarne Riis @ 4 minutes 16 seconds
8. Miguel Indurain @ 4 minutes 17 seconds
The major contenders were all clustered at or near 4 minutes. Heulot and Piccoli would surely be dispatched on stage 7200 kilometers with the hors category Madeleine, the first category Cormet de Roseland and a first category climb up to Les Arcs. The stage started taking its toll almost from the start. Jalabert was dropped about 8 kilometers from the summit of the Madeleine, which was enveloped in a thick, wet mist. The top contenders were together over the top with Riis willing to descend a bit faster than the others on the slippery roads. With no company and lots of climbing left he slowed and waited for the others. Heulot was able to go with the leaders on the Madeleine but could not keep up on the Roseland and abandoned, suffering horribly from tendinitis pain in his right knee. Descending the Roseland, Zülle crashed twice but refused to give up and managed to rejoin the leaders with help from his teammate Aitor Garmendia. On the climb to Les Arcs, Luc Leblanc, who was well back on the General Classification because of a stage 6 crash, attacked and but did not draw a response from the group with Virenque, Riis, Indurain, Olano and Rominger. Indurain himself looked good on the first 2 major climbs of the day, surely signaling to the others that they were competing for second place.
Then, just near the end of the climb, with about 3 kilometers to go to the finish, the unbelievable happened. Indurain was in trouble! He came off the back of the Riis group and probably for the first time in anyone's memory looked to be truly suffering. He signaled for a feed by wiggling a phantom bottle. He had ran out of food and had the "bonk". Other riders took pity on him and gave him food but it was a shock to all that such an error could be committed by an otherwise faultless rider. Indurain struggled in over 4 minutes behind the stage winner Leblanc. Zülle, paying the price of his earlier crashes, finished only 50 seconds ahead of Indurain. Both of them had given up so much time in the first hard day in the mountains that the other challengers felt that for the first time since 1990, the Tour was really in play. Berzin became the first Russian in Tour history to wear the Yellow Jersey.
The General Classification after stage 7:
1. Evgeni Berzin
2. Abraham Olano @ same time
3. Tony Rominger @ 7 seconds
4. Bjarne Riis @ 8 seconds
5. Jan Ullrich @ 30 seconds
6. Richard Virenque @ 31 seconds
11. Alex Zülle @ 2 minutes 30 seconds
14. Miguel Indurain @ 3 minutes 32 seconds
That was Saturday. Sunday, July 7 was a 30.5-kilometer uphill individual time trial to Val d'Isère. Berzin showed that his ownership of the Yellow Jersey was not a fluke. Indurain, a time trialist who could usually climb very well lost more ground to Riis and Berzin.
Results of the Val d'Isère time trial:
1. Evgeni Berzin: 51 minutes 53 seconds
2. Bjarne Riis @ 35 seconds
3. Abraham Olano @ 45 seconds
4. Tony Rominger @ 1 minute 1 second
5. Miguel Indurain @ same time
6. Jan Ullrich @ 1 minute 7 seconds
Indurain was now sitting in eleventh place, 4 minutes, 53 seconds behind the Russian.
Monday was expected to be the big day that would really sort things out with the Iseran, Galibier, Montgenèvre and a climb to Sestriere on the menu. The weather didn't cooperate. Winds clocked at over 100 kilometers an hour blew at the summits of the Iseran and the Galibier. The Tour organization shortened the stage to just 46 kilometers leaving the riders to contest the Montgenèvre and the final ascent to Sestriere. Almost from the start Riis started shooting. 3 times he attacked and was brought back. The fourth attack Riis unleashed was too much for the others and up the Montgenèvre he flew. He crested the top 20 seconds ahead of the about 15 riders left in the front chase group. On the final climb Riis extended his lead while Berzin couldn't take the pace set by Leblanc, Indurain and the others. When the smoke had cleared, Riis was the new leader. Riis rode over the 2 mountains at an incredible average speed of 39.019 kilometers an hour.
Stage 9: Riis wins at Sestriere. |
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Here are the results of the stage:
1. Bjarne Riis
2. Luc Leblanc @ 24 seconds
3. Richard Virenque @ 26 seconds
4. Tony Rominger @ 28 seconds
5. Miguel Indurain @ same time
14. Evgeni Berzin @ 1 minute 23 seconds
The stage yielded a new General Classification, with Riis' young teammate Jan Ullrich looking awfully good. Indurain was in a deep hole that, given his normal Anquetil-type defensive tactics, looked hard to overcome:
1. Bjarne Riis
2. Evgeni Berzin @ 40 seconds
3. Tony Rominger @ 53 seconds
4. Abraham Olano @ 56 seconds
5. Jan Ullrich @ 1 minute 38 seconds
6. Peter Luttenberger @ 2 minutes 38 seconds
7. Richard Virenque @ 3 minutes 39 seconds
8. Miguel Indurain @ 4 minutes 38 seconds
The hardest Alpine climbing was completed and now the riders had to face the Massif Central. The French had hoped that Laurent Jalabert, the current world number-1 ranked rider, would be the man to wear Yellow in Paris but he had to abandon during stage 10 with gastroenteritis. While stage 10 had the Montgenèvre (again), it came too early in the stage for the climbers to stay away. In the end Telekom's Erik Zabel won the stage and secured the Green Sprinter's jersey. Telekom now had both the Green and the Yellow. During the next couple of stages Riis' Telekom squad controlled the race, letting breaks of non-contenders get away but carefully policing the real threats. On the hard thirteenth stage Riis' men set a tough pace that caused both Rominger and Berzin to lose more time. Indurain was able to stay with the leaders until he flatted. Then, showing that he both good form and courage, he made his way back to the Riis group.
That left things to be settled in the Pyrenees, which started with the stage 16 ride and its single major climb, the final ascent to Lourdes/Hautacam. This stage ended up being one of the most astonishing stages in racing history. I saw it on television and its defining moment is still clear in my mind. It was a 200-kilometer stage that had the best riders together at the start of the final climb, with Laurent Rouxwho had been away for 160 kilometersstill slightly off the front. As soon as the climb began in earnest Zülle took off like a rocket and steamed right past Roux. Virenque dragged the elite climbers up to him and lost Rominger in the process. With 9 kilometers to go Riis tested the others with a probing attack and Indurain was able to stay with him. Riis turned the power down a bit. He went again and this time only 4 riders could stay with him. Now he did what I've never seen before or since. He eased a bit at first as if he were in trouble and rode next to the others, looking carefully at each of them. Convinced that they were all riding at their limits he went again and rocketed up the hill, leaving the others to their only option, limiting their losses to the super-strong Dane. He came in alone, almost a minute ahead of Virenque, 2 minutes, 28 seconds ahead of Indurain and almost 3 minutes ahead of Berzin. Riis gave what can only be called an unusual performance, giving up position and momentum on a steep mountain surrounded by the finest climbers in the world. Only the most profound confidence could have allowed him to do what he did. And Indurain, who was hoping to celebrate his thirty-second birthday with something more than another time loss to the Dane was clearly not the man he had been the year before.
If there were to be any chance of breaking Riis' grip on the lead it would have to come on stage 17 with its 7 climbs, of which 5 were second category or better: the Soulor, the Aubisque, the Marie-Blanque, the Soudet and the steepest, the Port de Larrau. On the Soudet Riis kept the pace high and there the first real selection occurred with 11 of the best riders surviving. The Festina team's Virenque and Laurent Dufaux hammered the remaining riders, putting Indurain out the back door. In the final run-in to Pamplona Dufaux and Riis escaped with Dufaux outsprinting the almost invulnerable Dane. With the finish in Pamplona, Spain, Indurain's fans were out in force, hoping for a miracle. The day's route even took the riders past Indurain's childhood home. Both the public and Riis paid tribute to the man who had hoped for better that year.
In interviews that afternoon Riis said that in addition to being directed by Godefroot, he was getting tactical advice from Laurent Fignon. It was Fignon who spotted the young Riis' talents and talked him into changing teams and riding for the Frenchman. With his 1989 narrow loss to LeMond still burned into his memory, Fignon told Riis to beware of playing with fate by being content with a 1-minute lead. Knowing that such a small margin can evaporate, Fignon advised Riis to continue being aggressive and to increase his margin over his competitors. But, after stage 17, look who was sitting in second place, his young domestique from the East German sports machine:
1. Bjarne Riis
2. Jan Ullrich @ 3 minutes 59 seconds
3. Richard Virenque @ 4 minutes 25 seconds
4. Laurent Dufaux @ 5 minutes 52 seconds
11. Miguel Indurain @ 15 minutes 36 seconds
Telekom now had the first 2 places on the podium, the Green Jersey, and in Jan Ullrich, the Best Young Rider.
The only way Riis could not win the Tour now was to stumble during the Tour's penultimate stage, a 63.5-kilometer individual time trial. Riis didn't stumble but he faltered. Looking tired after 3 hard weeks, he turned in a time that was sufficient to allow him to keep the lead. The real surprise was Ullrich who stormed the course at 50.452 kilometers per hour beating second place Indurain by 56 seconds and his team leader by 2 minutes, 18 seconds. Ullrich's performance showed that he was one of those rare, titanically talented men, like Greg LeMond, who grow stronger during even the hardest Tour. Indurain praised him with words that, as we'll see in the Armstrong years, had a touch of prophecy, "He is as strong as an ox and his performances in the mountains and in the time-trials makes him a definite winner, as long as he stays fit".
Stage 20: Jan Ullrich winning the final time trial of the 1996 Tour. |
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It took Riis 11 years as a pro to attain this level. It was a performance that the 32-year old would not repeat. Since that Tour victory, Riis has been dogged by accusations of EPO use, accusations that Riis steadfastly denies. His young charge, Ullrich, became the first German since Kurt Stoepel in 1932 to make the Tour's podium.
1996 Tour de France final podium: Richard Virenque (left, in dots), Riis in yellow and Ullrich on the right. |
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Final 1996 Tour de France General Classification:
Climbers' Competition:
Points Competition:
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