Top 25 All Time Tours #11

1968: Janssen's Final Push Upsets the Favorites

CR Timeline 1968 [also see Special Notes below]

The 1968 Tour de France was billed as the “Clean Tour.” After the death of British rider Tom Simpson during the 1967 race, cycling officials took the hard but necessary steps to clean up the rider-doping problem. They instituted new drug testing at stage finishes.

The popular National team format continued in 1968, but it did create bad relations with the trade team sponsors. Several large-sponsor teams withheld star riders from National teams. Most notable was the Faema team's withholding of World Champion Eddy Merckx, who had just won the Giro d'Italia. Consequently, the eternal challenger, Raymond “Pou Pou” Poulidor was installed as the heavy pre-race favorite. Roger Pingeon, the defending champion, pledged his support to his popular French teammate.

The race action got heated on the first climbing stage in the Pyrenees Mountains. Raymond Poulidor motivated a 10-rider breakaway into the stage 12 finish in St. Gaudens. The Poulidor group finished the stage 2'30” ahead of contenders Jan Janssen, Herman Van Springel and Lucien Aimar.

On July 14th , France 's Bastille Day, defending champion Roger Pingeon launched an attack with 200 km to go on stage 15. Pingeon passed the banner marking 50 km to the finish in Albi with a lead in excess of 13 minutes. French team leader, Poulidor, jumped away from the remaining peloton and began chasing the solo Pingeon. The move did attract a small group of strong riders including Janssen, Van Springel, Aimar and overall leader Georges Vanderberghe. Disaster struck “Pou Pou” when a press motorcycle lost control and skidded into his rear wheel, sending the Frenchman to the ground heavily. With blood pouring down his face, his rear wheel wobbling and a broken pedal, the brave “Pou Pou” remounted his bicycle and continued the race.

The chase continued through the final kilometers and managed to catch Pingeon with 7 km to go. Although his breakaway was gone his drive for the stage win was alive. Into the finish in Albi, Pingeon capped a strong effort winning the field sprint and the stage. Battered and sore Poulidor charged hard into Albi and managed to limit his time loss but the spirit had gone from the fallen warrior. The following day, his injuries cost him over 9 minutes, his Tour hopes were gone. The very popular “Pou Pou” sadly abandoned the Tour on stage 17.

Newly proclaimed leader of the French team, Roger Pingeon came out fighting on the second stage in the Alps. Trailing in the overall classification, Pingeon launched another attack on the Stage 18 climb of the Col de Granier. He won the final three major climbs and rode solo into Grenoble for the stage win. Herman Van Springel and Jan Janssen got into the first chase group and gained enough time to vault into second and third respectively. Without Poulidor, the race for the overall classification was heating-up.

The last climbing stage in the Alps featured a finish at the top of the Col de Condon. Barry Hoban (GBr) broke away on the Condon to win the stage. Herman Van Springel (Bel) finished third and gained enough time to don the Maillot Jaune for the first time. With only three days until the finish in Paris , Van Springel's dream of becoming the first Belgian to win the TdF since Sylvere Maes in 1939 seemed real.

The only major test remaining for Van Springel was the final stage, a 54 km individual time trial from Melun to Paris. The Overall Classification was extremely tight with Gregorio San Miguel (Spa) trailing by 12 seconds, Janssen by 16” and Ferdinand Bracke (Bel) by 1'56”. Inspired by the Maillot Jaune, Van Springel had a 5 second lead on Janssen at the intermediate time check. Janssen, riding the race of his life, came back in the closing kilometers to take a 54 second stage win over a fading Van Springel.

Dutchman Jan Janssen had won the Tour de France on the final day. The 38-second victory gave Janssen the distinction of winning without having worn the Maillot Jaune during the race.

SPECIAL NOTE 1: French National team director Michel Bidot bid farewell at the end of the Tour. He retired after a 42-year association with the Tour de France as a rider and a coach.

SPECIAL NOTE 2: The new finish line for the TdF in Paris was in the municipal Velodrome La Cipale, Bois de Vincennes in the southeastern section of Paris. The Velodrome La Cipale replaced the venerable old Parc des Princes, which had hosted all of the previous Tour finishes.

TdF 1968 Recap

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