1974 Tour de France
The 61st Tour de France took place from 27 June to 21 July 1974 and resulted in 22 stages over 4098 km. While Luis Ocaña Pernia and Joop Zoetemelk did not go to the start, was Eddy Merckx, who had exposed in the previous year, the big favorite. For the first time found a stage of the Tour de France snugly in the UK. It was attended by 130 racers participated in the tour, of which 105 were classified.
Race course
Merckx sat down by the prologue in Brest, gave the yellow jersey after a day but first again.
The Frenchman Raymond Poulidor won at the age of 38 years to Pla d' Adet stage after a solo flight, and finally finished in second place in the overall standings, just ahead of the Spaniard Vicente Lopez- Carril, who had also won a stage. Only at the final time trial, the penultimate stage to Poulidor, which was previously over two minutes behind Lopez- Carril pushed, yet over one second to the Spaniard.
On the last stage, the last time at the Velodrome La Cipale ended in Paris in 1974, Merckx could be traversed in the sprint, having previously surprisingly could not win the day, the time trial.
Patrick Sercu who had opted for three stages and wore the yellow jersey for one day, won the green jersey, Domingo Perurena from Spain sat in the mountain classification against Eddy Merckx by.
In its fifth participation Merckx won the Tour de France for the fifth time and won it in eight stages. Nevertheless Merckx ' victory was not as confident as in his first tour victories: in the Pyrenees and in the final time trial of the Belgians showed unsuspected weaknesses, but did not bring his victory in danger.