1960 Tour de France
Encyclopedia
The 1960 Tour de France was the 47th Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

, taking place between 26 June and 17 July 1960. The race featured 128 riders, of which 81 finished. The Tour included 21 stages over 4173 km, of which one stage was split, and the winner had an average speed of 37.210 km/h.

Because Jacques Anquetil was absent after winning the 1960 Giro d'Italia
1960 Giro d'Italia
The 1960 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 19 May to 9 June 1960, consisting of 21 stages. This 43rd edition was won by the French Jacques Anquetil.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...

, Roger Rivière became the main favourite. Halfway the race, Rivière was in second place behind Nencini, and with his specialty the time trial remaining, he was still favourite for the victory. When Rivière had a career-ending crash in the fourteenth stage, this changed, and Nencini won the Tour easily.

Differences from the 1959 Tour de France

In previous years, the location of the stage finish and the next stage start had always been close together. In 1960, this changed, when cyclists had to take the train to get from Bordeaux to Mont de Marsan after the ninth stage.

The German team, that had been away from the Tour since 1938, was allowed to join again.

Participants

Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964...

, the winner of the 1957 Tour de France
1957 Tour de France
The 1957 Tour de France was the 44th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 20, 1957. It was composed of 22 stages over 4665 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.250 km/h....

, had won the 1960 Giro d'Italia
1960 Giro d'Italia
The 1960 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 19 May to 9 June 1960, consisting of 21 stages. This 43rd edition was won by the French Jacques Anquetil.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...

 earlier that year. Anquetil was tired, and skipped the Tour. This made Roger Rivière
Roger Rivière
Roger Rivière was a French track and road bicycle racer. He raced as a professional from 1957 to 1960....

 the French team leader, and the big favourite for the Tour victory.

Race details

The first stage was split in two parts. In the first part, a group of fourteen cyclists cleared from the rest, and won with a margin of over two minutes. In the second part, an individual time trial, Roger Rivière won. The lead in the general classification transferred to Nencini, who had been part of the group of fourteen cyclists.
Federico Bahamontes
Federico Bahamontes
Federico Martín Bahamontes is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist.-Biography:Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla , of Cuban descent. His family was devastated during the Spanish civil war and Bahamontes' father, Julián, took the family to Madrid as refugees...

, winner of the 1959 Tour, became ill and left the race in the second stage.

In the fourth stage, a group including Henri Anglade escaped, and Anglade became the new leader. Anglade had already finished in second placed in 1959, and expected to be the team leader now.

In the sixth stage, Rivière attacked. Only Nencini, Hans Junkermann
Hans Junkermann
Hennes "Hans" Junkermann is a retired German professional racing cyclist who won 35 road races in 18 seasons from 1956 to 1973....

 and Jan Adriaensens
Jan Adriaensens
Jan Adriaensens is a former Belgian road bicycle racer. He finished twice on the podium of the Tour de France, with a third place in 1956 and in 1960...

 could follow. Anglade asked his team manager Marcel Bidot
Marcel Bidot
Marcel Bidot was a French professional road bicycle racer who won two stages of the Tour de France and became manager of the French national team...

 to instruct Rivière to stop his attack, because Nencini and Adriaensens were dangerous opponents. Rivière ignored this, and continued. They beat the rest by almost fifteen minutes, and Adriaensens took over the lead in the general classification. After the stage, Anglade said that the French team lost the Tour in that stage. Anglade knew that Rivière would try to stay close to Nencini in the mountains, and warned that Rivière would regret staying close to Nencini downhill.

The first mountains were climbed in the tenth stage. Nencini won time in the descent from the Col de Aubisque, where Adriaensens could not follow. Nencini became the new leader, with Rivière in second place, only 32 seconds behind.
Nencini gained one minute on Rivière in the eleventh stage, but Rivière knew he had the stronger team. Moreover, Rivière was at that moment the holder of the hour record
Hour record
The hour record for bicycles is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle. There are several records. The most famous is for upright bicycles meeting the requirements of the Union Cycliste Internationale . It is one of the most prestigious in cycling...

, and knew he would win back enough time in the time trial in stage 19.

In the fourteenth stage, going down the Col de Perjuret, Nencini made the pace, and Rivière followed him. Rivière then missed a corner, and fell 20 meters down a ravine. Rivière's life was never in danger, but he was never able to ride a bicycle again, so this meant the end of his career.
Because of that, Jan Adriaensens climbed to the second place in the general classification, and he now was the main competitor for Nencini. Adriaensens lost time in the Pyrénées, and the Italians were able to put Graziano Battistini
Graziano Battistini
Graziano Battistini was an Italian professional road bicycle racer. In 1960, Battistini won two stages in the Tour de France, and finished in second place in the general classification.- Palmarès :1959...

 in second place.

Stages

The 1960 Tour de France started on 26 June in Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...

, and had one restday, in Millau
Millau
Millau is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers.-History:...

.
Stage results
Stage Date Route Terrain Length Winner
1a 26 June Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

 – Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 
Plain stage
108 km (67.1 mi)
1b Brussels
Individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

 
27.8 km (17.3 mi)
2 27 June Brussels – Malo-les-Bains 
Plain stage
206 km (128 mi)
3 28 June Malo-les-Bains – Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...

 
Plain stage
209 km (129.9 mi)
4 29 June Dieppe – Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

 
Plain stage
211 km (131.1 mi)
5 30 June Caen – St. Malo 
Plain stage
189 km (117.4 mi)
6 1 July St. Malo – Lorient
Lorient
Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...

 
Plain stage
191 km (118.7 mi)
7 2 July Lorient – Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

 
Plain stage
244 km (151.6 mi)
8 3 July Angers – Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....

 
Plain stage
240 km (149.1 mi)
9 4 July Limoges – Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 
Plain stage
225 km (139.8 mi)
10 5 July Mont de Parsan – Pau 
Stage with mountain(s)
228 km (141.7 mi)
11 6 July Pau – Luchon 
Stage with mountain(s)
161 km (100 mi)
12 7 July Luchon – Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
176 km (109.4 mi)
13 8 July Toulouse – Millau
Millau
Millau is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers.-History:...

 
Plain stage
224 km (139.2 mi)
14 10 July Millau – Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
217 km (134.8 mi)
15 11 July Avignon – Gap
Gap, Hautes-Alpes
Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
187 km (116.2 mi)
16 12 July Gap – Briançon
Briançon
Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....

 
Stage with mountain(s)
172 km (106.9 mi)
17 13 July Briançon – Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It is situated on the shore of Lac du Bourget, by rail north of Chambéry.-Geography:...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
229 km (142.3 mi)
18 14 July Aix-les-Bains – Thonon-les-Bains
Thonon-les-Bains
Thonon-les-Bains is a town in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
215 km (133.6 mi)
19 15 July Pontarlier
Pontarlier
Pontarlier is a commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-History:...

 – Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

 
Individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

 
83 km (51.6 mi)
20 16 July Besançon – Troyes
Troyes
Troyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...

 
Plain stage
229 km (142.3 mi)
21 17 July Troyes – Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 
Plain stage
200 km (124.3 mi)

Classification leadership

Stage General classification
Points classification
Points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification in the Tour de France is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is considered a sprinters' competition...


Mountains classification Team classification
Team classification
The team classification is a prize given in the Tour de France to the best team in the race. It has been awarded since 1930, and the calculation has changed throughout the years.-Calculation:...

1a no award
1b 3 cyclistsGastone Nencini, Roger Rivière and Julien Schepens had equal points.
2 4 cyclistsRené Privat, Gastone Nencini, Roger Rivière and Julien Schepens had equal points.
3 5 cyclistsNino Defilippis, René Privat, Gastone Nencini, Roger Rivière and Julien Schepens had equal points.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Final

Notes

General classification

Final general classification (1–10)
Rank Name Team Time
1 Italy 112h 08' 42"
2 Italy +5' 02"
3 Belgium +10' 24"
4 West-Germany +11' 21"
5 Belgium +13' 02"
6 France +16' 12"
7 Italy +17' 58"
8 France +19' 17"
9 Centre-Midi +20' 02"
10 Italy +23' 28"

Points classification

The points classification
Points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification in the Tour de France is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is considered a sprinters' competition...

 was calculated differently than in the years before. The top six cyclists of each stage received points; the winner 10 points, down to 1 point for the 6th cyclist.
Points given in each stage
Position 1 2 3 4 5 6
Points 10 6 4 3 2 1

Because only a few cyclists received points, in the first stages of the Tour de lead was shared by up to 5 cyclists. In stage 4, when Jean Graczyk won the stage, he took the leading, having finished second in the stage 2. Graczyk remained leader for the rest of the race.
Final points classification (1–10)
RankRiderTeamPoints
1
France 74
2 Italy 40
3 Italy 36
4 Italy 32
5 France 22
6 Italy 19
7 Belgium 17
8 Spain 16
9 Centre-Midi 15
10 Paris/Nord 14
10 Netherlands 14

Mountains classification

The mountains classification was calculated by adding the points given to cyclists for reaching the highest point in a
climb first.
Final mountains classification (1–11)
RankRiderTeamPoints
1 Italy 56
2 Centre-Midi 52
3 Italy 44
4 Switzerland 36
4 Italy 36
6 Spain 28
7 Netherlands 22
8 Spain 21
9 Belgium 20
10 Italy 18

Team classification

The team classification
Team classification
The team classification is a prize given in the Tour de France to the best team in the race. It has been awarded since 1930, and the calculation has changed throughout the years.-Calculation:...

 was calculated as the sum of the daily team classifications, and the daily team classification was calculated by adding the times in the stage
result of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the French team. For the smaller teams (made of 8 cyclists), a separate classification was made, here the Dutch team won.
Final team classification
RankTeamBig/smallTime
1 France Big 335h 43' 43"
2 Italy Big +13' 36"
3 Belgium Big +1h 03' 01"
4 Spain Big +1h 51' 55"
5 Netherland Small +2h 01' 56"
6 Paris/North Small +2h 57' 41"
7 Centre-Midi Small +3h 01' 01"
8 Germany Small +3h 52' 52"
9 West France Small +4h 08' 36"
10 Switzerland/Luxembourg Small +4h 31' 03"
11 East/South East Small +6h 17' 02"

The Great-Britain team and the Internationals did not finish with three cyclists, so were not included in the team classification.

Aftermath

Rivière survived the crash, but his career as a professional cyclist was over. The drug palfium was found in his pockets, and it was thought that it had so numbed Riviere's fingers so that he couldn't feel the brake levers.
Nencini had his bouquet of flowers given to Rivière.
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