The 1966 Tour de France was the 53rd 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 June 21 to July 14, 1966. It consisted of 22 stages over 4303 km, ridden at an average speed of 36.760 km/h.

Lucien Aimar

Lucien Aimar

Lucien Aimar is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer. He was born in Hyères, France.-Amateur career:...

 was a domestique

Cycling domestique

A domestique is a road bicycle racer who works for the benefit of his team and leader. The French domestique translates as "servant". In Italy and Spain, the term gregario is used, while in Belgium and the Netherlands the term knecht or helper are used...

 of 5-time Tour winner 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...

. Aimar joined a breakaway in the middle of the tour and ended up on the leader board. Anquetil then began helping Aimar win the Tour, to make sure and deny it to his then-enemy Poulidor. After stage 18 Aimar's victory was certain barring disaster, Anquetil had ridden hard that day to ensure it, and then quit the race.

During the Tour word spread that there was going to be a dope test, and all the riders but Raymond Poulidor

Raymond Poulidor

Raymond Poulidor , is a former professional bicycle racer. He was known as the eternal second, because he finished the Tour de France in second place three times, and in third place five times, including his final Tour at the age of 40...

, the darling of French cycling fans, left their hotels. The other riders staged a strike in protest during stage 9 dismounting and walking their bicycles. Eventually they started riding again, but only after arguing with officials.

Stages

The 1966 Tour de France started on 21 June, and had two rest days, in Luchon and Turin.

Stage results

Stage	Date	Route	Terrain	Length	Winner
1	21 June	Nancy – Charleville Charleville-Mézières Charleville-Mézières is a commune in northern France, capital of the Ardennes department in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the Meuse River.-History:...	Plain stage	209 km (129.9 mi)
2	22 June	Charleville – Tournai Tournai Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....	Plain stage	198 km (123 mi)
3A	23 June	Tournai – Tournai	Team time trial Team time trial A team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock .Teams start at equal intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart...	21 km (13 mi)	Televizier
3B		Tournai – Dunkirk	Plain stage	131 km (81.4 mi)
4	24 June	Dunkirk – 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	205 km (127.4 mi)
5	25 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	178 km (110.6 mi)
6	26 June	Caen – 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	217 km (134.8 mi)
7	27 June	Angers – Royan Royan Royan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.A seaside resort, Royan is in the heart of an urban area estimated at 38,638 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the department, after La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes...	Plain stage	252 km (156.6 mi)
8	28 June	Royan – 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	138 km (85.7 mi)
9	29 June	Bordeaux – Bayonne Bayonne Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...	Plain stage	201 km (124.9 mi)
10	30 June	Bayonne – Pau	Stage with mountain(s)	234 km (145.4 mi)
11	1 July	Pau – Luchon Bagnères-de-Luchon Bagnères-de-Luchon , also referred to as Luchon, is a spa town and a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.-Geography:...	Stage with mountain(s)	188 km (116.8 mi)
12	3 July	Luchon – Revel Revel, Haute-Garonne Revel is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.-Location:Revel is situated about 35 miles east of Toulouse...	Stage with mountain(s)	219 km (136.1 mi)
13	4 July	Revel – Sète Sète Sète is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Its inhabitants are called Sétois....	Plain stage	191 km (118.7 mi)
14A	5 July	Montpellier – Vals-les-Bains Vals-les-Bains Vals-les-Bains is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...	Plain stage	144 km (89.5 mi)
14B		Vals-les-Bains – Vals-les-Bains	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...	20 km (12.4 mi)
15	6 July	Privas – Le Bourg-d'Oisans Le Bourg-d'Oisans Le Bourg-d'Oisans is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.It is located in the Oisans region of the French Alps. Le Bourg-d'Oisans is located in the valley of the Romanche river, on the road from Grenoble to Briançon, and on the south side of the Col de la Croix de Fer...	Stage with mountain(s)	203 km (126.1 mi)
16	7 July	Le Bourg-d'Oisans – 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)	148 km (92 mi)
17	8 July	Briançon – Turin Turin Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...	Stage with mountain(s)	160 km (99.4 mi)
18	10 July	Ivrea Ivrea Ivrea is a town and comune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley , it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake...  – Chamonix Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics...	Stage with mountain(s)	188 km (116.8 mi)
19	11 July	Chamonix – Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...	Stage with mountain(s)	265 km (164.7 mi)
20	12 July	Saint-Étienne – Montluçon Montluçon Montluçon is a commune in central France. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's préfecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as Montluçonnais...	Plain stage	223 km (138.6 mi)
21	13 July	Montluçon – Orléans Orléans -Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...	Plain stage	232 km (144.2 mi)
22A	14 July	Orléans – Rambouillet Rambouillet Rambouillet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is located in the suburbs of Paris southwest from the center...	Plain stage	111 km (69 mi)
22B		Rambouillet – Paris	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...	51 km (31.7 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:...
1				Molteni
2
3a				Smith's
3b
4
5
6
7
8
9
10				Molteni
11				KAS
12
13
14a
14b
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22a
22b
Final				KAS

General classification

Jan Janssen became the first Dutch cyclist to reach the podium in the general classification in the Tour de France.

Final general classification (1–10)

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1		Ford	117h 34' 21"
2		Pelforth	+1' 07"
3		Mercier	+2' 02"
4		KAS	+5' 19"
5		Filotex	+5' 27"
6		Mann	+5' 44"
7		KAS	+6' 25"
8		Peugeot	+8' 22"
9		Peugeot	+9' 06"
10		Smith's	+9' 57"

Final general classification (11–82)
Rank	Name	Team	Time
11		KAS	+10' 18"
12		Molteni	+11' 18"
13		Ford	+11' 18"
14		KAS	+11' 59"
15		KAS	+13' 02"
16		Mann	+14' 39"
17		Filotex	+16' 35"
18		Fagor	+17' 29"
19		Pelforth	+18' 23"
20		Fagor	+19' 58"
21		Peugeot	+22' 17"
22		Fagor	+22' 59"
23		Peugeot	+24' 45"
24		KAS	+26' 02"
25		KAS	+26' 47"
26		Fagor	+28' 31"
27		Solo	+28' 42"
28		Fagor	+30' 11"
29		Fagor	+30' 50"
30		Pelforth	+31' 24"
31		KAS	+32' 32"
32		Peugeot	+33' 54"
33		Smith's	+34' 35"
34		Smith's	+34' 56"
35		Pelforth	+35' 30"
36		Televizier	+36' 04"
37		KAS	+38' 13"
38		Solo	+39' 50"
39		Mercier	+41' 28"
40		Smith's	+42' 12"
41		Fagor	+42' 24"
42		Molteni	+44' 44"
43		Pelforth	+48' 47"
44		Filotex	+49' 35"
45		Ford	+49' 43"
46		Televizier	+50' 13"
47		Kamomé	+50' 17"
48		Fagor	+52' 32"
49		Fagor	+53' 03"
50		Kamomé	+53' 21"
51		Peugeot	+54' 36"
52		Mann	+56' 43"
53		Smith's	+57' 44"
54		Peugeot	+59' 53"
55		Pelforth	+1h 00' 00"
56		Fagor	+1h 01' 26"
57		Peugeot	+1h 03' 21"
58		Pelforth	+1h 05' 54"
59		Kamomé	+1h 06' 26"
60		Smith's	+1h 06' 27"
61		Ford	+1h 09' 06"
62		Kamomé	+1h 10' 42"
63		Mercier	+1h 12' 02"
64		Televizier	+1h 14' 08"
65		Mann	+1h 14' 13"
66		Ford	+1h 16' 36"
67		Solo	+1h 16' 54"
68		Televizier	+1h 23' 13"
69		Molteni	+1h 25' 23"
70		Mann	+1h 25' 31"
71		Kamomé	+1h 25' 39"
72		Mercier	+1h 27' 42"
73		Televizier	+1h 28' 20"
74		Mann	+1h 31'27"
75		Televizier	+1h 31' 44"
76		Solo	+1h 33' 29"
77		Molteni	+1h 38' 10"
78		Mercier	+1h 38' 28"
79		Ford	+1h 45' 43"
80		Mercier	+1h 54' 16"
81		Smith's	+1h 59' 45"
82		Filotex	+2h 05' 26"

Points classification

Final points classification

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1		Smiths	211
2		Televizier	189
3		Solo	178

Mountains classification

Final mountains classification

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1		Ford-France	123
2		Kas	98
3		Kas	51

Team classification

Final team classification

Rank	Team	Time
1	KAS	355h 02' 45"
2	Ford	+17' 32"
3	Peugeot	+19' 04"
4	Fagor	+26' 30"
5	Pelforth	+37' 21"
6	Smith's	+55' 03"
7	Filotex	+58' 35"
8	Mann	+58' 54"
9	Molteni	+1h 01' 37"
10	Mercier	+1h 12' 09"
11	Televizier	+1h 38' 37"
12	Solo	+1h 56' 54"
13	Kamomé	+2h 13' 04"

Other classifications

The combativity award

Combativity award

The combativity award, , is a prize given in the Tour de France. It favours constant attackers and since 1981 the winner of the award has not won the whole Tour.- History :...

was given to Rudi Altig.

Final combativity classification (1–3)

Rank	Rider	Team	Points
1		Molteni	124
2		Mercier	68
3		Pelforth	55
3		Ford-France	55