1969 was Eddy Merckx firts appearance at the Tour de France. He was already a Giro d’Italia winner (1968) and cemented his fame with severwl Monumment victories, especially at Milano-Sanremo.
No wonder Merckx was considered also one of the favourites of Tour de France 1969. It took 6 stages (and a prologue) him to take over the lead.
Stage 6 , on the 4th July of 1969, was a mountain stage inclunding Ballon d’Alsace. Merckx won the stage, while destroyed the dreams of some of the other favourites. It was a really strong peloton, including the Tour de France winners from precious years (Felice Gimondi 1965, Roger Pingeon 1967, Jan Janssen 1968).
However, Merckx did an even bigger destruction in the peloton during his 140 km long solo victory in the 17th stage in the Pyrenees.
His strong performance led to his first of five Tour de Frwnce overall victories.