According to the latest rumors, Tour de France will return to Puy de Dôme in 2023.
Tour de France visited Puy de Dôme last time in 1988. Since the construction of a track railway and due to the very narrow road, it was told for many many years, that the return of the race to this iconic place is almost impossible.
Now, it looks like, the impossible is going to be possible in next July.
The iconic picture of Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor was taken on the 20th stage in 1964.
Before the stage, Jacques Anquetil led the general classification with 56″ ahead of Raymond Poulidor, meanwhile third placed Federico Bahamontes was aready more than 3 minutes behind the race leader. The 20th stage was 237,5 km long, and besides the Puy de Dôme, the route also included St Privat.
But of course, everybody focused on the final ascent of the day.
After the first km of the climb, only Anquetil, Poulidor, Bahamontes, Julio Jimenez and Vittorio Adorni stayed at the front of the race. Soon, Adorni dropped after an attack of Bahamontes and Jimenez. From strategic point of view, this was an advantageous situation for Anquetil, because the two riders at the front earned the time bonuses, but they were far from the yellow jersey, so Anquetil had to focus on the real racing time of Poulidor only.
They rode literally shoulder by shoulder together, as the famous image shows it. Anquetil decided not to put his wheel behind Poulidor, which would be reasonable, but he wanted to wear also a psychological battle. Newerteless, Poulidor attacked a few times, but he could not drop his rival until they reached the Flammes Rouge.
Inside the final kilometre Poulidor was finaly able to ride away from Anquetil and finished third behind Jiménez and Bahamontes. After the stage he was only 14″ behind Anquetil, but could never turn the race. It was definitely the closest moment Poulidor ever had the possibility of winning the Tour de France.
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