Skip to content
Home » Tour de France 1969

Tour de France 1969

Eddy Merckx during Tour de France 1969

4 July 1969 Eddy Merckx takes the yellow jersey for the very first time

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… Read More »4 July 1969 Eddy Merckx takes the yellow jersey for the very first time

French cyclist Raymond Delisle

Faces from the peloton: Raymond Delisle (1943-2013)

Thank you for being a devoted reader of PelotonTales. You are the reason why it’s worth spending so many hours to create new content and trying to improve this website. If you would show appreciation to my work, please consider supporting the blog with a small donation. Thank you! Raymond Delisle was one of those cyclists who was always lurking around the favourites in the most important and/or most iconic Tour de France stages without having significant success. Delisle started his professional career in 1965 in team Peugeot, where he was racing  till 1976. (His last year as professional cyclist he spent with the team Miko Mercier.) He reached his biggest success by winning the… Read More »Faces from the peloton: Raymond Delisle (1943-2013)

4 July 1969 Eddy Merckx’s first ever Tour de France stage victory

It was the 133 km long 6th stage from Mulhouse to the Ballon d’Alsace at the Tour de France 1969, when Eddy Merckx celebrated his first Tour de France stage victory. Although Merckx was a Tour de France debutant in 1969, the peloton already knew him very well. He already won the Giro d’Italia (1968) and several one-day classics (including 4 of the 5 monuments).

Eddy Merckx Tour de France 1969

Eddy Merckx’s epic solo ride in the Pyrenees

Before the 17th stage of Tour de France 1969 Eddy Merckx’s first overall victory was almost secured. He led the general classification with more than 8 minutes. The 214, 5 km long stage between Luchon and Mourenx included the “big four” ascents of the Pyrenees: Peyresourde, Aspin, Tourmalet, Aubisque. Eddy Merckx (Faema) attacked right before the top of Tourmalet, only to collect some mountain points. A few km later he realized, that nobody went with him. Lomme Driessens, the Directeur Sportif of Faema told him to wait for the rest of the peloton. But Merckx decided differetly. It was still 105 km to go. Merckx rode it solo. He finished almost 8 minutes ahead of… Read More »Eddy Merckx’s epic solo ride in the Pyrenees