Tour de France 1983

The 70th Tour de France was held from 1st to 24th July 1983. It was won by Laurent Fignon (Reanult-Elf)

The race included 22 stages, the route was a total of 3,809 km (2,367 mi) long. The organization invited riders from the Eastern Bloc, they rode as amateurs. Due to this unique situation, another national teams were allowed to race, like the Columbian or the Portuguese teams.

defending champion Bernard Hinault (Reanult-Elf) won the Vuelta a Espana just before the start of the Tour, and didn’t start the French Grand Tour due to the injury.

The 22 years young Laurent Fignon was part of Hinaul’s team at the Vuelta, and director sportif Cyrille Guimard planned the Tour without him. But after Hinault’s decision, he changed his mind, put Fignon in the team for possible stage victories and alongside with Marc Madiot to compete for the young rider classification.

After the first mountain stage Pascal Simon (Peugeot) was leading the race and Fignon had the 2nd place in the GC. On the 11th stage, Simon crashed and broke his shoulder blade, but managed to continue the race in leading position till the 17th stage when he abandoned it.

Laurent Fignon gained the yellow jersey and remained in the leading position till the very end of the race. He also won the 21st stage (an individual time trial).

He was the youngest Tour de France winner since 1933.

The point classification won by Sean Kelly (Sem–Reydel–Mavic)), the KOM jersey by Lucien Van Impe (Metauro Mobili–Pinarello).

Other notable stage victories:
Stage 10 Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon (including Tourmalet) – Robert Millar
Stage 19 La Tour-du-Pin to Alpe d’Huez – Peter Winnen (TI-Raleigh)