A belated view into this day in Tour history...
The Tour visits Ax-3-Domaines
The Tour has only been here once, in 2003. Carlos Sastre took
the stage.
July 16th in the Tour
- Wim van Est became the first Dutchman to wear the yellow jersey,
taking the sprint from a small group in Dax on an ash surfaced
horseracing track. The following day he celebrated by crashing
in the mountains, and withdrawing from the race.
- Mountain man Charly Gaul won in Aix-les-Bains in 1958. Three
days later he would ride into Paris as the race winner.
- England's Brian Robinson made history as the first Brit to
take a stage. He won in Chalon-sur-Saone in 1959.
- Merckx? But of course! 1970, a TT in Bordeaux. And 1972, a
mountain stage to Briancon.
- Lucien Van Impe ruled the climbs, and in 1975 he won a mountain
TT from Morzine to Chatel.
- Joop Zoetemelk was a pretty fair climber too, as he showed
in 1976 by taking the stage to Puy de Dome.
- 1978-9 saw two consecutive finishes at L'Alpe d'Huez. On
France's Dutch mountain they were taken by Hennie Kuiper and
Joop Zoetemelk. But not without some controversy in 1978 as
original stage winner Michel Pollentier had problems explaining
whose urine he was planning on submitting for the dope test.
- Luis Herrera took the 1984 stage on this date. That's good,
but it gets better. It wasn't any old mountain stage, it was
L'Alpe d'Huez. But it gets better. It was the first stage
win for a Colombian. It was a good day for Luis.
- 1986 saw drama. Hinault had taken the race lead the day
before and attacked again today. But Lemond countered and
took the win in Superbagneres, as Hinault coughed up the
time he had won on the day prior.
- Bjarne Riis won in Albi in 1994 on this date, finishing 9
seconds up on names like Svorada, Abdoujaparov, and Van Poppel.
But that was nothing.
- Because two-years-to-the-day later was his famous 'check them
all out and then go' victory at Hautacam.
- Marco Pantani made his mark on this date, taking the 1995
stage to Guzet Neige and the 2000 stage to Courchevel.
Bob Schwartz
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