The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race consisted of 22 stages, including two split stages, starting in Nancy on 24 June and finishing at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 15 July. There were four time trial stages and no rest days. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams instead of national teams. Jacques Anquetil of the team won the overall general classification, defending his title to win his third Tour de France. Jef Planckaert () placed second, 4min 59s in arrears, and Raymond Poulidor () was third, over ten minutes behind Anquetil.

Anquetil's teammate Rudi Altig took the first general classification leader's yellow jersey after winning the first stage. He lost it the following day to André Darrigade of , who won stage 2a, before regaining it after winning stage three. The lead was taken by Saint-Raphaël rider Albertus Geldermans after stage six. He held it for two stages, before Darrigade took it back for the next two. Flandria rider Willy Schroeders then led the race between the end of stage nine to the end of eleven, at which point Schroeders' teammate Rik Van Looy, a major pre-race favourite, abandoned the race with an injury. The following day, British rider Tom Simpson (Gitane–Leroux) became the first rider from outside mainland Europe in history to wear the yellow jersey. He lost it to Planckaert after stage thirteen's individual time trial to Superbagnères in the Pyrenees. He held the lead for seven stages, which included the Alps. Anquetil's victory in the individual time trial of stage twenty put him in the yellow jersey, which he held until the conclusion of the race.

In the other race classifications, Altig won the points classification, and Federico Bahamontes () won the mountains classification. Saint-Raphaël won the team classification. The overall awards for most combative and unluckiest were given to Eddy Pauwels () and Van Looy, respectively. Altig and Emile Daems () won the most stages, with three each.

Teams

From 1930 to 1961, the Tour de France was contested by national teams, but in 1962 commercially sponsored international trade teams returned. From the late-1950s to 1962, the Tour had seen the absence of top riders who had bowed to pressure from their teams' extra-sportif (non-cycling industry) sponsors to ride other races that better suited their brands. This, and a demand for wider advertising from a declining bicycle industry, led to the reintroduction of the trade team format.

In early February 1962, 22 teams submitted applications for the race, with the final list of 15 announced at the end of the month. The Spanish-based was the first choice reserve team. Each of the 15 teams consisted of 10 cyclists (150 total), an increase from the 1961 Tour, which had 11 teams of 12 cyclists (132 total). Each team was required to have a dominant nationality; at least six cyclists should have the same nationality, or only two nationalities should be present. For the first time, French cyclists were outnumbered; the largest numbers of riders from a nation came from Italy (52), with the next largest coming from France (50) and Belgium (28). Riders represented a further six nations, all European.

Of the start list of 150, 66 were riding the Tour de France for the first time. The average age of riders in the race was 27.5 years, ranging from 21-year-old Tiziano Galvanin () to 40-year-old Pino Cerami (). The cyclists had the youngest average age (25.2) while cyclists had the oldest (30). The presentation of the teams where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries took place outside the Place de la Carrière in Nancy before the start of the opening stage in the city.

The teams entering the race were:

Majority of French cyclists

Majority of Italian cyclists

Majority of Belgian cyclists

Pre-race favourites

The leading contender for the overall general classification before the Tour was the defending champion Jacques Anquetil of the Saint-Raphaël team. His closest rivals were thought to be Rik Van Looy (Flandria) and Raymond Poulidor (Mercier). The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were Rudi Altig (Saint-Raphaël), Charly Gaul (Gazzola), Federico Bahamontes (Margnat), Gastone Nencini (Ignis), Henry Anglade (Liberia), Guido Carlesi (Philco), Tom Simpson (Gitane–Leroux), Ercole Baldini (Ignis) and Hans Junkermann (). Of these, three were former winners of the Tour: Gaul (1958), Bahamontes (1959) and Nencini (1960).

Frenchman Anquetil, who also won the Tour in 1957, had dominated the 1961 Tour, leading it from the first day to the last, with a winning margin of over twelve minutes. Less than two months before the 1962 Tour, Anquetil had withdrawn from the Vuelta a España, the previous Grand Tour, before the final stage due to viral hepatitis. Although he was the team leader, he was 32nd in the general classification at the time of his withdrawal, while his teammate Altig won the race. Observers expected some internal team struggle in the Tour due to a possible rivalry between the pair over leadership. After recovering for ten days, Anquetil went against his doctor's orders and rode the week-long stage race Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing seventh overall. Anquetil's former bitter rival Raphaël Géminiani was then selected as the team manager of Saint-Raphaël for the Tour. Unhappy, Anquetil asked his sponsors to replace Géminiani; they declined his request.

Van Looy, the winner of the previous two world road race championships, made his Tour debut in 1962. He had avoided riding the Tour because he thought he did not have the full support of the Belgium team, but with Flandria he had control over rider selection. He had a successful season leading up to the Tour, winning the one-day classics Paris–Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and Gent–Wevelgem, and two stages of the Giro d'Italia Grand Tour. He crashed during training four days before the Tour which caused a muscular stretch in his left thigh. Although Van Looy was known as a one-day classics specialist, he was considered a threat to Anquetil, who himself named Van Looy as the only rider who concerned him, fearing the high number of "flat" stage wins could potentially add up to eight minutes due to the one minute bonuses given to stage winners. A "duel" between him and Anquetil was billed by the press.

Poulidor was in his third year as a professional and was more popular in his home country than his compatriot Anquetil. In 1961, he won the national road race championship and Milan–San Remo one-day classic. It was his first appearance in the Tour; he did not ride the 1961 race on the advice of his trade team manager, Antonin Magne, who did not want him riding as a domestique for Anquetil and undermining his 'commercial value'. Anquetil dismissed the media's prediction that Poulidor was his rival, saying: "All Poulidor does is follow. He never takes the initiative." In training in the lead up to the Tour, Poulidor broke his left little finger and began the race with a cast on his forearm.

Route and stages

The route for the 1962 Tour was announced on 14 December 1961. Notable features of the route were the absence of rest days and four time trial events over a total of , which was unusually high, more than in the previous Tour. Anquetil said he did not fear the mountains and that although the time trials favoured him, he would not object if they were not included. Both Van Looy and Gaston Nencini complained about the number of time trials. Van Looy threatened not to ride, feeling it was too hard, and the time trials did not suit him, saying "Four times, you are crazy. Why not a normal route? I will not start this Tour. I do not intend to play for three weeks."

The opening stage (known as the Grand Départ) started in Nancy, in north-eastern France. The stage passed through Luxembourg and ended in the Belgian town of Spa. Belgium hosted stages 2a, and 2b, in Herentals, and the beginning of the third in Brussels. This stage brought the race into northern France with the finish in Amiens. Stage four headed to the coast, westwards to Le Havre, with the following two stages taking the Tour along a coastal route to the western tip of the country. Stages seven to ten formed a continuous journey along the west coast to the foot of the Pyrenees at Bayonne. The Pyrenees hosted the next four stages, with the fourteenth finishing in Carcassonne. Stages fifteen to seventeen took the race to the south-east at Antibes. Stage eighteen headed north to Briançon, in the Alps. The nineteenth stage moved the race out of the mountains and down to Aix-les-Bains. The final three stages took the Tour back to the north through Lyon and Nevers to finish at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris.

There were 22 stages in the race, including two split stages, covering a total distance of , shorter than the 1961 Tour. The longest mass-start stage was the 22nd at , and stage 2a was the shortest at . Of the four time trial stages, three (8b, 13, and 20) were individual time trial events and one (2b) a team time trial. There was only one summit finish, in stage 13's time trial to the Superbagnères ski resort. On stage 18, the climb to the summit of the Cime de la Bonette Alpine mountain, including the Col de Restefond and Col de la Bonette passes, was used for the first time in the Tour in 1962. At an altitude of , it is one of the highest paved roads in Europe and the highest point of elevation reached in the history of the Tour (as of 2018). The Bonette was among six first-category rated climbs in the race. The Tour included four new start or finish locations: Spa, in stages 1and2; Herentals, in stages 2a and 2b; Luçon, in stages 8a and 8b; and Nevers, in stages 21 and 22. In 1962, the final of each stage of the Tour was broadcast live on television for the first time.

+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 124 June Nancy to Spa (Belgium) Plain stage 2a25 June Spa (Belgium) to Herentals (Belgium) Plain stage 2b Herentals (Belgium) Team time trial Faema–Flandria–Clement 326 June Brussels (Belgium) to Amiens Plain stage 427 June Amiens to Le Havre Plain stage 528 June Pont l'Evêque to Saint-Malo Plain stage 629 June Dinard to Brest Plain stage 730 June Quimper to Saint-Nazaire Plain stage 8a1 July Saint-Nazaire to Luçon Plain stage 8b Luçon to La Rochelle Individual time trial 92 July La Rochelle to Bordeaux Plain stage 103 July Bordeaux to Bayonne Plain stage 114 July Bayonne to Pau Plain stage 125 July Pau to Saint-Gaudens Stage with mountains 136 July Luchon to Superbagnères Mountain time trial 147 July Luchon to Carcassonne Stage with mountains 158 July Carcassonne to Montpellier Plain stage 169 July Montpellier to Aix-en-Provence Plain stage 1710 July Aix-en-Provence to Antibes Plain stage 1811 July Antibes to Briançon Stage with mountains 1912 July Briançon to Aix-les-Bains Stage with mountains 2013 July Bourgoin to Lyon Individual time trial 2114 July Lyon to Nevers Plain stage 2215 July Nevers to Paris Plain stage Total

Race overview

Grand Départ

In the opening stage, a 23-man breakaway group of riders escaped the peloton (main group) as they passed Luxembourg City with remaining. They stayed away and came to the finish over six minutes ahead, with Rudi Altig winning the sprint, and taking the first yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. Rik Van Looy, third on the stage, was denied the opportunity to wear the yellow jersey in his own country and into his home town of Herentals at the end of the following stage. Of the pre-race favourites, Raymond Poulidor, Charly Gaul and Federico Bahamontes were not present in the lead group. Altig also took the points classification's green jersey, and Liberia rider Jean Selic led the mountains classification.