The 1981 Tour de France was the 68th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 19 July. The total race distance was 24 stages over . It was dominated by Bernard Hinault, who led the race from the sixth stage on, increasing his lead almost every stage. Only Phil Anderson was able to stay close to him, until the 16th stage when he fell behind by about 7:00, and then on the 17th stage he would lose another 17 minutes. In the end only Lucien Van Impe, Robert Alban and Joop Zoetemelk were able to finish inside 20:00 of the now three time champ.
The points classification was won by Freddy Maertens, who did so by winning five stages. The mountains classification was won by Lucien Van Impe, Peter Winnen won the young rider classification, and the Peugeot team won the team classification.
Teams
Late 1980, there were plans to make the tour "open", which meant that amateur teams would also be allowed to join. This would make it possible for teams from Eastern Europe to join. The plan did not materialize, so only professional teams were invited. In January 1981, the organisation decided that there would be 15 teams with 10 cyclists, or 16 teams with 9 cyclists each. At that point, 16 teams had already submitted a request to join, and the organisation was in discussion with four additional Italian teams, and the American national team. In the end, the American team did not apply, and the Italian teams decided to focus on the 1981 Giro d'Italia. The organisation selected 15 teams, who each selected 10 cyclists, for a total of 150 participants.
The teams entering the race were:
Pre-race favourites
Bernard Hinault, the winner of the 1978 and 1979 Tour de France and reigning world champion, was the main favourite. His knee problems, that caused him to leave the 1980 Tour de France, were solved, and he was in form: Hinault had won important races in the spring, and he had skipped the 1981 Giro d'Italia to focus on the Tour. His main rivals were 1980 Tour de France winner Joop Zoetemelk, 1976 Tour de France winner Lucien Van Impe and Joaquim Agostinho, although they had never been able to beat Hinault when he was in form, and of these rivals only Zoetemelk was ever able to keep Hinault within striking distance.
Freddy Maertens, the winner of the points classification in the Tour de France in 1976 and 1978, had won only three minor races in 1979 and 1980, but in 1981 he was selected again for the Tour.
Route and stages
The route for the 1981 Tour de France was revealed in December 1980. Originally, the thirteenth stage was planned as a time trial, followed by a transfer of more than 500 km on the same day, with the fourteenth stage the next day as a mountain stage. A few months before the Tour, there were many teams interested in the Tour, and the Tour organisation was afraid that there would not be enough time on 9 July to have the time trial for that many cyclists, followed by the transfer. For this reason, the thirteenth stage was changed into a criterium, and the fourteenth stage became the time trial. The 1981 Tour de France started on 25 June, and had two rest days, in Nantes and Morzine. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Col de la Madeleine mountain pass on stage 19.
+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner P25 June Nice Individual time trial 1a26 June Nice Hilly stage 1b Nice Team time trial 227 June Nice to Martigues Plain stage 328 June Martigues to Narbonne Plain stage 429 June Narbonne to Carcassonne Team time trial 530 June Saint-Gaudens to Pla d'Adet Stage with mountain(s) 61 July Nay to Pau Individual time trial 72 July Pau to Bordeaux Plain stage 83 July Rochefort to Nantes Plain stage 4 July Nantes Rest day 95 July Nantes to Le Mans Plain stage 106 July Le Mans to Aulnay-sous-Bois Plain stage 117 July Compiègne to Roubaix Plain stage 12a8 July Roubaix to Brussels (Belgium) Plain stage 12b Brussels (Belgium) to Circuit Zolder (Belgium) Plain stage 139 July Beringen (Belgium) to Hasselt (Belgium) Plain stage 1410 July Mulhouse Individual time trial 1511 July Besançon to Thonon-les-Bains Hilly stage 1612 July Thonon-les-Bains to Morzine Stage with mountain(s) 13 July Morzine Rest day 1714 July Morzine to Alpe d'Huez Stage with mountain(s) 1815 July Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Le Pleynet Stage with mountain(s) 1916 July Veurey to Saint-Priest Plain stage 2017 July Saint-Priest Individual time trial 2118 July Auxerre to Fontenay-sous-Bois Plain stage 2219 July Fontenay-sous-Bois to Paris (Champs-Élysées) Plain stage Total
Race overview
Hinault started out strong and won the prologue. Freddy Maertens showed he was still able to win sprints by winning the first part of the first stage. The second part was a team time trial, won by TI–Raleigh, which put Gerrie Knetemann in the lead of the race. TI–Raleigh also won the second team time trial in stage four.
The Pyrenees were only briefly visited, in the fifth stage. For the last mountain, Hinault was the lead group, together with Lucien Van Impe and Phil Anderson. Van Impe escaped in the last kilometres and won the stage, 27 seconds ahead of Hinault. Anderson, who finished in third place, became the new leader, the first Australian cyclist to wear the yellow jersey. Anderson had started as domestique for Jean-René Bernaudeau, and nobody was expecting him to be able to follow Hinault. In the time trial of stage six, Hinault won as expected, and became the race leader. Anderson surprised with a third place, and he now followed Hinault by 13 seconds in the general classification.
In the following stages, through Northern France and Belgium, Hinault slowly increased his margin over Anderson by winning amelioration sprints, until leading by 57 seconds after stage 13. In stage 14, Hinault won the time trial, and added two more minutes to the margin.
In the sixteenth stage in the Alps, Anderson was not able to follow anymore. He lost 4 minutes to Hinault, but stayed in second place. Anderson lost this second place in the 17th stage, where he lost 17 minutes, making Van Impe the new second placed cyclist, nine minutes behind. Hinault showed his dominance by winning the eighteenth stage.
The time trial in stage 20 was also won by Hinault, who increased the margin to Van Impe to more than 14 minutes.
Doping In the 16th stage, Claude Vincendeau was randomly selected to undergo a doping test. Vincendeau abandoned during that stage, and had already left to his hotel. One of the doctors then went to his hotel to obtain a urine sample, but Vincendeau was unable/unwanting to give it. This counted as a positive test.
Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were several classifications in the 1981 Tour de France, four of them awarding jerseys to their leaders. The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey; the winner of this classification is considered the winner of the Tour. The time bonus for stage winners had been absent in the years before, but it returned in 1981; 30, 20 and 10 seconds for the first three cyclists in every stage.
Additionally, there was a points classification, were cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and was identified with a green jersey.
There was also a mountains classification. The organisation had categorised some climbs as either hors catégorie, first, second, third, or fourth-category; points for this classification were won by the first cyclists that reached the top of these climbs first, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and wore a white jersey with red polka dots.
Another classification was the young rider classification. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only cyclists younger than 24 were eligible, and the leader wore a white jersey.
The fifth individual classification was the intermediate sprints classification. This classification had similar rules as the points classification, but only points were awarded on intermediate sprints. In 1981, this classification had no associated jersey.
For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time. The riders in the team that led this classification were identified by yellow caps. There was also a team points classification. Cyclists received points according to their finishing position on each stage, with the first rider receiving one point. The first three finishers of each team had their points combined, and the team with the fewest points led the classification. The riders of the team leading this classification wore green caps.
In addition, there was a combativity award given after each mass-start stage to the cyclist considered most combative. The split stages each had a combined winner. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification. Bernard Hinault won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award. The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass a point in the Landes forest before the end of stage 7 in Bordeaux. This prize was won by Theo de Rooij.
+Classification leadership by stage Stage Stage winner General classification Points classification Mountains classification Young rider classification Combination classification Intermediate sprints classification Team classifications Combativity award By time By points P Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault no award Theo de Rooij Bernard Hinault no award not awarded 1a Freddy Maertens Rudy Pevenage Charly Bérard Phil Anderson Rudy Pevenage Jean-René Bernaudeau 1b Gerrie Knetemann Ad Wijnands not awarded 2 Johan van der Velde Bernard Hinault Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle 3 Freddy Maertens Freddy Maertens Phil Anderson Willy Teirlinck 4 Daniel Willems not awarded 5 Lucien Van Impe Phil Anderson Phil Anderson Phil Anderson Freddy Maertens Bernard Hinault 6 Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault not awarded 7 Urs Freuler Jean-François Pescheux 8 Ad Wijnands Eddy Verstraeten 9 René Martens Patrick Perret 10 Ad Wijnands Régis Ovion 11 Daniel Willems Serge Beucherie 12a Freddy Maertens Daniel Willems 12b Eddy Planckaert 13 Freddy Maertens Rudy Pevenage 14 Bernard Hinault not awarded 15 Sean Kelly Pierre Bazzo 16 Robert Alban Lucien Van Impe Hubert Linard 17 Peter Winnen Peter Winnen Dominique Arnaud 18 Bernard Hinault Juan Fernández Martín 19 Daniel Willems Phil Anderson 20 Bernard Hinault not awarded 21 Johan van der Velde Gerrie Knetemann 22 Freddy Maertens Dominique Arnaud Final Bernard Hinault Freddy Maertens Peter Winnen Bernard Hinault Freddy Maertens Bernard Hinault
Final standings
Legend Denotes the winner of the general classification Denotes the winner of the points classification Denotes the winner of the mountains classification Denotes the winner of the young rider classification
General classification + Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time 1 96h 19' 38" 2 + 14' 34" 3 + 17' 04" 4 + 18' 21" 5 + 20' 26" 6 + 23' 02" 7 + 24' 25" 8 + 24' 37" 9 + 26' 18" 10 + 27' 00"