1989 Tour de France

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1989 Tour de France
Route of the 1989 Tour de France.png
Route of the 1989 Tour de France
Race details
Dates 1–23 July 1989
Stages 21+Prologue
Distance 3,285.3 km (2,041 mi)
Winning time 87h 38' 35" (37.818 km/h or 23.499 mph)
Palmarès
Winner  Greg LeMond (United States) (ADR)
Second  Laurent Fignon (France) (Super U)
Third  Pedro Delgado (Spain) (Reynolds)

Points  Sean Kelly (Ireland) (PDM)
Mountains  Gert-Jan Theunisse (Netherlands) (PDM)
Youth  Fabrice Philipot (France) (Toshiba)
Combination  Steven Rooks (Netherlands) (PDM)
Sprints  Sean Kelly (Ireland) (PDM)
Team PDM
1988
1990

The 1989 Tour de France was the 76th Tour de France, a race of 21 stages and a prologue, over 3285 km in total.[1] In the closest tour in history, Greg LeMond was behind by 50 seconds at the start of the final stage, a time trial into Paris. LeMond rode for an average speed of 54.55 km/h (34.52 mph), the second fastest time trial ever ridden in the Tour de France. He made up 58 seconds on Laurent Fignon, to win the race by 8 seconds. LeMond and Fignon occupied the top two places between them from early in the race. The two men were never separated by more than 53 seconds throughout the race.

Contents

[edit] Race format

3285 km of racing was scheduled to start on July 1st and divided into 1 prologue followed by 21 stages. The race would last 23 days with 21 racing days and 2 rest days. One day, July 2nd, was scheduled to host 2 stages. These were a plain stage followed later in the day by the team time trial.[2][3]

There were two transfers. The first was from Wasquehal to Dinard on a rest day in between stages 4 and 5. The second was between L'Isle d'Abeau and Versailles after the finish of the penultimate stage. The second rest day was after the mountain time trial stage 15.[2] The race ended on July 23rd.[3]

The race started outside of France, specifically in Luxembourg before then transiting through the Wallonia region of Belgium. The route then took an anti clockwise circuit through France visiting the Pyrenees prior to the Alps. The race consisted of 7 mountain stages, 2 Pyrenean and 5 Alpine. In total there was 5 time trials including the prologue, 1 team time trial, 1 mountain time trial and 2 individual flat stage time trials.[2] Unusually the last of the time trials was held on the last stage of the race as opposed to the usual penultimate stage of the race. This was the race's first last day time trial since the 1972 Tour de France.[3]

The white jersey was not awarded to the leader of the Young rider classification, although the classification was still held.

[edit] Participants

[edit] Competing previous and future winners

The 1989 Tour de France contained four previous winners in the line up of whom three were to be the principle combatants in the race:-

  • Pedro Delgado, age 29, had won the 1988 Tour de France with a comfortable winning margin of over 7 minutes. He had also placed second overall in the 1987 Tour de France race when he lost by 40 seconds to Stephen Roche, the second narrowest margin of victory in tour history prior to the '89 tour. Delgado had consistently challenged strongly since his first appearance, the 1983 Tour de France. However on two occasions he had to withdraw, once after a crash and once due to his mother's death. Delgado followed his '88 Tour win with more winning form for victory in the 1989 Vuelta a Espana seven weeks before the '89 Tour.
  • Stephen Roche, age 29, as well as winning the triple crown in '87 of Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and World Championship had finished third in 1985 Tour de France. However he had suffered a serious knee injury in 1986 that was to overshadow much of his career and had shown little since '87 to suggest he would contend for the top spot again. He had though finished ninth three weeks before in the 1989 Giro d'Italia. Roche's knee problem was to attract attention in the '89 tour.
  • Greg Lemond, age 28, won the 1986 Tour de France after having finished third and second respectively in the '84 and '85 tours. A near fatal shotgun accident on 20th April 1987 had cost him 2 years of his career since the '86 tour victory. In the lead up to the tour he completed the 1989 Giro d'Italia in which he wasn't in contention for any of the race jerseys. However, something since highlighted attracted little attention at the time. In the latter stages of the 1989 Giro with the racing miles from the Giro's earlier stages now in his legs, LeMond showed indications of returning to fitness. This was less than a month before the start of the '89 Tour.
  • Laurent Fignon, age 28, won the 1983 and 1984 Tour de France before injury impacted his form for a number of seasons. His resurgence to form though had won him the 1989 Giro d'Italia three weeks earlier and was the current #1 ranked cyclist in the world.


There was also 2 future winners in the line up who had not yet won the race at that point in their careers:-

  • Future five times winner Miguel Indurain (Indurain's 25th birthday was during the '89 Tour) was riding his second tour. At this point he rode as a support rider for Delgado.
  • Bjarne Riis, age 25, rode the 89 tour supporting team mate, Laurent Fignon. Riis won the 1996 Tour de France, the year after the last of Indurain's wins.


Greg Lemond was destined to collect a third victory courtesy of the 1990 Tour de France.

[edit] Teams

The Tour organisation invited 22 teams to the Tour, with 9 cyclists each.[2]

  • Reynolds
  • PDM
  • Kelmedagger
  • Helvetia-La Suisse
  • Super U
  • Café de Colombiadagger
  • Z-Peugeot
  • BH
  • Panasonic-Isostar
  • Hitachi-VTM
  • 7 Eleven-American Airlinesdagger
  • Paternina-Marcos Eguizabal
  • Carrera Jeans-Vagabond
  • RMO-Mavic-Liberia
  • ADR-Agrigel-Bottechiadagger
  • Fagor
  • Histor Sigma-Fina
  • Chateau d'Ax
  • Toshiba
  • Domex-Weinmann
  • SuperConfex-Yoko-Opel
  • TVM

dagger: Wildcard teams[4]

[edit] Race summary

[edit] Early stages

At the start of the 1989 Tour de France, the defending champion, Pedro Delgado, missed his start time at the prologue. Delgado would lose 2:40 before the race had even begun as the clock ticked for him to appear at the start gate. The Spaniard ended the first day of the race placed last of the 198 riders with a time of 2 mins 54 slower than the day's winner. LeMond surprised by placing fourth in the opening prologue. Fignon was second, Sean Kelly third with all three finishing six seconds behind the winner on the day, Erik Breukink.[2]

Stages 1 and 2 were held on the same day. Breukink held yellow for only 1 day. Acacio da Silva won stage 1 and became the first Portuguese to wear the yellow jersey. Fignon dropped to fifth for a day, the lowest position he would occupy on the leaderboard throughout the race. He was 2 mins 37 behind the yellow jersey.[2]

The stage 2 team trial was won by the team of one the year's principle contenders, the Super U team of Laurent Fignon. LeMond's ADR team finished the stage fifth 51 seconds behind Fignon's team. This was to be LeMond's team mates' greatest contribution as Lemond's effort in the mountains, unlike his rivals, were characterised by his team mates having insufficient climbing ability to offer support. Delgado lost more time on stage 2 as his team finished last in the time trial at 4 mins and 32 secs behind the winning time of Fignon's team. After 2 days of racing, if last placed Delgado was to take yellow he would have to make up over seven minutes on Fignon with the then world ranked #1 well placed in 4th in the General Classification (GC).[2]

Stage 3 was won by Raul Alcala of the team who produced three stage winners who would finish in the race's top eight, PDM. Added to these three would be the man to finish in 9th overall and was rewarded with the green jersey for the consistency of his stage finishes, Sean Kelly. LeMond was placed fifteenth in the GC at this point, the lowest position he would occupy in the '89 tour. He was 3 mins 28 behind the yellow jersey.[2]

In the Stage 5 time trial, LeMond surprised again by winning it and taking the yellow jersey by five seconds as leader of the General Classification. Da Silva had held yellow for four days. Delgado placed second on the stage 24 seconds behind with Fignon in third a further 32 seconds behind Delgado in the stage. This trio, three of the four previous winners to start the race, would end the race occupying the podium places. The other former winner in the race, Stephen Roche, placed 11th in the time trial. The race synthesised into LeMond and Fignon jousting for yellow with the top two positions in the GC occupied from now until the end of the race by these two men. Throughout the race they were never more than 53 secs apart in the GC. Delgado was battling to try to regain the time he lost in Luxembourg and was still some time away from moving into the top 3 in the GC.[2] LeMond was thrilled to have won the jersey and was hoping just to remain competitive in the Tour.

Stage 6 proved unremarkable to the main classifications but produced a human interest story. 27 year old French domestique Joel Pelier had never been watched in his pro career by his parents who were dedicated to caring for Pelier's severely disabled sibling who needed constant attention. Pelier's parents made arrangements to watch stage 6 from near the finish line to which Pelier responded with an attempted lone breakaway. Pelier held out to win the stage by 1 minute and 34 seconds.[2] He rode on his own for 4 and a 1/2 hours through wind and rain for 102 of the stage's 161 miles.[5] It was the then second longest breakway in Tour de France history after Albert Bourlon in 1947 and since surpassed by Thierry Marie.[6] On the podium for the day's presentations a tear drenched Pelier was seen on television saying, "Mon per, mon per".[3] "This win is so special to me because today is the first time that my mother and father have seen me in the Tour de France,’ said Pelier.[6]

[edit] Pyrenees

In the Pyrenees Delgado clawed back some lost time. The first of the two Pyrenean stages however was notable for the first tour stage win in the career of the man who would go on to win five straight tours in the 90s, Miguel Indurain. Indurain would finish the Tour de France in 17th. Delgado finished the stage in third place reclaiming 29 seconds on Fignon and LeMond who crossed the line together in seventh and eight respectfully. This was the last stage Roche completed in the tour that year before withdrawing after hitting his troublesome knee on the handlebars.[2]

The second of the Pyrenean stages saw Delgado in a three man breakaway with Scot Robert Millar and Frenchman Charly Mottet. Millar took the Superbagnères stage win in a 2 man sprint finish with Delgado.[3] Fignon crossed the line in seventh place 3 mins 26 seconds behind Delgado and 12 seconds ahead of LeMond two places further back. This was enough for Fignon to take the yellow jersey from LeMond by seven seconds. Delgado's two top three finishes in the Pyrenees moved him up to fourth overall. He had gained 4 minutes on the yellow jersey from the tour's first two mountain stages and was 2 mins 53 behind Fignon. Third place at this juncture was occupied by Mottet.[2]

[edit] Bastille Day bicentenary

Stage 13 held on the Bastille Day bicentenary was won in Marseilles with a one man breakaway by Frenchman, Vincent Barteau.[2] Barteau was a surprise holder of the yellow jersey at the 1984 Tour de France for 12 days. In 1984, Barteau eventually surrendered the jersey to Laurent Fignon, who won the race. Barteau's career went into a major tailspin following the 1984 race. The stage 13 victory in 1989 marked a redemption of sorts for Barteau.

[edit] Alps

In the first of five alpine stages, LeMond emerged from the Stage 15 mountain time trial at Orcières Merlette once again in the yellow jersey. The time trial itself that day was won by a PDM rider, Dutchman Steven Rooks. Delgado crossed the line 49 seconds behind in fourth to regain further time on his 2 main rivals. LeMond placed fifth on the day a further 12 seconds behind Delgado and 47 seconds ahead of Fignon who placed 10th on the stage. Thus LeMond was ahead by 40 seconds.[2]

LeMond increased his lead on Fignon by 13 seconds in stage 16 to Briançon, France's highest altitude town. Delgado finished in the same group as LeMond. The 53 second GC lead LeMond had over Fignon was the biggest gap between the two riders at any point in the race. Unlike the three previous mountain stages, Delgado gained no ground on the yellow jersey.[2]

The stage 17 finish at L'Alpe d'Huez, well established as the blue riband of the mountain stages, was won this year by a lone breakaway ride by another PDM rider, Gert-Jan Theunisse of the Netherlands. Delgado and Fignon crossed the line together in second and third 1 min 19 secs ahead of fifth placed LeMond for Fignon to regain the yellow jersey with a lead overall of 26 seconds. Delgado, convincing winner the year before, now moved into third at 1 min 55 behind the leader. Also, for the first time in the race he was now within the 2 mins 40 of the yellow jersey that he had lost by missing his starting time on day 1. For Delgado though, this was the last time in the race in which he regained any time on either of the two men ahead of him and represented his high water mark in the race. While he placed second on three stages in this year's race, he failed to win a Tour de France stage for the first time since 1984 when he had been unable to complete the race. Delgado had won back time in four mountain stages as well as in the stage 5 time trial. While the Spaniard would retain his third place to the race's end, he would lose time on the race leaders twice before the podium to eventually finish 3 mins 34 behind yellow. Theunisse's efforts had him now up to fourth in the GC with Mottet slipping from third to fifth.[2]

Fignon took Stage 18 at Villard de Lans extending his lead by a further 24 seconds to 50 seconds with LeMond finishing in the group of five behind Fignon. Delgado lost time on his two main rivals finishing in seventh on the day 12 seconds further back from LeMond. Of the seven mountain stages in the race, this was the only one where Delgado ended the day worse in his challenge to win the yellow jersey than he had been at the start of the stage.[2]

LeMond took the next stage (at Aix-les-Bains) in a mountain stage where the race's top four overall positioned riders plus Spain's Marino Lejarreta broke away from the rest of the field. LeMond outsprinted his rivals at the finish to mark the end of the mountains in that years race. Fignon finished second in the stage in the same time as LeMond and still in yellow in the overall classification ahead of LeMond. Delgado at the end of his preferred terrain was placed third in the stage and also in the race overall. Theunisse similarly ended with a 4th place in both the stage and the overall placing with Lejarrata another to end the stage in the position that matched his position in the overall classification, in his case fifth. The stage finish order of LeMond, Fignon, Delgado, Theunisse, Lejarreta was also the order in which that year's tour would end.[2][3]

[edit] Finale

LeMond was down 50 seconds to Fignon going into the final time trial. Fignon had developed saddle sores in stage 19, which gave him pain and made it impossible to sleep in the night before the time trial. Although LeMond was riding spectacular individual time trials, many people still felt 50 seconds would be too much to make up. French newspapers had prepared special editions with Fignon on the front page, preparing for his victory. The final stage from Versailles to Paris was billed as a showdown, but many did not expect LeMond to catch Fignon.[7] On the stage, LeMond innovatively used triathlon handlebars while Fignon rode a conventional bike. LeMond told his team not to give him his time splits as he wanted to ride all-out.

The final time trial was over a course approximately 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) long, with a net elevation loss of 75 metres (247 ft). The riders had a moderate tailwind. LeMond put his bike into a huge 55 x 12 gear. His effort was the fastest individual time trial for a distance longer than 10 km ever ridden. A November 1989 Bicycling Magazine article, supported by wind-tunnel data, estimated that LeMond may have gained 1 minute on Fignon through the use of the new aerobars.[8] He also could have gained 16 seconds by wearing his aero helmet with a slightly elongated tail section for better aerodynamics, while Fignon rode bare-headed with his ponytail exposed to the wind. Fignon did perhaps gain a 5-second advantage by using a disk front wheel, while LeMond used a 24-spoke bladed radially spoked front wheel. Fignon finished third in the final time trial with an average speed of 53.59 kilometres per hour (33.30 mph). Fignon's time 58 seconds slower than LeMond meant LeMond won the 1989 Tour de France by a winning margin of 8 seconds ahead of second placed Fignon.

Another change in the general classification top 10 produced by the time trial was Kelly finishing ninth in the GC overtaking Millar by 21 seconds.[3]

[edit] Results

[edit] Stages

As well as winning the yellow jersey, LeMond was the year's top stage winner with three. The only other rider to win more than one individual stage was the Dutchman Jelle Nijdam. Fignon and Barteau each had 2 wins with one of these being in the team trial.[2]

All of the decisive racing took place in the time trials and mountain stages. There was no significant changes among the genuine contenders in the plain stages. In the four individual races against the clock, Fignon managed no better against LeMond than matching his time in the prologue. In the other three individual time trials LeMond gained time on his principle rival.[2]

The nation with the greatest number of stage wins was Netherlands with six (Breukink, Nijdam x 2, Mathieu Hermans, Rooks and Theunisse) The race team to win the most stages was PDM with four (Alcala, Martin Earley, Rooks and Theunisse).[2]

Stage results[2]
Stage Date Route Terrain Length Stage Winner GC Leader LeMond / Fignon GC gap
P 1 July Luxembourg Individual time trial 7 km (4.3 mi)  Erik Breukink (NED) Panasonic  Erik Breukink (NED) Equal
1 2 July Luxembourg Plain stage 135 km (84 mi)  Acacio da Silva (POR) Carrera  Acacio da Silva (POR) Equal
2 2 July Luxembourg Team time trial 46 km (29 mi) Super U  Acacio da Silva (POR) Fignon 51 secs ahead
3 3 July Luxembourg – Spa Plain stage 241 km (150 mi)  Raúl Alcalá (MEX) PDM  Acacio da Silva (POR) Fignon 51 secs ahead
4 4 July LiègeWasquehal Plain stage 255 km (158 mi)  Jelle Nijdam (NED) Superconfex  Acacio da Silva (POR) Fignon 51 secs ahead
5 6 July DinardRennes Individual time trial 73 km (45 mi)  Greg LeMond (USA) ADR  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 5 secs ahead
6 7 July Rennes – Futuroscope Plain stage 259 km (161 mi)  Joël Pelier (FRA) BH  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 5 secs ahead
7 8 July PoitiersBordeaux Plain stage 259 km (161 mi)  Etienne De Wilde (BEL) Histor  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 5 secs ahead
8 9 July La Bastide d'ArmagnacPau Plain stage 157 km (98 mi)  Martin Earley (IRE) PDM  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 5 secs ahead
9 10 July Pau – Cauterets Stage with mountain(s) 147 km (91 mi)  Miguel Indurain (ESP) Reynolds  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 5 secs ahead
10 11 July Cauterets – Superbagneres Stage with mountain(s) 136 km (85 mi)  Robert Millar (GBR) Z  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 7 secs ahead
11 12 July LuchonBlagnac Plain stage 154 km (96 mi)  Mathieu Hermans (NED) Paternina  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Super U Fignon 7 secs ahead
12 13 July ToulouseMontpellier Plain stage 242 km (150 mi)  Valerio Tebaldi (ITA) Chateau D'ax  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 7 secs ahead
13 14 July Montpellier – Marseille Plain stage 177 km (110 mi)  Vincent Barteau (FRA) Super U  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 7 secs ahead
14 15 July Marseille – Gap Hilly stage 238 km (148 mi)  Jelle Nijdam (NED) Superconfex  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 7 secs ahead
15 16 July Gap – Orcieres Merlette Individual time trial stage with mountain(s) 39 km (24 mi)  Steven Rooks (NED) PDM  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 40 secs ahead
16 18 July Gap – Briancon Stage with mountain(s) 174 km (108 mi)  Pascal Richard (SUI) Helvetia  Greg LeMond (USA) LeMond 53 secs ahead
17 19 July Briancon – L'Alpe d'Huez Stage with mountain(s) 162 km (101 mi)  Gert-Jan Theunisse (NED) PDM  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 26 secs ahead
18 20 July Bourg d'OisansVillard de Lans Stage with mountain(s) 125 km (78 mi)  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Super U  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 50 secs ahead
19 21 July Villard de Lans – Aix les Bains Stage with mountain(s) 125 km (78 mi)  Greg LeMond (USA) ADR  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 50 secs ahead
20 22 July Aix les Bains – L'Isle d'Abeau Plain stage 127 km (79 mi)  Giovanni Fidanza (ITA) Chateau D'ax  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Fignon 50 secs ahead
21 23 July VersaillesParis Individual time trial 24 km (15 mi)  Greg LeMond (USA) ADR  Greg LeMond (USA) Greg LeMond wins 1989 Tour de France by 8 secs

[edit] Jerseys

LeMond won the yellow jersey as the winner of the General Classification. The strength of the PDM team was reflected by their winning four of the race's six classifications (Kelly won both the points and sprints jerseys, Theunisse won the mountain competition and Rooks won the combined jersey). France's Fabrice Philipot in the Toshiba team won the prize for the best young rider.

Fignon spent the most days in the leader's yellow jersey with nine ahead of LeMond's eight. In all during the race the leader changed seven times. The only other two riders to win a spell in yellow that year were Breukink for 1 day after the prologue and then da Silva for the 4 days subsequent to Breukink.[2] Delgado wore yellow on the prologue as the reigning champion.

[edit] General classification

Final general classification (1–10)[2]
Rank Name Team Time
1  Greg LeMond (USA) ADR-Agrigel-Bottechia 87h 38' 35"
2  Laurent Fignon (FRA) Super U +0' 08"
3  Pedro Delgado (ESP) Reynolds-Banesto +3' 34"
4  Gert-Jan Theunisse (NED) PDM +7' 30"
5  Marino Lejarreta (ESP) Paternina-Marco-Equizabal +9' 39"
6  Charly Mottet (FRA) RMO-Mavic-Liberia +10' 06"
7  Steven Rooks (NED) PDM +11' 10"
8  Raúl Alcalá (MEX) PDM +14' 21"
9  Sean Kelly (IRE) PDM +18' 25"
10  Robert Millar (GBR) Z +18' 46"

[edit] References

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Specific

[edit] External links

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