60th Tour de France 1973

Talented Spanish Climber Dominates a Climber’s Tour

CR Timeline 1973

The 1973 Tour de France was tailor made for a Spanish climber.  The Tour profile was one of the most mountainous in race history.  Four-time defending champion Eddy Merckx chose not to race because of the riggers of his early season triumphs.  Luis Ocana, winner of the Dauphine Libere, Raymond “Pou Pou” Poulidor, winner of Paris-Nice, and Dutch climber Joop Zoetemelk headed the list challengers for the overall Tour victory.

SPECIAL NOTE: Luis Ocana came to the TdF in 1973 with a new lightweight bicycle material.  After working with aviation engineers, Ocana discovered bicycle tubing made of titanium. 

In an effort to expand the scope and appeal of the TdF organizers scheduled the start of the race for Scheveningen, Netherlands.  Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk delighted his countrymen with a stage win the prologue time trial. 

With the sprinters controlling the flat stages of the Tour, Luis Ocana got a gift on stage 3.  On the roads between Roubaix and Reims, Ocana joined a breakaway group of 9 riders.  By the finish in Reims, 160 km later, Ocana, 8th on the stage, had a surprising 2’34” time gain on Poulidor, Van Impe, Thevenet and Zoetemelk. 

After the very fast sprinting stages, Ocana continues his move to the top of the overall classification as the Tour enters the main Alpine climbing on stage 7.  The morning of the two-part stage, Ocana attacked his adversaries again.  He arrived alone at the finish in Gaillard with a 53 second lead on the main contenders.  The race lead passed over to Ocana with the afternoon section to come.

The profile of the brutal stage 8 included two category 1 climb (Galibier and Izoard) and two category 2 climb (La Madelaine and Telegraphe) before the finish line at the top of the category 1 Les Orres.  Ocana and Spanish countryman Jose-Manuel Fuente managed to breakaway from the other contenders as they began to turn the lead from seconds into minutes.  On the finishing climb to Les Orres Ocana succeeded in dropping Fuente and won the stage by 58 seconds.  The time loss to the contenders was significant.  Thevenet lost 6’ 59”, Zoetemelk, Van Impe, Agostinho, and Poulidor all lost 20’24”.   

Luis Ocana rode into Paris with a 15’51” lead on second placed Frenchman Bernard Thevenet.  His dominance included six stage wins; control of the Maillot Jaune from stage 7 until the end in Paris.

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