75th Tour de France 1988

The Spanish Victory That Almost Didn’t Happen

Injuries suffered earlier in the year kept defending champion Stephen Roche from starting the 1988 Tour de France. America’s hopes were placed on Andy Hampsten, the recent winner of the Giro d’Italia. Spaniard Pedro Delgado, who finished second to Roche in 1987, was the strongest pre-race challenger. 

SPECIAL NOTE: Tour organizers experimented with a “1 km Preface” to replace the traditional Prologue TT as the preliminary stage. The “Preface Times” were added to the Stage 2 TTT classification. The experiment was a failure and only lasted one year.  

"Tour Legend" indicates that “no champion is ever crowned before the mountain stages.”  This year was no exception. The fabled finish at the top of Alpe d’Huez on stage 12 started the overall shakeup. Urs Zimmerman (Sui) broke away from the peloton on the second climb of the day, the Col de Madeleine.  The early, hard effort caused Zimmerman to weaken on the next to last climb, the Col du Glandon. When the final climb to Alpe d’Huez started, Zimmerman was caught by the elites and the race for the General Classification moved into high gear. Steven Rooks (Ned) slowly pulled away from the leading group of four to win the stage. Teammate Gert-Jan Theunisse finished second just ahead of Pedro Delgado in third place. The time gain by the lead group gave Delgado the race lead.  

The schedule kept the pressure on the riders with the uphill 38 km ITT from Grenoble to Villard de Lans. Race leader Delgado showed his strength by crushing his challengers and winning the stage by 44 seconds over Jean-Francois Bernard (Fra).  

SPECIAL NOTE: Following the stage, the seeds of controversy entered the Tour. Delgado’s number was one of several called for daily Control Dopage (drug control) by the UCI (Union Cycliste International). The samples were sent to be tested as the Tour left the Alps and headed for the Pyrenees Mountains. 

During the two stages in the Pyrenees Mountains, Delgado climbed to a small increase in his overall lead. The Tour had entered the final week of racing with Delgado holding a 4’06” lead on Steven Rooks.  

In Bordeaux the Tour officials announced the results of the drug tests from Villard de Lans. The announcement marked the beginning of a huge controversy for the TdF. Race leader Pedro Delgado had tested positive for Probenecid, a drug used to mask steroid use and other banned substances. However, Probenecid was on the banned substance list of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but was not on the banned list of the UCI. Cycling’s controlling body had the drug scheduled to be banned in August 1988 (one month after the Tour). Delgado had escaped on a technicality. 

Spaniard Pedro Delgado was cleared and allowed to continue the race without penalty. He rode into Paris to claim the victory. 

SPECIAL NOTE: The scandal of the Delgado Affair caused a shakeup in the Tour organization and following the race a new director was appointed. Jean-Marie LeBlanc, a former TdF rider, was hire to take the Tour de France to new heights.

TdF 1987

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