Year 1964
THE STORY
On the way to his historic fifth Tour de France win, Jacques Anquetil showed that he was nearly human, nearly beatable. As usual, he won both time trials. But if recent revelation Raymond Poulidor had not flatted in the first race against the clock, the outcome may have been different. And on the climbs, Poulidor was clearly superior. After dropping Anquetil on the Puy de Dôme climb, Poulidor even hoped to grab the lead. His advance, however, was not enough to menace Anquetil who won his fifth Tour by 55 seconds.
After overindulging in a lamb barbecue on the rest day in the Pyrénées, Jacques Anquetil was immediately dropped over the Envalira Pass on the stage to Toulouse. Only after his director sportif Raphaël Geminiani passed him a bottle of champagne, could he wash down the indigestion. All this of course, while still racing his bike. Then after a maddening chase, he managed to catch the Raymond Poulidor-led break and save his yellow shirt.
Poulidor didnt have the appropriate bike in the Puy-de-Dôme climb, although he affirmed the contrary. His coachs response: Raymond lost the Tour because he lied to me." Jacques Anquetil at the top of the Puy de Dôme: "Poulidor was not in a good day and I me neither." Last rider: Novak (81th) at 3 h 19 min. 2 sec.
The hard-fought battle between Anquetil and Poulidor in the Puy-de-Dôme hills. Anquetil finishes 14 seconds ahead, 55 in Paris. Six new towns host a Tour stage.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize; Jean-Paul Sartre refuses the Nobel Prize for literature; The Beatles triumph in the film "A Hard Day's Night."
