1996 Tour de France

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Tour de France 1996 - Course Outline
Race details
Dates		June 29–July 21, 1996
Stages		21+Prologue
Distance		3,905 km (2,426 mi)
Winning time		95h 57' 16"[1] (40.697 km/h/25.288 mph)
Palmarès
	Winner	Bjarne Riis ‡	(Team Telekom)
	Second	Jan Ullrich	(Team Telekom)
	Third	Richard Virenque	(Festina)
	Points	Erik Zabel ‡	(Team Telekom)
	Mountains	Richard Virenque	(Festina)
	Youth	Jan Ullrich	(Team Telekom)
	Team	Festina

The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd Tour de France, starting on June 29 and ending on July 21, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day (July 10).

This Tour was noted by the "fall" of favorite Miguel Indurain, ending his then record run of five consecutive victories. The course included a stage through his home town Villava, however he suffered a bronchitis because of the poor weather in the first week, and was fined and penalised for accepting drinks illegally.^[2] Indurain started to lose time in stage 7, and finally ended 11th failing to win a single stage or spend one day in the yellow jersey.

Stage 9 was memorable - it was scheduled to be a 190 kilometer ride from Val d'Isere to Sestriere. However, due to appalling weather conditions, including snow, the organizers cut the stage to just 46 km. Bjarne Riis won the stage and opened a crucial 44 second gap over Jan Ullrich which was amazing given the much reduced length of the stage. Ullrich, only 22, really broke through in this Tour. He also won the individual time trial of stage 20.

Several riders with Team Telekom have confessed to doping offences around the period of the 1996 tour, including support riders Rolf Aldag, Udo Bölts, Christian Henn^[3] and Brian Holm and team masseur Jef d'Hont has admitted in his autobiography that there was organised use of EPO in the team.^[4] On May 24, 2007, Erik Zabel admitted to using EPO during the first week of the race. The winner of the Tour, Bjarne Riis, admitted on May 25, 2007 that he also used EPO during the Tour, as a result he has been asked by the International Cyling Union (UCI) to return the yellow jersey he received.^[5][6] So far runner-up Jan Ullrich, who has been under suspicion of doping as a part of the Operación Puerto doping case has not commented on allegations he also used EPO. Third place Richard Virenque and fourth place Laurent Dufaux were implicated in the 1998 Festina scandal.

Although UCI lawyer Philippe Verbiest has stated that the statute of limitations for removing Riis as winner of the Tour de France has expired, "you cannot strip him of the title but it possible not to mention it anymore. . . . Because of what he admitted, he is not the winner of the Tour de France. Riis did not win." Tour spokeman Philippe Sudres also stated that: "We consider philosophically that he can no longer claim to have won.".^[7] Riis' victory still stands in the Tour de France record books.^[8]

Results

General classification

Rank	Cyclist name	Team	Time
1.	Bjarne Riis (DEN) ‡	Team Telekom	95:57:16
2.	Jan Ullrich (GER)	Team Telekom	+ 1.41
3.	Richard Virenque (FRA)	Festina–Lotus	+ 4.37
4.	Laurent Dufaux (SUI)	Festina–Lotus	+ 5.35
5.	Peter Luttenberger (AUT)	Carrera Jeans	+ 7.07
6.	Luc Leblanc (FRA)	Team Polti	+ 10.03
7.	Piotr Ugrumov (LAT)	Roslotto	+ 10.04
8.	Fernando Escartín (ESP)	Kelme–Artiach	+ 10.26
9.	Abraham Olano (ESP)	Mapei–GB	+ 11.00
10.	Tony Rominger (SUI)	Mapei–GB	+ 11.53
11.	Miguel Indurain (ESP)	Banesto	+ 14.14
12.	Patrick Jonker (AUS)	ONCE	+ 18.58
13.	Bo Hamburger (DEN)	TVM – Farm Frites	+ 22.19
14.	Udo Bölts (GER)	Team Telekom	+ 25.56
15.	Alberto Elli (ITA)	MG Maglificio-Technogym	+ 26.18
16.	Manuel Fernandez-Gines (ESP)	Mapei–GB	+ 26.28
17.	Leonardo Piepoli (ITA)	Refin	+ 27.36
18.	Laurent Brochard (FRA)	Festina–Lotus	+ 32.11
19.	Michele Bartoli (ITA)	MG Maglificio-Technogym	+ 37.18
20.	Eugeni Berzin (RUS)	Gewiss	+ 38.00

Jersey progress

Jersey wearers when one rider is leading two or more competitions

• In stage 1, Chris Boardman wore the green jersey.

Other notes

• The white jersey wasn't actually awarded between 1989 and 1999 - the white column in this table represents the leader in the youth classification.

Stages

Stage/Date	Route	Distance	Type
P / June 29	's-Hertogenbosch	9 km	Prologue
1 / June 30	's-Hertogenbosch - 's-Hertogenbosch	206 km
2 / July 1	's-Hertogenbosch - Wasquehal	195 km
3 / July 2	Wasquehal - Nogent-sur-Oise	195 km
4 / July 3	Soissons - Lac de Madine	230 km
5 / July 4	Lac de Madine - Besançon	242 km
6 / July 5	Arc-et-Senans - Aix-les-Bains	208 km
7 / July 6	Chambéry - Les Arcs	202 km
8 / July 7	Bourg-Saint-Maurice - Val d’Isère	30.5 km	ITT
9 / July 8	Le Monêtier-les-Bains - Sestriere	46 km	Mountain stage Shortened due to weather
10 / July 9	Turin - Gap	203 km	Mountain stage
July 10 / Rest day		0 km
11 / July 11	Gap - Valence	200 km	Mountain stage
12 / July 12	Valence - Le Puy en Velay	143 km
13 / July 13	Le Puy-en-Velay - Super-Besse	177 km
14 / July 14	Besse - Tulle	185 km
15 / July 15	Brive - Villeneuve-sur-Lot	177 km
16 / July 16	Agen - Lourdes-Hautacam	192 km	Mountain stage
17 / July 17	Argelès-Gazost - Pamplona	260 km	Mountain stage
18 / July 18	Pamplona - Hendaye	154 km
19 / July 19	Hendaye - Bordeaux	220 km
20 / July 20	Bordeaux - Saint-Emilion	60 km	ITT
21 / July 21	Palaiseau - Paris	145 km
Total		3905.5 km

Points Classification

1. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom, 335 pts (contested) ^‡
2. Frédéric Moncassin (Fra), 284 pts
3. Fabio Baldato (Ita), 255 pts
4. Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (Uzb), 204 pts
5. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned), 158 pts

Best climber

1. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina, 383 pts
2. Bjarne Riis (Den), 274 pts
3. Laurent Dufaux (Sui), 176 pts
4. Laurent Brochard (Fra), 168 pts
5. Luc Leblanc (Fra), 158 pts

Best young rider

1. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom, 95.58.57
2. Peter Luttenberger (Aut), + 05.26
3. Fernandez Gines (Spa), + 24.47
4. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita), + 25.55

Team classification

1. FESTINA (Fra), 287.46.20
2. Telekom (Ger), + 15.14
3. Mapei-GB (Ita), + 51.36

Most aggressive rider

1. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina, 50 pts
2. Bjarne Riis (Den), 47 pts
3. Bartoli (Ita), 47 pts

Teams

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

External links

• Results per day
• Yellow jersey progress
• Jersey progression

References

^‡ Bjarne Riis has admitted to the use of doping during the 1996 Tour de France. The organisers of the Tour de France have stated they no longer consider him to be the winner, although UCI have thusfar refused to change the official status. The same goes for Erik Zabel and his green jersey win that year. Several other riders mentioned in this table have since been proved guilty or suspected of doping.