It took place between 22 June and 14 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 4,188 km (2,602 mi).

Gimondi became one of only seven riders, the others being Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome and five-time Tour winners Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault to have won all three of the major Tours.

[4] This made Raymond Poulidor, who finished second in the previous Tour, the main favourite.

[5] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,360 m (7,740 ft) at the summit of the Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage 16.

[6][7] The race started in Germany, and the first stage, ending in Belgium, was won by Belgian Rik Van Looy.

On the second stage, run over cobbles, three riders escaped: Bernard Vandekerkhove, Felice Gimondi and Victor Van Schil.

Darrigade was one of the best sprinters of that time, so Gimondi knew he would not win if it would end in a sprint.

He had a margin in the general classification of over two minutes on Vandekerkhove, while his team leader Adorni was in third place.

His team-mates, including Gimondi, waited for him and lost some time; because of this, Vandekerkhove took back the lead.

He had a big margin over Motta, but Gimondi had stayed surprisingly close, and kept the lead in the general classification with 34 seconds.

But Gimondi was the fastest man that day, and won the stage, and thereby the Tour de France.

[11] The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage.

[5] The jury gave Cees Haast the prize more most unlucky cyclist, because he lost his sixth place in the general classification after a fall, and the prize for most sympathetic cyclist to Gianni Motta, because he was always in a good mood and did not look for apologies after losing to Gimondi.