The 1968 Tour marked the first time the race would end at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, replacing the now-defunct Parc des Princes Velodrome which served as the final stop from 1904 to 1967.

The general classification was won by Jan Janssen, who overtook Herman Van Springel in the final time trial.

[2] The teams entering the race were:[2] The route for the Tour de France was announced in December 1967.

At that time, the last stage was not finalised yet, because the old finish place (the Parc des Princes) was no longer available, and a new one had to be found.

[3] The 1968 Tour de France started on 27 June, and had two rest days, in Royan and Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via.

[4] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,408 m (7,900 ft) at the summit of the Port d'Envalira mountain pass on stage 13.

A similar thing happened in the first part of the fifth stage; Georges Vandenberghe was the only cyclist who had been present in both escape groups, and he became the new leader of the general classification.

Vandenberghe was now a few minutes ahead in the general classification, and kept that lead until the start of the Pyrenees after stage eleven.

In that stage, the Dutch team was reduced to four cyclists, and the leader Jan Janssen did not look strong.

On the other hand, the leader of the French team Raymond Poulidor had gained time, and seemed to be the best-placed favourite, in fifth place in the general classification.

[1] In the fifteenth stage, Raymond Poulidor was hit by a motor, but was able to remount and reach the finish, although he lost more than a minute on his direct competitors.

Although Aimar was later dropped from that group, Godefroot, Janssen, Vanspringel, Bracke and Gandarias stayed at the front, while Pingeon, Poulidor and Vandenberghe lost more than nine minutes, and were out of contention.

Pingeon won the stage, and San Miguel climbed up to the first place in the general classification.

[11] Gimondi advised the Tour de France organizers adopt the aforementioned system, which was used at the Giro d'Italia earlier that year, in order for him to agree to participate in the race.

[17] The jersey for the points classification leader was red in 1968, unlike all other years since its introduction in 1953, when it was green.