A1. No. The closest era of Tour domination happened in the five-year span of 1978 through 1982, when Bernard Hinault won in 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982 and Joop Zootemelk of the Netherlands winning in 1980. However, Zootemelk was second to Hinault only in 1978,79, and 82 but that is where the similarity to today ends. In 1981 Joop was fourth behind the French rider and when the Dutchman triumphed in 1980 the Badger had abandoned. That is as close as we have gotten to what we have witnessed over the last five years with Tadej and Jonas.
A2. Breakaways have only succeeded four times at the Tour. The first came in 1979, what the French call une échappée royale—a royal escape—when the top two riders on GC, Bernard Hinault and Joop Zoetemelk, broke clear on the finishing circuits and put more than two minutes into the field. They crossed the line in GC order, Hinault outsprinting Zoetemelk for the stage. The next successful move came in 1987, when American Jeff Pierce of the 7-Eleven team jumped from an eight-man escape—including Adri van der Poel, father of Mathieu—in the closing miles and barely held off Canadian Steve Bauer at the line. In 1994, with Motorola desperate for a stage win, Frankie Andreu infiltrated a seven-man move on the final circuits, only for French rider Eddy Seigneur of Team GAN to slip away and deny him, winning solo by three seconds. Fans would have to wait until 2005 for another, when the wily Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov attacked in the final kilometer alongside Australian Bradley McGee, just holding off the sprinters. The victory not only gave him the stage, but thanks to time bonuses, he vaulted to fifth overall, demoting American Levi Leipheimer to sixth in the final moments of the race.
A3. 1. Only once before has an Irishman claimed this prize and that was Dan Martin in 2018. 2. No American has ever won this award.
A4. On the women’s side, the last French rider to win was Jeannie Longo in 1989. For the men, it was Bernard Hinault in 1985—Hinault, notably a hero of Ferrand-Prévot, even reached out personally to congratulate her.
A5. Inga Thompson claimed the Queen of the Mountains title in both 1986 and 1989, finishing third overall on each occasion. In 1989, her teammate Susan Elias added to the success with fourth place on GC and victory in the Points classification, while the American women capped the year by securing the team title.
Dave Campbell was born and raised in Lander, Wyoming and now resides in Bend, Oregon Dave also writes cycling history at “Clips_and_Straps” on Instagram and announces at cycling events throughout Oregon.
