A moment in time Van Impe claims the biggest prize
For 1976, the organisers of the Tour de France took the Grand Départ to Merlin-Plage, just south of the Vendée seaside resort of Saint-Jean-de-Monts. Among the 130 starters who assembled for the first instalment of the 4,017km race were four of the previous year’s top five. The defending champion, Bernard Thévenet, was back, along with Lucien Van Impe, Joop Zoetemelk and Vicente López Carril. The man missing? That was Eddy Merckx. The rider who had for so long dominated cycling was injured and heading towards the final chapters of his career.
Most observers had Thévenet and Zoetemelk as favourites, but Van Impe also
