| Route of the 1998 Tour de France | |||
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | July 11–August 2, 1998 | ||
| Stages | 21+Prologue | ||
| Distance | 3,877.1 km (2,409 mi) | ||
| Winning time | 92h 49' 46"[1] (41.765 km/h/25.952 mph) | ||
| Palmarès | |||
| Winner | Marco Pantani (Italy) | (Mercatone Uno) | |
| Second | Jan Ullrich (Germany) | (Team Telekom) | |
| Third | Bobby Julich (USA) | (Cofidis) | |
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| Points | Erik Zabel (Germany) | (Team Telekom) | |
| Mountains | Christophe Rinero (France) | (Cofidis) | |
| Youth | Jan Ullrich (Germany) | (Team Telekom) | |
| Team | Cofidis | ||
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← 1997
1999 →
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The 1998 Tour de France, also called the Tour du Dopage (Tour of Doping), was marred by doping scandals throughout known as the Festina affair, starting with the arrest of Willy Voet, a soigneur in the French Festina team. Voet was traveling into France when he was arrested and found with large quantities of doping products. As a result, repeated police raids found drugs in the rooms of the TVM team, and the riders staged a sit-down protest during stage 17 as a reaction to the treatment. Tour directors later nullified the results of the stage. The Spanish teams pulled out of the race at the urging of the ONCE-Eroski team, led by Laurent Jalabert, the French National Champion.
This 1998 edition of Tour de France was won by Marco Pantani, with podium placing of Jan Ullrich, the defending champion, and American Bobby Julich. Erik Zabel won his third consecutive green jersey in the points classification. Christophe Rinero claimed the polka dot jersey as the winner of the mountains classification.
Contents |
Because the 1997 Tour had seen many crashes in the first week, the organisation decided to reduce the number of teams from 22 to 21. 189 riders in 21 teams commenced the 1998 Tour de France, only 96 riders finished.[2] The first round of teams that were invited were the sixteen teams of the UCI Rankings on 1 January 1998, provided that they were still in the top 2000 after transfers were factored into the calculation.[3] All these sixteen teams fulfilled this requirement:[4]
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Later, the organisation gave wildcards to four teams:[5]
One team was added with a special invitation:[5]
| Stage | Date | Route | Terrain | Length | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | 11 July | Dublin | Individual time trial | 5.6 km (3.5 mi) | Chris Boardman (GBR) |
| 1 | 12 July | Dublin – Dublin | Plain stage | 180.5 km (112.2 mi) | Tom Steels (BEL) |
| 2 | 13 July | Enniscorthy – Cork | Plain stage | 205.5 km (127.7 mi) | Jan Svorada (CZE) |
| 3 | 14 July | Roscoff – Lorient | Plain stage | 169.0 km (105.0 mi) | Jens Heppner (GER) |
| 4 | 15 July | Plouay – Cholet | Plain stage | 252.0 km (156.6 mi) | Jeroen Blijlevens (NED) |
| 5 | 16 July | Cholet – Châteauroux | Plain stage | 228.5 km (142.0 mi) | Mario Cipollini (ITA) |
| 6 | 17 July | La Châtre – Brive-la-Gaillarde | Plain stage | 204.5 km (127.1 mi) | Mario Cipollini (ITA) |
| 7 | 18 July | Meyrignac-l'Église – Corrèze | Individual time trial | 58.0 km (36.0 mi) | Jan Ullrich (GER) |
| 8 | 19 July | Brive-la-Gaillarde – Montauban | Plain stage | 190.5 km (118.4 mi) | Jacky Durand (FRA) |
| 9 | 20 July | Montauban – Pau | Plain stage | 210.0 km (130.5 mi) | Leon van Bon (NED) |
| 10 | 21 July | Pau – Luchon | Stage with mountain(s) | 196.5 km (122.1 mi) | Rodolfo Massi (ITA) |
| 11 | 22 July | Luchon – Plateau de Beille | Stage with mountain(s) | 170.0 km (105.6 mi) | Marco Pantani (ITA) |
| 12 | 24 July | Tarascon-sur-Ariège – Le Cap d'Agde | Plain stage | 222.0 km (137.9 mi) | Tom Steels (BEL) |
| 13 | 25 July | Frontignan la Peyrade – Carpentras | Plain stage | 196.0 km (121.8 mi) | Daniele Nardello (ITA) |
| 14 | 26 July | Valréas – Grenoble | Hilly stage | 186.5 km (115.9 mi) | Stuart O'Grady (AUS) |
| 15 | 27 July | Grenoble – Les Deux Alpes | Stage with mountain(s) | 189.0 km (117.4 mi) | Marco Pantani (ITA) |
| 16 | 28 July | Vizille – Albertville | Stage with mountain(s) | 204.0 km (126.8 mi) | Jan Ullrich (GER) |
| 17 | 29 July | Albertville – Aix-les-Bains | Stage with mountain(s) | 149.0 km (92.6 mi) | No winner |
| 18 | 30 July | Aix-les-Bains – Neuchâtel | Hilly stage | 218.5 km (135.8 mi) | Tom Steels (BEL) |
| 19 | 31 July | La Chaux-de-Fonds – Autun | Plain stage | 242.0 km (150.4 mi) | Magnus Bäckstedt (SWE) |
| 20 | 1 August | Montceau-les-Mines – Le Creusot | Individual time trial | 52.0 km (32.3 mi) | Jan Ullrich (GER) |
| 21 | 2 August | Melun – Paris | Plain stage | 147.5 km (91.7 mi) | Tom Steels (BEL) |
| Rank | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Pantani (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | 92h 49' 46" |
| 2 | Jan Ullrich (GER) | Telekom | +3' 21" |
| 3 | Bobby Julich (USA) | Cofidis | +4' 08" |
| 4 | Christophe Rinero (FRA) | Cofidis | +9' 16" |
| 5 | Michael Boogerd (NED) | Rabobank | +11' 26" |
| 6 | Jean-Cyril Robin (FRA) | US Postal Service | +14' 57" |
| 7 | Roland Meier (SUI) | Cofidis | +15' 13" |
| 8 | Daniele Nardello (ITA) | Mapei | +16' 07" |
| 9 | Giuseppe Di Grande (ITA) | Mapei | +17' 35" |
| 10 | Axel Merckx (BEL) | Polti | +17' 39" |
| Final general classification (11–96) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Team | Time |
| 11 | Bjarne Riis (DEN) | Telekom | +19' 10" |
| 12 | Dariusz Baranowski (POL) | US Postal Service | +19' 58" |
| 13 | Stéphane Heulot (FRA) | Française des Jeux | +20' 57" |
| 14 | Leonardo Piepoli (SUI) | Saeco | +22' 45" |
| 15 | Bo Hamburger (DEN) | Casino | +26' 39" |
| 16 | Kurt Van De Wouwer (BEL) | Lotto | +27' 20" |
| 17 | Kevin Livingston (USA) | Cofidis | +34' 03" |
| 18 | Jörg Jaksche (GER) | Polti | +35' 41" |
| 19 | Peter Farazijn (BEL) | Lotto | +36' 10" |
| 20 | Andrei Teteriouk (KAZ) | Lotto | +37' 03" |
| 21 | Udo Bölts (GER) | Telekom | +37' 25" |
| 22 | Laurent Madouas (FRA) | Lotto | +39' 54" |
| 23 | Geert Verheyen (BEL) | Lotto | +41' 23" |
| 24 | Cédric Vasseur (FRA) | Gan | +42' 14" |
| 25 | Evgueni Berzin (RUS) | Française des Jeux | +42' 51" |
| 26 | Thierry Bourguignon (FRA) | Big Mat-Auber | +43' 53" |
| 27 | Georg Totschnig (AUT) | Telekom | +50' 13" |
| 28 | Benoit Salmon (FRA) | Casino | +51' 18" |
| 29 | Alberto Elli (ITA) | Casino | +1h 00' 13" |
| 30 | Philippe Bordenave (FRA) | Big Mat-Auber | +1h 05' 55" |
| 31 | Christophe Agnolutto (FRA) | Casino | +1h 11' 03" |
| 32 | Oscar Pozzi (ITA) | +1h 14' 54" | |
| 33 | Maarten den Bakker (NED) | Rabobank | +1h 16' 21" |
| 34 | Patrick Jonker (AUS) | Rabobank | +1h 16' 49" |
| 35 | Pascal Chanteur (FRA) | Casino | +1h 19' 32" |
| 36 | Massimiliano Lelli (ITA) | Cofidis | +1h 20' 15" |
| 37 | Massimo Podenzana (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | +1h 20' 47" |
| 38 | Viatcheslav Ekimov (RUS) | US Postal Service | +1h 22' 40" |
| 39 | Denis Leproux (FRA) | Big Mat-Auber | +1h 25' 05" |
| 40 | Beat Zberg (SUI) | Rabobank | +1h 26' 08" |
| 41 | Lylian Lebreton (FRA) | Big Mat-Auber | +1h 28' 19" |
| 42 | Andrea Tafi (ITA) | Mapei | +1h 29' 22" |
| 43 | Rolf Aldag (GER) | Telekom | +1h 29' 27" |
| 44 | Koos Moerenhout (NED) | Rabobank | +1h 29' 37" |
| 45 | Peter Meinert (DEN) | US Postal Service | +1h 29' 52" |
| 46 | Riccardo Forconi (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | +1h 30' 33" |
| 47 | Fabio Sacchi (ITA) | Polti | +1h 31' 53" |
| 48 | Marty Jemison (USA) | US Postal Service | +1h 34' 27" |
| 49 | Nicolas Jalabert (FRA) | Cofidis | +1h 38' 45" |
| 50 | Massimo Donati (ITA) | Saeco | +1h 38' 59" |
| 51 | Tyler Hamilton (USA) | US Postal Service | +1h 39' 53" |
| 52 | Simone Borgheresi (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | +1h 40' 04" |
| 53 | George Hincapie (USA) | US Postal Service | +1h 40' 39" |
| 54 | Stuart O'Grady (AUS) | Gan | +1h 46' 04" |
| 55 | Filippo Simeoni (ITA) | +1h 47' 19" | |
| 56 | Jens Heppner (GER) | Telekom | +1h 50' 43" |
| 57 | François Simon (FRA) | Gan | +1h 52' 41" |
| 58 | Frankie Andreu (USA) | US Postal Service | +1h 53' 44" |
| 59 | Thierry Gouvenou (FRA) | Big Mat-Auber | +1h 55' 20" |
| 60 | Roberto Conti (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | +1h 55' 33" |
| 61 | Laurent Desbiens (FRA) | Cofidis | +1h 56' 28" |
| 62 | Erik Zabel (GER) | Telekom | +1h 56' 57" |
| 63 | Leon van Bon (NED) | Rabobank | +1h 57' 30" |
| 64 | Paul Van Hyfte (BEL) | Lotto | +1h 58' 02" |
| 65 | Jacky Durand (FRA) | Casino | +1h 59' 42" |
| 66 | Christophe Mengin (FRA) | Française des Jeux | +2h 00' 35" |
| 67 | Frédérick Guesdon (FRA) | Française des Jeux | +2h 05' 08" |
| 68 | Wilfried Peeters (BEL) | Mapei | +2h 06' 16" |
| 69 | Rik Verbrugghe (BEL) | Lotto | +2h 06' 17" |
| 70 | Magnus Bäckstedt (SWE) | Gan | +2h 08' 30" |
| 71 | Eddy Mazzoleni (ITA) | Saeco | +2h 10' 19" |
| 72 | Fabiano Fontanelli (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | +2h 11' 37" |
| 73 | Stefano Zanini (ITA) | Mapei | +2h 12' 11" |
| 74 | Alain Turicchia (ITA) | +2h 14' 12" | |
| 75 | Mirko Crepaldi (ITA) | Polti | +2h 15' 05" |
| 76 | Diego Ferrari (ITA) | +2h 15' 46" | |
| 77 | Xavier Jan (FRA) | Française des Jeux | +2h 15' 51" |
| 78 | Pascal Lino (FRA) | Big Mat-Auber | +2h 16' 13" |
| 79 | Fabio Roscioli (ITA) | +2h 17' 53" | |
| 80 | Christian Henn (GER) | Telekom | +2h 19' 52" |
| 81 | Vjatjeslav Djavanian (RUS) | Big Mat-Auber | +2h 21' 31" |
| 82 | Rossano Brasi (ITA) | Polti | +2h 22' 10" |
| 83 | Jens Voigt (GER) | Gan | +2h 25' 14" |
| 84 | Pascal Deramé (FRA) | US Postal Service | +2h 26' 25" |
| 85 | Tom Steels (BEL) | Mapei | +2h 26' 30" |
| 86 | Eros Poli (ITA) | Gan | +2h 31' 56" |
| 87 | Alexei Sivakov (RUS) | Big Mat-Auber | +2h 33' 19" |
| 88 | Aart Vierhouten (NED) | Rabobank | +2h 35' 06" |
| 89 | Robbie McEwen (AUS) | Rabobank | +2h 36' 32" |
| 90 | Paolo Fornaciari (ITA) | Saeco | +2h 37' 50" |
| 91 | Massimiliano Mori (ITA) | Saeco | +2h 38' 12" |
| 92 | Bart Leysen (BEL) | Mapei | +2h 39' 43" |
| 93 | Francesco Frattini (ITA) | Telekom | +2h 43' 16" |
| 94 | Franck Bouyer (FRA) | Française des Jeux | +2h 43' 45" |
| 95 | Mario Traversoni (ITA) | Mercatone Uno | +2h 44' 42" |
| 96 | Damien Nazon (FRA) | Française des Jeux | +3h 12' 15" |
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