1978 Tour de France
Route and stages
The 1978 Tour de France started on 29 June, and had two rest days, in Biarritz and Alpe d'Huez. The twenty-first stage from Epernay to Senlis was split in three parts: 78.5 km from Epernay to Soissons, directly followed by 59 km from Soissons to Compiègne, directly followed by 70.5 km from Compiègne to Senlis; the sprints in Soissons and Compiegne counted as flying stages, which were won by Freddy Maertens and Wilfried Wesemael.

1978 Tour de France

Section Title: Route and stages
Table Section Text: The 1978 Tour de France started on 29 June, and had two rest days, in Biarritz and Alpe d'Huez. The twenty-first stage from Epernay to Senlis was split in three parts: 78.5 km from Epernay to Soissons, directly followed by 59 km from Soissons to Compiègne, directly followed by 70.5 km from Compiègne to Senlis; the sprints in Soissons and Compiegne counted as flying stages, which were won by Freddy Maertens and Wilfried Wesemael.

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type	Winner

P	29 June	Leiden (Netherlands)	5 km (3.1 mi)	Individual time trial	Jan Raas (NED)

1a	30 June	Leiden to Sint Willebrord (Netherlands)	135 km (84 mi)	Plain stage	Jan Raas (NED)

1b	Sint Willebrord (Netherlands) to Brussels (Belgium)	100 km (62 mi)	Plain stage	Walter Planckaert (BEL)

2	1 July	Brussels (Belgium) to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux	199 km (124 mi)	Plain stage	Jacques Esclassan (FRA)

3	2 July	Saint-Amand-les-Eaux to Saint-Germain-en-Laye	244 km (152 mi)	Plain stage	Klaus-Peter Thaler (GER)

4	3 July	Évreux to Caen	153 km (95 mi)	Team time trial	TI–Raleigh–McGregor

5	4 July	Caen to Mazé-Montgeoffroy	244 km (152 mi)	Plain stage	Freddy Maertens (BEL)

6	5 July	Mazé-Montgeoffroy to Poitiers	162 km (101 mi)	Plain stage	Sean Kelly (IRE)

7	6 July	Poitiers to Bordeaux	242 km (150 mi)	Plain stage	Freddy Maertens (BEL)

8	7 July	Saint-Émilion to Sainte-Foy-la-Grande	59 km (37 mi)	Individual time trial	Bernard Hinault (FRA)

9	8 July	Bordeaux to Biarritz	233 km (145 mi)	Plain stage	Miguel Maria Lasa (ESP)

9 July	Biarritz	Rest day

10	10 July	Biarritz to Pau	192 km (119 mi)	Hilly stage	Henk Lubberding (NED)

11	11 July	Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet	161 km (100 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Mariano Martínez (FRA)

12a	12 July	Tarbes to Valence d'Agen	158 km (98 mi)	Plain stage	Cancelled

12b	Valence d'Agen to Toulouse	96 km (60 mi)	Plain stage	Jacques Esclassan (FRA)

13	13 July	Figeac to Super Besse	221 km (137 mi)	Hilly stage	Paul Wellens (BEL)

14	14 July	Besse-en-Chandesse to Puy de Dôme	52 km (32 mi)	Individual time trial	Joop Zoetemelk (NED)

15	15 July	Saint-Dier-d'Auvergne to Saint-Étienne	196 km (122 mi)	Hilly stage	Bernard Hinault (FRA)

16	16 July	St-Étienne to Alpe d'Huez	241 km (150 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Hennie Kuiper (NED)

17 July	Alpe d'Huez	Rest day

17	18 July	Grenoble to Morzine	225 km (140 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Christian Seznec (FRA)

18	19 July	Morzine to Lausanne (Switzerland)	137 km (85 mi)	Plain stage	Gerrie Knetemann (NED)

19	20 July	Lausanne (Switzerland) to Belfort	182 km (113 mi)	Plain stage	Marc Demeyer (BEL)

20	21 July	Metz to Nancy	72 km (45 mi)	Individual time trial	Bernard Hinault (FRA)

21	22 July	Epernay to Senlis	207 km (129 mi)	Plain stage	Jan Raas (NED)

22	23 July	Saint Germain en Laye to Paris (Champs-Élysées)	162 km (101 mi)	Plain stage	Gerrie Knetemann (NED)

Total	3,908 km (2,428 mi)

Sentence(s)

The 1978 Tour de France took place between 29 June and 23 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 3,908 km (2,428 mi).

final_sentence: The 1978 Tour de France took place between 29 June and 23 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of 3,908 km (2,428 mi).