page_title: 1971 Tour de France
section_title: Classification leadership and minor prizes
hierarchical_section_title: 1971 Tour de France / Classification leadership and minor prizes
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Lucien Van Impe en 1971, 'Sprint 71', Panini figurina n°27
context_page_description: The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,608-kilometre race consisted of 22 stages, including three split stages, starting in Mulhouse on 26 June and finishing at the Vélodrome de Vincennes in Paris on 18 July. There were three time trial stages and two rest days. Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team won the overall general classification, defending his title to win his third Tour de France in a row. Joop Zoetemelk finished second, 9:51 minutes behind, and Lucien Van Impe was third, just over 11 minutes in arrears.
  Pre-race favourite Merckx took the first yellow jersey as general classification leader after his team won the prologue stage's team time trial. Merckx's teammate Rini Wagtmans unknowingly took the Tour lead after the second of stage 1's three split stages, before returning it to his leader by the end of the day. The leading positions of the general classification became clearer after stage 2 when a sixteen-strong breakaway group of mostly pre-race favourites ended with a margin of over nine minutes.
context_section_description: There were five individual classifications contested in the 1971 Tour and also a team competition. The most important was the general classification, which was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. Time bonuses (time subtracted) of 20, 10 and 5 seconds were awarded to the top three positions, respectively, at the end every mass-start stage classified as flat. In the flat split stages bonuses of 8, 6 and 3 seconds were given. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Tour. The rider leading the classification wore a yellow jersey. Eddy Merckx was meant to wear the yellow jersey in the prologue stage as the winner of the previous edition but the organisers forgot to bring it to the stage start.
  Additionally, there was a points classification, where cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish. High finishes on flat stages awarded more points, 30 for the winner down to 1 point for 15th place. The flat split stages gave 20 points to the winner down to 2 points for 10th. In mountain stages and individual time trials, 15 points were given to the winner down to 1 point for 15th. Two mountain stages were given less points due their lengths, stages 15 and 16b. No points were awarded in the team time trial prologue stage. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and was identified with a green jersey. Following Merckx's dominance of the classifications during the 1969 Tour, a new rule was introduced in 1970 to allow the second-placed rider of the points classification to wear a green-black jersey if one rider led both the general and points classifications. If this occurred 1971, the rider in second place would wear the green jersey, a rule that has remained ever since.
  There was also a mountains classification, which awarded points to the riders who reached summits first. Most stages of the race included one or more of these climbs, categorised as fourth-, third-, second- or first-category, with the more difficult climbs rated lower. Changes were made to the calculation in 1971, with the number of points given in the second, third, and fourth-categories increased. First-category ranked mountains gave a maximum 15 points for the first rider across, with the subsequent categories giving 10, 12, and 5 points to the first at the summit respectively. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, with no identifying jersey.
  The combination classification was calculated by adding each rider's overall ranking positions in the general, points, and mountains classifications. The rider with lowest combined total led the classification. In the event of tie, the positions were shared. The leader of the classification wore a white jersey.
  There was also an intermediate sprints classification. This classification had similar rules to the points classification, but only points were awarded on intermediate sprints, with 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 awarded respectively. The classification was given more importance in 1971 with the introduction of time bonuses; 5, 3 and 1 seconds were awarded to the first three positions in the sprints respectively. The 1971 Tour was the first time that more than one sprint featured in a full stage. In 1971, this classification had no associated jersey.
  For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time. The riders in the team that led this classification wore yellow caps.
  In addition, there individual awards given after each stage, excluding the prologue, and at the conclusion of the Tour to the most combative, elegant and amiable riders, with decisions made by a jury composed of journalists. The split stages each had combined winners. At the conclusion of the Tour, overall awards, also decided by journalists, were given to Luis Ocaña, Leif Mortensen and Jean-Pierre Danguillaume, respectively. There was also a special award, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, 
caption: Sonolor–Lejeune rider Lucien Van Impe won the mountains classification and finished third in the general classification.
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