page_title: 1988 Tour de France
section_title: Race overview
hierarchical_section_title: 1988 Tour de France / Race overview
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: TOUR DE FRANCE 1993
context_page_description: The 1988 Tour de France was the 75th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 4 to 24 July. It consisted of 22 stages over 3,286 km. The race was won by Pedro Delgado with the top three positions at the end of the race being occupied by specialist climbers. This Tour was nearly 1,000km shorter than the previous few editions, which were over 4,000km, but by no means easier as it included five consecutive mountain stages including a mountain time trial.
  The points classification was won by Eddy Planckaert, while Steven Rooks won the mountains classification and the combination classification. The young rider classification was won by Erik Breukink, and Frans Maassen won the intermediate sprints classification. Both team classifications were won by the PDM team. During the race, Delgado failed a doping test, but because the product was not yet on the doping list from the Union Cycliste International, he was not penalised.
context_section_description: The prelude was won by Guido Bontempi, and the first official stage was won by Steve Bauer. Bauer lost the lead in the next stage, a Team Time Trial, to Teun van Vliet. The favourites for the overall victory did not lose time in the first stages. The individual time trial of stage six did not change that, although some outsiders (Sean Kelly and Laurent Fignon) lost two minutes.
  In the eleventh stage, in hilly conditions, the first serious attacks were seen. Most contenders were able to stay in the main group, but Laurent Fignon and Jean-François Bernard lost a lot of time and were no longer seen as contenders. The twelfth stage included higher climbs. Delgado escaped on the climb of the Glandon, and he was joined by Steven Rooks. On the descent, they were joined by Gert-Jan Theunisse and Fabio Parra; the other cyclists were unable to get to them. Close to the finish, Rooks escaped and won the stage, and Delgado became the new leader of the general classification. Delgado won the next stage, an uphill individual time trial, and solidified his lead.
  In the fourteenth stage, the favourites stayed together, and other cyclists were allowed to go for the stage victory. Philippe Bouvatier and Robert Millar, who had led over the previous two cols, were in the uphill sprint to win, until Bouvatier allowed himself to be misdirected by a gendarme 200 metres before the finish (at the point where the team cars were separated from the cyclists) followed by Millar, and the victory went to Massimo Ghirotto. Ghirotto offered his prize (a new car) to Bouvatier though Millar maintained he would have overhauled Bouvatier to win and told CyclingNews in 2010 that "I don't know if the gendarme was to blame, I don't think he was, I know I would have come round Bouvatier in the sprint but then I ought to have dropped him before we got to that stage".
  In the fifteenth stage, Delgado increased his lead. He let Laudelino Cubino get away and claim the victory, because Cubino was no threat for the general classification, and finished in third place, gaining time on all his direct competitors. Delgado further increased his lead in the nineteenth stage, by leaving the other cyclists behind him on the final climb of the day. Delgado was aiming to win the twenty-first stage, an individual time trial, and was leading at all the intermediate check points, but lost time in the final part of the stage, finishing in fourth place. This was more than enough to secure the overall victory.
caption: Pedro Delgado (pictured at the 1993 Tour), winner of the general classification
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