00:00An excited crowd had gathered at the finish line of stage 13 of the tour in 1975, the
00:12riders heading for Super Lyon in the Massif Central.
00:16It was a marathon day of 260km on the rolling roads of the Comtel department and with scorching
00:22temperatures nobody was in a hurry.
00:25Plenty of patience required for spectators and commentators alike because the riders
00:30spent almost nine hours in the saddle on what must have felt like a never ending stage.
00:35Belgium's Michel Pellantier, no threat to the GC favourites, went solo at the front
00:39with 7km to go.
00:42A little further back his compatriot Eddie Merckx was keeping a close eye on his rivals
00:46for the yellow jersey.
00:51Punched over the handlebars, shoulders rocking and rolling, Pellantier finally made it to
00:55the finish line.
00:57Having set off from Albi at 8.30 that morning, he crossed the line as the stage winner just
01:01before 5.30 in the afternoon.
01:08Twenty-five seconds later, Merckx won the sprint from the GC group ahead of Lucien Van
01:12Im, the king of the mountains.
01:14The race's future winner Bernard Tévenet was also up there.
01:18But this gruelling day took its toll.
01:20Raymond Poulidor, who was suffering with illness, lost 30 seconds to Merckx on the final climb
01:26and finished exhausted after the longest day of this 1975 Tour.
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