00:00I have amazing memories of that day. Not only because I have the yellow jersey, but also because this was a very special stage. We had never finished the Tour de France, or any major bike race for that matter, on a circuit, and certainly not on an avenue as majestic as the Champs-Élysées.
00:30We did a recce in May with Jean-Pierre d'Anguillaume, and we realized that the Champs-Élysées has a proper uphill kick to it. It's easy in a car, but on a bike and with the cobbles as well. We realized that with more than 20 laps to cover, we'd have to be careful because it was going to be tough at the end.
00:53Eddie Merckx attacked from the start, so I was a bit worried. It wasn't a very relaxing afternoon. Merckx had never been beaten in a Grand Tour. I was stressed up until about two laps from the finish. At that point, I thought to myself, there's no way he can make up two minutes on me now.
01:09It was magic to go around Paris like that in front of so many fans. At the end, the crowds invaded the roads, so I did a lap of honour in a car because on the bike it was impossible.
01:26We knew the yellow jersey was going to be presented by the President of the Republic. It was the first and the last time. It hasn't happened again since.
01:36Thank you to everybody who was behind this finish. Thanks to Yves Morussi, I think he was one of the first to suggest it, to President Giscard d'Estaing and to Félix Lévitain. They found the perfect place.
