Carapaz settles an outstanding debt from the Tour on the day of peace for the favorites
Every return of the Tour de France to Orcières-Merlette brings back memories of that afternoon in 1971 when Luis Ocaña made history. For many, that remains the most important feat in modern cycling. Due to the magnitude of the stage, the differences generated, and above all, the defeated rivals, fundamentally the insurmountable Eddie Merckx. Ocaña broke away when there was still an eternity ahead (60 km) and the minutes fell one after another until the definitive 8m40s. Not even when they hinted from the car that it was enough to wear yellow did he give up continuing to increase his lead. The Spanish champion, a genius with his own ghosts, showed that even the most dominant rider could be defeated, even humiliated. “Luis Ocaña killed us all today, like El Cordobés kills his bulls,” Eddy Merckx acknowledged after the stage, in a phrase reported the next day by La Vanguardia and which perhaps remains the best way to explain what happened in Orcières-Merlette. “A magnificent feat, which Spanish cycling greatly needed,” said Federico Martín Bahamontes for this newspaper that same day.