It was during stage 14 (Aurillac - Puy de Dôme) of the 1975 Tour de France that fate came into play, and quite likely, cost Eddy Merckx his last best opportunity of claiming what would have then been a record setting sixth career Tour win. Depicted here toward the latter part of that day’s mountainous route, a group of lead riders including (...viewed from left to right) Lucien Van Impe (...in the Maillot a Pois Rouges or Polka Dots jersey), Joop Zoetemelk (...GAN-Mercier), Bernard Thevenet (...Peugeot-BP-Michelin), and Eddy Merckx (...wearing the Maillot Jaune as overall race leader) prepared their ascent for what was to be a hilltop finish at Puy de Dome. With only 4 kilometers to go, Van Impe and Thevenet managed to break free and drop both Merckx and Zoetemelk with the lithe Belgian crossing the finish line 15 seconds ahead of Thevenet. Merckx followed and was only a couple hundred meters from coming home when a spectator stepped out from the crowd and appeared to deliberately punch Merckx in the liver (...when confronted by gendarmes later, the assailant unbelievably sought to claim that it had all been an “accident”). Despite managing to somehow complete the stage 49 seconds back of Van Impe, an amazing feat in and of itself and one which allowed him to retain possession of the Maillot Jaune by virtue of his still being 58 seconds ahead of Bernard Thevenet in the overall standings, the ordeal resulted in Merckx having to thereafter take significant amounts of pain killers and blood thinners in order to counteract the effects wrought on his body from the attack - a handicap that would ultimately weaken the great man just enough to break his stranglehold on the Tour and allow yet another great man to triumph.
