Bernard Thevenet (1977)

Bernard Thevenet essentially sealed his second career Tour victory during the 1977 Tour de France with a stage 20 (Dijon - Dijon) win in the 50 km long individual time trial - coming home in 1 hour, 10 minutes, and 45 seconds. In the process, Thevenet would deny Hennie Kuiper of team TI-Raleigh, who was at the time sitting in second place overall in the Tour’s general classification, his last best opportunity to claim the Maillot Jaune for himself by taking a decisive 28 seconds out of the talented Dutchman. An excellent video of Thevenet’s stage 20 winning time trial run from July 24th, 1977 can currently be found posted on the internet in condensed form from the original French national television broadcast at the following link:

http://www.live2times.com/1977-bernard-thevenet-remporte-le-tour-de-france-e--10234/

The photograph seen here, which was taken toward the very start of that stage 20 (Dijon - Dijon) individual time trial, provides an excellent opportunity to delve into a few of the finer details regarding the equipment which was actually being ridden at the time. Peugeot-Esso-Michelin riders of this era were generally issued three official “team bikes” (...five if you were a top echelon rider like Thevenet or Esclassan), all of which were painted and decaled in the same team livery. The first of these bikes was a Peugeot PY-10 model crafted entirely from Reynolds standard gauge 531 double butted tubing This particular machine was to be considered a “training bike”, which consequently meant that it would never see genuine competition under normal circumstances. The remaining two ”team bikes” that were provisioned to a rider were truly the tools of his trade (...this would also account for the difference of three versus five bikes being issued to top riders, as they were given duplicates of these). The typical Peugeot-Esso-Michelin team bike as used throughout the 1977 racing season was again a Peugeot PY-10 model, but these more specialized bikes were crafted from thin wall, lightweight Reynolds 531 SL tubing excepting their down tube which was of standard gauge Reynolds 531 in order to add more bottom end rigidity / durability (...think of the pave of Paris-Roubaix).  Because the entire frameset was not of 531 SL specification (...and likely in consideration of the marketing opportunities begot of using more “common” decals), this version of team bike was adorned with standard “green” Reynolds 531 decals.  But like many other contemporary pro teams, Peugeot-Esso-Michelin riders were also issued purpose built bicycles in the form of a time trial specific variant, which in this case proved to be yet another PY-10 model, but one crafted entirely from Reynolds 531 SL tubing - and such examples were properly labeled with “red” 531 SL decals, making them easily identifiable. Beyond the frameset itself and rather obvious choices with respect to gearing in the form of chain rings and freewheel cogs, there were other subtle but decided differences between typical Peugeot-Esso-Michelin team bikes that year and their time trial specific counterparts. Some of the more notable differences include standard use of Perrin-Maillard low flange hubs versus similarly branded high flange hubs intended for time trial use, Clement Tipo 12 bis Criterium or Strada 66 cotton ply tires for general road course duty as opposed to Clement Tipo 1 bis Criterium Seta or Seta Extra tires having silk casings for time trialing, and more often than not Simplex model SX 3607 quick release levers having exposed chrome plated handles instead of Simplex SLJ 3607 levers having a black plastic covered handle as seen here. Finally, whereas all Tour riders were assigned an entrant number which one would normally expect to see prominently mounted on an official placard directly behind the head tube of a given bicycle (...Thevenet was assigned an entrant number of 21 for the 1977 edition of the Tour de France), this designation detail was often omitted in its entirety on Peugeot-Esso-Michelin time trial specific machines.