The 1977 Tour de France was the 64th edition of the Tour de France, taking place between 30 June and 24 July. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4,096 km (2,545 mi). Lucien Van Impe, the winner of the previous year, wanted to repeat his victory and going into stage 16 Van Impe along with Eddy Merckx and Joop Zoetemelk were all within about 1:00 of Bernard Thevenet who had just taken the Maillot Jaune from Dietrich Thurau. Merckx fell off the back near the end of the tour, Zoetemelk was penalized ten minutes and Van Impe had his bike damaged when he was hit by a car on Alpe d'Huez where Kuiper won the stage but was unable to break Thévenet, who won the Tour with the smallest margin since the 1968 Tour de France.