The 1968 Tour de France was the 55th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 27 June and 21 July, with 22 stages covering a distance of . Eleven national teams of 10 riders competed, with three French teams, two Belgian teams and one from Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, and a combined Swiss/Luxembourgian team. The 1968 Tour marked the first time the race would end at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, replacing the now-defunct Parc des Princes Velodrome which served as the final stop from 1904 to 1967. The general classification was won by Jan Janssen, who overtook Herman Van Springel in the final time trial. Innovations and changes After the death of Tom Simpson, doping controls had become mandatory. To further protect the cyclists, it was now allowed to get water during the race, and two rest days were added. To get more sponsor income, a new classification was added, the combination classification, calculated from the positions in the general, points and mountains classification. The jersey of the points classification, which has been green in all other years, was red in 1968 for sponsorship reasons. Teams The 1968 Tour started with 110 cyclists, divided into 11 teams of 10 cyclists. The teams entering the race were: France A France B France C Germany Belgium A Belgium B Spain Great Britain Italy Netherlands Switzerland/Luxembourg Route and stages The route for the Tour de France was announced in December 1967. At that time, the last stage was not finalised yet, because the old finish place (the Parc des Princes) was no longer available, and a new one had to be found. The 1968 Tour de France started on 27 June, and had two rest days, in Royan and Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the Port d'Envalira mountain pass on stage 13. Race overview The initial time trial was won by Charly Grosskost, with most favourites shortly behind him. Grosskost also won the next stage, and thus kept the lead. In the first part of the third stage, a team time trial, the Belgian A team won, and because of the time bonuses Herman Vanspringel took over the lead. The next stages were all flat, and the favourites were unable to gain time on each other. In the fourth stage, a group