1971 Stanley Cup Finals, Coaching controversies
Chicago head coach Billy Reay would be attacked in the media by Hawks star forward Bobby Hull for his excessive employment of two little used forwards, Lou Angotti and Eric Nesterenko, as well as the injured defenseman Keith Magnuson in game seven. With a 2–0 Blackhawks lead, both Hull and Hawks star center Stan Mikita were left on the bench for extended periods in favor of Angotti and Nesterenko, including two four-on-four situations. The wide open matchup should have favored the frustrated Hull, who had been successfully shadowed in the series by Canadiens rookie Rejean Houle. The first two Canadien goals were tallied with the two backliners on the ice and the hobbled Magnuson was beaten one on one by speedy Montreal center Henri Richard for the ultimate game winner.


1971 Stanley Cup Finals, Coaching controversies
The Canadiens suffered their own coaching controversy earlier in the series when head coach Al MacNeil benched alternate captain Henri Richard in game five. Following the 2-0 loss, Richard ripped MacNeil in the media calling him incompetent and "the worst coach I ever played for." Accusation of favoring English-speaking players plagued MacNeil and turned the public against him. Following death threats, MacNeil and his family were assigned body guards for the final home game in Montreal. Even the eventual series victory wouldn't be enough to save MacNeil's job. He was replaced as head coach by Scotty Bowman soon after the finals.


1971 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving
The 1971 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Canadiens 3–2 win over the Black Hawks in game seven.


1971 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving
The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup


1971 Star World Championships
The 1971 Star World Championships were held in Puget Sound, United States in 1971.


1971 Star World Championships, Results
Legend: DNF – Did not finish; DNS – Did not start; DSQ – Disqualified; WDR – Withdrew;


1971 Stirling and Falkirk by-election
The Stirling and Falkirk by-election of 16 September 1971 was held following the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Malcolm MacPherson. The seat was retained by Labour.


1971 Stirling and Falkirk by-election
On the day of polling it was reported that Labour were confident of holding the seat and believed that they would have a swing of 10% or more towards them with the Conservatives in second place. The SNP reportedly thought they would win 38% of the vote and the Conservatives would lose their deposit. In contrast the Conservatives claimed that the SNP would take votes from Labour and allow them to win.


1971 Stirling and Falkirk by-election, Outcome and aftermath
Labour's victorious candidate Harry Ewing claimed that the result represented a "complete rejection" of the policies of the Heath Government, particularly "their policy on the Common Market." Ewing also conceded that his "majority was less than we expected". Journalist William Clark writing in The Glasgow Herald reported that Labour supporters were surprised by the size of the SNP vote, and himself described the level support for McIntyre as being a "major upset". McIntyre said the result showed that "the SNP are on the march again." The defeated Conservative, Alloa Solicitor David Anderson, said that he did not think the result was "an anti-Common Market vote", but was probably a protest against the Government. He also said that he thought that it was significant that Labour had not performed as well as they had expected.


1971 Stirling and Falkirk by-election, Outcome and aftermath
An editorial in the Glasgow Evening Times the day after the election headed "One in the eye for Ted" said the real story of the result was the poor Conservative performance standing "there can be no doubt that the figures are indicative of the low standing of the Conservatives in Scotland." In attacking Prime Minister Edward Heath and the Conservatives it particularly highlighted what it saw as his Government's poor handling of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders crisis.


1971 Stockholm Open
The 1971 Stockholm Open was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts and part of the 1971 World Championship Tennis circuit and took place at the Kungliga tennishallen in Stockholm, Sweden. The tournament was held from 1 November through 7 November 1971. Arthur Ashe won the singles title and $10,000 first prize money.


1971 Stockholm Open, Finals, Singles
Arthur Ashe defeated  Jan Kodeš, 6–1, 3–6, 6–2, 1–6, 6–4


1971 Stockholm Open, Finals, Doubles
Tom Gorman /  Stan Smith defeated  Arthur Ashe /  Bob Lutz, 6–3, 6–4


1971 Stockholm Open – Doubles
The 1971 Stockholm Open was a tennis tournament played on hard courts and part of the 1971 Pepsi-Cola Grand Prix and took place in Stockholm, Sweden. The tournament was held from November 1 through November 7, 1971. Stan Smith and Tom Gorman defeated  Arthur Ashe and Bob Lutz, 6–4, 6–3, in the final.


1971 Stockholm Open – Singles
The 1971 Stockholm Open was a tennis tournament played on hard courts and part of the 1971 Pepsi-Cola Grand Prix and took place in Stockholm, Sweden. The tournament was held from November 1 through November 7, 1971. Arthur Ashe defeated Jan Kodeš, 6–1, 3–6, 6–2, 1–6, 6–4, in the final.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état
The 1971 Sudanese coup d'état was a short-lived communist-backed coup, led by Major Hashem al Atta, against the government of President Gaafar Nimeiry. The coup took place on 19 July 1971, toppling the government of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan, but failed to garner support either domestically or internationally. After several days Nimeiry loyalists launched a counter-coup, freeing Nimeiry and toppling Atta's government.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état
Following the coup Nimeiry, pushed by Defense Minister Khalid Hassan Abbas, made moves to strengthen his rule, and by the end of the year ultimate authority had transferred from the multi-member Revolutionary Command Council to the Presidency, held by Nimeiry. Over the next several years, the remaining former members of the RCC would see their authority diminished, and by 1975 all but Abu al-Gasim Mohammed Ibrahim had been forced out of government.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Background
After neutralizing the conservative opposition from the Ansar movement, the government of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), who had seized power in 1969, concentrated on consolidating its political organization to phase out communist participation in the government. This strategy prompted an internal debate within the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP). The orthodox wing, led by party secretary general Abd al Khaliq Mahjub, demanded a popular front government with communists participating as equal partners. The National Communist wing, on the other hand, supported cooperation with the government.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Background
Soon after the army had crushed the Ansar at Aba Island, Nimeiri moved against the SCP. He ordered the deportation of Abd al Khaliq Mahjub. Then, when the SCP secretary general returned to Sudan illegally after several months abroad, Nimeiri placed him under house arrest. In March 1971, Nimeiri indicated that trade unions, a traditional communist stronghold, would be placed under government control. The RCC also banned communist affiliated student, women's, and professional organizations. Additionally, Nimeiri announced the planned formation of a national political movement called the Sudan Socialist Union (SSU), which would assume control of all political parties, including the SCP. After this speech, the government arrested the SCP's central committee and other leading communists.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Background
The SCP, however, retained a covert organization that was not damaged in the sweep. Before further action could be taken against the party, the SCP launched a coup against Nimeiri. The coup occurred on July 19, 1971, when one of the plotters, Major Hisham al Atta, surprised Nimeiri and the RCC meeting in the presidential palace and seized them along with a number of pro-Nimeiri officers. Atta named a seven-member revolutionary council, in which communists ranked prominently, to serve as the national government.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Background
Three days after the coup, however, loyal army units stormed the palace, rescued Nimeiri, and arrested Atta and his confederates. Nimeiri, who blamed the SCP for the coup, ordered the arrest of hundreds of communists and dissident military officers. The government subsequently executed some of these individuals and imprisoned many others.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The Siesta Coup
The coup began in the mid afternoon of 19 July, when Khartoum was relatively quiet due to many Sudanese retiring from the scorching mid afternoon sun to take a siesta. With Khartoum relatively quiet Atta moved tanks into positions around government buildings, capturing the Presidential Palace and taking Nimeiry and several dozen of his followers prisoner.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The Siesta Coup
At this point Atta declared himself, Babiker Al Nour, and Farouk Osman Hamdallah in charge of the government, proclaiming a new Revolutionary Council. The three men were rumoured communists, and whilst they denied this, their new government's first act was to lift Nimeiry's ban on the Sudanese Communist Party and its various affiliated organisations. Speaking over the radio, Atta announced the new government would work in closer collaboration with communist and socialist countries, and stated that Sudanese communists would be brought into a new coalition government.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The Siesta Coup
The response to the coup was initially limited, with Atta's forces receiving no opposition from either the Sudanese Armed Forces or from the wider population. Khartoum did however see communists stage pro-coup demonstrations. Whilst Atta was in Khartoum, his fellow coup leaders, Al Nour and Hamdallah, were in London, with Hamdallah having accompanied Al Nour on a trip for medical treatment. Upon being informed of the success of the coup the two wound up their affairs and prepared to fly back to Khartoum, with Al Nour being slated to serve as Chief of Staff in the new government.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup fails to take hold
Despite the ease at which Atta had seized Khartoum the coup had little widespread support. While the Sudanese Communist Party was the largest Communist Party in the Arab World, its support base was limited to a small section of Sudan's population. In contrast to this there was a widespread opposition in Sudan's religious and conservative population to communism, which was viewed as having dangerous links to atheism.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup fails to take hold
Adding to this was the fact that Sudan's neighbors were also opposed to the new communist government. None of Sudan's neighbours wished to have either a communist or communist-sympathising government for a neighbor, and Anwar Sadat in Egypt ordered first a fact-finding mission to Khartoum, and later ordered Egyptian forces stationed south of Khartoum to resist the coup.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup fails to take hold
Gaddafi's Libya also supported Nimeiry. Gaddafi, like Nimeiry, had come to power two years prior. Gaddafi was also at this point virulently anti-communist. Gaddafi's response was far more extreme than Sadat's, and he dispatched two Libyan fighter jets to force down the British Airlines jetliner which was ferrying Al Nour and Hamdallah from London back to Khartoum. The plane was forced down in Libya, and the two were taken off the plane and arrested.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup fails to take hold
Saudi Arabia was also worried about the prospect of a new communist government across the Red Sea, although Saudi Arabia refrained from engaging in any clear action against the new Sudanese government. Ba'athist Iraq did however respond favorably to the new government, publicly supporting the coup, and was actually the only Arab government to do so. Baghdad dispatched an airliner to Khartoum carrying an Iraqi delegation to congratulate Atta and his new government, although this crashed under mysterious circumstances whilst crossing Saudi Arabia.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup unravels
Unaware that Al Nour and Hamdallah's plane had been forced down in Libya, Atta travelled to Khartoum International Airport on the morning of the 22 July expecting to welcome the two back to Sudan.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup unravels
Atta had realized by this point that the coup may prove more difficult than it originally appeared, and had dispatched orders to prevent any attempted countercoups; the army had been ordered to immobilise its tanks in the Khartoum area, most armored brigades and paratroopers had been put on leave, and the arms and ammunition of units whose loyalty was in doubt had been removed and locked away. According to rumours, Atta had not undertaken these courses of action alone, but had instead done so with the advice and support of Soviet military personnel.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup unravels
Upon learning of the status of the plane, Atta travelled to the center of Khartoum to address a rally that he had called to welcome back Al Nour and Hamdullah. Speaking to the crowd, Atta tried desperately to muster support for his coup, but the crowd was thin, Atta was heckled, and there were calls for the return of Nimeiry.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Events, The coup unravels
Within hours, military units loyal to Nimeiry moved into Khartoum, engaging with units loyal to Atta and freeing Nimeiry after a short battle. Al Nour and Hamdullah were returned to Khartoum by Gaddafi, and were executed alongside Atta and a half dozen other coup leaders.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Results
Having survived the SCP-inspired coup, Nimeiri reaffirmed his commitment to establishing a socialist state. A provisional constitution, published in August 1971, described Sudan as a "socialist democracy" and provided for a presidential form of government to replace the RCC. A plebiscite the following month elected Nimeiri to a six-year term as president.


1971 Sudanese coup d'état, Results
The coup brought major changes in Sudan's foreign and domestic policies. In its aftermath, leading members of the Sudanese Communist Party were executed, and several communist-dominated trade unions were banned. In his foreign policy, Nimeiry expelled East German security advisers and denounced the Soviet Union and most of its European allies for their attitude to the attempted coup.


1971 Sudanese presidency referendum
A referendum on the presidency of Jaafar Nimeiry was held in Sudan on 15 September 1971. It came after Nimeiry was overthrown in a Communist coup in July, followed by his reinstatement. He was backed by 98.6% of voters, with a turnout of 92.9%.


1971 Sugar Bowl
The 1971 Sugar Bowl was the 37th edition of the college football bowl game, played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, January 1. It featured the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and the independent Air Force Falcons.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Air Force
The Falcons were in their first Sugar Bowl under thirteenth-year head coach Ben Martin; he had a 68–57–7 record and brought Air Force into national prominence, ranked in the AP Poll for the second time in school history. However, the tenth-ranked Falcons lost their final regular season game 49–19 at home to Colorado. A week earlier, Air Force had defeated Pacific-8 champion Stanford, who later upset #2 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Tennessee
Tennessee was under the leadership of 29-year old rookie coach Bill Battle, a member of the national champion 1961 Alabama Crimson Tide. This was the Vols' fifth Sugar Bowl appearance and first since the 1957 game. The Vols rolled over Alabama 24–0 at Knoxville in October and gained revenge for a 38–0 loss in 1969 to Ole Miss in November, but an early loss to Auburn in Birmingham wound up costing Tennessee the Southeastern Conference championship, which instead went to LSU.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Tennessee
The game was a match of offense vs defense. In the regular season, Air Force averaged 423.6 yards in offense, while Tennessee surrendered only 88.4 yards on defense.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Game summary
Televised by ABC, the Sugar Bowl kicked off at 12 noon CST, an hour before the Cotton Bowl on CBS.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Game summary
Quarterback Bobby Scott summed the game up with a quote after the game: "We had the momentum going." The Volunteers, not fooled by Air Force's eight-man line, drove 59 yards in 2 minutes and 45 seconds and culminated with a Don McLeary touchdown. It only grew worse for the Falcons as they fumbled on their ensuing drive, as the Vols added in a field goal by George Hunt soon after. Following an Air Force punt, the Vols drove down the field once again, driving 58 yards that culminated in McLeary's 2nd touchdown.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Game summary
A fumble by Air Force gave the ball back to the Vols at the Falcons' own 24. Four plays later, Scott passed to Gary Theiler for a touchdown. By this point, 3:12 was left in the first period, and it was 24–0. Air Force did later score in the quarter, happening on a fumble recovery by Darryl Hass in the endzone on a bad snap while the Vols were in their own territory. The second quarter went scoreless, as the demoralized Falcons trailed 24–7 at halftime.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Game summary
The third quarter turned out to be worse. Bobby Majors returned an Air Force punt 57 yards for a touchdown. Air Force added in a measly touchdown later in the quarter, but by that point it was 31–13, and Hunt added in his second field goal to make the final score 34–13.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Aftermath
Air Force has not returned to the Sugar Bowl or any other bowl sponsored by the Bowl Championship Series and its successor, the College Football Playoff. Tennessee has returned twice, 1986 and 1991, where they defeated the Miami Hurricanes and the Virginia Cavaliers, respectively.


1971 Sugar Bowl, Aftermath
This was the final event at Tulane Stadium that was played on grass. Poly-Turf was installed in the summer of 1971 and remained in place until the stadium was torn down at the end of 1979.


1971 Sun Bowl
The 1971 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the LSU Tigers and the Iowa State Cyclones.


1971 Sun Bowl, Background
LSU tied for 6th in the Southeastern Conference while the Cyclones tied for 4th in the Big Eight Conference. This was the first Sun Bowl for the Tigers and Cyclones, along with the first bowl appearance for Iowa State. This was the first Sun Bowl game to have all tickets be sold. George Amundson was the first Cyclone to rush for over 1,000 yards.


1971 Sun Bowl, Game summary
Bert Jones completed 12-of-18 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns passing and one rushing touchdown in an MVP effort. LSU scored early on two Jay Michaelson field goals, but Iowa State responded with a field goal of their own to make it 6–3. The Tigers had the ball at the ISU 4 late in the half, but they turned it over on downs, and the half soon ended. In the second half, LSU broke the game open.


1971 Sun Bowl, Game summary
Jones threw two touchdown passes in the third quarter, one to Andy Hamilton from 37 yards out, and one to Gerald Keigley from 21 yards out to make it 19–3. Iowa State responded late in the quarter with a Dean Carlson 30-yard touchdown pass to Larry Marquardt to make it 19–9. In the fourth, Carlson threw a 1-yard pass to Keith Krepfle to make it 19–15 early in the fourth. Jones responded with his third touchdown pass, this time to Michaelson, to make it 26–15. Jay Michaelson. With 3:00 remaining, Jones ran for a touchdown to make it 33–15. George Amundson was held to 56 yards.


1971 Super Prestige Pernod
The 1971 Super Prestige Pernod was the thirteenth edition of the Super Prestige Pernod, a season-long competition for road bicycle racing. It included sixteen races in Europe. Belgian Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team won the overall title.


1971 Sutton London Borough Council election
The 1971 Sutton Council election took place on 13 May 1971 to elect members of Sutton London Borough Council in London, England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.


1971 Svenska Cupen Final
The 1971 Svenska Cupen final took place on 30 June 1971  at Malmö Stadion in Malmö. The match was contested by Allsvenskan sides Malmö FF and Åtvidabergs FF. Åtvidaberg played their second consecutive final and their third final in total, Malmö FF played their first final since 1967 and their eighth final in total. Åtvidaberg won their second title with a 3–2 victory.


1971 Swedish Open
The 1971 Swedish Open was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts held in Båstad, Sweden. The event was classified as a Group C category tournament and was part of the 1971 Grand Prix circuit. It was the 24th edition of the tournament and was held from 5 July through 11 July 1971. Ilie Năstase and Helga Masthoff won the singles titles.


1971 Swedish Open, Finals, Men's Doubles
Ilie Năstase /  Ion Ţiriac defeated  Jaime Pinto-Bravo /  Butch Seewagen 7–6, 6–1


1971 Swedish Open, Finals, Women's Doubles
Helga Masthoff /  Heide Orth defeated  Ana María Pinto Bravo /  Linda Tuero 6–1, 6–2


1971 Swedish football Division 2
Statistics of the Swedish football Division 2 in the 1971 season.


1971 Swedish football Division 3
Statistics of Swedish football Division 3 for the 1971 season.


1971 Swiss federal election
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 31 October 1971. Although the Social Democratic Party received the most votes, the Free Democratic Party emerged as the largest party in the National Council, winning 49 of the 200 seats. They were the first federal elections in which women were allowed to vote, following a referendum earlier in the year that introduced universal suffrage for federal elections.


1971 Swiss referendums
Three referendums were held in Switzerland in 1971. The first was held on 7 February on introducing women's suffrage at the federal level, and was approved by 66% of voters. The second and third were held on 6 June on a constitutional amendment to introduce the human right to a non-hazardous environment and a federal resolution on federal finances. In the first referendum in which women were allowed to vote, both were approved by voters.


1971 Syracuse Orangemen football team
The 1971 Syracuse Orangemen football team represented Syracuse University during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. The team was led by 23rd-year head coach Ben Schwartzwalder and played their home games at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York. The team finished with a record of 5–5–1.


1971 Syracuse Orangemen football team, First one-point safety
The first known occurrence of a one-point safety (conversion safety) was in an NCAA game on October 2, 1971, scored by Syracuse in the first quarter of a game at Indiana. On a point-after-touchdown kick, the ball was kicked almost straight up in the air. An Indiana player illegally batted the ball in the end zone (a spot foul defensive penalty). Syracuse won the game, 7-0.


1971 Syracuse Orangemen football team, First one-point safety
The 1970 rulebook (Rule 8-5-3) stated, "If a scrimmage kick fails to cross the neutral zone, or crosses the neutral zone and is first touched by Team B, or is untouched and then rebounds into the end zone where it is recovered by Team A, it is a safety," and (8-5-4) "If the penalty for a foul committed when the ball is free leaves the ball behind a goal line, it is a safety if behind the offender's goal line."


1971 Syrian Federation of Arab Republics referendum
A referendum on the Federation of Arab Republics (Arabic: استفتاء اتحاد الجمهوريات العربية السوري 1971) was held in Syria on 1 September 1971, alongside simultaneous referendums in Egypt and Libya. It was approved by 96.4% of voters, with a turnout of 89.7%.


1971 Syrian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Syria on 22 March 1971. There was only one candidate, Hafez al-Assad, with voters asked to approve or reject his candidacy. A reported 99.2% of voters voted in favour, with a turnout of 95.3%.


1971 São Paulo FC season
The 1971 football season was São Paulo's 42nd season since club's existence.


1971 TANFL season
The 1971 Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL) premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged in Hobart, Tasmania over twenty (20) roster rounds and five (5) finals series matches (one match was drawn) between 3 April and 25 September 1971.


1971 TANFL season, 1971 TANFL Ladder, Grand Final
Source: All scores and statistics courtesy of the Hobart Mercury and Saturday Evening Mercury (SEM) publications.


1971 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 1971 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University (TCU) in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. The Horned Frogs finished the season 6–4–1 overall and 5–2 in the Southwest Conference. The team was coached by Jim Pittman, in his first and only year as head coach. Pittman died of a heart attack suffered on the sidelines of a game against Baylor in Waco, Texas on October 30, 1971. Assistant Coach Billy Tohill replaced Pittman as head coach for the remainder of the season, finishing with a 3–1 record.


1971 TCU Horned Frogs football team
This would be the Horned Frogs' last winning season until 1984.


1971 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The Frogs played their home games in Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in Fort Worth, Texas.


1971 TVW Channel 7 6 Hour Le Mans
The TVW Channel 7 6 Hour Le Mans was motor race staged at the Wanneroo Park Circuit in Western Australia on 7 June 1971. It was the 17th “Six Hour Le Mans” race to be held in Western Australia and the third to be staged at Wanneroo Park. The race was won by Ray Thackwell and Jim Mullins driving a Porsche 911S.


1971 TVW Channel 7 6 Hour Le Mans, Results
Pole position was attained by Howie Sangster with a lap time of 1:02.0


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election
The fifth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held in March 1971. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was re-elected, after its first victory under the leadership of C N Annadurai in 1967. This was the first time M. Karunanidhi, contested as the leader of DMK party won the election, since he assumed Chief Ministership for the first time, after the death of C N Annadurai. Karunanidhi had emerged successfully in the leadership crisis with other party leaders M. G. Ramachandran, and Nedunchezhiyan, which ensued after the death of C. N. Annadurai. The main opposition party in the election was Indian National Congress (Organisation) led by K. Kamaraj, whereas the Indian National Congress (Indira) faction aligned with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election
Karunanidhi did not face any Leadership crisis with M.G. Ramachandran. MGR was instrumental and helped Karunanidhi to become Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu against all odds after the death of C N Annadurai.


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election
DMK's 48.58% vote share and 184 seats remain the largest share of votes and seats ever won by a party in the history of Tamil Nadu.


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Background
The opposition party, Indian National Congress was heavily weakened due to a split that occurred in 1969. This led to the formation of Indian National Congress (Organisation) under K. Kamaraj, which was the major opposition in this election, while the Indian National Congress, supported the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Indira Gandhi continued as Prime Minister with the support of Communist parties and DMK which had 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. It was during this time, the long-awaited Salem steel mill was approved. The ruling Congress party decided to dissolve the Lok Sabha and conduct early elections and Karunanidhi also decided to dissolve the state assembly and face the elections in alliance with Indira's Congress one year before the end of his term.


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam formed a seven party alliance called Left and Democratic Front (Progressive Front). The front was led by the DMK and comprised Indian National Congress (Indira), Communist Party of India (CPI), the Praja Socialist Party, the All India Forward Bloc, the Muslim League and M. P. Sivagnanam's Tamil National Party. The Congress party dependent on DMK votes in the Lok Sabha for survival had no influence in the seating arrangements. The Indira Congress contested in 9 out of 39 parliamentary constituencies but not in legislative assembly constituencies. Indira Gandhi instructed the leader of the Tamil Nadu Congress, C. Subramaniam to accept the arrangement in a sign indicative of writing off Tamil Nadu as a Congress territory.


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances
The opposition front was a coalition of Kamaraj led Indian National Congress (Organisation) (Congress (O)), Rajaji's Swatantara Party, Samyukta Socialist Party, the Tamil Nadu Toilers' Party, the Republican Party and the Coimbatore District Agriculturist Association.


1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Karunanidhi's Cabinet
The council of ministers in M. Karunanidhi's cabinet (in 1971).


1971 Tampa Spartans football team
The 1971 Tampa Spartans football team represented the University of Tampa in the 1971 NCAA College Division football season. It was the Spartans' 35th season. The team was led by head coach Bill Fulcher, in his first year, and played their home games at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida. They finished with a record of six wins and five losses (6–5). Fulcher was hired on January 7, 1971, to serve as the replacement for Fran Curci who resigned to become the head coach at Miami.


1971 Tampa Spartans football team
After an upset loss against Louisiana Tech to open the season, the Spartans won four consecutive games against Chattanooga, Youngstown State, Dayton and Drake. Ranked No. 2 as they entered their game against Villanova, Tampa was upset by the Wildcats 24–3. After the loss, the Spartans would lose three of their next four games. A week after their loss at Louisville, Tampa returned home and lost to Ole Miss by a single point in a game that saw the Spartans score on touchdown passes of 93 and 49 yards. Tampa then rebounded the next week with a 43–7 win over East Carolina. The Spartans then closed the season with a loss at Vanderbilt and a victory over Florida A&M. On January 21, 1972, Fulcher resigned as head coach of the Spartans to take the same position at Georgia Tech.


1971 Tangerine Bowl
The 1971 Tangerine Bowl was held on December 28, 1971, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The Toledo Rockets of the Mid-American Conference defeated the Richmond Spiders of the Southern Conference by a score of 28–3. The Tangerine Bowl is a former name of what is now called the Citrus Bowl.


1971 Tangerine Bowl
Heading into the game, Toledo had an unblemished 11–0 record. They were MAC champions and were ranked #14 in the AP Poll. The Toledo Rockets were heavy favorites; they were riding a 34-game winning streak and attempting to finish their third straight undefeated and untied season in a row. Their nationally ranked defense, led by All-American Mel Long, helped the Rockets outgain the Spiders 395–138 in total yards. Toledo finished #14 in the season's final AP Poll.


1971 Tangerine Bowl
Richmond entered with a 5–6 record. They were Southern Conference champions after they defeated William & Mary, 21–19, in the regular season finale to clinch the conference title. The Spiders were appearing in their second-ever postseason bowl game; their first had been the 1968 Tangerine Bowl.


1971 Tanglewood International Tennis Classic
The 1971 Tanglewood International Tennis Classic was a men's tennis tournament held at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, North Carolina in the United States that was part of the Grand Prix circuit and categorized as a Group C event. The tournament was played on outdoor clay courts and was held from July 19 through July 25, 1971. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and Jaime Fillol won the singles title.


1971 Tanglewood International Tennis Classic, Finals, Doubles
Jim McManus /  Jim Osborne defeated  Jimmy Connors /  Jeff Austin 6–2, 6–4


1971 Tasman Series
The 1971 Tasman Series was a motor racing competition staged in New Zealand and Australia for cars complying with the Tasman Formula. The series, which began on 2 January and ended on 28 February after seven races, was the eighth annual Tasman Series. It was won by Graham McRae of New Zealand, driving a McLaren M10B Chevrolet.


1971 Tasman Series, Points system
Series points were awarded at each race on the following basis:


1971 Tasman Series, Points system
All points scored by each driver were retained to determine final series placings.


1971 Taça de Portugal Final
The 1971 Taça de Portugal Final was the final match of the 1970–71 Taça de Portugal, the 31st season of the Taça de Portugal, the premier Portuguese football cup competition organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). The match was played on 27 June 1971 at the Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and opposed two Primeira Liga sides: Benfica and Sporting CP. Sporting CP defeated Benfica 4–1 to claim a seventh Taça de Portugal.


1971 Temple Owls football team
The 1971 Temple Owls football team was an American football team that represented Temple University as an independent during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In its second season under head coach Wayne Hardin, the team compiled a 6–2–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 248 to 136. The team played its home games at Temple Stadium in Philadelphia.


1971 Temple Owls football team
The team's statistical leaders included Doug Shobert with 1,513 passing yards, Paul Loughran with 468 rushing yards and 48 points scored, and Randy Grossman with 473 receiving yards, and Henry Hynoski with 60 points scored.


1971 Tennessee State Tigers football team
The 1971 Tennessee State Tigers football team represented Tennessee State University as an independent during the 1971 NCAA College Division football season. In their ninth season under head coach John Merritt, the Tigers compiled a 9–1 record, defeated McNeese State in the Grantland Rice Bowl, and outscored all opponents by a total of 403 to 151. The team was also recognized as the 1971 black college national champion and was ranked No. 5 in the final 1971 NCAA College Division football rankings issued by the Associated Press and No. 14 in the final poll issued by the United Press International.


1971 Tennessee Volunteers football team
The 1971 Tennessee Volunteers football team (variously "Tennessee", "UT" or the "Vols") represented the University of Tennessee in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. Playing as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the team was led by head coach Bill Battle, in his second year, and played their home games at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. They finished the season with a record of ten wins and two losses (10–2 overall, 4–2 in the SEC) and a victory over Arkansas in the 1971 Liberty Bowl.


1971 Tennessee Volunteers football team, Season summary, at Florida
Third-string quarterback Phil Pierce led Tennessee on a 99-yard drive in the third quarter, capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass to Stan Trott to take the lead for good. The Volunteers lost their first and second-string quarterbacks to knee injuries during the game.


1971 Tennessee Volunteers football team, Season summary, Penn State
Before the game, Bobby Majors was honored alongside his brothers, Iowa State head coach Johnny and the late Billy, for the family's overall contribution to the school's football program. Majors finished his final home game with 195 return yards on kicks and punts. With the win, the Volunteers accepted a bid to play in the Liberty Bowl against Arkansas.


1971 Texas A&M Aggies football team
The 1971 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC). The Aggies were led by head coach Gene Stallings in his seventh season and finished with a record of five wins and six losses (5–6 overall, 4–3 in the SWC).


1971 Texas A&M Aggies football team
Stallings was fired as head coach and athletic director at the conclusion of the season and replaced by Emory Bellard, offensive coordinator of archrival Texas and the architect of the Wishbone formation. Stallings was hired by Tom Landry to be an assistant coach with the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys, a position he held until he was named head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1986. Stallings returned to college coaching in 1990 as head coach at Alabama.


1971 Texas Longhorns football team
The 1971 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season.


1971 Texas Longhorns football team
Texas' hopes for a third consecutive national championship were squashed with back-to-back one-sided losses in October to its two biggest rivals, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Longhorns recovered to win their fourth consecutive Southwest Conference championship and returned to the Cotton Bowl, where they were routed 30-6 by Penn State.


1971 Texas Longhorns football team, NFL Draft
Two seniors from the 1971 Longhorns were selected in the 1972 NFL Draft:


1971 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 1971 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University in the Southwest Conference during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In their second season under head coach Jim Carlen, the Red Raiders compiled a 4–7 record (2–5 against conference opponents), finished in seventh place in the conference, and were outscored by opponents by a combined total of 138 to 131. The team's statistical leaders included Jimmy Carmichael with 423 passing yards, Doug McCutchen with 548 rushing yards, and Johnny Odom with 242 receiving yards. The team played its home games at Clifford B. & Audrey Jones Stadium.


1971 Texas–Arlington Mavericks football team
The 1971 Texas–Arlington Mavericks football team was an American football team that represented  the University of Texas at Arlington in the Southland Conference during the 1971 NCAA College Division football season. In their first year under head coach John Symank, the team compiled a 2–9 record.


1971 Texas–Arlington Mavericks football team
In December 1970, former Arlington State back John Symank was hired as head coach from Northern Arizona. The 1971 season also marked the first UTA competed as the Mavericks after previously being known as the Rebels since 1951. The name Mavericks was selected by the student body over Toros and the name change was undertaken after the Rebels moniker became increasingly controversial due to its association with the Confederacy.


1971 Thailand Regional Games
The 5th Thailand National Games (Thai: กีฬาเขตแห่งประเทศไทย ครั้งที่ 5, also known as the 1971 National Games and 1971 Interprovincial Games) were held in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand from 2 to 9 December 1971, with contests in 13 sports. These games were the qualifications of Thai athletes for the 1971 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games held in Kualalumpur, Malaysia.


1971 Thailand Regional Games, Participating regions
The 5th Thailand National Games represented 9 regions from 70 provinces.


1971 Thailand Regional Games, Sports
The 1971 Thailand National Games featured 10 Olympic sports contested at the 1971 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, 1974 Asian Games and 1972 Summer Olympics. In addition, four non-Olympic sports were featured: badminton, sepak takraw, table tennis and tennis.


1971 The Citadel Bulldogs football team
The 1971 The Citadel Bulldogs football team represented The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. Red Parker served as head coach for the sixth season. The Bulldogs played as members of the Southern Conference and played home games at Johnson Hagood Stadium.


1971 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
The 1971 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship was the 81st staging of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Tipperary County Board in 1887.


1971 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
Moyne-Templetuohy won the championship after a 2-08 to 0-06 defeat of Roscrea in the final at Semple Stadium. It remains their only championship title.


1971 Tirreno–Adriatico
The 1971 Tirreno–Adriatico was the sixth edition of the Tirreno–Adriatico cycle race and was held from 10 March to 14 March 1971. The race started in Ladispoli and finished in San Benedetto del Tronto. The race was won by Italo Zilioli.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
The 1971 Toledo Rockets football team was an American football team that represented the University of Toledo in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In their first season under head coach Jack Murphy, the Rockets compiled a 12–0 record, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 383 to 96, and won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship. The season ended with a 28–3 victory over Southern Conference champion Richmond in the 1970 Tangerine Bowl. The Rockets were ranked No. 14 in the final AP Poll and No. 13 in the final UPI Poll.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
The 1971 season was part of a 35-game winning streak that consisted of three consecutive seasons from 1969 through 1971. During the streak, Toledo won three consecutive MAC championships and three consecutive bowl games, led the nation in total defense all three years, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 1,152 to 344. It remains the second longest winning streak in modern Division I-A college football history behind Oklahoma's 47-game streak in the 1950s. The defense led the way for the 1971 team, allowing only 164.6 total yards per game, a figure which remains a school record.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
Quarterback Chuck Ealey, who had led Toledo to all three undefeated seasons, finished eighth in the 1971 Heisman Trophy voting with 168 points. Ealey was also selected as a first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Football News. For the third consecutive year, Ealey was also named the MAC Back of the Year. For the second consecutive year, he received the Jim Nicholson Award as the player contributing the most to the team's success.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
Defensive tackle Mel Long was a consensus All-American, receiving first-team honors from the Associated Press, FWAA, Newspaper Enterprise Association, and United Press International. Long was the first consensus All-American in MAC history. Long was also named MAC Lineman of the Year for the second consecutive year.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
Five Toledo players received first-team All-MAC honors: Chuck Ealey, Mel Long, tailback Joe Schwartz, end Don Fair, tight end Al Baker, defensive end Bob Rose, linebacker John Niezgoda, and defensive backs Gary Hinkson and John Saunders. The team captains were Ealey, Long and Hinkson.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
The team's statistical leaders included Chuck Ealey with 1,821 passing yards, Joe Schwartz with 1,130 rushing yards and 120 points scored, Don Fair with 773 receiving yards, and John Niezgoda with 178 tackles.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
Jack Murphy had been an assistant coach at Toledo under Frank Lauterbur. After Lauterbur resigned in December 1970 to become head football coach at Iowa, Murphy was named as the new head coach. In his first year as Toledo's head coach, Murphy was named MAC Coach of the Year.


1971 Toledo Rockets football team
The Rockets played their home game in the Glass Bowl. The attendance at five home games was 98,360, an average of 19,672 per game.


1971 Torneo Descentralizado
The 1971 Torneo Descentralizado was the 55th season of the highest division of Peruvian football. The number of teams increased from 14 to 16 teams as four teams gained promotion. The last three teams were relegated from the first division.


1971 Torneo Descentralizado
The national champion was Universitario. ADO, Octavio Espinosa and Porvenir Miraflores were relegated.


1971 Torneo Godó
The 1971 Torneo Godó or Trofeo Conde de Godó was a men's tennis tournament that took place on outdoor clay courts in Barcelona, Spain. It was the 18th edition of the event and was part of the 1971 World Championship Tennis circuit, although it was also open to non-WCT players. It was held from 18 October until 24 October 1971. Manuel Orantes, an independent pro, won the singles title.


1971 Torneo Godó, Finals, Doubles
Željko Franulović /  Juan Gisbert defeated  Cliff Drysdale /  Andrés Gimeno 7–6, 6–2, 7–6


1971 Torneo di Viareggio
The 1971 winners of the Torneo di Viareggio (in English, the Viareggio Tournament, officially the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale), the annual youth football tournament held in Viareggio, Tuscany, are listed below.


1971 Torneo di Viareggio, Format
The 16 teams are organized in knockout rounds. The round of 16 are played in two-legs, while the rest of the rounds are single tie.


1971 Toronto Argonauts season
The 1971 Toronto Argonauts finished in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 10–4 record. They appeared in the Grey Cup.


1971 Tour de France
The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,608-kilometre (2,242 mi) race consisted of 22 stages, including three split stages, starting in Mulhouse on 26 June and finishing at the Vélodrome de Vincennes in Paris on 18 July. There were three time trial stages and two rest days. Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team won the overall general classification, defending his title to win his third Tour de France in a row. Joop Zoetemelk (Flandria–Mars) finished second, 9:51 minutes behind, and Lucien Van Impe was third (Sonolor–Lejeune), just over 11 minutes in arrears.


1971 Tour de France
Pre -race favourite Merckx took the first yellow jersey as general classification leader after his team won the prologue stage's team time trial. Merckx's teammate Rini Wagtmans unknowingly took the Tour lead after the second of stage 1's three split stages, before returning it to his leader by the end of the day. The leading positions of the general classification became clearer after stage 2 when a sixteen-strong breakaway group of mostly pre-race favourites ended with a margin of over nine minutes. On stage 8 in the Massif Central, Merckx's closet rival Luis Ocaña (Bic) attacked and won atop Puy de Dôme to move within just over 30 seconds of the race leader, just behind second-placed Zoetemelk.


1971 Tour de France
In the Chartreuse Mountains on stage 10, Merckx had a tyre puncture and was distanced by a group of rivals, with Zoetemelk of the group taking the race lead. Another from the group, Ocaña, took the yellow jersey the next day as he soloed for 60 km (37 mi) to victory up to Orcières-Merlette in the Alps, ending with an overall lead of more than eight minutes. Merckx gained back close to two minutes the following stage as he broke away from the start with a small group in record-breaking speed down to Marseille.


1971 Tour de France
Two days later in the Pyrenees on stage 14, a thunderstorm passed as the riders traversed the Col de Menté mountain pass. Race leader Ocaña crashed on the wet roads during the descent, and afterwards was hit by two other riders. He left the race with injury, with Merckx reluctantly taking over the Tour lead. He comfortably held the yellow jersey for the remaining stages, ending the Tour with victory in the individual time trial held in Paris.


1971 Tour de France
In the other race classifications, Merckx also won the points and the combination classifications. Van Impe won the mountains classification. The intermediate sprints classification was won by Zoetemelk's teammate Pieter Nassen. The winners of the team classification were Bic. The overall award for most combative rider was given to Ocaña. Merckx won the most stages, with four.


1971 Tour de France, Teams
The 1971 edition of the Tour de France consisted of thirteen teams, two less than the previous Tour. Teams were either invited or paid a participation fee. The Italian-based Salvarani and the Belgian Watney–Avia teams announced they would not be entering the race due to the high cost, although Salvarani later reached an agreement. Belgian-based Flandria–Mars and Tour co-organiser Félix Lévitan were in disagreements over the team's participation and there was speculation that the team would instead race the Grand Tour of Italy, the Giro d'Italia, which took place one month before the Tour. The team chose to wait for Lévitan's decision regarding their entry, which came following the Giro's start, and therefore did not participate in the Giro. Ultimately, Lévitian requested the team to pay extra money, on top of the 25,000 French francs (f) entry fee, to participate in the Tour.


1971 Tour de France, Teams
Each squad was allowed a maximum of ten riders, resulting in a start list total of 130. Of these, 37 were riding the Tour de France for the first time. The riders came from twelve countries, with the majority of them coming from France (35), Belgium (25), Italy (25), Spain (21) and Netherlands (14). Francisco Javier Galdeano (Kas–Kaskol) was the youngest rider at 21 years and 201 days, and the oldest was Ventura Díaz (Werner) at 32 years and 304 days. The Goudsmit–Hoff cyclists had the youngest average age while the riders on Werner had the oldest.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
The rider considered the clear favourite for the overall general classification before the Tour was Molteni's Eddy Merckx, who had won the 1969 and 1970 Tours by the large margins of 17:54 and 12:41 minutes respectively. He was unrivalled throughout the 1971 season, winning 54 of the 124 races he entered (43.5%). Of the 13 before the Tour, the most notable were the one-day races Milan–San Remo, Omloop Het Volk, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the general classification in stage races Giro di Sardegna, Paris–Nice, Tour of Belgium, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and Grand Prix du Midi Libre.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
He opted for the Dauphiné and Midi Libre races to warm up for the Tour instead of the Giro, which he rode the two previous seasons. In these races, constant adjustment to his riding position caused a knee injury, and he came close to abandoning the final stage of the Midi Libre, a month before the Tour. Later in his retirement, he revealed that heading into the Tour his "condition was not good" and that riding the Giro was the ideal preparation because of the harder climbs.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Since 1968, his Molteni team were undefeated in the team time trial discipline of the prologue stage, and there was speculation whether he would be able to lead the race from beginning to end. Merckx was such an overwhelming favourite that the interest was not in if could win, but rather the manner in which he would do it.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
The strongest challenger to Merckx was expected to be Luis Ocaña (Bic). He and Merckx were the same age at 26, born eight days apart in June. Both had made their Tour debuts in 1969, but unlike the success of Merckx, Ocaña crashed out of the race on a descent. In 1970, Ocaña won the Vuelta a España, Spain's Grand Tour, and was likewise Merckx's main rival before the Tour, but he finished the race over an hour behind in 31st place.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
His confidence in beating Merckx grew in 1971, saying: "they all surrender to Merckx, but I'm going to stand up to him". Speaking prior to the Tour, climbing specialist Ocaña thought he would able to get the better of the all-rounder Merckx in the mountains, as he had shown on the Col du Granier Alpine climb in the Dauphiné, a race in which he ultimately finished second overall to Merckx.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
His biggest results of the season prior to the Tour were the mountains classification of the aforementioned race and the overall victories of the Tour of the Basque Country and Volta a Catalunya. The Spanish media did not rate their compatriot Ocaña's chances of winning highly, in contrast to in France, where he had lived since childhood.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
The next contender was thought to be Joop Zoetemelk of Flandria–Mars, who in his debut season as a professional was runner-up in the 1970 Tour. His most notable performance of the year so far was at the Vuelta in May, where he won the mountains classification and finished sixth overall. He finished second to Merckx in the closely contested Midi Libre.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Several other riders were named as favourites for a high place in the general classification. The winner of the 1971 Giro and the third-place finisher of the 1970 Tour Gösta Pettersson (Ferretti) was considered by Merckx to be among two of his closest rivals, along with Zoetemelk. Bernard Thévenet (Peugeot–BP–Michelin) was third in the Dauphiné. Climber Lucien Van Impe (Sonolor–Lejeune), who was sixth overall in 1970, was also consider a contender. Other favourites included Joaquim Agostinho (Hoover–de Gribaldy–Wolber), Gianni Motta (Salvarani) and Leif Mortensen (Bic). Agostinho took a three-week rest two weeks before the Tour following bad crash at the Dauphiné. Van Impe's teammate Lucien Aimar, a Tour veteran, was the only rider entering apart from Merckx to have won the race, the 1966 edition.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Notable absentees from the start list were Raymond Poulidor (Fagor–Mercier–Hutchinson), Felice Gimondi (Salvarani), Frans Verbeeck (Watney–Avia), Georges Pintens (Hertekamp–Magniflex), Roger Pingeon (Peugeot–BP–Michelin) and Jan Janssen (Bic). Poulidor, who had top-ten finishes in all of the previous nine Tours bar one, withdrew from his team's squad stating: "I will only do this if my physical condition leaves something to be desired". Gimondi, winner of the 1965 Tour, was not selected by his team as Motta was preferred as the leader. Verbeeck, whose team did not enter, was considered to be one of few that would challenge Merckx.


1971 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Merckx's one-day race rival Pintens was another from a team not entering. He seemingly managed a rare feat of exposing weakness in Merckx at the notably cold Liège–Bastogne–Liège in April, when he reeled in the tiring lone leader Merckx taking it to the two-way sprint finish won by Merckx, who was later found by his soigneur (team assistant) physically exhausted sat on a stool in a shower. Winner of the 1967 Tour Pingeon was serving a doping suspension from April 30 to July 30. Janssen, winner of the 1968 Tour, kept to his promise to never ride a Tour again, made following his bad crash in the 1970 Paris–Tours. He was critical of the Tour's commercial prioritisation which made the race too hard for riders.


1971 Tour de France, Route and stages
On 16 October 1970, it was announced that city of Mulhouse in eastern France would host the 1971 edition's opening stages (known as the Grand Départ), which consisted of a team time trial prologue stage and two further stages. The entire route was announced on 8 December at a press conference in Paris by race directors Jacques Goddet and Félix Lévitan. New rules to discourage the use of doping were introduced by cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI); stages lengths were reduced, only twenty stages were allowed, and rest days were made compulsory. The latter was a re-introduction to the Tour. At distance of 3,608 km (2,242 mi), it was shorter than the previous Tour by 646 km (401 mi) and the shortest since 1905.


1971 Tour de France, Route and stages
With the shortened distance in addition to the increased financial running costs, the race organisers maximised the amount route locations which paid the race to start, pass through or finish there. The navigation of the host locations made a loose figure of eight route, unlike the usual continuous loop. There were total of five transfers which added up to a distance of 350 km (220 mi). For the first time in a Tour there were air transfers, from Le Touquet to Paris and Marseille to Toulouse.


1971 Tour de France, Route and stages
The previous Tour's split stages had drawn complaints from the riders, nevertheless, they remained as the income they provided was overriding. There three split stages; two stages were split half and one in thirds. The reduction in distance and amount of stages saw more climbs introduced, and it was thought that this edition was more suited to climbing specialists. Overall, the route was seen as easier than recent editions.


1971 Tour de France, Route and stages
The Tour took place over 23 days, including the two rest days, between 26 June and 18 July. Beginning in the Black Forest and Vosges Mountains, with visits to Switzerland and West Germany, the race then headed north-west to the coast passing through the Ardennes and south-east Belgium. After the first rest day and air transfer, racing resumed in the outskirts of Paris, taking the Tour through the Massif Central highlands and the Chartreuse Mountains towards the Alps. After the second rest day and a stage to the Mediterranean coast at Marseille, came the other air transfer. The race then moved into the Pyrenees, with the closing stages taking place between the south-west and the finish in Paris.


1971 Tour de France, Route and stages
Of the mass-start full stages, the longest was stage 7 at 257.5 km (160 mi), and stage 15 was the shortest at 19.6 km (12 mi), the shortest in the history of the race (as of 2017). There were three time trial events with a total distance of 81.1 km (50.4 mi), two were competed individually (13 and 20) and one was by raced by teams (the prologue). It was the first time the team time trial format was used for a Tour prologue stage.


1971 Tour de France, Route and stages
Of the remaining 22 full and split stages, twelve were officially classified as flat, four as medium mountain and six as high mountain. There were three summit finishes: stage 8, to Puy de Dôme; stage 11, to Orcières-Merlette; and stage 15, to Superbagnères. The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,115 m (6,939 ft) at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet mountain pass on stage 16a. It was among seven first-category rated climbs in the race. The Tour included four new start or finish locations: Basel, in stage 1b; Marche-en-Famenne, in stage 4; Le Touquet, in stage 6b; and Gourette, in stages 16a and 16b.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Grand Départ in Mulhouse
The 11 km (6.8 mi) prologue team time trial consisted of four laps of a 2.75 km (1.71 mi) circuit around the streets of Mulhouse. Molteni covered it at an average speed of 50.556 km/h (31.414 mph) to win with a combined time of 1:05:16 hours, beating second-placed Ferretti by 1:48 minutes and third-placed Flandria–Mars by 2:16 minutes. Molteni took the lead of the team classification. The general classification was the only one of the Tour's individually contested classifications taken into account for the prologue stage.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Grand Départ in Mulhouse
Eddy Merckx led his squad across the finish line to take the lead of the general classification and with it the first yellow jersey. The five teammates that finished with him took up the following places. Only time bonifications (time subtracted) counted towards the classification, and their victory gave each of the Molteni riders twenty-second time bonuses. Three riders from Ferretti and six from Flandria–Mars received time bonuses of ten and five seconds respectively.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Grand Départ in Mulhouse
The second day of the Tour was split into three short stages which journeyed into Switzerland and West Germany, before returning to Mulhouse. In the first part, the riders purposely rode at a slow pace in protest, headed by the French riders, at the disproportionate awarding of the cash prize given to stage winners against the next nineteen finishers. After a talk with Félix Lévitan at the lead car, an agreement was made to share it out more evenly between the top thirty. The stage ended with a large bunch sprint in Basel taken by Eric Leman of Flandria–Mars. Merckx's teammate Rini Wagtmans unknowingly finished ahead of him in the sprint to take over the leading position in the general classification; with all the Molteni riders equalled on time, this countback came into effect.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Grand Départ in Mulhouse
Merckx won the opening intermediate sprint of the second split stage to gain a five-second time bonus to reclaim the race lead, even though Wagtmans then went on to struggle on a climb halfway on the stage and was dropped by the peloton (main field), finishing the stage a minute behind Merckx; Wagtmans later admitted to relinquishing the yellow jersey back to his team leader, at the time, lying that his shoes were a size too small and had caused rubbing.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Grand Départ in Mulhouse
The stage finished on the cinder track inside Freiburg's Möslestadion with a bunch sprint won by Goudsmit–Hoff rider Gerben Karstens. A bunch sprint finish followed again in the final part of the day, which saw Albert Van Vlierberghe of Ferretti finish first of the large field. Across the three parts of stage 1, the points classification's green jersey changed hands between Leman, Walter Godefroot (Peugeot–BP–Michelin) and Karstens, respectively. Joop Zoetemelk became the first leader of the mountains classification following stage 1b.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Vosges, Belgium and north-west
With 100 km (62 mi) remaining of stage 2, Zoetemelk led climbing specialists Lucien Van Impe and José Manuel Fuente (Kas–Kaskol) with attack on a depleted peloton over the summit of the second-category rated Vosges climb of Col du Firstplan. A Merckx move brought back the attackers on the descent, which saw the formation of an elite sixteen-rider breakaway group that included all the pre-race favourites, except for Joaquim Agostinho and Lucien Aimar.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Vosges, Belgium and north-west
In gale-force winds, the leaders reached speeds of 60 km/h (37 mph) on the flat terrain, ending with a nine-and-a-half-minute advantage over the peloton at the finish in Strasbourg. On the wet cinder track of Stade Tivoli, Herman Van Springel led-out teammate Merckx to victory in a frantic sprint finish with Roger De Vlaeminck of Flandria–Mars. The points gained by De Vlaeminck put him in the green jersey. The fifteen riders that ended in the breakaway now held an advantage of close to nine minutes in the general classification. Of those competing for the overall prize, they were unreservedly now the leader of their team, halting any uncertainty over hierarchy.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Vosges, Belgium and north-west
Stage 3 headed west to Nancy for another cinder track finish, where Wagtmans took a sprint win from the ten-man breakaway. The following day the Tour ended in Marche-en-Famenne for its overnight stay in Belgium. With 43 km (27 mi) of the 242 km (150 mi) remaining, a duo of Jean-Pierre Genet (Fagor–Mercier–Hutchinson) and José Gómez Lucas (Werner) escaped the peloton, who, on the straight slightly uphill finish, they managed to hold off by a distance of 20 m (66 ft) at the line, which was crossed by Genet first.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Vosges, Belgium and north-west
Stage 5 featured two iconic locations of one-day "monument" races, the short steep sett-paved climb Muur van Geraardsbergen of the Tour of Flanders and the stage finish of Roubaix Velodrome, likewise used in Paris–Roubaix. With 73 km (45 mi) remaining, the crowds lining the Geraardsbergen witnessed the valiant breakaway of Agostinho, together with the uncooperative Jos Huysmans (Molteni). The pair were caught, before another break moved clear. The group of five reached the banked velodrome over a minute ahead of the peloton, and Pietro Guerra of Salvarani won the stage in a sprint with Huysmans's teammate Julien Stevens.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Vosges, Belgium and north-west
The two-legged stage 6 was raced over a total distance of 261 km (162 mi), as the Tour reached the channel coast at Le Touquet. In the first part, Leman claimed a second stage win of the race in a bunch sprint at Amiens's Hippodrome du petit Saint-Jean dirt racecourse. Mauro Simonetti of Ferretti won the second part on Le Touquet's promenade from a six-rider breakaway, only seconds ahead of the encroaching peloton. The Tour's first rest day was spent in the resort of Le Touquet. The fifteen riders that profited on stage 2 still led the general classification, with Merckx holding a 26-second advantage over Van Springel, and De Vlaeminck a further 11 down in third place.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
After their rest in Le Touquet, the riders took two early planes to Paris and the start of the transitional stage 7, a 257.5 km (160.0 mi) route to Nevers and the subsequent two-stage traverse of the Massif Central. With the peloton in the final kilometre, there were three crashes, one of which included De Vlaeminck, who injured his wrist and lost the green jersey by end, to Karstens. In the bunch sprint, Leman claimed his third win. Merckx was expecting a dangerous sprint, so he chose not to participate.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
Although to a lesser extent than in his previous Tours, Merckx competed for the time bonuses available in intermediate sprints and final sprints throughout the flat terrain of the early stages, unlike his closest rival Ocaña, who had been saving his energy for the upcoming mountains, on the advice of five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
Stage 8 saw the Tour's first summit finish, atop the dormant volcano of Puy de Dôme at an elevation of 1,465 m (4,806 ft), a first-category climb. Merckx initiated an early twelve-strong breakaway that included Ocaña, but it only lasted 19 km (12 mi). Thereafter, Merckx and his team controlled the race until the early slopes of the 14 km (8.7 mi) cloud covered final climb. With 5 km (3.1 mi) remaining, a failed Bernard Thévenet attack was soon followed by a successful one by Ocaña, who at one point led by 40 seconds.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
Mountains classification leader Zoetemelk and Agostinho moved ahead of the Merckx in the final kilometre, with the two placing behind winner Ocaña. In fourth place, Merckx recovered in the final 500 m (1,600 ft), limiting the loses to Ocaña to only fifteen seconds. Zoetemelk moved up to second overall, 36 seconds behind Merckx, with third-placed Ocaña a further second down. The next day, a group of nine riders broke away over the remainder of the Massif Central climbs and ended six minutes ahead of the peloton in Saint-Étienne. Godefroot won the sprint finish, moving him into the lead of the points classification.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
Stage 10 culminated with the two first-category Chartreuse passes of Col du Cucheron and Col de Porte, before a long descent to the finish in Grenoble at the foot of the Alps. A burst of pace set by Ocaña's Bic on the Cucheron ascent had reduced the field to a group of overall favourites, leaving Merckx without support. On short descent, the group then passed the unused Désiré Letort of Bic, who had played a part in his team's concerted effort by breaking away alone earlier for a possible juncture with his leader.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
Soon after, Merckx got a tyre puncture and just managed to stay upright, and he was left waiting for his delayed team car to get a replacement wheel. An Ocaña-led attack with Zoetemelk, Thévenet, Van Impe and Gösta Pettersson disobeyed an unwritten rule of the peloton by attacking the race leader when they puncture, although looking back to then Merckx said he did not feel angry and that is part of the sport. Ocaña set such a dominating pace up the Porte that climbing specialist Van Impe was dropped.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Massif and Chartreuse
They reached the summit two minutes ahead of Merckx and the chase group, and stayed ahead to Grenoble's Stade Charles-Berty velodrome, where Thévenet won the sprint finish. Zoetemelk took the yellow jersey, with Merckx coming in seventh place at 1:36 minutes down and dropping to fourth overall, behind Ocaña and Gösta Pettersson respectively. The green jersey was gained by Cyrille Guimard of Fagor–Mercier–Hutchinson, who came in fifth on the stage accompanied by Van Impe.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
In the opening 12 km (7.5 mi) of stage 11, the race began the steep Alpine second-category climb of Côte de Laffrey, known locally as 'the ramp'. An attack early on the climb by Agostinho was joined by a group of Ocaña, Van Impe, Gösta Pettersson and Zoetemelk. Merckx, who was suffering with an upset stomach, was two minutes behind the Ocaña-led group at the summit in a second group of chasers accompanied by his teammates.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
The leading group gained a two-minute margin along the consistent terrain of the historic Route Napoléon, with Ocaña dropping his fellow riders on a detour climb over the second-category Col du Noyer with 60 km (37 mi) remaining. He then performed a time trial-like solo effort for the remainder of the Napoléon and up to the victory atop the first-category climb to the Orcières-Merlette ski resort. Van Impe had too ridden alone since the Noyer and finished nearly six minutes behind Ocaña. Merckx led the group of remaining favourites all the way to the finish, 8:42 minutes in arrears.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
Ocaña took the general classification lead, with Van Impe rising to third, behind Zoetemelk. After the stage, Merckx admitted defeat in the overall race to the new leader, but Ocaña was still wary of the former leader. Van Impe took the lead of the mountains classification from Zoetemelk. Ocaña set such a pace, that 61 cyclists finished outside the original allowed time limit, leaving only 39 in the race. The time limit was consequently extended such that all but three were allowed to start the next stage. De Vlaeminck abandoned the Tour, four days after his crash on stage 7. The next day was the second rest of the race, spent at Orcières-Merlette.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
The transition to the Pyrenees began with stage 12, taking the Tour from Orcières-Merlette down to Marseille at the coast. The day's high temperature had brought forward the start time by ten minutes. Whilst Merckx and his Molteni team were prepared to race on the start line, new race leader Ocaña arrived late and was at the back of the field saying to journalists that he expected the stage to be a "formality", at the same time dismissing warnings by his teammates of an early attack on the descent from his rival.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
Merckx's teammate Wagtmans immediately attacked to form a lead group of twelve, including Merckx and two more teammates. The unexpected move fractured the peloton, and many riders fell as tubular tyres glued during the rest day became detached from wheels rims. The lead group reduced to ten and then nine riders on the flat terrain, and they held an advantage of between one and two minutes for the remainder of the stage, with the sprint finish in the Old Port of Marseille won by Scic rider Luciano Armani, ahead of Merckx.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
The leaders covered the stage distance of 251 km (156 mi) in 5:25:28 hours, breaking the record for the fastest average speed of a mass-start Tour stage at 45.351 km/h (28.180 mph). They arrived about one hour ahead of the expected schedule, and the preparations at the finish line not yet been completed, with the race being missed by some fans and dignitaries. The live television slots were missed, and the mayor of Marseille, Gaston Defferre, was so upset that he refused to let the race visit his city again.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
The reduced peloton finished the stage almost two minutes behind the lead group. This could have been more if not for a tactical error by Molteni, when four riders of theirs were dropped by the peloton as they waited to pace back tyre-punctured teammate Joseph Bruyère, only just making the time limit; with them being at the front of the peloton they were able to disrupt and slow down the chase. Although Merckx rose to second overall, he was just over seven and a half minutes behind the leader, and was left dissatisfied with the meagre finishing margin.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
Reassuring his leader, Wagtmans told him that Ocaña had looked exhausted on the podium after the stage and that "Ocaña has no future in this Tour." After the stage, the riders were transferred by plane between the cities of Marseille and Toulouse, before a coach ride to Albi and stage 13's individual time trial held the next day in the town.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Alps and transition
The 16.3 km (10.1 mi) hilly and technical course which started and finished at the Circuit d'Albi motor-racing track was won by Merckx with a time of 22:57 minutes, beating second-placed Ocaña by 11 seconds. Merckx accused the French television-operated car following alongside Ocaña and giving him an unfair draft, but the reason for this was that for the first time colour television was being broadcast live and a car was required instead of a motorbike. This furthered tensions in the race with accusations that, in the previous stage, seven riders of the all-Spanish Kas–Kaskol team, allied to Ocaña, were given unwarranted reprieves after finishing outside the time limit.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
Stage 14, from the town Revel to the Pyreneean spa town of Luchon, featured the third-category Col de Portet d'Aspet and then the second-category passes of Col de Menté and Col du Portillon.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
On the Portet d'Aspet, Fuente shed his fellow breakaway riders to summit with a lead of 2:20 minutes; Fuente was an elite climber who won the mountains classification at the 1971 Giro, but was not a concern to the Tour favourites as he was close to two hours down in 100th place overall, having lost time in two previous stages – a reprieved Kas–Kaskol rider in stage 12. In the group of favourites about five minutes behind, Ocaña defended four attacks from Merckx, with the offensive continuing on the Menté that soon followed.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
As the lone Fuente summited the Menté ahead, the weather severely worsened with a thunderstorm of torrential rain and large hailstones, making for a dangerous descent, with vision on the mud flooded roads impaired to around 5 m (16 ft). Many riders got tyre punctures coming down, including Ocaña, who rode with one as he closely followed Merckx. With braking all but impossible in the wet, both skidded and fell as they overran a flooded left bend 3 km (1.9 mi) from the top.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
Ocaña was hit by a rider as he got up in the middle of the road, and a few moments later, he was hit again as he stood on the roadside requesting a spare wheel from his team car. As the others involved rode on, Ocaña was left lying unresponsive in a state of shock, semi-conscious and struggling to breathe. He was unable to continue in the race and was taken to the foot of the climb by ambulance and then by helicopter to hospital in the nearby town of Saint-Gaudens. Suffering with back pain, he was discharged following day.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
The worst of the storm had passed after about ten minutes, and following a brief entry into Spain to climb the Portillon, Fuente descended to victory in Luchon, 6:21 minutes ahead a group of five including Merckx, Van Impe and Zoetemelk, who were a minute ahead of the next bunch. Merckx became the new race leader, but out of respect for Ocaña, he refused the yellow jersey in the ceremony at the end of the stage, and his request not wear it the next stage was granted; he wore the combination classification leader's white jersey instead.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
Merckx considered leaving the race, because he did not want to win due to Ocaña's misfortune, saying 'I would rather finish second than win in this way'. His directeur sportif (team manager) Guillaume Driessens was among those to convince him to remain, reminding him that the work-shy 'wheelsuckers' Zoetemelk and Van Impe would be the next in line to win the race. Gösta Pettersson abandoned the race on the ascent of the Menté; he was fifth overall at the end of the previous stage.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
Stage 15 was a mass-start hill climb from Luchon, across 19.6 km (12.2 mi), up to the Superbagnères ski resort. Together with the inclement weather, the form of Fuente continued as he won again, attacking 6 km (3.7 mi) from the end. Van Impe and Thévenet moved clear with 3 km (1.9 mi) remaining, coming in half-way between Merckx and Zoetemelk, a minute down. The average speed of 20.6 km/h (12.8 mph) covered by the last finisher, Eddy Peelman of Fagor–Mercier–Hutchinson, is among the very slowest of any post-World War II Tour stage, all those within the time limits. In the general classification, Merckx now led Van Impe by 2:17 minutes, who had moved 4 seconds ahead of Zoetemelk to second place. Merckx took the points classification led from Guimard.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
The first leg of stage 16 was the last with mountain climbing, first crossing the second-category Col de Peyresourde and Col d'Aspin, followed by the higher first-category Col du Tourmalet and Col d'Aubisque, before a short descent to the finish at the Gourette ski resort. Merckx injured his right knee following two falls on the Menté, and had been sleep-deprived for the two nights since. He attacked on the descent of the d'Aspin, followed by Van Impe, and by the bottom the two leaders held a 40-second margin over the peloton.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
Zoetemelk bridged across to the pair on the early portions of the Tourmalet. Van Impe escaped a kilometre from the summit, where he held a lead of 1:10 minutes, but Merckx and Zoetemelk worked together into the prevailing headwind on the descent and caught him at the bottom. The three leaders then slowed, and they were joined by several others on the d'Aubisque, where another storm awaited the race. Merckx defended the solitary attack of Van Impe on the climb. A local to area, Bernard Labourdette, took the victory on Bastille Day, summiting with a two-minute advantage and soloing to Gourette. Labourdette, a teammate of Ocaña, afterwards said: "This is the stage that Luis Ocaña should and would have won." Merckx lead the others over the finish.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Pyrenees
The second part of stage 16 brought the race down from the Pyrenees to the city of Pau. The opening 14.5 km (9.0 mi) from Gourette was neutralised due to flooding on the d'Aubisque descent caused by the storm, with racing starting in the village of Eaux-Bonnes across a reduced course of 57.5 km (35.7 mi). In the final kilometres, Van Springel went clear of an elite-rider breakaway to win the finishing sprint ahead of fellow escapee Willy Van Neste of Flandria–Mars. Van Springel took points away from teammate Merckx's green jersey rival Guimard, who beat Merckx in the sprint for third to his bring overall deficit to five points. Merckx previously accused Guimard of assisting Ocaña chase him down on stage 13 to Marseille.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Final stages
The next three stages took the Tour to its final stage in Paris. In the morning of stage 17, Merckx visited Ocaña in recuperation at his home in Mont-de-Marsan, the host of the stage start. The course of stage 17 through the Landes forest to Bordeaux, was more often processional and traditionally ended in a bunch sprint. With 65 km (40 mi) remaining, an attack launched by Van Impe's teammate Raymond Riotte formed a breakaway with four others, including Merckx. Guimard missed the move as he was swapping bottles around on his bicycle. Merckx won the finishing sprint from the group, increasing his leading margins in the general and points classifications to 5:38 minutes and 31 points respectively.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Final stages
On stage 18 to Poitiers, Jean-Pierre Danguillaume of Peugeot–BP–Michelin sprinted to victory from a ten-man breakaway that finished close to three minutes ahead of the peloton. In the last kilometres of the next stage, nine riders bridged across from the peloton to the breakaway of three, and from this Goudsmit–Hoff rider Jan Krekels won the sprint finish, ahead of Guimard, on Versailles's Avenue de Paris in outskirts of Paris.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Final stages
The final stage's 53.8 km (33.4 mi) individual time trial began in Versailles and ended at the Vélodrome de Vincennes. It was won by Merckx, 2:36 minutes ahead of Agostinho, with Wagtmans a further 16 seconds down in third. Merckx extended his overall lead from 5:38 to 9:51 minutes, becoming the third rider, after Louison Bobet and Anquetil, to win three Tours in a row. Zoetemelk raced the time trial 1:22 minutes quicker than Van Impe to overhaul a 7-second deficit from before the stage and finish the Tour second overall.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Final stages
Merckx also ended the race as the points classification winner, beating Guimard by a margin of 16. Van Impe won the mountains classification, 48 points ahead of Zoetemelk. Merckx finished highest in the general and two aforementioned classifications to win the combination classification. The intermediate sprints classification was won by Zoetemelk's teammate Pieter Nassen. The winners of the team classification were Bic. Of the 130 starters, 94 reached the finish of the final stage.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Aftermath
At the time, the 1971 Tour was considered the most exciting in recent years due mainly to the contest between Merckx and Ocaña. This has since been named among the greatest battles and overall moments in Tour de France history, with its significant stages of 11, 12, and 14, described as a "trilogy" by journalist Richard Moore in his 2014 book Étape: The Untold Stories of the Tour de France's Defining Stages.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Aftermath
Some observers have thought that if Ocaña had continued he would have won the race. Tour journalist Jock Wadley predicted that Ocaña would have had an advantage of five minutes over Merckx before the final time trial, and then held three minutes by the end. Jacques Goddet believed that Merckx was a lesser climber and could not have overhauled Ocaña, but writer Olivier Dazat suggested that Merckx was mentally stronger and would have relentlessly chased down Ocaña. Riotte said that Ocaña's crash was "provoked" by Merckx and that if not then, Ocaña would have faltered eventually.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Aftermath
Ocaña soon recovered from his injuries and had a successful end to the season. He next rode against Merckx over a month later in the world road race championship in Mendrisio, Switzerland, where a mistake of going back to get a drink was countered by Merckx, and he gained his second rainbow jersey as the victor. The rivalry continued into the following Tour, but Ocaña left the race with illness. Merckx went on to win a fourth Tour, and then won his fifth and final in 1974. He skipped the 1973 edition, which Ocaña won, and the rivalry never reached the heights seen in the 1971 Tour. Ocaña was named as his closest rival by Merckx, who is now regarded by many as the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling.


1971 Tour de France, Race overview, Aftermath
The second, third and fourth-place finishers of the race went on to win at least one Tour during their careers; Zoetemelk in 1980, Van Impe in 1976, and Thévenet in 1975 and 1977.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
There were five individual classifications contested in the 1971 Tour and also a team competition. The most important was the general classification, which was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. Time bonuses (time subtracted) of 20, 10 and 5 seconds were awarded to the top three positions, respectively, at the end every mass-start stage classified as flat. In the flat split stages bonuses of 8, 6 and 3 seconds were given. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Tour. The rider leading the classification wore a yellow jersey. Eddy Merckx was meant to wear the yellow jersey in the prologue stage as the winner of the previous edition but the organisers forgot to bring it to the stage start.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
Additionally, there was a points classification, where cyclists got points for finishing among the best in a stage finish. High finishes on flat stages awarded more points, 30 for the winner down to 1 point for 15th place. The flat split stages gave 20 points to the winner down to 2 points for 10th. In mountain stages and individual time trials, 15 points were given to the winner down to 1 point for 15th. Two mountain stages were given less points due their lengths, stages 15 and 16b. No points were awarded in the team time trial prologue stage.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, and was identified with a green jersey. Following Merckx's dominance of the classifications during the 1969 Tour, a new rule was introduced in 1970 to allow the second-placed rider of the points classification to wear a green-black jersey if one rider led both the general and points classifications. If this occurred 1971, the rider in second place would wear the green jersey, a rule that has remained ever since.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
There was also a mountains classification, which awarded points to the riders who reached summits first. Most stages of the race included one or more of these climbs, categorised as fourth-, third-, second- or first-category, with the more difficult climbs rated lower. Changes were made to the calculation in 1971, with the number of points given in the second, third, and fourth-categories increased. First-category ranked mountains gave a maximum 15 points for the first rider across, with the subsequent categories giving 10, 12, and 5 points to the first at the summit respectively. The cyclist with the most points lead the classification, with no identifying jersey.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The combination classification was calculated by adding each rider's overall ranking positions in the general, points, and mountains classifications. The rider with lowest combined total led the classification. In the event of tie, the positions were shared. The leader of the classification wore a white jersey.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
There was also an intermediate sprints classification. This classification had similar rules to the points classification, but only points were awarded on intermediate sprints, with 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 awarded respectively. The classification was given more importance in 1971 with the introduction of time bonuses; 5, 3 and 1 seconds were awarded to the first three positions in the sprints respectively. The 1971 Tour was the first time that more than one sprint featured in a full stage. In 1971, this classification had no associated jersey.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
For the team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time. The riders in the team that led this classification wore yellow caps.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
In addition, there individual awards given after each stage, excluding the prologue, and at the conclusion of the Tour to the most combative, elegant and amiable riders, with decisions made by a jury composed of journalists. The split stages each had combined winners. At the conclusion of the Tour, overall awards, also decided by journalists, were given to Luis Ocaña, Leif Mortensen and Jean-Pierre Danguillaume, respectively. There was also a special award, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given to the first rider to pass the summit of the Côte de Dourdan on stage 19. This prize was won by Wilmo Francioni of Ferretti.


1971 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
A total of 470,600 f was awarded in cash prizes in the race, with the overall winner of the general classification receiving 191,550 f. The stage winners, award winners and classification leaders, were rewarded with cash prizes. The amiable award winners received a selection of meat products. Joop Zoetemelk got a color television set for being the Tour's youngest finisher.


1971 Tour de France, Super Prestige Pernod ranking
Riders in the Tour competed individually for points that contributed towards the Super Prestige Pernod ranking, an international season-long road cycling competition, with the winner seen as the best all-round rider. Eddy Merckx held his substantial lead in the ranking at the end of the Tour.


1971 Tour de France, Doping
In total, 100 doping tests were done during the 1971 Tour de France, from which 2 returned positive: Yves Ravaleu, after the thirteenth stage; Jean-Claude Daunat, after the eighteenth stage. Both Hoover–de Gribaldy–Wolber riders received the customary punishment: a fine of 1200 f; being set back to the last place in the stage's results and getting ten minutes penalty time in the general classification.


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9
The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Mulhouse with a prologue team time trial on 26 June, and Stage 9 occurred on 6 July with a mountainous stage to Saint-Étienne. The race finished in Paris on 18 July.


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Prologue
26 June 1971 - Mulhouse to Mulhouse, 11 km (6.8 mi) (TTT)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 1a
27 June 1971 - Mulhouse to Basel, 59.5 km (37.0 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 1b
27 June 1971 - Basel to Freiburg, 90 km (56 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 1c
27 June 1971 - Freiburg to Mulhouse, 74.5 km (46.3 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 2
28 June 1971 - Mulhouse to Strasbourg, 144 km (89 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 3
29 June 1971 - Strasbourg to Nancy, 165.5 km (102.8 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 4
30 June 1971 - Nancy to Marche-en-Famenne, 242 km (150 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 5
1 July 1971 - Dinant to Roubaix, 208.5 km (129.6 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 6a
2 July 1971 - Roubaix to Amiens, 127.5 km (79.2 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 6b
2 July 1971 - Amiens to Le Touquet, 133.5 km (83.0 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 7
4 July 1971 - Rungis to Nevers, 257.5 km (160.0 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 8
5 July 1971 - Nevers to Puy de Dôme, 221 km (137 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Prologue to Stage 9, Stage 9
6 July 1971 - Clermont-Ferrand to Saint-Étienne, 153 km (95 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20
The 1971 Tour de France was the 58th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Tour began in Mulhouse with a prologue team time trial on 26 June, and Stage 10 occurred on 7 July with a mountainous stage from Saint-Étienne. The race finished in Paris on 18 July.


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 10
7 July 1971 - Saint-Étienne to Grenoble, 188.5 km (117.1 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 11
8 July 1971 - Grenoble to Orcières-Merlette, 134 km (83 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 12
10 July 1971 - Orcières-Merlette to Marseille, 251 km (156 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 13
11 July 1971 - Albi to Albi, 16.3 km (10.1 mi) (ITT)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 14
12 July 1971 - Revel to Luchon, 214.5 km (133.3 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 15
13 July 1971 - Luchon to Superbagnères, 19.6 km (12.2 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 16a
14 July 1971 - Luchon to Gourette, 145 km (90 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 16b
14 July 1971 - Gourette to Pau, 57.5 km (35.7 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 17
15 July 1971 - Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux, 188 km (117 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 18
16 July 1971 - Bordeaux to Poitiers, 244 km (152 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 19
17 July 1971 - Blois to Versailles, 185 km (115 mi)


1971 Tour de France, Stage 10 to Stage 20, Stage 20
18 July 1971 - Versailles to Paris, 53.8 km (33.4 mi) (ITT)


1971 Tour de Romandie
The 1971 Tour de Romandie was the 25th edition of the Tour de Romandie cycle race and was held from 4 May to 9 May 1971. The race started in Geneva and finished in Lugano. The race was won by Gianni Motta.


1971 Tour de Suisse
The 1971 Tour de Suisse was the 35th edition of the Tour de Suisse cycle race and was held from 11 June to 18 June 1971. The race started in Zürich and finished in Olten. The race was won by Georges Pintens of the Hertekamp team.


1971 Tour of Flanders
The 55th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling race in Belgium was held on Sunday 4 April 1971, won by Dutchman Evert Dolman. The race started in Ghent and finished in Gentbrugge, over a 268 km course. The race was considered one of the weakest editions of the Tour of Flanders ever, causing organizers to restyle the route in subsequent years.


1971 Tour of Flanders, Course
Eddy Merckx tried to break clear on the Kwaremont and the Muur, but was unable to make a decisive move. At 15 km from the finish, a group of 15 relative outsiders was formed. Evert Dolman, practically unknown, made an ultimate attack and finished two seconds ahead of the group. Frans Kerremans won the sprint for second place ahead of Cyrille Guimard.


1971 Tour of the Basque Country
The 1971 Tour of the Basque Country was the 11th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country cycle race and was held from 21 April to 25 April 1971. The race started and finished in Eibar. The race was won by Luis Ocaña of the Bic team.


1971 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election
The 1971 Tower Hamlets Council election took place on 13 May 1971 to elect members of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in London, England. The entire council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.


1971 Trans-AMA motocross series
The 1971 Trans-AMA motocross series was the second annual international series established by the American Motorcyclist Association as a pilot event to help establish motocross in the United States. The motocross series was an invitational based on a 500cc engine displacement formula, run on American tracks featuring the top riders from the F.I.M. world championship against the top American riders.


1971 Trans-AMA motocross series
Suzuki factory rider Sylvain Geboers claimed the championship with three overall victories. German Maico rider, Adolf Weil scored two overall victories and claimed second place in the championship, with Swedish Husqvarna pilot Torlief Hansen taking third place. The Suzuki team mates of Joel Robert and Roger De Coster didn't join the event until the fifth race of the series, but made an impact with De Coster posting three overall victories with Robert adding one more. As a result of his being the highest placed American rider at fourteenth overall, Mark Blackwell, was crowned the American motocross national champion, clinching the title by one point over Brad Lackey.


1971 Trans-American Sedan Championship
The 1971 Trans-American Championship was the sixth running of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. The format was altered to an over 2500cc class and an under 2500cc class, up 500cc from past years. All races used split classes except where noted. The year marked the rise of Datsun as a competitive brand, with the Japanese company winning several races throughout the season. American Motors, led by Mark Donohue's 7 wins, and Datsun, led by John Morton's 6 wins, won the manufacturers' championships.


1971 Trans-American Sedan Championship, Schedule
Horst Kwech won the race on track, but was disqualified for an oversize fuel tank.


1971 Trans-American Sedan Championship, Championships
Points were awarded according to finishing position. Only the highest-placed car scored points for the manufacturer. Only the best 8 finishes counted toward the championship. Drivers' championships were not awarded in Trans-Am until 1972.


1971 Trinidad and Tobago general election
General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 24 May 1971. The result was a victory for the People's National Movement, which won all 36 seats. Due to a boycott by all major opposition parties protesting at fraud related to the voting machines used in previous elections, voter turnout was just 33.2%.


1971 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team
The 1971 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team represented the University of Tulsa during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In their second year under head coach Claude "Hoot" Gibson, the Golden Hurricane compiled a 4–7 record, 2–1 against conference opponents, and finished in fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference.