| Thirteenth edition of the Super Prestige Pernod | |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March – October |
| Location | Europe |
| Races | 16 |
| Champions | |
| Individual champion |  Eddy Merckx (BEL) (Molteni) |
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.
| Rank | Cyclist | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eddy Merckx (BEL) | Molteni | 571 |
| 2 |  Luis Ocaña (ESP) | Bic | 150 |
| 3 |  Joop Zoetemelk (NED) | Flandria–Mars | 140 |
 Gösta Pettersson (SWE) | Ferretti | ||
| 5 |  Cyrille Guimard (FRA) | Fagor–Mercier–Hutchinson | 118 |
| 6 |  Felice Gimondi (ITA) | Salvarani | 103 |
| 7 | Herman van Springel (BEL) | Molteni | 90 |
| 8 | Ferdinand Bracke (BEL) | Peugeot–BP–Michelin | 75 |
| Marino Basso (ITA) | Molteni | ||
| 10 | Frans Verbeeck (BEL) | Watney–Avia | 73 |
Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the 1973 Tour de France and the 1970 Vuelta a España. During the 1971 Tour de France he launched an amazing solo breakaway that put him into the Yellow Jersey and stunned the rest of the main field, including back to back Tour champion Eddy Merckx, but abandoned in the fourteenth stage after a crash on the descent of the Col de Menté. Ocaña would abandon as many Tours as he entered, but he finished every Vuelta a España he entered except for his first, and finished in the top 5 seven times in a row.
Raymond Poulidor, nicknamed "Pou-Pou", was a French professional racing cyclist, who rode for Mercier his entire career.
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Lucien Aimar is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer. He was born in Hyères, France.
Franco Balmamion, is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist who raced between 1960 and 1972. The highlight of his career was his successive overall wins in the 1962 and 1963 editions of the Giro d'Italia.
Claude Criquielion was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who raced between 1979 and 1990. In 1984, Criquielion became the world road race champion in Barcelona, Spain on a gruelling course. He had five top-ten finishes in the Tour de France.
The Super Prestige Pernod was a season-long competition in road bicycle racing between 1958 and 1987. For the first edition it was known as the Prestige Pernod, and for the last four years as the Super Prestige Pernod International.
The Challenge Desgrange-Colombo was a season-long road bicycle racing competition between 1948 and 1958. There were two classifications, one for individual cyclists and another for nations.
Johan De Roo is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist between 1958 and 1968. During 11 seasons as a professional he had six victories in single-day classics, three stages of the Tour de France and one stage of the Vuelta a España. He had 46 wins as a professional. He was the most successful rider from Zeeland until the emergence of Jan Raas.
Maria Canins is an Italian racing cyclist who twice won the Tour de France Féminin in 1985 and 1986, as well as winning the inaugural Giro d'Italia Femminile in 1988. She rode for Italy at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics.
The Challenge Yellow, also known as Challenge Sedis, was a prize given yearly by the chain company Sedis to the best cyclists in the French races from 1931 to 1982. The winner was unofficially seen as the best cyclist in the French cycling season.
The UCI men's road racing world rankings are a point system which is used to rank men's road cycling riders. Points are accrued over a rolling 52 weeks in three categories.
The 1958 Challenge Desgrange-Colombo was the eleventh and final edition of the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo. It included eleven races: all the races form the 1957 edition were retained and the Vuelta a España was included for the first time. Fred De Bruyne won the third of his three individual championships while Belgium retained the nations championship. The Challenge Desgrange-Colombo folded after the 1958 season and the Super Prestige Pernod replaced it as the season-long competition for road bicycle racing.
The 1959 Super Prestige Pernod was the first edition of the Super Prestige Pernod. It included 11 races all of which, apart from the World Championship race, started in France. It replaced the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo as the season-long competition for road bicycle racing. Henry Anglade won the overall title.
Genoa–Nice was a professional cycle race held as a single-day race between Genoa, Italy and Nice, France. It was first held in 1910 and held for the final time in 1975. In 1961 and 1962 it was part of the Super Prestige Pernod series. In 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1967 and 1973 it was held in the opposite direction, from Nice to Genoa.
The Tour du Sud-Est was a professional cycle race held as a stage race in France. It was first held in 1919 and held for the final time in 1983, although it wasn't held every year. In 1965 it was part of the Super Prestige Pernod series. The race was also known by different names in its history: Circuit de Provence (1919–1920), Circuit du Byrrh (1927–1929), Tour des Provinces du Sud-Est (1955–1957) and Circuit du Provençal (1964–1965).
The Tour de la Nouvelle-France was a professional cycle race held as a stage race in Canada. It was only held twice in two years, in 1971 and 1972. It was won in both years by Guido Reybrouck, a rider from Belgium. In 1972 it was part of the Super Prestige Pernod series.
The 1962 Super Prestige Pernod was the fourth edition of the Super Prestige Pernod, a season-long competition for road bicycle racing. It included nineteen races in Europe. Dutchman Jo de Roo of the Saint-Raphaël–Helyett–Hutchinson team won the overall title.
