The pioneer: Brian Robinson makes a lone break in the Alps during the 1960 Tour.

With more than twenty minutes in hand, Robinson wins the Tour stage at Chalon-sur-Saône in 1959.

The final stage of the 1955 Tour: Tony Hoar (right) and Henri Sitek (left), his ‘rival’ for last place, ‘fight’ over the lanterne rouge – a paper lantern provided by Hoar’s team manager.

The Great Britain team at the start of the 1961 race. Only the Irishman Shay Elliott (fourth from left), Ken Laidlaw (sixth from left) and Brian Robinson (second from right) made it to Paris. Among those who failed to finish were Stan Brittain (left), Vin Denson (third from right) and Tom Simpson (right).

Alan Ramsbottom (left) breaks away in 1963 with the 1959 Tour winner Federico Bahamontes (right).

The glamour and the graft: Tom Simpson poses for the newspaper L’Equipe in bowler and yellow jersey

Alone in the Alps on a rainy day in 1965.

The tragedy: Doctor Dumas, in black shirt, pumps Simpson’s chest as he dies on the Ventoux.

The following morning in Carpentras, Simpson’s passing is marked by (left to right) Jacques Goddet, Félix Lévitan, the yellow jersey Roger Pingeon, Barry Hoban, Vin Denson, Colin Lewis and Arthur Metcalfe (partially obscured).

The quick grey fox: Barry Hoban wins his eighth stage, outpacing stars such as Francesco Moser (in white), Bordeaux, 1975.

Hoban the seasoned pro in 1977, his penultimate Tour.

Hoban takes his solo victory in the Alpine stage to Sallanches in 1968, where his winnings included Estelle.

Belgian-Briton Michael Wright celebrates his third Tour stage win in eight years at Aubagne in 1973.

Colin Lewis tackles the Portillon pass in 1967.

A sodden Vin Denson in 1965.

Lean, mean and moody: Robert Millar climbs in the 1986 Tour.

The foreign legion: Paul Sherwen, fresh faced in 1978.

Graham Jones sizes up the next hairpin in 1980.

A bulky, youthful Sean Yates climbs to Crans-Montana in 1984.

Millar attacks in the polka-dot jersey, 1984.

From the back streets to the big time: ANC-Halfords pose in 1986 with Tony Capper.

A year later they finish the Tour’s team time trial, led by Adrian Timmis, with Graham Jones close behind, Malcolm Elliott (far right) and Shane Sutton (second right).

Robert Millar faces another day among the ‘Indians’, Serre Chevalier, 1986.

Yellow jersey and rainbow jersey: Yates leads a youthful Lance Armstrong in 1994.

Chris Boardman on Tour: Speeding to the yellow jersey on the Lotus bike in 1994.

K-o on the road to Cork, 1994.

Mauled at Montgenèvre, 1996.

David Millar outsprints David Extebarria and Michael Boogerd in Beziers, 2002.

Looks enigmatic in the Tour, in 2003.

Mark Cavendish holds his arms aloft as he becomes the first Briton to win on the Champs-Elysées in 2009.

Bradley Wiggins secures a first British win in the Tour de France as he crosses the line to win the final time trial at Chartres in 2012.

Le Tour en Angleterre: Crowds pack the streets in Winchester in 1994. Scenes like these have been repeated each time the Tour has come to Britain.