Career
The race was held in July and had 18 stages. The women"s tour ran the same time as the men"s and finished 2-3 hours before the men each day. Martin suffered from anemia earlier in the year and had been riding poorly, but she took the lead in the 14th stage when they encountered the climbs.
Martin was a good climber and never gave up the lead after that into Paris.
The streets were said to contain more two million spectators watching the race. Martin, along with runners up Heleen Hage (Dutch) and Deborah Shumway (American), stood on the podium that had been erected on the Champs Elysees for Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond.