<Tr> <Td> 13 (1994--2006) </Td> <Td> 07 (1995, 1997, 2000--2001, 2003, 2005--2006) </Td> <Td> Didier Rous </Td> <Td> France </Td> </Tr> <P> In the early years of the Tour, cyclists rode individually, and were sometimes forbidden to ride together . This led to large gaps between the winner and the number two . Since the cyclists now tend to stay together in a peloton, the margins of the winner have become smaller, as the difference usually originates from time trials, breakaways or on mountain top finishes, or from being left behind the peloton . In the table below, the eight smallest margins between the winner and the second placed cyclists at the end of the Tour are given . The largest margin, by comparison, remains that of the first Tour in 1903: 2h 49m 45s between Maurice Garin and Lucien Pothier . The nine smallest margins between first and second placed riders are as follows: </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Winning margin </Th> <Th> Year </Th> <Th> Opponents </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 8" </Td> <Td> 1989 </Td> <Td> Greg LeMond--Laurent Fignon </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 23" </Td> <Td> 2007 </Td> <Td> Alberto Contador--Cadel Evans </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 32" </Td> <Td> 2006 </Td> <Td> Óscar Pereiro--Andreas Klöden </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 38" </Td> <Td> 1968 </Td> <Td> Jan Janssen--Herman Van Springel </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 40" </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Stephen Roche--Pedro Delgado </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 48" </Td> <Td> 1977 </Td> <Td> Bernard Thévenet--Hennie Kuiper </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 54" </Td> <Td> 2017 </Td> <Td> Chris Froome--Rigoberto Urán </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 55" </Td> <Td> 1964 </Td> <Td> Jacques Anquetil--Raymond Poulidor </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 58" </Td> <Td> 2008 </Td> <Td> Carlos Sastre--Cadel Evans </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Winning margin </Th> <Th> Year </Th> <Th> Opponents </Th> </Tr>

What was the smallest winning margin in the tour de france