Eddy Merckx, who had won all five times that he participated, was again the big favourite. Merckx' first part of the season had been going well, winning
Milan–San Remo, the
Tour of Flanders and
Liège–Bastogne–Liège.[4] If Merckx would win again, he would beat
Jacques Anquetil and become the first cyclist to win the Tour six times. Merckx did not care about that record: "The idea doesn't interest me very much because then people would want me to go for a seventh and then an eighth".[4]
A few months before the race, Merckx was unsure if he would start the Tour. His race schedule had been very busy, and he thought to ride the Giro and the Tour in the same year would not work. Merckx preferred to ride the Tour, but his Italian team preferred the Giro.[5] Bernard Thévenet contracted
shingles during the
1975 Vuelta a España, but recovered and won the
Dauphiné Liberé.[2]