1956 Tour de France

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Final Standings
Overall	Roger Walkowiak	124h 01' 16"
Second	Gilbert Bauvin	+1' 25"
Third	Jan Adriaensens	+3' 44"
Points	Stan Ockers	280 points
Second	Fernand Picot	464 points
Third	Gerrit Voorting	465 points
Climber	Charly Gaul	71 points
Second	Federico Bahamontes	67 points
Third	Valentin Huot	65 points
Teams	Belgique
Second
Third

The 1956 Tour de France was the 43rd Tour de France, taking place July 5 to July 28, 1956. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4498 km, with riders averaging 36.268 km/h.

There was no previous Tour winner competing for the 1956 title, which had only previously happened in 1903 and 1927. An unknown rider from a regional national team, Roger Walkowiak on the Northeast-Center French team, ended up taking the title. Many Tour fans dismissed the win as being lucky or unworthy at the time, which Walkowiak took hard and did not often speak of his win.

Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault praised his win saying: There are people who say that Walkowiak should not have won the Tour. They should have been on that Tour! He took the jersey, he lost it and he regained it. He was not a thief. The Tour is not a gift.^[1] The Tour was ridden at the fastest average speed to date, over 36 km/h. Walkowiak also became only the second rider, after Firmin Lambot in the 1922 Tour de France, to win without taking a single stage.

[edit] Results

[edit] General classification

Rank	Name	Country	Team	Time
1	Roger Walkowiak	France	Northeast-Center	124h 01' 16"
2	Gilbert Bauvin	France		1' 25"
3	Jan Adriaensens	Belgium		3' 44"
4	Federico Bahamontes	Spain		10' 14"
5	Nino Defilippis	Italy		10' 25"
6	Wout Wagtmans	Belgium		10' 59"
7	Nello Lauredi	France		14' 01"
8	Stan Ockers	Belgium		16' 52"
9	René Privat	France		22' 59"
10	Antonio Barbosa	Portugal		26' 03"
11	Gerrit Voorting	Netherlands		27' 16"
12	Jean Forestier	France		30' 15"
13	Charly Gaul	Luxembourg		32' 14"
14	Brian Robinson	United Kingdom		33' 54"
15	Daan De Groot	Netherlands		38' 40"
16	André Darrigade	France		39' 51"
17	Alex Close	Belgium		41' 47"
18	Fernand Picot	France		42' 28"
19	Jean Dotto	France		47' 19"
20	Alfred De Bruyne	Belgium		49' 53"
21	Gilbert Desmet	Belgium		50' 56"
22	Gastone Nencini	Italy		54' 56"
23	Bruno Monti	Italy		56' 58"
24	Pasquale Fornara	Italy		59' 58"
25	Maurice Quentin	France		1h 03' 53"
26	Arrigo Padovan	Italy		1h 07' 25"
27	Agostino Coletto	Italy		1h 09' 13"
28	Jan Nolten	Netherlands		1h 09' 27"
29	Jesus Loroño	Spain		1h 22' 24"
30	Leo Van der Pluym	Netherlands		1h 24' 10"
31	Pierre Beuffeuil	France		1h 24' 58"
32	Marcel Janssens	Belgium		1h 25' 15"
33	Raymond Impanis	Belgium		1h 25' 59"
34	Jean Malléjac	France		1h 26' 32"
35	Antonin Rolland	France		1h 29' 52"
36	Jean-Pierre Schmitz	Luxembourg		1h 32' 57"
37	Joseph Thomin	France		1h 34' 02"
38	Nicolas Barone	France		1h 39' 57"
39	Jean Brankart	Belgium		1h 41' 06"
40	Raymond Hoorelbeke	France		1h 43' 41"
41	Angelo Conterno	Italy		1h 45' 55"
42	Pietro Giudici	Italy		1h 46' 58"
43	Mario Bertolo	Italy		1h 48' 51"
44	Francis Siguenza	France		1h 49' 25"
45	Richard Van Genechten	Belgium		1h 51' 32"
46	Pierre Barbotin	France		1h 53' 38"
47	Max Schellenberg	Switzerland		1h 55' 40"
48	Alessandro Fantini	Italy		1h 57' 20"
49	Raphaël Geminiani	France		1h 57' 32"
50	Roger Hassenforder	France		1h 59' 20"
51	Marcel Ernzer	Luxembourg		2h 06' 19"
52	Pierre Scribante	France		2h 10' 24"
53	Vincent Vitteta	France		2h 11' 01"
54	Louis Bergaud	France		2h 16' 36"
55	Pierino Baffi	Italy		2h 17' 54"
56	Louis Caput	France		2h 20' 53"
57	Jean Lerda	France		2h 22' 47"
58	René Marigil	Spain		2h 23' 57"
59	Claude Le Ber	France		2h 29' 28"
60	Jean-Claude Gret	Switzerland		2h 29' 56"
61	Valentin Huot	France		2h 30' 45"
62	Remo Pianezzi	Switzerland		2h 31' 07"
63	Joseph Morvan	France		2h 32' 40"
64	Claude Frei	Switzerland		2h 34' 09"
65	Salvador Botella	Spain		2h 34' 28"
66	Alfred Tonello	France		2h 38' 49"
67	Maurice Lampre	France		2h 47' 30"
68	Nicolas Morn	Luxembourg		2h 47' 37"
69	Raymond Meyzencq	France		2h 48' 08"
70	Bernardo Ruiz	Spain		2h 50' 24"
71	Adolphe Deledda	France		2h 52' 37"
72	Jean Skerl	France		2h 55' 51"
73	Robert Gibanel	France		2h 57' 18"
74	Miguel Bover	Spain		2h 59' 16"
75	Joseph Mirando	France		3h 02' 03"
76	Amand Audaire	France		3h 03' 33"
77	Carmelo Morales	Spain		3h 05' 19"
78	Albert Dolhats	France		3h 07' 01"
79	Marcel Guitard	France		3h 09' 12"
80	Camille Huyghe	France		3h 11' 07"
81	Jose Serra	Spain		3h 16' 56"
82	Roger Chupin	France		3h 19' 07"
83	Willy Kemp	Luxembourg		3h 23' 06"
84	Tino Sabbadini	France		3h 38' 29"
85	Philippe Agut	France		3h 52' 47"
86	Jef Lahaye	Netherlands		4h 02' 22"
87	Werner Arnold	Switzerland		4h 07' 53"
88	Roger Chaussabel	France		4h 10' 18"