1955 Tour de France

1955 Tour de France
Race details
Dates 7–30 July 1955
Stages 22
Distance 4,495 km (2,793 mi)
Winning time 130h 29' 26" (34.446 km/h or 21.404 mph)
Palmares
Winner  Louison Bobet (France) (France)
Second  Jean Brankart (Belgium) (Belgium)
Third  Charly Gaul (Luxembourg) (Luxembourg/Mixed)
Points  Stan Ockers (Belgium) (Belgium)
Mountains  Charly Gaul (Luxembourg) (Luxembourg/Mixed)
Team France

The 1955 Tour de France was the 42nd Tour de France, taking place from 7 to 30 July 1955. It consisted of 22 stages over 4495 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.446 km/h.[1]

The race was won by Louison Bobet, the last of his three consecutive wins.

Changes from the 1954 Tour de France

The 1955 Tour de France was the first Tour de France since the second world war that German cyclists rode the Tour de France.[2]

Also new was the use of the photo finish.[3]

Participants

As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1955 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. Eight national teams were sent, with 10 cyclists each from France, Belgium, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, and a mixed team consisting of Luxembourgian, Austrian, German and Australian cyclists. France additionally sent five regional teams from 10 cyclists each, divided into Center-North East France, West France, South East France, Île-de-France and South West France.[3] [4] In total, 120 cyclists started the race.[3] The mixed team included cyclists from West-Germany, which was the first time since the Second World War that German cyclists were allowed to ride the Tour. The Great Britain team was the first British team in Tour history.[5] Louison Bobet, the winner of the 1953 Tour de France and the 1954 Tour de France, had done an aggressive preparation in the early season before the Tour de France, aiming for his third victory.[6] Bobet was the main favourite, also because he was the world champion.[5]

Race details

The first part of the first stage was won by Miguel Poblet, who became the first Spanish cyclist to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification.[5] The second and third stage saw small groups escaping from the peloton. In both stages, Wout Wagtmans and Antonin Rolland, one of Bobet's team mates, were present. Wagtmans became leader of the general classification, with Rolland in second place.[5]

The first attack that was important for the general classification was in the fourth stage. Rolland was part of a group of nine cyclist, that finished seven minutes before the rest. Rolland was the best-placed cyclist of those nine, and took the lead.[6]

In the seventh stage, Rolland briefly lost that lead, because a group including Wim van Est escaped and took more than seventeen minutes, which was just enough for Van Est to take over the lead. Van Est was sure to lose it in the next stage, which included high mountains.[5]

In that eighth stage, Charly Gaul attacked early in the stage. Gaul was more than 23 minutes behind in the general classification, but got over the mountains quickly and won with 13 minutes, which put him in third place.[6][7] In the ninth stage, Gaul tried to do the same again, and got over the first three mountains alone. But because of a crash on the second mountain he lost time, and did not win the stage; instead he even lost a few minutes.[5] During the eleventh stage, French cyclist Jean Malléjac collapsed and remained unconscious for 15 minutes. The Tour doctor who helped recognized that Malléjac's symptoms were the same as after taking too much amphetamine, and told the team doctors to be more careful with doping.[8] In that stage, Bobet got away on the Mont Ventoux and nobody was able to follow him. He reached the top alone, and from there descended to the finish, 6 minutes ahead of Rolland, who was still the race leader. Bobet jumped to the second place in the general classification.[6]

The next challenge for the general classification were the Pyrénees mountains. In stage 17, Gaul made the pace, and most cyclists could not follow. Bobet could hold on for a long time, but at the finish lost 84 seconds to Gaul. Because Rolland lost more than seven minutes, Bobet took the lead.[6]

In the eighteenth stage, it was again Gaul who attacked. This time, a small group including Bobet could follow him all the way. Rolland finished two minutes later, but was still in second place in the general classification.[9] The time trial in the 21st stage was won by Jean Brankart, who jumped to second place in the general classification. Rolland lost more than nine minutes, and dropped to the fifth place in the general classification.[10]

Bobet remained the leader, and his lead was not challenged in the last stage. Bobet became the first person in the Tour de France to win three Tours in a row.[6]

Stages

Stage results[3][11]
Stage Date Route Terrain Length Winner
1a 7 July Le Havre – Dieppe Plain stage 102 km (63 mi)  Miguel Poblet (ESP)
1b Dieppe – Dieppe Team time trial 12.5 km (8 mi)  Netherlands
2 8 July Dieppe – Roubaix Plain stage 204 km (127 mi)  Antonin Rolland (FRA)
3 9 July Roubaix – Namur Plain stage 210 km (130 mi)  Louison Bobet (FRA)
4 10 July Namur – Metz Plain stage 225 km (140 mi)  Willy Kemp (LUX)
5 11 July Metz – Colmar Plain stage 229 km (142 mi)  Roger Hassenforder (FRA)
6 12 July Colmar – Zürich Plain stage 195 km (121 mi)  André Darrigade (FRA)
7 13 July Zürich – Thonon-les-Bains Plain stage 267 km (166 mi)  Jos Hinsen (NED)
8 14 July Thonon-les-Bains – Briançon Stage with mountain(s) 253 km (157 mi)  Charly Gaul (LUX)
9 15 July Briançon – Monaco Stage with mountain(s) 275 km (171 mi)  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)
10 16 July Monaco – Marseille Plain stage 240 km (149 mi)  Lucien Lazaridès (FRA)
11 18 July Marseille – Avignon Stage with mountain(s) 198 km (123 mi)  Louison Bobet (FRA)
12 19 July Avignon – Millau Stage with mountain(s) 240 km (149 mi)  Alessandro Fantini (ITA)
13 20 July Millau – Albi Plain stage 205 km (127 mi)  Daan de Groot (NED)
14 21 July Albi – Narbonne Stage with mountain(s) 156 km (97 mi)  Louis Caput (FRA)
15 22 July Narbonne – Ax-les-Thermes Plain stage 151 km (94 mi)  Luciano Pezzi (ITA)
16 24 July Ax-les-Thermes – Toulouse Plain stage 123 km (76 mi)  Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
17 25 July Toulouse – Saint-Gaudens Stage with mountain(s) 250 km (155 mi)  Charly Gaul (LUX)
18 26 July Saint-Gaudens – Pau Stage with mountain(s) 205 km (127 mi)  Jean Brankart (BEL)
19 27 July Pau – Bordeaux Plain stage 195 km (121 mi)  Wout Wagtmans (NED)
20 28 July Bordeaux – Poitiers Plain stage 243 km (151 mi)  Jean Forestier (FRA)
21 29 July Châtellerault – Tours Individual time trial 68.6 km (43 mi)  Jean Brankart (BEL)
22 30 July Tours – Paris Plain stage 229 km (142 mi)  Miguel Poblet (ESP)

Classification leadership

Stage General classification
 Points classification
 Mountains classification Team classification
1A  Miguel Poblet (ESP)  Miguel Poblet (ESP) no award Île-de-France
1B  Wout Wagtmans (NED)  Italy
2  Wout Wagtmans (NED) Île-de-France
3  Belgium
4  Antonin Rolland (FRA)  France
5  Vincent Vitetta (FRA)
6
7  Wim van Est (NED)
8  Antonin Rolland (FRA)  Charly Gaul (LUX)
9  Miguel Poblet (ESP)
10  Wout Wagtmans (NED)
11
12
13  Wim van Est (NED)
14
15  Stan Ockers (BEL)
16
17  Louison Bobet (FRA)
18
19
20
21
22
Final  Louison Bobet (FRA)  Stan Ockers (BEL)  Charly Gaul (LUX)  France

Results

General classification

The time that each cyclist required to finish each stage was recorded, and these times were added together for the general classification. If a cyclist had received a time bonus, it was subtracted from this total; all time penalties were added to this total. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey.

Final general classification (1–10)[3]
RankRiderTeamTime
1  Louison Bobet (FRA) France 130h 29' 26"
2  Jean Brankart (BEL) Belgium +4' 53"
3  Charly Gaul (LUX) Luxembourg/Mixed +11' 30"
4  Pasquale Fornara (ITA) Italy +12' 44"
5  Antonin Rolland (FRA) France +13' 18"
6  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA) France +15' 01"
7  Giancarlo Astrua (ITA) Italy +18' 13"
8  Stan Ockers (BEL) Belgium +27' 13"
9  Alex Close (BEL) Belgium +31' 10"
10  François Mahé (FRA) France +36' 27"

Points classification

The points classification was calculated in the same way as in 1954, following the calculation method from the Tours de France from 1905 to 1912. Points were given according to the ranking of the stage: the winner received one points, the next cyclist two points, and so on. These points were added, and the cyclist with the least points was the leader of the points classification. In 1955, this was won by Stan Ockers.[3]

Final points classification (1–10)[12]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1  Stan Ockers (BEL) Belgium 322
2  Wout Wagtmans (NED) Netherlands 399
3  Miguel Poblet (ESP) Spain 409
4  Wim van Est (NED) Netherlands 415
5  Gilbert Bauvin (FRA) North East/Center France 483
6  Antonin Rolland (FRA) France 503
7  Alfred De Bruyne (BEL) Belgium 563
8  Alessandro Fantini (ITA) Italy 573.5
9  Bruno Monti (ITA) Italy 638.5
10  Raymond Impanis (BEL) Belgium 652.5

Mountains classification

Points for the mountains classification were earned by reaching the mountain tops first. The system was almost the same as in 1954: there were two types of mountain tops: the hardest ones, in category 1, gave 10 points to the first cyclist, the easier ones, in category 2, gave 6 points to the first cyclist, and the easiest ones, in category 3, gave 3 points. Charly Gaul won this classification.[3]

Final mountains classification (1–10)[4][12]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1  Charly Gaul (LUX) Luxembourg/Mixed 84
2  Louison Bobet (FRA) France 70
3  Jean Brankart (BEL) Belgium 44
4  Antonio Gelabert (ESP) Spain 31
5  Giancarlo Astrua (ITA) Italy 30
6  Jesús Loroño (ESP) Spain 28
7  Jan Nolten (NED) Netherlands 24
7  Pasquale Fornara (ITA) Italy 24
9  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA) France 23
10  Gilbert Scodeller (FRA) North East/Center France 18

Team classification

The team classification was calculated as the sum of the daily team classifications, and the daily team classification was calculated by adding the times in the stage result of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the French team.

Final team classification[12]
RankTeamTime
1 France 389h 10' 14"
2 Italy +47' 33"
3 Belgium +1h 54' 07"
4 Netherlands +3h 11' 42"
5 North East/Center France +3h 46' 48"
6 Spain +4h 35' 38"
7 South East France +5h 57' 07"
8 West France +6h 06' 55"
9 Switzerland +6h 45' 13"
10 Luxembourg/Mixed +6h 49' 08"
11 Île-de-France +7h 09' 08"

The British team and the regional South West France team finished with only two cyclists, so they were not eligible for the team classification.

Combativity classification

In every stage, a jury gave points for the most combative cyclist. These votes were added in the combativity classification. At the end of the Tour de France, Charly Gaul won the classification.[1]

Final combativity classification (1–5)[13]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1  Charly Gaul (LUX) Luxembourg/Mixed 256
2  Louison Bobet (FRA) France 220
3  Roger Hassenforder (FRA) North East/Center France 114
4  Jean Brankart (BEL) Belgium 112
5  Jean Stablinski (FRA) North East/Center France 107

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Augendre, Jacques (2009). "Guide Historique (part 6)" (PDF) (in French). Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 2009-10-03. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  2. ↑ Augendre, Jacques (2009). "Guide Historique (part 3)" (PDF) (in French). Amaury Sport Organisation. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "42ème Tour de France 1955" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Tour-Giro-Vuelta". www.tour-giro-vuelta.net. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2006). The Story of the Tour De France. dog ear publishing. pp. 207–212. ISBN 978-1-59858-180-5. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Boyce, Barry (2004). "Bobet Times Three". Cyclingrevealed. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  7. ↑ "42ème Tour de France 1955 - 8ème étape" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  8. ↑ Dimeo, Paul (2007). A history of drug use in sport 1876-1976: beyond good and evil. Routledge. p. 59. ISBN 0-415-35772-1.
  9. ↑ "42ème Tour de France 1955 - 17ème étape" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  10. ↑ "42ème Tour de France 1955 - 21ème étape" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  11. ↑ Zwegers, Arian. "Tour de France GC Top Ten". CVCC. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "1955: 42e editie". Tourdefrance.nl. 30 December 2003. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  13. ↑ "Klassementen" (in Dutch). Leeuwarder Courant. 1 August 1955. Retrieved 16 December 2009.