1955 Tour of Flanders

39th Tour of Flanders

Louison Bobet, the first French winner of the Tour of Flanders
Race details
Dates	27 March 1955
Stages	1
Distance	263 km (163.4 mi)
Winning time	7h 27'
Results
Winner  Louison Bobet (FRA) (Bobet–BP–Hutchinson)   Second  Hugo Koblet (SUI) (Faema–Guerra)   Third  Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL) (Elvé–Peugeot)

The 39th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling classic was held on Sunday, 27 March 1955. French rider Louison Bobet won the race in a three-man sprint with Hugo Koblet and Rik Van Steenbergen.^[1] 47 of 203 riders finished.^[2]

Race Report

Rik Van Steenbergen was in an early breakaway with 12 riders and was first on the Kluisberg and Kruisberg. In Geraardsbergen, just after the peloton caught the group, Van Steenbergen, Louison Bobet, Bernard Gauthier and Hugo Koblet broke away on the steep Kloosterstraat. Gauthier did most of the work in the four-man group for his team leader Bobet. Van Steenbergen, favourite to win in the sprint, paid his earlier efforts and was beaten by Bobet and Koblet. Louison Bobet, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, secured the first ever victory for a French rider in the Tour of Flanders.^[1]

Route

The race started in Ghent and finished in Wetteren – totaling 263 km. The course featured four categorized climbs:^[1]

• Kluisberg
• Kruisberg
• Edelareberg
• Kloosterstraat (Geraardsbergen)

Results

Result

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Louison Bobet (FRA)	Bobet–BP–Hutchinson	7h 27' 00"
2	Hugo Koblet (SUI)	Faema–Guerra	s.t.
3	Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)	Libertas	s.t.
4	Bernard Gauthier (FRA)	Mercier–Hutchinson	+ 5"
5	Karel De Baere (BEL)	Mercier–Hutchinson	+ 22"
6	Jean Bellay (FRA)	Mercier–Hutchinson	s.t.
7	Roger Decock (BEL)	Van Hauwaert–Maes Pils	+ 28"
8	Marcel Rijckaert (BEL)	Tebag	+ 33"
9	Germain Derijcke (BEL)	Alcyon–Dunlop	s.t.
10	Lode Anthonis (BEL)	L'Avenir	s.t.

References