1950 Tour de France
Encyclopedia
The 1950 Tour de France was the 37th Tour de France
, taking place from 13 July to 7 August 1950. It consisted of 22 stages over 4775 km, ridden at an average speed of 32.788 km/h.
Gino Bartali, captain of the Italian team, threatened and assaulted by some French supporters accusing him to have caused Jean Robic's fall on the Col d'Aspin, retired after winning the 12th stage from Pau to Saint-Gaudens and left the race together with all the other Italian riders (including Fiorenzo Magni, who was wearing the yellow jersey). The lead transferred to Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kübler, who was able to keep the lead until the end of the race. Kübler became the first Swiss winner of the Tour de France.
The mountains classification was won by Louison Bobet
, while the Belgian team won the team classification.
Algerian-French cyclist Abdel-Kader Zaaf became famous in this Tour de France by being so disoriented that he rode in the wrong direction.
In 1949, the French tv had reported every evening about the Tour de France, and in 1950, live coverage of every stage was given.
The time cut-offs, the maximum time a cyclist was allowed to finish a stage, was reduced.
In the previous years, the Tour de France had been decided in the mountains. The organisation wanted the other aspects of the race to be more important, so some mountains were not visited in 1950, and the time bonification for cyclists that reached mountain tops first was reduced. from 1 minute in 1949 to 40 seconds in 1950.
The riders had sometimes been helped by team assistants who gave the cyclist drinks, by pushing the cyclists. In 1950, the Tour organisation paid extra care for this, and penalized the cyclists if it happened.
The prize for winning a stage was increased from 30.000 French Francs to 50.000 French Francs.
, the 1950 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. The three major cycling countries in 1950, Italy, Belgium and France, each sent a team of 10 cyclists. Other countries sent teams of 6 cyclists: Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Italy and Belgium also sent two extra teams of young riders of 6 cyclists each.
The French regional cyclists were divided into five teams of 10 cyclists: Paris, Ile de France–North East, West, Centre–South West and South East. Originally, the plan was to have one extra international team of six cyclists with Spanish cyclists, but this extra team became a North African team, with Moroccan and Algerian cyclists, both being French colonies at the time. Altogether this made 116 cyclists.
There were 60 French cyclists (of which 2 French-Morrocan and 4 French-Algerian), 22 Italian, 16 Belgian, 6 Dutch, 6 Luxembourg and 6 Swiss cyclists.
The winner of the previous Tour de France, Fausto Coppi
, was injured during the 1950 Giro d'Italia
, so he could not defend his title. Still the Italians were favourites, especially Gino Bartali
, who had come second in the 1950 Giro d'Italia behind Hugo Koblet
, who did not enter the 1950 Tour de France. Other candidates for the victory were Bobet, Kübler, Ockers and Geminiani. Two days before the Tour started, the organisation held a poll amongst 25 journalists, who each gave their eight favourites for the victory. Bartali was on the most lists, 23. Robic was written on 20 lists, Lauredi on 19, Bobet and Goldschmidt on 17.
On the first day of the race, before the Tour had started, French cyclist Charles Coste was replaced by Paul Giguet.
. Things started well for the Italian team, as they won five of the first ten stages, although the yellow jersey for the leader of the general classification was exchanged between Luxembourgian Jean Goldschmit and French Bernard Gauthier.
The sixth stage was won by Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kübler. During the race, Kübler had changed jerseys, which gave him 25 seconds penalty time.
In the eleventh stage, the first mountain stage of the race, Gino Bartali
was away together with French Jean Robic
. There was a lot of crowd, and they pressed forward to see the cyclist coming. This caused Bartali to fall down during the descent of the Col d'Aspin
, and this caused Robic to also fall down. Bartali got up and won the stage, but felt threatened by spectators, who punched and kicked him. One spectator had threatened Bartali with a knife. Bartali told his team manager Alfredo Binda
that he was leaving the Tour de France, and that all Italian cyclists should abandon the race. Not all Italian cyclists wanted to leave: the members from the second Italian team (the Italian Cadets) and Adolfo Leoni wanted to stay. Some Italian cyclists said they wanted to stay in the race to help Magni defend the leading position. Magni felt bad about giving up the chance to win the Tour de France, but accepted the decision. The Tour organisation wanted to keep the Italian cyclists in the race, and among other compromises offered to give them neutral gray jerseys, so the spectators would not recognize them. None of this helped, and both Italian teams left the race. As a consequence, the fifteenth stage, that was originally scheduled to end in Italy (Sanremo
), was rescheduled to end in Menton.
At that moment, the general classification was as follows:
With Magni out of the race, Swiss Ferdi Kübler became the new leader of the general classification, closely followed by Bobet and Geminiani. Out of respect for Magni, Kübler did not wear the yellow jersey (indicating the leader in the general classification) in the 12th stage.
In the twelfth stage, all the favourites finished together. That stage was won by Belgian Maurice Blomme
, but not without difficulties: he was so exhausted that he mistook a dark shadow for the finish line, and stopped racing. The secretary of the Tour de France, Jean Garnault, had to put him back on his bicycle so he would ride the last meters of the stage.
In that stage thirteen, the temperature was extremely high. Two riders from the North African team, Marcel Molinès
and Abdel-Kader Zaaf, broke away after 15 kilometers, and created a large gap, also because the other cyclists were more occupied with getting drinks. Some 20 kilometers from the finish, Zaaf started to zigzag across the road. A safety official pulled him from the race, afraid for his safety, and Molinès rode through alone. Zaaf did not agree with the safety official, and mounted his bicycle again. He quickly fell off his bicycle and fell asleep, and spectators moved him into the shade of a tree. When he woke up, he realized that he was in a race, got on his bicycle again and rode away, but going into the wrong direction. An ambulance was called, and Zaaf was taken away. Zaaf claimed that he had received wine from a spectator, and as a Muslim he was not used to the alcohol. Behind the two North-African cyclists, Kübler had attacked, and left his rivals Raphaël Géminiani
and Louison Bobet
minutes behind. Of the favourites, only Ockers managed to stay with Kübler.
In stage fifteen, it was still hot, and the riders were not motivated to race. They stopped during the race to cool down in the Mediterranean Sea
, but were quickly ordered by Jacques Goddet
to continue the race. The journalists that followed the race reported on this in a humorous way, and the organisation therefore fined them.
In the sixteenth stage, Ockers and Bobet finished shortly after Kübler. The Tour de France jury said Bobet came in second, and gave him the 30 seconds bonification time, but the Belgian team manager Sylvère Maes
protested against this decision, because he argued that Ockers came in second. Maes threatened to take the Belgian team out of the race, but the Tour direction did not change their decision. In the end, the Belgian team stayed in the race.
Second placed rider in the general classification, Ockers was unable to win back time in later stages, so Kübler stayed in the lead for the rest of the race, and became the first Swiss winner of the Tour de France.
Kübler's victory is seen as partially his own accomplishment, but also partially due to the absence of Fausto Coppi and the withdrawal of the Italian teams. According to Kübler, it became more difficult to win the race after the Italians had left the race, because the attention was no longer focussed on the Italians, but on Kübler. Kübler felt that he would have been able to win the 1950 Tour de France if the Italians would have not abandoned, because he was the best in the time trials.
Of the 116 cyclists that started the 1959 Tour de France, 51 finished the race.
was calculated by adding the times in the general classification of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the Belgian team, with a large margin over the French team.
Of the other four teams that started, the two Italian teams had abandoned the race, and the North African team finished with only two riders and the Dutch team with only one rider, therefore they were ineligible for the team classification.
s, until he left two years later to Algeria. Kübler did not enter the next three Tours de France, but when he returned in 1954
, he finished in second place, and won the green jersey for the points classification
.
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
, taking place from 13 July to 7 August 1950. It consisted of 22 stages over 4775 km, ridden at an average speed of 32.788 km/h.
Gino Bartali, captain of the Italian team, threatened and assaulted by some French supporters accusing him to have caused Jean Robic's fall on the Col d'Aspin, retired after winning the 12th stage from Pau to Saint-Gaudens and left the race together with all the other Italian riders (including Fiorenzo Magni, who was wearing the yellow jersey). The lead transferred to Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kübler, who was able to keep the lead until the end of the race. Kübler became the first Swiss winner of the Tour de France.
The mountains classification was won by Louison Bobet
Louison Bobet
Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...
, while the Belgian team won the team classification.
Algerian-French cyclist Abdel-Kader Zaaf became famous in this Tour de France by being so disoriented that he rode in the wrong direction.
Changes from the 1949 Tour de France
The "interest" for the yellow jersey (the prize money for the leader of the general classification after each stage) was increased to 100.000 French Francs.In 1949, the French tv had reported every evening about the Tour de France, and in 1950, live coverage of every stage was given.
The time cut-offs, the maximum time a cyclist was allowed to finish a stage, was reduced.
In the previous years, the Tour de France had been decided in the mountains. The organisation wanted the other aspects of the race to be more important, so some mountains were not visited in 1950, and the time bonification for cyclists that reached mountain tops first was reduced. from 1 minute in 1949 to 40 seconds in 1950.
The riders had sometimes been helped by team assistants who gave the cyclist drinks, by pushing the cyclists. In 1950, the Tour organisation paid extra care for this, and penalized the cyclists if it happened.
The prize for winning a stage was increased from 30.000 French Francs to 50.000 French Francs.
Participants
As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France1930 Tour de France
The 1930 Tour de France was the 24th Tour de France, taking place from 2 to 27 July 1930. It consisted of 21 stages over 4,822 km, ridden at an average speed of 28.000 km/h....
, the 1950 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. The three major cycling countries in 1950, Italy, Belgium and France, each sent a team of 10 cyclists. Other countries sent teams of 6 cyclists: Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Italy and Belgium also sent two extra teams of young riders of 6 cyclists each.
The French regional cyclists were divided into five teams of 10 cyclists: Paris, Ile de France–North East, West, Centre–South West and South East. Originally, the plan was to have one extra international team of six cyclists with Spanish cyclists, but this extra team became a North African team, with Moroccan and Algerian cyclists, both being French colonies at the time. Altogether this made 116 cyclists.
There were 60 French cyclists (of which 2 French-Morrocan and 4 French-Algerian), 22 Italian, 16 Belgian, 6 Dutch, 6 Luxembourg and 6 Swiss cyclists.
The winner of the previous Tour de France, Fausto Coppi
Fausto Coppi
Angelo Fausto Coppi, , was the dominant international cyclist of the years each side of the Second World War. His successes earned him the title Il Campionissimo, or champion of champions...
, was injured during the 1950 Giro d'Italia
1950 Giro d'Italia
The 1950 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 24 May to 13 June 1950, consisting of 18 stages. It was won by the Swiss Hugo Koblet, first non-Italian cyclist to win the general classification of the Giro.- Final classment:- Maglia rosa holders:...
, so he could not defend his title. Still the Italians were favourites, especially Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice and the Tour de France in 1938...
, who had come second in the 1950 Giro d'Italia behind Hugo Koblet
Hugo Koblet
Hugo Koblet was a Swiss champion cyclist. He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a professional...
, who did not enter the 1950 Tour de France. Other candidates for the victory were Bobet, Kübler, Ockers and Geminiani. Two days before the Tour started, the organisation held a poll amongst 25 journalists, who each gave their eight favourites for the victory. Bartali was on the most lists, 23. Robic was written on 20 lists, Lauredi on 19, Bobet and Goldschmidt on 17.
On the first day of the race, before the Tour had started, French cyclist Charles Coste was replaced by Paul Giguet.
Race details
The start of the 1950 Tour de France was given on 13 July by Orson WellesOrson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. Things started well for the Italian team, as they won five of the first ten stages, although the yellow jersey for the leader of the general classification was exchanged between Luxembourgian Jean Goldschmit and French Bernard Gauthier.
The sixth stage was won by Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kübler. During the race, Kübler had changed jerseys, which gave him 25 seconds penalty time.
In the eleventh stage, the first mountain stage of the race, Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice and the Tour de France in 1938...
was away together with French Jean Robic
Jean Robic
Jean Robic was a French road racing cyclist, who won the 1947 Tour de France. Robic was a professional cyclist from 1943 to 1961. His diminutive stature and appearance was encapsulated in the nickname the hobgoblin of the Brittany moor...
. There was a lot of crowd, and they pressed forward to see the cyclist coming. This caused Bartali to fall down during the descent of the Col d'Aspin
Col d'Aspin
Col d'Aspin is a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France.It connects Sainte-Marie-de-Campan and Arreau.-Tour de France:...
, and this caused Robic to also fall down. Bartali got up and won the stage, but felt threatened by spectators, who punched and kicked him. One spectator had threatened Bartali with a knife. Bartali told his team manager Alfredo Binda
Alfredo Binda
Alfredo Binda was an Italian cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s, later trainer of Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. Binda was the first multiple Giro d'Italia champion, securing five victories between 1925 and 1933 that redefined the way stage races were ridden...
that he was leaving the Tour de France, and that all Italian cyclists should abandon the race. Not all Italian cyclists wanted to leave: the members from the second Italian team (the Italian Cadets) and Adolfo Leoni wanted to stay. Some Italian cyclists said they wanted to stay in the race to help Magni defend the leading position. Magni felt bad about giving up the chance to win the Tour de France, but accepted the decision. The Tour organisation wanted to keep the Italian cyclists in the race, and among other compromises offered to give them neutral gray jerseys, so the spectators would not recognize them. None of this helped, and both Italian teams left the race. As a consequence, the fifteenth stage, that was originally scheduled to end in Italy (Sanremo
Sanremo
Sanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival...
), was rescheduled to end in Menton.
At that moment, the general classification was as follows:
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Italy | 73h 23' 11" |
| 2 | Switzerland | +2' 31" | |
| 3 | France | +3' 20" | |
| 4 | France | +3' 25" | |
| 5 | Belgium | +3' 37" | |
| 6 | Italy | +4' 17" |
With Magni out of the race, Swiss Ferdi Kübler became the new leader of the general classification, closely followed by Bobet and Geminiani. Out of respect for Magni, Kübler did not wear the yellow jersey (indicating the leader in the general classification) in the 12th stage.
In the twelfth stage, all the favourites finished together. That stage was won by Belgian Maurice Blomme
Maurice Blomme
Maurice Blomme was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1950, Blomme was the winner of the 12th stage of the 1950 Tour de France.-Palmarès:19471949...
, but not without difficulties: he was so exhausted that he mistook a dark shadow for the finish line, and stopped racing. The secretary of the Tour de France, Jean Garnault, had to put him back on his bicycle so he would ride the last meters of the stage.
In that stage thirteen, the temperature was extremely high. Two riders from the North African team, Marcel Molinès
Marcel Molines
Marcel Molinès is a former professional racing cyclist. Molinès is the first cyclist born in African to win a stage of the Tour de France....
and Abdel-Kader Zaaf, broke away after 15 kilometers, and created a large gap, also because the other cyclists were more occupied with getting drinks. Some 20 kilometers from the finish, Zaaf started to zigzag across the road. A safety official pulled him from the race, afraid for his safety, and Molinès rode through alone. Zaaf did not agree with the safety official, and mounted his bicycle again. He quickly fell off his bicycle and fell asleep, and spectators moved him into the shade of a tree. When he woke up, he realized that he was in a race, got on his bicycle again and rode away, but going into the wrong direction. An ambulance was called, and Zaaf was taken away. Zaaf claimed that he had received wine from a spectator, and as a Muslim he was not used to the alcohol. Behind the two North-African cyclists, Kübler had attacked, and left his rivals Raphaël Géminiani
Raphael Geminiani
Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...
and Louison Bobet
Louison Bobet
Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...
minutes behind. Of the favourites, only Ockers managed to stay with Kübler.
In stage fifteen, it was still hot, and the riders were not motivated to race. They stopped during the race to cool down in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, but were quickly ordered by Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986....
to continue the race. The journalists that followed the race reported on this in a humorous way, and the organisation therefore fined them.
In the sixteenth stage, Ockers and Bobet finished shortly after Kübler. The Tour de France jury said Bobet came in second, and gave him the 30 seconds bonification time, but the Belgian team manager Sylvère Maes
Sylvère Maes
Sylvère Maes was a Belgian cyclist, who is most famous for winning the Tour de France in 1936 and 1939.- Palmarès :1932...
protested against this decision, because he argued that Ockers came in second. Maes threatened to take the Belgian team out of the race, but the Tour direction did not change their decision. In the end, the Belgian team stayed in the race.
Second placed rider in the general classification, Ockers was unable to win back time in later stages, so Kübler stayed in the lead for the rest of the race, and became the first Swiss winner of the Tour de France.
Kübler's victory is seen as partially his own accomplishment, but also partially due to the absence of Fausto Coppi and the withdrawal of the Italian teams. According to Kübler, it became more difficult to win the race after the Italians had left the race, because the attention was no longer focussed on the Italians, but on Kübler. Kübler felt that he would have been able to win the 1950 Tour de France if the Italians would have not abandoned, because he was the best in the time trials.
Stages
| Stage | Date | Route | Terrain | Length | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 July | Paris – Metz Metz Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place... |
 |
307 km (191 mi) | |
| 2 | 14 July | Metz – Liège Liège Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium.... |
|
241 km (150 mi) | |
| 3 | 15 July | Liège – Lille Lille Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium... |
|
232.5 km (144 mi) | |
| 4 | 16 July | Lille – Rouen Rouen Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages... |
|
231 km (144 mi) | |
| 5 | 17 July | Rouen – Dinard Dinard Dinard is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in north-western France.Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a popular holiday destination, and this has resulted in the town having a variety of famous visitors and residents... |
|
316 km (196 mi) | |
| 6 | 19 July | Dinard – St. Brieuc |  Individual time trial An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials... |
78 km (48 mi) | |
| 7 | 20 July | St. Brieuc – Angers Angers Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins.... |
|
248 km (154 mi) | |
| 8 | 21 July | Angers – Niort Niort Niort is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.The Latin name of the city was Novioritum.The population of Niort is 60,486 and more than 137,000 people live in the urban area.... |
|
181 km (112 mi) | |
| 9 | 22 July | Niort – Bordeaux Bordeaux Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture... |
|
206 km (128 mi) | |
| 10 | 23 July | Bordeax – Pau | |
202 km (126 mi) | |
| 11 | 25 July | Pau – St. Gaudens |  |
230 km (143 mi) | |
| 12 | 26 July | St. Gaudens – Perpignan Perpignan -Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the... |
|
233 km (145 mi) | |
| 13 | 27 July | Perpignan – Nîmes Nîmes Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:... |
|
215 km (134 mi) | |
| 14 | 28 July | Nîmes – Toulon Toulon Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence.... |
|
222 km (138 mi) | |
| 15 | 29 July | Toulon – Menton Menton Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed la perle de la France .... The 15th stage was originally scheduled to end in Sanremo Sanremo Sanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival... , but after the Italian teams left the race, the route was changed to avoid entering Italy. |
|
205.5 km (128 mi) | |
| 16 | 30 July | Menton – Nice Nice Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of... |
|
96 km (60 mi) | |
| 17 | 1 August | Nice – Gap Gap, Hautes-Alpes Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River... |
|
229 km (142 mi) | |
| 18 | 2 August | Gap – Briançon Briançon Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.... |
|
165 km (103 mi) | |
| 19 | 3 August | Briançon – St. Etienne | |
291 km (181 mi) | |
| 20 | 5 August | St. Etienne – Lyon Lyon Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais.... |
Individual time trial An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials... with mountains |
98 km (61 mi) | |
| 21 | 6 August | Lyon – Dijon Dijon Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area.... |
|
233 km (145 mi) | |
| 22 | 7 August | Dijon – Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... |
|
314 km (195 mi) |
Classification leadership
| Stage | General classification |
Mountains classification | Team classification Team classification The team classification is a prize given in the Tour de France to the best team in the race. It has been awarded since 1930, and the calculation has changed throughout the years.-Calculation:... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | no award | ||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | South East | ||
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | |||
| 7 | South East | ||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 13 | |||
| 14 | |||
| 15 | |||
| 16 | |||
| 17 | |||
| 18 | |||
| 19 | |||
| 20 | |||
| 21 | |||
| 22 | |||
| Final |
General classification
The total prize money in the 1950 Tour de France was 14 million French Francs; 1 million French Francs were for the winner of the general classification.Of the 116 cyclists that started the 1959 Tour de France, 51 finished the race.
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ' |
Switzerland | 145h 36' 56" |
| 2 | Belgium | +9' 30" | |
| 3 | France | +22' 19" | |
| 4 | France | +31' 14" | |
| 5 | Luxembourg | +34' 21" | |
| 6 | Ile de France–North East | +41' 35" | |
| 7 | Center–South West | +52' 22" | |
| 8 | Belgium | +53' 34" | |
| 9 | Center–South West | +54' 29" | |
| 10 | Luxembourg | +55' 21" | |
| Final general classification (11–51) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
| 11 | South East | +57' 14" | |
| 12 | West | +59' 45" | |
| 13 | Belgium | +1h 00' 29" | |
| 14 | Ile de France–North East | +1h 05' 29" | |
| 15 | Belgian Aiglons | +1h 05' 50" | |
| 16 | Belgian Aiglons | +1h 11' 38" | |
| 17 | South East | +1h 13' 29" | |
| 18 | Luxembourg | +1h 14' 56" | |
| 19 | South East | +1h 25' 12" | |
| 20 | Ile de France–North East | +1h 28' 57" | |
| 21 | Luxembourg | +1h 37' 53" | |
| 22 | Belgium | +1h 46' 51" | |
| 23 | Belgian Aiglons | +1h 47' 39" | |
| 24 | France | +1h 48' 05" | |
| 25 | Belgium | +1h 59' 19" | |
| 26 | North Africa | +1h 59' 58" | |
| 27 | Netherlands | +2h 01' 40" | |
| 28 | France | +2h 02' 52" | |
| 29 | South East | +2h 03' 28" | |
| 30 | Paris | +2h 05' 01" | |
| 31 | Center–South West | +2h 09' 58" | |
| 32 | Ile de France–North East | +2h 11' 38" | |
| 33 | West | +2h 13' 30" | |
| 34 | South East | +2h 16' 20" | |
| 35 | West | +2h 19' 14" | |
| 36 | France | +2h 19' 31" | |
| 37 | France | +2h 22' 05" | |
| 38 | South East | +2h 23' 29" | |
| 39 | West | +2h 24' 28" | |
| 40 | North Africa | +2h 27' 17" | |
| 41 | Switzerland | +2h 34' 05" | |
| 42 | Paris | +2h 38' 14" | |
| 43 | Switzerland | +2h 38' 40" | |
| 44 | West | +2h 50' 43" | |
| 45 | Center–South West | +2h 52' 05" | |
| 46 | France | +2h 56' 27" | |
| 47 | Paris | +3h 12' 07" | |
| 48 | France | +3h 22' 51" | |
| 49 | Ile de France–North East | +3h 35' 39" | |
| 50 | Switzerland | +3h 57' 50" | |
| 51 | Switzerland | +4h 06' 47" | |
Mountains classification
Points for the mountains classification were earned by reaching the mountain tops first. The system was the same as in 1949: 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 5 points to the first cyclist, and the easiest ones, in category 3, gave 3 points. Louison Bobet won this classification after having led the classification almost the entire race, although he only reached 2 of the 14 mountain tops first.| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ' | France | 58 |
| 2 | Belgium | 42 | |
| 3 | West | 41 | |
| 4 | Switzerland | 39 | |
| 5 | Ile de France–North East | 36 | |
| 6 | France | 33 | |
| 7 | Ile de France–North East | 19 | |
| 8 | Center–South West | 14 | |
| 9 | Belgium | 12 | |
| 10 | South East | 10 | |
Team classification
The team classificationTeam classification
The team classification is a prize given in the Tour de France to the best team in the race. It has been awarded since 1930, and the calculation has changed throughout the years.-Calculation:...
was calculated by adding the times in the general classification of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the Belgian team, with a large margin over the French team.
| Rank | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium | 438h 54' 21" |
| 2 | France | +38' 05" |
| 3 | Luxembourg | +40' 29" |
| 4 | Ile de France–North East | +1h 12' 28" |
| 5 | South East | +1h 32' 22" |
| 6 | Center–South West | +1h 53' 16" |
| 7 | Belgian Aiglons | +2h 01' 54" |
| 8 | Switzerland | +3h 09' 12" |
| 9 | West | +3h 28' 56" |
| 10 | Paris | +5h 51' 49" |
Of the other four teams that started, the two Italian teams had abandoned the race, and the North African team finished with only two riders and the Dutch team with only one rider, therefore they were ineligible for the team classification.
Other awards
The special award for the best regional rider was won by sixth-placed Kléber Piot.Aftermath
The French-Algerian cyclist Zaaf, who fell out in the thirteenth stage after riding into the wrong direction, became famous, and got to ride in many criteriumCriterium
A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course , often run on closed-off city center streets....
s, until he left two years later to Algeria. Kübler did not enter the next three Tours de France, but when he returned in 1954
1954 Tour de France
The 1954 Tour de France was the 41st Tour de France, taking place from July 8 to August 1, 1954. It consisted of 23 stages over 4656 km, ridden at an average speed of 33.229 km/h....
, he finished in second place, and won the green jersey for the points classification
Points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification in the Tour de France is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is considered a sprinters' competition...
.