1949 Tour de France

1949 Tour de France
Route of the 1949 Tour de France
Followed counterclockwise, starting and finishing in Paris
Race details
Dates 30 June – 24 July
Stages 21
Distance 4,808 km (2,988 mi)
Winning time 145h 36' 56"
Results
Jersey awarded to the overall winner Winner  Fausto Coppi (ITA) (Italy)
  Second  Gino Bartali (ITA) (Italy)
  Third  Jacques Marinelli (FRA) (Île-de-France)
  Mountains  Fausto Coppi (ITA) (Italy)
  Team Italy

The 1949 Tour de France was the 36th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 30 June to 24 July. It consisted of 21 stages over 4,808 km (2,988 mi).

The Italian team had internal problems, because Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi could both be the team leader. During the selection procedure, Coppi almost refused to start the race, but he was convinced to start. During the race, Coppi almost pulled out, because he felt he did not have full support from the team captain. In the Alps, Coppi recovered. The race was won by Coppi, with second place taken by teammate Bartali, the winner of the previous year. Coppi also won the mountains classification, while his Italian team won the team classification.

Changes from the previous Tour

The 1949 Tour de France marked the first time that the Tour de France had a stage finish in Spain, when it stopped in San Sebastian in the ninth stage.[1] While the mountains had been categorized into two categories in 1948, in 1949 the third category was added.[2]

Teams

As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1949 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. The three major cycling countries in 1949, Italy, Belgium and France, each sent a team of 12 cyclists. Other countries sent teams of 6 cyclists: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Spain. Italy and Belgium also sent two extra teams of young riders of 6 cyclists each. The French regional cyclists were divided into four teams of 12 cyclists: Ile de France, West-North, Centre-South West and South East. Altogether this made 120 cyclists.[3]

There were 57 French cyclists, 22 Italian, 18 Belgian, 6 Dutch, 6 Luxembourg, 6 Spanish, 6 Swiss and 1 Polish cyclist.[4] In the previous year, Fausto Coppi refused to enter the Tour de France because of personal problems with his team mate Gino Bartali. Bartali had won the previous Tour, and was trying to equal Philippe Thys by winning the Tour three times.[3] Coppi had won the 1949 Giro d'Italia, and wanted to be the first one to achieve the Tour-Giro double in one year. The Italian team manager Alfredo Binda convinced them two weeks before the start of the race to join forces, so both Italians were in the race.[2]

The teams entering the race were:

  • Italy
  • Belgium
  • France
  • Switzerland
  • Luxembourg
  • Netherlands
  • Spain
  • Italy Cadets
  • Belgium Aiglons
  • France Île-de-France
  • France West/North
  • France Centre/South-West
  • France South-East

Route and stages

The 1949 Tour de France started on 30 June, and had four rest days, in Les Sables-d'Olonne, Pau, Cannes and Aosta.[2]

Stage characteristics and winners[3][2][5]
Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner
1 30 June Paris to Reims182 km (113 mi) Plain stage Marcel Dussault (FRA)
2 1 July Reims to Brussels (Belgium)273 km (170 mi) Plain stage Roger Lambrecht (BEL)
3 2 July Brussels (Belgium) to Boulogne-sur-Mer211 km (131 mi) Plain stage Norbert Callens (BEL)
4 3 July Boulogne-sur-Mer to Rouen185 km (115 mi) Plain stage Lucien Teisseire (FRA)
5 4 July Rouen to Saint-Malo293 km (182 mi) Plain stage Ferdinand Kübler (SUI)
6 5 July Saint-Malo to Les Sables-d'Olonne305 km (190 mi) Plain stage Adolphe Deledda (FRA)
6 July Les Sables-d'Olonne Rest day
7 7 July Les Sables-d'Olonne to La Rochelle92 km (57 mi) Individual time trial Fausto Coppi (ITA)
8 8 July La Rochelle to Bordeaux262 km (163 mi) Plain stage Guy Lapébie (FRA)
9 9 July Bordeaux to San Sebastián228 km (142 mi) Plain stage Louis Caput (FRA)
10 10 July San Sebastián to Pau192 km (119 mi) Plain stage Fiorenzo Magni (ITA)
11 July Pau Rest day
11 12 July Pau to Luchon193 km (120 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Jean Robic (FRA)
12 13 July Luchon to Toulouse134 km (83 mi) Plain stage Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
13 14 July Toulouse to Nîmes289 km (180 mi) Plain stage Emile Idée (FRA)
14 15 July Nîmes to Marseille199 km (124 mi) Plain stage Jean Goldschmidt (LUX)
15 16 July Marseille to Cannes215 km (134 mi) Plain stage Désiré Keteleer (BEL)
17 July Cannes Rest day
16 18 July Cannes to Briançon275 km (171 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Gino Bartali (ITA)
17 19 July Briançon to Aosta257 km (160 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Fausto Coppi (ITA)
20 July Aosta Rest day
18 21 July Aosta to Lausanne265 km (165 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Vincenzo Rossello (ITA)
19 22 July Lausanne to Colmar283 km (176 mi) Stage with mountain(s) Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)
20 23 July Colmar to Nancy137 km (85 mi) Mountain time trial Fausto Coppi (ITA)
21 24 July Nancy to Paris340 km (211 mi) Plain stage Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
Total 4,808 km (2,988 mi)[6]

Race overview

Roger Lambrecht winning the second stage ahead of Jacques Marinelli at Heysel Stadium in Brussels

In the early stages, Bartali and Coppi both lost time. Before the fifth stage, Coppi and Bartali both were not in the top fifteen of the general classification.[7]

In that fifth stage, Coppi escaped together with the leader of the general classification, Jacques Marinelli. When they were leading by 6 minutes, Coppi and Marinelli fell in Mouen.[1] Marinelli was not hurt and could continue, but Coppi's bike was broken. The Italian team car offered him a new one, but Coppi refused because he wanted his personal spare bike, and threatened to quit the race.

When Bartali reached Coppi, he saw the problem, and waited. Even later, the Italian team captain Binda arrived with Coppi's spare bike, and Bartali and Coppi started to ride. Coppi started to slow down, complaining he was hungry and exhausted. Bartali decided he could not wait anymore, and rode away from Coppi. Coppi came in 18 minutes late that stage.[7] Later that night, it became clear that Coppi had been angry because the team leader had not been following him, even though he was in the leading group. Coppi did not want to race in a team where Bartali and not he was the leader. Binda tried to convince Coppi that he had been delayed, and he succeeded in keeping Coppi in the race.[7]

In the Alps, Coppi recovered. In the sixteenth stage, Coppi escaped, and only Bartali followed him. It was Bartali's 35th birthday, and Coppi gave Bartali the stage victory.[8] After that stage, Bartali was first in the general classification, with Coppi in second place, 82 seconds behind. In stage 17, Bartali and Coppi again were leading together. Around 40 km into the stage, Bartali punctured. Coppi waited for Bartali, but when Bartali later fell and twisted his ankle, team leader Binda allowed Coppi to take off alone.[1] Coppi did so, won the stage, and decided the race.[9]

That seventeenth stage finished in the Italian town Aosta. Many Italians had come to see the Tour de France, to cheer on their Italian heroes Coppi and Bartali but also to express their anger against the French cyclists, specifically Jean Robic, who had said in an interview that he could beat those Italians easily. Insults were shouted against non-Italians in the Tour, and some windows of French cars were smashed. For safety, and because there were not enough telephone connections for the journalists, most Tour officials and journalists decided to spend the night in Switzerland.[10]

When the Tour returned to France in the nineteenth stage to Colmar, some French spectators took revenge by throwing tomatoes and rocks towards the Italian cyclists and followers. The organisation apologized for this behavior, and the Italian cyclists accepted this apology.[11]

In the rest of the race, Coppi's lead was not endangered; Coppi won the mountain time trial in stage 20, and won the Tour with a margin of more than ten minutes over Bartali.

Classification leadership

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. Of the 120 cyclists, 55 finished the race.

Points for the mountains classification were earned by reaching the mountain tops first. 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.

The team classification was calculated by adding the times in the general classification of the best three cyclists per team. The Italian Cadets and Switzerland finished with two cyclists each, so they were not eligible for this classification.

The special award for the best regional rider was won by third-placed Jacques Marinelli.[2]

Classification leadership by stage
Stage Winner General classification
 Mountains classification Team classification
1 Marcel Dussault Marcel Dussault no award
2 Roger Lambrecht Roger Lambrecht
3 Norbert Callens Norbert Callens
4 Lucien Teisseire Jacques Marinelli France
5 Ferdinand Kübler Ile de France
6 Adolphe Deledda
7 Fausto Coppi
8 Guy Lapébie
9 Louis Caput
10 Fiorenzo Magni Fiorenzo Magni
11 Jean Robic Fausto Coppi Italy
12 Rik Van Steenbergen
13 Emile Idée
14 Jean Goldschmidt
15 Désiré Keteleer Île-de-France
16 Gino Bartali Gino Bartali Italy
17 Fausto Coppi Fausto Coppi
18 Vincenzo Rossello
19 Raphaël Géminiani
20 Fausto Coppi
21 Rik Van Steenbergen
Final Fausto Coppi Fausto Coppi Italy

Final standings

General classification

Final general classification (1–10)[3]
RankRiderTeamTime
1 Fausto Coppi (ITA)Italy149h 40' 49"
2 Gino Bartali (ITA)Italy+ 10' 55"
3 Jacques Marinelli (FRA)Ile de France+ 25' 13"
4 Jean Robic (FRA)West-North+ 34' 28"
5 Marcel Dupont (BEL)Belgian Aiglons+ 38' 59"
6 Fiorenzo Magni (ITA)Italian Cadets+ 42' 10"
7 Stan Ockers (BEL)Belgium+ 44' 35"
8 Jean Goldschmit (LUX)Luxembourg+ 47' 24"
9 Apo Lazaridès (FRA)France+ 52' 28"
10 Pierre Cogan (FRA)West-North+ 1h 08' 55"

Mountains classification

Final mountains classification (1–5)[1][4]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1 Fausto Coppi (ITA)Italy81
2 Gino Bartali (ITA)Italy68
3 Jean Robic (FRA)West-North62
4 Apo Lazaridès (FRA)France47
5 Lucien Lazaridès (FRA)France29

Team classification

Final team classification[1][12]
RankTeamTime
1Italy450h 35' 23"
2West-North+ 2h 10' 21"
3Luxembourg+ 2h 18' 16"
4France+ 2h 33' 08"
5Île-de-France+ 2h 41' 36"
6Belgium+ 3h 00' 13"
7Belgian Aiglons+ 3h 21' 25"
8South East+ 5h 49' 25"
9Center-South West+ 8h 15' 30"

Aftermath

As Coppi had also won the 1949 Giro d'Italia, he became the first person to achieve the Giro-Tour double.[1]

After the unrest in Aosta and Colmar, there were doubts if the Italian cyclists would return in 1950, and if that Tour should pass through Italy again. [13] At the start of the 1950 Tour de France, the Italian team was present and the Tour was scheduled to go through Italy, but after further incidents the Italian team left the race, and the stage through Italy was rerouted.

Coppi would go on to repeat the Giro-Tour double in 1952.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 James, Tom (14 August 2003). "1949: Coppi's double". Veloarchive. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Augendre 2016, p. 40.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "36ème Tour de France 1949" (in French). Mémoire du cyclisme. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Tour-Giro-Vuelta". www.tour-giro-vuelta.net. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  5. ↑ Zwegers, Arian. "Tour de France GC Top Ten". CVCC. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  6. ↑ Augendre 2016, p. 109.
  7. 1 2 3 McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2006). The Story of the Tour De France. Dog ear publishing. pp. 159–165. ISBN 978-1-59858-180-5.
  8. ↑ "Rider biographies - Fausto Coppi". Cycling hall of fame. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  9. ↑ "The Tour - Year 1949". Amaury Sport Organisation. 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  10. ↑ "De ronde van Frankrijk: wanorderlijke taferelen" [Tour de France: disorderly scenes]. Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). Delpher. 21 July 1949. p. 3. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "De Fransen: oog om oog, tand om tand" [The French: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth]. De Gooi- en Eemlander (in Dutch). 23 July 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 5 March 2018 – via Delpher.
  12. ↑ "Terminó la Vuelta a Francia" (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 25 July 1947. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  13. ↑ "Geminiani en Goasmat brachten vuur in etappe naar Colmar" [Geminiani and Goasmat put fire into the stage to Colmar]. De Gooi- en Eemlander (in Dutch). 23 July 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 5 March 2018 – via Delpher.

Sources

  • Augendre, Jacques (2016). Guide historique [Historical guide] (PDF). Tour de France (in French). Paris: Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.

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