1955 Tour de France

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, West German and Australian cyclists. France additionally sent five regional teams from 10 cyclists each, divided into Île-de-France, North-East/Centre, West, South-East and South-West. In total, 120 cyclists started the race.^[1] The mixed team included cyclists from West-Germany, which was the first time since the Second World War that German cyclists rode the Tour.^[2] The Great Britain team was the first British team in Tour history.^[3]

The teams entering the race were:^[1]

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.^[4] Bobet was the main favourite, also because he was the world champion.^[3]

The 1955 Tour de France started on 7 July, and had two rest days, in Monaco and Ax-les-Thermes.^[2] The 1955 Tour saw the introduction of the photo finish.^[5] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,556 m (8,386 ft) at the summit tunnel of the Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage 8.^[6][7]

Stage characteristics and winners^[5][2][8][9]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1a	7 July	Le Havre to Dieppe	102 km (63 mi)		Plain stage	Miguel Poblet (ESP)
1b		Dieppe	12.5 km (8 mi)		Team time trial	Netherlands
2	8 July	Dieppe to Roubaix	204 km (127 mi)		Plain stage	Antonin Rolland (FRA)
3	9 July	Roubaix to Namur (Belgium)	210 km (130 mi)		Plain stage	Louison Bobet (FRA)
4	10 July	Namur (Belgium) to Metz	225 km (140 mi)		Plain stage	Willy Kemp (LUX)
5	11 July	Metz to Colmar	229 km (142 mi)		Plain stage	Roger Hassenforder (FRA)
6	12 July	Colmar to Zürich (Switzerland)	195 km (121 mi)		Plain stage	André Darrigade (FRA)
7	13 July	Zürich (Switzerland) to Thonon-les-Bains	267 km (166 mi)		Plain stage	Jos Hinsen (NED)
8	14 July	Thonon-les-Bains to Briançon	253 km (157 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Charly Gaul (LUX)
9	15 July	Briançon to Monaco	275 km (171 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)
	16 July	Monaco			Rest day
10	17 July	Monaco to Marseille	240 km (149 mi)		Plain stage	Lucien Lazaridès (FRA)
11	18 July	Marseille to Avignon	198 km (123 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Louison Bobet (FRA)
12	19 July	Avignon to Millau	240 km (149 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Alessandro Fantini (ITA)
13	20 July	Millau to Albi	205 km (127 mi)		Plain stage	Daan de Groot (NED)
14	21 July	Albi to Narbonne	156 km (97 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Louis Caput (FRA)
15	22 July	Narbonne to Ax-les-Thermes	151 km (94 mi)		Plain stage	Luciano Pezzi (ITA)
	23 July	Ax-les-Thermes			Rest day
16	24 July	Ax-les-Thermes to Toulouse	123 km (76 mi)		Plain stage	Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)
17	25 July	Toulouse to Saint-Gaudens	250 km (155 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Charly Gaul (LUX)
18	26 July	Saint-Gaudens to Pau	205 km (127 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Jean Brankart (BEL)
19	27 July	Pau to Bordeaux	195 km (121 mi)		Plain stage	Wout Wagtmans (NED)
20	28 July	Bordeaux to Poitiers	243 km (151 mi)		Plain stage	Jean Forestier (FRA)
21	29 July	Châtellerault to Tours	68.6 km (43 mi)		Individual time trial	Jean Brankart (BEL)
22	30 July	Tours to Paris	229 km (142 mi)		Plain stage	Miguel Poblet (ESP)
	Total		4,495 km (2,793 mi)[10]

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.^[3]The second and third stage saw small groups escaping from the peloton. In both stages, Wout Wagtmans and Antonin Rolland, one of Bobet's teammates, were present. Wagtmans became leader of the general classification, with Rolland in second place.^[3]

The first attack that was important for the general classification was in the fourth stage. Rolland was part of a group of nine cyclists that finished seven minutes before the rest. Rolland was the best-placed cyclist of those nine, and took the lead.^[4]

In the seventh stage, Rolland briefly lost that lead, because a group including Wim van Est escaped and gained 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.^[3]

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.^[4][11]

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.^[3] During the eleventh stage, French cyclist Jean Malléjac collapsed and remained unconscious for 15 minutes. The Tour doctor who helped recognised that Malléjac's symptoms were identical to an amphetamine overdose, and told the team doctors to be more careful with doping.^[12] In that stage, Bobet got away on 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 second place in the general classification.^[4]

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.^[4]

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.^[13]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.^[14]

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.^[4]

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.^[15]

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 fewest points was the leader of the points classification. In 1955, this was won by Stan Ockers.^[5]

Points for the mountains classification were earned by reaching the mountain tops first.^[16] 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.^[5]

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.^[17] It was won by the French team. The British team and the regional South West team finished with only two cyclists, so they were not eligible for the team classification.

In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the cyclist considered most combative. The split stages each had a combined winner. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification.^[18] Gaul won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award.^[2] The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass a point by his final residence, the "Villa Mia" in Beauvallon, Grimaud, on the French Riviera on stage 10. This prize was won by André Darrigade.^[19][20]

Classification leadership by stage^[21][22]

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification[a]	Team classification	Combativity
						Award	Classification
1a	Miguel Poblet	Miguel Poblet	Miguel Poblet	no award	Île-de-France	Claude Le Ber	Claude Le Ber
1b	Netherlands				Italy
2	Antonin Rolland	Wout Wagtmans	Wout Wagtmans		Île-de-France	Roger Hassenforder
3	Louison Bobet				France	Louison Bobet	Roger Hassenforder
4	Willy Kemp	Antonin Rolland				Francisco Alomar
5	Roger Hassenforder			Vincent Vitetta		Vincent Vitetta
6	André Darrigade					Ferdinand Kübler
7	Jos Hinsen	Wim van Est				Jean Stablinski
8	Charly Gaul	Antonin Rolland		Charly Gaul		Charly Gaul
9	Raphaël Géminiani		Miguel Poblet			Charly Gaul	Charly Gaul
10	Lucien Lazaridès		Wout Wagtmans			Francisco Alomar
11	Louison Bobet					Louison Bobet
12	Alessandro Fantini					Nello Lauredi
13	Daan de Groot		Wim van Est			Daan de Groot
14	Louis Caput					Max Cohen
15	Luciano Pezzi		Stan Ockers			Jan Nolten
16	Rik Van Steenbergen					Lucien Teisseire
17	Charly Gaul	Louison Bobet				Charly Gaul
18	Jean Brankart					Louison Bobet
19	Wout Wagtmans					Henri Sitek
20	Jean Forestier					Rino Benedetti
21	Jean Brankart					Jean Brankart
22	Miguel Poblet					Miguel Poblet
Final		Louison Bobet	Stan Ockers	Charly Gaul	France	Charly Gaul

• Augendre, Jacques (2016). Guide historique [Historical guide] (PDF) (in French). Paris: Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Dimeo, Paul (2007). A History of Drug Use in Sport: 1876–1976: Beyond Good and Evil. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35772-2.
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• Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles (2012). Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-300-2.
• Seray, Jacques [in French]; Lablaine, Jacques (2006). Henri Desgrange, l'homme qui créa le Tour de France [Henri Desgrange, the man who created the Tour de France] (in French). Saint-Malo, France: Editions Cristel. ISBN 978-2-84421-042-5.
• van den Akker, Pieter (2018). Tour de France Rules and Statistics: 1903–2018. Self-published. ISBN 978-1-79398-080-9.

• Media related to Tour de France 1955 at Wikimedia Commons