1920 Tour de France
Route of the 1920 Tour de France
Followed counterclockwise, starting in Paris |
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| Race details | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 27 June – 27 July | ||||||||||||
| Stages | 15 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 5,503 km (3,419 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 228h 36' 13" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
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Winner |
 Philippe Thys (BEL)
|
(1st class) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second |
Hector Heusghem (BEL)
|
(1st class) | |
| Third |
Firmin Lambot (BEL)
|
(1st class) |
The 1920 Tour de France was the 14th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 27 June to 27 July. It consisted of 15 stages over 5,503 kilometres (3,419 mi), ridden at an average speed of 24.072 kilometres per hour (14.958 mph). It was won by Belgian Philippe Thys, making him the first cyclist to win the Tour de France three times. The Belgians dominated this Tour: 12 of the 15 stages were won by Belgians, and the first eight cyclists in the final classification were Belgian.
The 1919 Tour de France had been more difficult than before because of the influence of World War I on the roads and the cyclists, but in 1920, things were going back to normal, although the overall speed was only marginally higher than in 1919, the slowest Tour de France in history. In 1919 only 67 cyclists started the race, but in 1920 this had increased to 113. Although the war was over, the cycling companies were not yet able to sponsor the cyclists in the way they did before the war, so they again bundled their forces under the nick La Sportive. The cyclists were divided in two categories, this time named 1ère classe (first class), the professionals, and 2ème classe (second class), the amateurs.
The 1920 Tour de France used the same formula as since 1910, that would also be used until 1924: fifteen stages, in total around 5000 km, around the perimeter of France, starting and finishing in Paris. In 1919, Philippe Thys had been in poor physical condition, and he did not even finish the first stage. He was ridiculed in the newspaper, and trained hard in the winter to be in better shape in 1920.
There were 138 cyclists enscribed for the race, of which 113 started the first stage. 31 of those were in the first class, the other 82 in the second class. Favourites were Christophe, Mottiat, Thys, Belloni, Alavoine and Henri Pelissier.
The 1920 Tour de France is described as a boring race. The weather was extremely hot, and after four stages already 65 of the 113 cyclists had quit. French favourites stopped the race early. Eugène Christophe in the 7th stage because of back pain, Jean Alavoine in the 2nd stage and Francis Pélissier in the 3rd stage. Henri Pélissier started well by winning the third stage and the fourth stage, and was the main threat for Philippe Thys who was leading the race. Then, in the 5th stage, Henri Pélissier was penalized with two minutes for throwing away a flat tire illegally. Pélissier objected to the penalty, and immediately stopped the race. Desgrange mentioned that Henri Pélissier was not tough enough, and would never win the Tour de France. He would later win the 1923 edition.
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