1925 Tour de France
Route of the 1925 Tour de France
Followed counterclockwise, starting in Paris |
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| Race details | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 21 June – 19 July | ||||||||||||
| Stages | 18 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 5,440 km (3,380 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 219h 10' 18" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
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Winner |
 Ottavio Bottecchia (ITA)
|
(Automoto) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second |
 Lucien Buysse (BEL)
|
(Automoto) | |
| Third |
Bartoloméo Aymo (ITA)
|
(Alcyon) |
The 1925 Tour de France was the 19th edition and was held from 21 June to 19 July, over 5,440 km (3,380 mi) in 18 stages. Italian Ottavio Bottecchia successfully defended his 1924 victory to win his second consecutive Tour de France. Only 49 of the 130 participants finished the course.
In 1919 to 1924, the sponsored teams had been away because of the economic impact of World War I. In 1925, the teams returned.
For the first time, the Tour de France started outside Paris, in le Vésinet. The number of stages increased from 15, which had been used since 1910, to 18, thereby decreasing the average stage length.
The time bonus, given to the winner of a stage, was removed.
After Henri Pélissier had created a controversy by quitting the 1924 Tour de France and complaining on the toughness of the race to a journalist, the Tour organisation made a new rule that said that any rider that harmed the Tour's image would be banned for the next years.
The participants were divided into two groups: 39 cyclists were riding in sponsored teams, and 91 rode as touriste-routiers. The teams did not have equal size; the largest team, J.B. Louvet, consisted of eight cyclists, while the smallest team, J.Alavoine-Dunlop, had only one cyclists, Jean Alavoine himself. There were 57 French, 34 Belgian, 28 Italian, 5 Swiss, 5 Luxembourgian and 1 Spanish cyclists.
Bottecchia, who had won the previous Tour de France, started by winning the first stage. In 1924, he had had no difficulty in defending his lead, but in 1925 there was Adelin Benoit, who surprisingly took over the lead in the third stage. Bottecchia was however only eight seconds behind in the general classification.
In the fourth stage, Henri Pélissier, the winner of the 1923 Tour de France, left the race. In previous years, Pélissier had left the race after a fight with tour organiser Henri Desgrange, but this time it was because of knee problems. In the sixth stage, Benoit punctured, and Bottechia's Automoto team rode as fast as they could to get away from Benoit. Bottecchia won the stage, and after he won the next stage too, he took over the lead.
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