1934 Tour de France
Route of the 1934 Tour de France
Followed clockwise, starting in Paris |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 3–29 July | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 23, including one split stage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 4,470 km (2,778 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 147h 13' 58" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Winner |
 Antonin Magne (FRA)
|
(France) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second |
 Giuseppe Martano (ITA)
|
(Italy) | |
| Third |
Roger Lapébie (FRA)
|
(France) | |
|
|
|||
| Mountains |
René Vietto (FRA)
|
(France) | |
| Team | France | ||
The 1934 Tour de France was the 28th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 3 to 29 July. It consisted of 23 stages over 4,470 km (2,778 mi). The race was won by Antonin Magne, who had previously won the 1931 Tour de France. The French team was dominant, holding the yellow jersey for the entire race and winning most of the stages. Every member of the French team won at least one stage.
French cyclist René Vietto rose to prominence by winning the mountains classification, but even more by giving up his own chances for the Tour victory by giving first his front wheel and later his bicycle to his team captain Magne.
The 1934 Tour de France saw the introduction of the split stage and the individual time trial. Stage 21 was split into two parts, and the second part was an individual time trial, the first one in the history of the Tour de France.
The major introduction in 1934 was the introduction of the individual time trial (ITT). There had been time-trial like stages before in the Tour de France, but they had been run as a team time trial. Since the format of the Tour de France changed in 1930 from trade teams to national teams, the Tour organisation had to pay for the housing, travel and feeding for the cyclists. The organisation received the money from the sales of l'Auto, the newspaper that organized the Tour. l'Auto was a morning newspaper, while one of its competitors, Paris-Soir, was an evening paper. Paris-Soir was also following the race, and was able to publish the results the same day, while l'Auto had to wait for the next day, publishing old news. To counter this, the stages in the Tour de France had started later, so they would end after Paris-Soir had to print their newspapers. The Paris-Soir sports editor had countered this by starting his own race, the Grand Prix des Nations, run as an ITT. The first edition in 1932 was not received well by the cyclists, but from 1933 on it was a success. The tour director Henri Desgrange saw the success of the French cyclists in the Grand Prix des Nations, and adapted the individual time trial format in the Tour. Not all cyclists were happy with the ITT. René Vietto, a climber, said it was a dull test of horsepower, while a bike race should also test the head. Other cyclists said the ITT would negate the effect of good teamwork.
...
Wikipedia