1951 Tour de France
Route of the 1951 Tour de France
Followed counterclockwise, starting in Metz and finishing in Paris |
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| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Dates | 4–29 July | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 4,690 km (2,914 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 142h 20' 14" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Winner |
 Hugo Koblet (SUI)
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(Switzerland) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second |
 Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)
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(France) | |
| Third |
Lucien Lazaridès (FRA)
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(France) | |
|
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| Mountains |
Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)
|
(France) | |
| Team | France | ||
The 1951 Tour de France was the 38th Tour de France, taking place from 4 July to 29 July. It consisted of 24 stages over 4,690 km (2,914 mi).
The race was won by Swiss cyclist Hugo Koblet. Koblet used his time-trial abilities to win large amounts of time. Dutch cyclist Wim van Est made fame, not only by becoming the first Dutch cyclist to lead the Tour de France, but more by falling down a ravine in the leader's jersey.
As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1951 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. The three major cycling countries in 1951, Italy, Belgium and France, each sent a team of 12 cyclists. Other countries sent teams of 8 cyclists: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Spain. The French regional cyclists were divided into four teams of 12 cyclists: Paris, Ile de France–North West, East–South East and West–South West. The last team of eight cyclists was made up out of cyclists from the French North African colonies. In the end, Luxembourg only sent 7 cyclists, so altogether this made 123 cyclists. There were 68 French cyclists (of which 1 French-Moroccan and 7 French-Algerian), 12 Italian, 12 Belgian, 8 Dutch, 8 Spanish, 8 Swiss and 7 Luxembourgian cyclists.
The teams entering the race were:
The 1951 Tour de France started in Metz; it was the second time after the 1926 Tour de France that the start of the Tour de France was not in Paris. Other than in previous years, the route was no longer around the circumference of France, and the Massif Central mountains were visited for the first time.
On the first stage, Hugo Koblet attacked almost immediately from the start. The peloton got back to him after 40 km (25 mi). Koblet stayed calm for the next stages, until the individual time trial in stage seven, which he won. Initially, Bobet was reported to have won the time trial by one second. Koblet protested against the result, and argued that the intermediate timings showed that Bobet could not have won. The Tour de France jury agreed that Bobet's time was off by one minute, and Koblet was given the stage victory by 59 seconds. Koblet's rival Raphaël Géminiani after the stage said: "If there were two Koblets in the sport I would retire from cycling tomorrow."
In the eleventh stage, Koblet attacked after 37 km (23 mi). He was followed by Louis Deprez for a short while, but when Deprez fell back, Koblet was on his own. It was a hot day, and the other cyclists did not believe that Koblet's escape had any chance. When the peloton heard that Koblet was already three minutes ahead, they started to chase him. They worked together for more than 100 km, but couldn't reach Koblet, who won the stage with a margin of more than two and a half minutes. Directly after Koblet finished, he used a stopwatch to measure the time gap, because he did not trust the Tour's time keepers anymore. The other cyclists were amazed that Koblet had been able to defend his lead against all the other cyclists.
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