1954 Tour de France
Route of the 1954 Tour de France
Followed counterclockwise, starting in Amsterdam and finishing in Paris |
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| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 8 July – 1 August | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 4,656 km (2,893 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 140h 06' 05" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 |
Winner |
 Louison Bobet (FRA)
|
(France) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second |
 Ferdinand Kübler (SUI)
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(Switzerland) | |
| Third |
Fritz Schär (SUI)
|
(Switzerland) | |
|
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 |
Points |
Ferdinand Kübler (SUI)
|
(Switzerland) |
| Mountains |
 Federico Bahamontes (ESP)
|
(Spain) | |
| Team | Switzerland | ||
The 41st Tour de France took place from 8 July to 1 August, 1954. It consisted of 23 stages over 4,656 km (2,893 mi). The race was won by Louison Bobet, the second of his three consecutive wins.
As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1954 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. Seven national teams were sent, with 10 cyclists each from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg/Austria (the latter a combined team). France additionally sent five regional teams from 10 cyclists each, divided into Center-North East France, West France, South East France, Ile de France and South West France. The combined team Luxembourg/Austria consisted of six Luxembourgian cyclists, three Austrian cyclists and one from Liechtenstein. In total, 110 cyclists started the race.
Notable absents were the Italian cyclists. In Italy, new sponsors had entered the market, named "extra-sportives" because they did not sell a product directly related to the sport. During the 1954 Giro d'Italia, this caused a strike, the Bernina strike. After this, the Italian federation decided not to send a team to the 1954 Tour de France.
The teams entering the race were:
The 1954 Tour de France was the first time that the Tour had started outside France, as it started in Amsterdam. Also new was the team time trial. Although around 1930 the Tour had seen stages in which the teams started separately, in 1954 the team time trial format was reintroduced in a way that only the team time counted. Also the split stages were reintroduced. Stage 4 was divided into two parts: the team time trial of 10.4 km (part A), and a regular stage of 131 km (part B), both run on the same day. Similarly, stage 21 was divided into a regular stage of 134 km (part A) and an individual time trial of 72 km (part B), also both run on the same day.
In the first stage, Wout Wagtmans won the sprint, and took the yellow jersey. He would remain the leader until the team time trial in stage 4, when the French team won back enough time on the Dutch team for Bobet to take over the lead. In that time trial, over 10.4 km, the winning team was decided by adding the times of the three best cyclists per team. For the general classification, every cyclist got added his individual time. In the second part of the fourth stage, former winner Jean Robic hit a photographer during the sprint, fell down and had to give up.
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Wikipedia