1926 Tour de France
Encyclopedia
The 1926 Tour de France was the 20th Tour de France
, taking place June 20 to July 18, 1926. It consisted of 17 stages with a total distance of 5745 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.064 km/h.
The longest tour in history, the route traced closely the borders of France
. It was the first time that the race started outside of Paris
; in this way riders were forced to climb the mountains in the east of the country twice, once at the beginning of the race, and again at the end. The race was won by Belgian cyclist Lucien Buysse
.
wanted to have longer stages, so the average stage length increased from 312 km per stage in 1925 to 338 km per stage in 1926.
The two teams with favourites were Automoto and Alcyon. The Automoto team had Ottavio Bottecchia
, the winner of the last two editions of the race, and Lucien Buysse
, the runner-up of the previous edition. The Alcyon team had Bartolomeo Aymo and Nicolas Frantz
, third and fourth in 1925. They also had Adelin Benoit
, and the Tour organisation thought that the battle would be between Bottecchia and Benoit.
started strong in the first stage, by finishing solo with a margin of more than 13 minutes. The second stage ended with a bunch sprint, so nothing changed in the general classification. In the third stage, he lost the lead to Gustaaf van Slembrouck. On that day, Lucien Buysse received the news that his daughter had died. He considered to leave the race, but decided to stay.
The next stages all ended in bunch sprints, with all the favourites in the first group. In the sixth stage, Félix Sellier
won the sprint. However, the jury decided that he had not sprinted according to the rules, and he was set back to second place, making Joseph van Dam
the winner.
The battle for the general classification seriously began in the tenth stage. That tenth stage was a tough stage, and has been labeled as the toughest stage ever in the Tour de France; 76 cyclists started the race at midnight, and more than seventeen hours later, Lucien Buysse arrived as the winner. After twenty-five minutes, the next cyclist came in. After one hour, only 10 cyclists had finished, so the Tour de France organisation sent cars to look for the cyclists.. At midnight, 47 cyclists had arrived, some of them in buses. The race officials decided to allow the cyclists 40% more time than the winning cyclist. Later that night, 54 cyclists had crossed the finish line, and the remaining 22 cyclists were gathered, they were no longer in the race. After the stage, the race officials were approached by a man who claimed that he had brought some cyclists to the finish line with his car, but that the cyclists had not paid him. The officials, decided not to punish the cyclists, and paid the driver. Gustaaf Van Slembrouck
, wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification, officially finished in 20th place, two hours behind Buysse. Year later, Van Slembrouck said that during the stage he had said to Tour organiser Desgrange that he was giving up, and Desgrange ordered a car to bring Van Slembrouck to the finish. The same stage with the same mountains had also been in the 1913 Tour de France
; then the weather was better, and winner Philippe Thys
only took 13 hours to finish the stage. One of the cyclists who had not finished the stage was the defending champion, Ottavio Bottecchia
.
When Buysse also won the next stage, his victory was assured, as he was leading by more than one hour. From that moment, Buysse saved his energy, and the race continued for the second place between Frantz and Aimo. At the end of the race, Frantz was in second place, only 26 seconds before Aimo.
.
The organing newspaper, l'Auto named a meilleur grimpeur (best climber), an unofficial precursor to the modern King of the Mountains
competition. This award was won by Lucien Buysse.
The Tour de France organisation did not like the outcome of the 1926 Tour de France, as 10 of the 17 stages had finished in bunch sprints. For the next year, the rules were changed, and the flat stages were run as team time trials.
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
, taking place June 20 to July 18, 1926. It consisted of 17 stages with a total distance of 5745 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.064 km/h.
The longest tour in history, the route traced closely the borders of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It was the first time that the race started outside of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; in this way riders were forced to climb the mountains in the east of the country twice, once at the beginning of the race, and again at the end. The race was won by Belgian cyclist Lucien Buysse
Lucien Buysse
Lucien Buysse was a Belgian cyclist and a champion of the Tour de France.Born in Wontergem, Buysse began racing professionally in 1914, when he entered the Tour de France but did not finish. He resumed his career after World War I, entering but abandoning the Tour again in 1919 but placing third...
.
Changes from 1925 Tour de France
In 1925, the number of stages had been increased from 15 (which was common since 1910) to 18 stages. In 1926, this was decreased to 17 stages. Tour organiser Henri DesgrangeHenri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
wanted to have longer stages, so the average stage length increased from 312 km per stage in 1925 to 338 km per stage in 1926.
Pre-race favourites
There were 126 cyclists who started the Tour de France; 82 of them were touriste-routiers, cyclists who did not have the support from a team. The other 44 cyclists started the race in teams; some teams only had two cyclists.The two teams with favourites were Automoto and Alcyon. The Automoto team had Ottavio Bottecchia
Ottavio Bottecchia
Ottavio Bottecchia was an Italian cyclist and the first Italian winner of the Tour de France. He was found dead by the roadside; the reason remains a mystery.-Origins:...
, the winner of the last two editions of the race, and Lucien Buysse
Lucien Buysse
Lucien Buysse was a Belgian cyclist and a champion of the Tour de France.Born in Wontergem, Buysse began racing professionally in 1914, when he entered the Tour de France but did not finish. He resumed his career after World War I, entering but abandoning the Tour again in 1919 but placing third...
, the runner-up of the previous edition. The Alcyon team had Bartolomeo Aymo and Nicolas Frantz
Nicolas Frantz
Nicolas Frantz , born in Mamer, Luxembourg, was a bicycle racer with 60 professional racing victories over his 12-year career . He rode for the Thomann team in 1923 and then for Alcyon-Dunlop from 1924 to 1931. He won the Tour de France in 1927 and 1928.Nicolas Frantz was the son of a prosperous...
, third and fourth in 1925. They also had Adelin Benoit
Adelin Benoit
Adelin Benoit was a Belgian road racing cyclist, born in Châtelet.Surprising newcomer in Tour de France 1925, he got the yellow jersey during 5 days, and won the stage in Luchon .-Major Victories:...
, and the Tour organisation thought that the battle would be between Bottecchia and Benoit.
Race details
Jules BuysseJules Buysse
Jules Buysse was a Belgian racing cyclist.Buysse was the youngest of three brother who competed in the Tour de France. He won the first stage of 1926 Tour de France by 13 minutes and 6 seconds, allowing him to wear the yellow jersey for two days until losing it to fellow Belgian Gustave Van...
started strong in the first stage, by finishing solo with a margin of more than 13 minutes. The second stage ended with a bunch sprint, so nothing changed in the general classification. In the third stage, he lost the lead to Gustaaf van Slembrouck. On that day, Lucien Buysse received the news that his daughter had died. He considered to leave the race, but decided to stay.
The next stages all ended in bunch sprints, with all the favourites in the first group. In the sixth stage, Félix Sellier
Félix Sellier
Félix Sellier was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer.-Stage victory in 1921 Tour de France:...
won the sprint. However, the jury decided that he had not sprinted according to the rules, and he was set back to second place, making Joseph van Dam
Joseph van Dam
Joseph Van Dam was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Van Dam entered the 1926 Tour de France, won three stages and finished 12th place in the general classification- Palmarès :19241926*...
the winner.
The battle for the general classification seriously began in the tenth stage. That tenth stage was a tough stage, and has been labeled as the toughest stage ever in the Tour de France; 76 cyclists started the race at midnight, and more than seventeen hours later, Lucien Buysse arrived as the winner. After twenty-five minutes, the next cyclist came in. After one hour, only 10 cyclists had finished, so the Tour de France organisation sent cars to look for the cyclists.. At midnight, 47 cyclists had arrived, some of them in buses. The race officials decided to allow the cyclists 40% more time than the winning cyclist. Later that night, 54 cyclists had crossed the finish line, and the remaining 22 cyclists were gathered, they were no longer in the race. After the stage, the race officials were approached by a man who claimed that he had brought some cyclists to the finish line with his car, but that the cyclists had not paid him. The officials, decided not to punish the cyclists, and paid the driver. Gustaaf Van Slembrouck
Gustaaf van Slembrouck
Gustaaf Van Slembrouck was a Belgian professional cyclist from 1926 to 1934, nicknamed 'Den Staf'. He won 4 Tour de France stages, and wore the yellow jersey for 6 days in 1926.-Major victories:1926...
, wearing the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification, officially finished in 20th place, two hours behind Buysse. Year later, Van Slembrouck said that during the stage he had said to Tour organiser Desgrange that he was giving up, and Desgrange ordered a car to bring Van Slembrouck to the finish. The same stage with the same mountains had also been in the 1913 Tour de France
1913 Tour de France
The 1913 Tour de France was the 11th Tour de France, taking place June 29 to July 27, 1913. The total distance was and the average speed of the riders was . The competition was won by the Belgian Philippe Thys, after in the crucial sixth stage Eugène Christophe broke his bicycle and lost several...
; then the weather was better, and winner Philippe Thys
Philippe Thys
Philippe Thys was a Belgian cyclist and three times winner of the Tour de France.-Professional career:...
only took 13 hours to finish the stage. One of the cyclists who had not finished the stage was the defending champion, Ottavio Bottecchia
Ottavio Bottecchia
Ottavio Bottecchia was an Italian cyclist and the first Italian winner of the Tour de France. He was found dead by the roadside; the reason remains a mystery.-Origins:...
.
When Buysse also won the next stage, his victory was assured, as he was leading by more than one hour. From that moment, Buysse saved his energy, and the race continued for the second place between Frantz and Aimo. At the end of the race, Frantz was in second place, only 26 seconds before Aimo.
Stage winners
In 1926, there were no French stage winners. This was the first time that this happened, and has since only happened again in 19991999 Tour de France
The 1999 Tour de France was the 86th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 25, 1999. It was won by Lance Armstrong, his first of 7 consecutive wins, the most in Tour history. There were no French stage winners for the first time since the 1926 Tour de France.The 1999 edition of Tour de...
.
| Stage | Date | Route | TerrainThere was no distinction in the rules between plain stages and mountain stages; the icons shown here indicate which stages included mountains. | Length | Winner | Race leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 June | Evian Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains or Évian is a commune in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France... – Mülhausen |
 |
373 km (231.8 mi) | ||
| 2 | 22 June | Mülhausen – Metz Metz Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place... |
|
334 km (207.5 mi) | ||
| 3 | 24 June | Metz – Dunkerque | |
433 km (269.1 mi) | ||
| 4 | 26 June | Dunkerque – Le Havre Le Havre Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total... |
|
361 km (224.3 mi) | ||
| 5 | 28 June | Le Havre – Cherbourg | |
357 km (221.8 mi) | ||
| 6 | 30 June | Cherbourg – Brest Brest, France Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon... |
|
405 km (251.7 mi) | ||
| 7 | 2 July | Brest – Les Sables d'Olonne | |
412 km (256 mi) | ||
| 8 | 3 July | Les Sables d'Olonne – Bordeaux Bordeaux Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture... |
|
285 km (177.1 mi) | ||
| 9 | 4 July | Bordeaux – Bayonne Bayonne Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture... |
|
189 km (117.4 mi) | ||
| 10 | 6 July | Bayonne – Luchon |  |
326 km (202.6 mi) | ||
| 11 | 8 July | Luchon – Perpignan Perpignan -Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the... |
|
323 km (200.7 mi) | ||
| 12 | 10 July | Perpignan – Toulon Toulon Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence.... |
|
427 km (265.3 mi) | ||
| 13 | 12 July | Toulon – Nice | |
280 km (174 mi) | ||
| 14 | 14 July | Nice – Briançon Briançon Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.... |
|
275 km (170.9 mi) | ||
| 15 | 16 July | Briançon – Evian Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains or Évian is a commune in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France... |
|
303 km (188.3 mi) | ||
| 16 | 17 July | Evian – Dijon Dijon Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area.... |
|
321 km (199.5 mi) | ||
| 17 | 18 July | Dijon – Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... |
|
341 km (211.9 mi) |
General classification
The race was won by Belgian Lucien Buysse.| Rank | Rider | Sponsor | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Automoto–Hutchinson | 238h 44' 25" |
| 2 | Alcyon–Dunlop | +1h 22' 25" | |
| 3 | Alcyon–Dunlop | +1h 22' 51" | |
| 4 | Armor–Dunlop | +1h 43' 54" | |
| 5 | Alcyon–Dunlop | +1h 49' 13" | |
| 6 | J.B. Louvet – Wolber | +1h 56' 15" | |
| 7 | Jean Louvet – Hutchinson | +2h 09' 20" | |
| 8 | Meteore–Wolber | +2h 28' 32" | |
| 9 | Automoto–Hutchinson | +2h 37' 03" | |
| 10 | Thomann–Dunlop | +2h 53' 54" |
| Final general classification (11–41) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Rider | Sponsor | Time |
| 11 | J.B. Louvet – Wolber | +3h 09' 08" | |
| 12 | Automoto–Hutchinson | +4h 00' 35" | |
| 13 | Automoto–Hutchinson | +4h 07' 24" | |
| 14 | J.B. Louvet – Wolber | +4h 28' 19" | |
| 15 | Christophe–Hutchinson | +5h 23' 19" | |
| 16 | Christophe–Hutchinson | +6h 02' 20" | |
| 17 | Alcyon–Dunlop | +6h 03' 10" | |
| 18 | Jean Louvet – Hutchinson | +7h 10' 35" | |
| 19 | Meteore–Wolber | +7h 48' 17" | |
| 20 | Meteore–Wolber | +7h 49' 44" | |
| 21 | — | +8h 23' 29" | |
| 22 | Armor–Dunlop | +9h 37' 02" | |
| 23 | Meteore–Wolber | +9h 35' 44" | |
| 24 | — | +9h 36' 34" | |
| 25 | Thomann–Dunlop | +10h 05' 23" | |
| 26 | Labor–Dunlop | +10h 27' 05" | |
| 27 | — | +10h 30' 47" | |
| 28 | Labor–Dunlop | +10h 41' 09" | |
| 29 | — | +11h 26' 16" | |
| 30 | — | +11h 50' 56" | |
| 31 | — | +12h 56' 13" | |
| 32 | Meteore–Wolber | +13h 59' 59" | |
| 33 | — | +14h 24' 52" | |
| 34 | — | +15h 53' 32" | |
| 35 | — | +17h 12' 30" | |
| 36 | Meteore–Wolber | +18h 00' 43" | |
| 37 | — | +18h 18' 25" | |
| 38 | — | +19h 14' 17" | |
| 39 | — | +21h 00' 22" | |
| 40 | — | +22h 47' 44" | |
| 41 | — | +24h 59' 03" | |
Other classifications
The race for touriste-routiers, cyclists who did not belong to a team and were allowed no assistance, was won by Italian Rossignoli.The organing newspaper, l'Auto named a meilleur grimpeur (best climber), an unofficial precursor to the modern King of the Mountains
King of the Mountains
The King of the Mountains is the title given to the best climber in a cycling road race; usually and officially known as the Mountains classification...
competition. This award was won by Lucien Buysse.
Aftermath
Lucien Buysse announced after his win that he expected to win again in 1927, but because his sponsor Automoto had financial problems, they could not send a team to the Tours of 1927 and 1928, and Buysse only returned in 1929. Lucien Buysse would never finish the Tour de France again. The winner of the previous edition, Bottecchia, said that he would retire from cycling, after the difficulties he faced in the 1926 Tour de France.The Tour de France organisation did not like the outcome of the 1926 Tour de France, as 10 of the 17 stages had finished in bunch sprints. For the next year, the rules were changed, and the flat stages were run as team time trials.