1930 Tour de France
Encyclopedia
The 1930 Tour de France was the 24th Tour de France
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 from 2 to 27 July 1930. It consisted of 21 stages over 4,822 km, ridden at an average speed of 28.000 km/h.

The 24th tour de France introduced a new format to team racing; teams were organized by country with ten riders per team. This format proved to be a very successful format for the French riders, six of which placed in the top ten. André Leducq was the star of the French team, winning the overall classification, however, Charles Pélissier, who finished ninth overall achieved a stunning eight stage wins.

1930 was the first year of the publicity caravan.

Changes from the 1929 Tour de France

Tour director Henri Desgrange
Henri 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...

 had tried many things to remove the team tactics from the Tour de France, because the wanted the race to be won on individual strength. In 1929 he had removed the sponsors, but this had had no effect; the Alcyon team members still cooperated and managed to let Maurice Dewaele win the race, even though he was sick.
For 1930, Desgrange replaced the trade teams by national teams. He gave up on the idea that he could keep team tactics away from the Tour, but decided that he could still try to keep commercial team tactics away.
The race started with five national teams of eight cyclists each, completed by 60 touriste-routiers. All cyclists raced on identical, yellow-coloured bicycles.

The trade teams did not like the national teams, because they lost the publicity during the most important race of the season, while they still had to pay for the riders' salary. The trade teams used to supply food, transport and lodging for the cyclists during the race, but now the Tour organisation had to pay for all this. To pay for this, the publicity caravan was started. In 1930, only three companies were in that publicity caravan, but it has grown since. The most popular sponsor in the publicity was Menier chocolates, whose advertising manager had advised the Tour organisation to start the publicity caravan; 500.000 fans came to the Tour de France stages early to receive chocolate handouts.

In 1929, all cyclists had to do their own repairs, and had to finish with their bicycle they started with. This had caused Victor Fontan
Victor Fontan
Victor Fontan was a French cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France but dropped out after knocking at doors at night to ask for another bicycle. His plight led to a change of rules to prevent its happening again...

 to quit the race while he was leading. In 1930, this rule was abandoned, and from now on, cyclists could get help when they had mechanical problems.

From 1927 to 1929, some stages were run in the team-time-trial format. This was completely abandoned in 1930.

The first live radio broadcast from the Tour de France happened in 1930.

Two extra prizes were given in 1930, donated by the Soors brothers from Grand Sport. The cyclist who led the general classification, and therefore wore the yellow jersey, received the Maillot d'or (French for golden jersey), which was 1000 francs for every stage. The best touriste-routier in the general classification received the Maillot d'argent (French for silver jersey), which was 500 francs per stage.

Participants

For the first time, the Tour was run with national teams. Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany and France each sent a team composed of eight cyclists. Additionally, 60 cyclists started as touriste-routiers, most of them French. Some of them were grouped in regional teams.

One of the notable cyclists was Alfredo Binda
Alfredo Binda
Alfredo Binda was an Italian cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s, later trainer of Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. Binda was the first multiple Giro d'Italia champion, securing five victories between 1925 and 1933 that redefined the way stage races were ridden...

, riding in the Italian national team. He had dominated the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

 in the recent years, winning the 1925
1925 Giro d'Italia
The 1925 Giro d'Italia of cycling was the 13th edition to take place. It was held from 16 May to 7 June 1925, with 12 stages stretching over 3,520 km, and was won by Alfredo Binda. Of 126 riders starting the race, only 30 finished it.-Stages:...

, 1927
1927 Giro d'Italia
The 1927 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 15 May to 6 June 1927, consisting of 15 stages for a total of 3,758 km, ridden at an average speed of 25.85 km/h...

, 1928
1928 Giro d'Italia
The 1928 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 12 May to 3 June 1928, consisting of 12 stages for a total of 3,044 km, ridden at an average speed of 26.75 km/h. It was won by Alfredo Binda....

 and 1929
1929 Giro d'Italia
The 1929 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 19 May to 9 June 1929, consisting of 14 stages for a total of 2,920 km, ridden at an average speed of 27.29 km/h...

 editions; in 1929 he had done so by winning eight consecutive stages. For the 1930 Giro d'Italia
1930 Giro d'Italia
The 1930 Giro d'Italia of cycling was held from 17 May to 8 June 1930. It consisted of 15 stages for a total of 3,907 km, ridden at an average speed of 27.04 km/h. It was won by Luigi Marchisio....

, he was paid money not to compete, so he started in the Tour de France that year.
The French team was captained by Victor Fontan
Victor Fontan
Victor Fontan was a French cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France but dropped out after knocking at doors at night to ask for another bicycle. His plight led to a change of rules to prevent its happening again...

, who had been leading the 1929 Tour de France
1929 Tour de France
The 1929 Tour de France was the 23rd Tour de France, taking place from 30 June to 28 July 1929. It consisted of 22 stages over 5,286 km, ridden at an average speed of 28.320 km/h....

 until he had to abandon the race due to mechanical problems. The Belgian team had Jef Demuysere
Jef Demuysere
Jef Demuysere was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Tour de France in 1929 and 1931, and on the podium of the Giro d'Italia in 1932 and 1933...

 as the favourite.

Race details

In the first stage, Charles Pélissier
Charles Pélissier
Charles Pélissier was a French racing cyclist, professional between 1922 and 1939, who won 16 stages in the Tour de France. The number of eight stages won in the 1930 Tour de France is still a record, shared with Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens...

 won, and he became leader of the race, the third of the Pélissier brothers to do so. In the first stages, before the Pyrénées, the sprinters were battling for stage victories. The Italian Learco Guerra
Learco Guerra
Learco Guerra was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1934 Giro d'Italia....

 dominated the race. For the general classification, no big things happened, except for the fall of Alfredo Binda
Alfredo Binda
Alfredo Binda was an Italian cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s, later trainer of Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. Binda was the first multiple Giro d'Italia champion, securing five victories between 1925 and 1933 that redefined the way stage races were ridden...

 in the seventh stage, which caused him to lose one hour, and abandon his hopes for the Tour victory. Binda won the eighth and ninth stage, before he dropped out in the tenth stage.
In the ninth stage, touriste-routier Benoît Fauré
Benoît Fauré
Benoît Fauré was a French professional road bicycle racer. Benoît Fauré was a brother of cyclist Eugène Fauré.- Palmarès :19271929...

 led the race over the first mountains, and dropped many cyclists. In the end, he was dropped by Binda, Leducq, Pierre Magne and Antonin Magne.

In the sixteenth stage, going down from the Galibier, the leader of the race André Leducq
André Leducq
André Leducq was a French cyclist who won the 1930 and 1932 Tour de France.-Career:...

 fell down. He lost consciousness, and when he woke up, Pierre Magne
Pierre Magne
Pierre Magne was a French professional road bicycle racer. Magne won one stage in the 1928 Tour de France, and finished 6th in the 1930 Tour de France. Pierre Magne was the younger brother of Tour de France winner Antonin Magne.- Palmarès :1927...

 put him back on his bicycle, and his French team mates helped him to get back. Learco Guerra
Learco Guerra
Learco Guerra was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1934 Giro d'Italia....

, second placed in the general classification with a margin of more than 16 minutes, saw an opportunity and was away as fast as he could, together with Jef Demuysere
Jef Demuysere
Jef Demuysere was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Tour de France in 1929 and 1931, and on the podium of the Giro d'Italia in 1932 and 1933...

. Just before the climb of the Col du Télégraphe
Col du Télégraphe
Col du Télégraphe is a mountain pass in the French Alps situated above the Maurienne valley between the eastern end of the massif d'Arvan-Villards and the massif des Cerces....

, Leducq's pedal broke. His team mate Marcel Bidot
Marcel Bidot
Marcel Bidot was a French professional road bicycle racer who won two stages of the Tour de France and became manager of the French national team...

 got a pedal from a spectator's bicycle. Leducq though of abandoning the race, but he was convinced by his team mates to get back on his bicycle. They had 60 km to go, and managed to get back to Guerra. In the end, Leducq even managed to win the sprint.

With no more mountain stages to come, Leducq had secured his victory. Charles Pélissier made the victory of the French team even more glorious, as he won the last four stages.

Stage winners

Charles Pélissier
Charles Pélissier
Charles Pélissier was a French racing cyclist, professional between 1922 and 1939, who won 16 stages in the Tour de France. The number of eight stages won in the 1930 Tour de France is still a record, shared with Eddy Merckx and Freddy Maertens...

 won four stages in a row. He was the last cyclist to do this, until Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini , often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance and his colourful personality. His nicknames include Il Re Leone and Super Mario...

 repeated this in 1999
1999 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...

. Pélissier had also crossed the line first in the sixth stage, but was relegated because he had pulled Binda's jersey. He also finished in second place seven times, and finished in the top-three eighteen out of 21 times.
Pélissier was dominating the flat stages, but lost time on the mountain stages. In stage 9, he finished in fifteenth place, losing more than 23 minutes, in stage 14 he lost another 75 seconds to Leducq, and in stage 15 he lost more than 50 minutes, finishing 31st.
Pélissier's eight stage victories in one Tour is still a record; it has since been equalled by Eddy Merckx
Eddy Merckx
Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx , better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional cyclist. The French magazine Vélo called him "the most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known." The American publication, VeloNews, called him the greatest and most successful cyclist of all...

 in 1970
1970 Tour de France
The 1970 Tour de France was the 57th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 19, 1970. It consisted of 23 stages over 4366 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.589 km/h....

 and 1974
1974 Tour de France
The 1974 Tour de France was the 61st Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 21, 1974. It consisted of 22 stages over 4098 km, ridden at an average speed of 35.241 km/h...

 and Freddy Maertens
Freddy Maertens
Freddy Maertens is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist and twice World Road Race Champion.- Career :...

 in 1976
1976 Tour de France
The 1976 Tour de France was the 63rd Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 18, 1976. The total race distance was 22 stages over 4017 km, with riders averaging 34.518 km/h.It was won by mountain specialist Lucien Van Impe...

.
Stage results
Stage Date Route TerrainIn 1930, there was no distinction in the rules between plain stages and mountain stages; the icons shown here indicate whether the stage included mountains. Length Winner Race leader
1 2 July Paris – Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

 
Plain stage
206 km (128 mi)
2 3 July Caen – Dinan
Dinan
Dinan is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France.-Geography:Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead of nestling on the valley floor like Morlaix, most urban development has been on the hillside, overlooking the river Rance...

 
Plain stage
203 km (126.1 mi)
3 4 July Dinan – 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...

 
Plain stage
206 km (128 mi)
4 5 July Brest – Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...

 
Plain stage
210 km (130.5 mi)
5 6 July Vannes – Les Sables d'Olonne 
Plain stage
202 km (125.5 mi)
6 7 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...

 
Plain stage
285 km (177.1 mi)
7 8 July Bordeaux – Hendaye
Hendaye
Hendaye is the most south-westerly town and commune in France, lying in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and located in the traditional province Lapurdi of the French Basque Country...

 
Plain stage
222 km (137.9 mi)
8 9 July Hendaye – Pau 
Plain stage
146 km (90.7 mi)
9 10 July Pau – Luchon 
Stage with mountain(s)
231 km (143.5 mi)
10 12 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...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
322 km (200.1 mi)
11 14 July Perpignan – Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

 
Plain stage
164 km (101.9 mi)
12 15 July Montpellier – Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

 
Plain stage
209 km (129.9 mi)
13 16 July Marseille – Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 
Plain stage
181 km (112.5 mi)
14 17 July Cannes – Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
132 km (82 mi)
15 19 July Nice – Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
333 km (206.9 mi)
16 21 July Grenoble – 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...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
331 km (205.7 mi)
17 23 July Evian – Belfort
Belfort
Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-...

 
Stage with mountain(s)
282 km (175.2 mi)
18 24 July Belfort – 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...

 
Plain stage
223 km (138.6 mi)
19 25 July Metz – Charleville
Charleville, Marne
Charleville is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France....

 
Plain stage
159 km (98.8 mi)
20 26 July Charleville – Malo-les-Bains 
Plain stage
271 km (168.4 mi)
21 27 July Malo-les-Bains – 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...

 
Plain stage
300 km (186.4 mi)

Final general classification

Final general classification (1–10)
RankRiderTeamTime
1
France 172h 12' 16"
2 Italy +14' 13"
3 France +16' 03"
4 Belgium +21' 34"
5 France +41' 18"
6 France +45' 42"
7 Belgium +56' 19"
8 Touriste-routier
(South-East regional team)
+58' 34"
9 France +1h 04' 37"
10 Germany +1h 21' 39"

Final team classification

For the first time, there was an official team competition
Team classification
The team classification is a prize given in the Tour de France to the best team in the race. It has been awarded since 1930, and the calculation has changed throughout the years.-Calculation:...

. The team competition for national teams was won by the French team.
The team classification was calculated in 1930 by adding up the times of the best three cyclists of a team; the team with the least time was the winner.
Team classification (1–5)
RankTeamTime
1 517h 34' 09"
2 +1h 48' 55"
3  Germany +5h 09' 59"
4  Italy +6h 32' 42"
5  Spain +6h 42' 50"

The touriste-routiers had been divided into regional teams, for which a separate team classification was made. The South-East team became the winner of this classification.
Regional team classification (1–9)
RankTeamTime
1 South East 524h 07' 15"
2 Champagne +13h 21' 50"
3 Ile-de-France +15h 45' 56"
4 Côte d'Azur +17h 13' 29"
5 Midi +18h 12' 41"
6 Provence +20h 47' 29"
7 Normandy +25h 46' 13"
8 North +33h 00' 52"
9 Alsace-Lorraine +35h 11' 08"

Other classifications

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 Benoît Fauré
Benoît Fauré
Benoît Fauré was a French professional road bicycle racer. Benoît Fauré was a brother of cyclist Eugène Fauré.- Palmarès :19271929...

.

Aftermath

The national team format was considered successful by the Tour organisation. It also helped that a French cyclist won the race, which increased newspaper sales for the organising news paper l'Auto. The national team format was kept in the coming years, and only reverted to the trade team system in 1962 temporarily and 1969 permanently.
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