1958 Tour de France

1958 Tour de France
Race details
Dates 26 June–19 July 1958
Stages 24
Distance 4,319 km (2,684 mi)
Winning time 116h 59' 05" (36.919 km/h or 22.940 mph)
Palmares
Winner  Charly Gaul (Luxembourg) (Netherlands/Luxembourg)
Second  Vito Favero (Italy) (Italy)
Third  Raphaël Géminiani (France) (Centre-Midi)
Points  Jean Graczyk (France) (Centre-Midi)
Mountains  Federico Bahamontes (Spain) (Spain)
Team Belgium

The 1958 Tour de France was the 45th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 19, 1958. The total race distance was 24 stages over 4,319 km, at an average speed of 36.919 km/h.[1]

The yellow jersey for the leader in the general classification changed owner a record 11 times, and only at the penultimate stage in the time trial the decision was made, when Gaul created a margin of more than three minutes. In the final sprint, sprinter André Darrigade, who had already won five stages, collided with a stage official, who eleven days later died because of his injuries.

Participants

In 1958, 120 cyclists entered, divided into 10 teams of 12 cyclists each. France, Italy, Belgium and Spain each sent a national team. The Netherlands and Luxembourg had a combined team, as had Switzerland and Germany. There was also one "international" team, consisting of cyclists from Austria, Portugal, Great Britain and Denmark. There were also three regional French teams: Centre-Midi, West/South West and Paris/North East.[2] The French team had had some problems with the selection, as Jacques Anquetil, the winner of the 1957 Tour de France, did not want to share leadership with Louison Bobet, winner in 1953, 1954 and 1955.[3] Anquetil had been so superior in 1957, that he did not want Bobet and Géminiani both in his team. The French team selector then chose to include Bobet in the national team.[4] Raphael Géminiani, who had been in the French national team since 1949, was demoted into the regional Centre-Midi team. Géminiani was not pleased, and sent the French team director Marcel Bidot a jack-ass named "Marcel" to express his displeasure.[3]

Charly Gaul, part of the Dutch/Luxembourgian team, anticipated so little help from his team mates that he announced that he would not share prizes. His team mates then refused to support him, so Gaul was on his own.[4]

Changes from the 1957 Tour

For the first time, the first mountain climbs were broadcast live on television.[5]

Whereas there had been two rest days in recent years, the 1958 Tour had no rest days at all.[2]

Race details

The first stage left in Brussels, to celebrate Brussel's World Fair.[4] In the first stages, Luxembourgian climber Charly Gaul struggled, and lost considerable time in flat stages.[3] During a break in the sixth stage, Anquetil and Bobet were left behind. Géminiani was in the leading group, and gained more than ten minutes on his rivals. After the sixth stage, Gerrit Voorting was in first place, followed by François Mahé from the French national team, and Géminiani.[4] In the seventh stage, Arrigo Padovan won the sprint from Brian Robinson. The jury however relegated Padovan to second place for irregular sprinting, and Robinson became the first British winner of a stage.[4]

The ninth stage again saw a large breakaway, this time including Darrigade. Darrigade won the sprint, and because the next group was more than 10 minutes behind, he became the new leader.[4] Géminiani and the French national team were still on bad terms. When Gastone Nencini, a threat to both, had escaped and the national team members asked Géminiani to help them to get Nencini back, Géminiani refused.[4]

The Pyréneés were visited in stage 13. Darrigade was not able to keep up with the leaders, and lost the lead. Bahamontes had tried to escape but failed, and later Gaul tried to escape, but he also failed. The favourites finished together, and Géminiani became the new leader; Vito Favero was only three seconds behind him.[4] In the fourteenth stage, also in the Pyrénées, Bahamontes escaped again, and this time he managed to stay away and win. Géminiani finished in the next group, but because Favero won the sprint for the second place, he received 30 seconds bonification time, and became the new leader.[4] In the fifteenth stage, Favero again finished second, and extended his lead again by 30 seconds.[4]

In the eighteenth stage, a mountain time trial, Gaul won back time, and jumped from sixth place to third place in the general classification.[3] Géminiani jumped back to the first place in that stage.[4]

In the nineteenth stage, over the Alps, Gaul had mechanical problems, and lost ten minutes. Second-placed rider Favero was now at a margin of more than three minutes.[4] In the twentieth stage, again in the Alps, Bahamontes finished first. Gaul lost a few seconds to Géminiani in the that stage, so after the twentieth stage, Gaul was more than sixteen minutes behind Géminiani.[6] With only a few stages left, Géminiani appeared to be able to win the race.

In stage 21, the weather conditions were bad. Before the stage started, Gaul told Bobet that he would attack on the first climb of the day, which he did. Bahamontes followed him, but let himself drop back because the weather was too bad and the finish was still far away. Gaul continued on his own, and his margin with the next cyclist kept growing.[6] Géminiani now asked the French national team to help him, but they could not help and did not want to help. Géminiani forgot to take food in the food zone, and was hungry in the last part of the stage.[4] In the end, Gaul won the stage almost 8 minutes ahead of the next rider. Favero came in third, more than ten minutes later, and Géminiani seventh more than 14 minutes behind. Favero was again first in the general classification, with Géminiani only 39 seconds behind in second place and Gaul 67 seconds behind in third place.[3][7] After that stage, Géminiani accused the French team of treason, because he said it was due to their attacks that he lost the lead.[8] Because of the extraordinary circumstances, the time limits were not enforced that stage. Second-placed rider Favero was now at a margin of more than three minutes.[4]

Stage 22 was flat, and the favourites stayed together. This meant that the time trial in stage 23 would be decisive. In that time trial, Gaul was the first of these three to start. Gaul set the winning time, and Géminiani and Favero lost more than three minutes, so Gaul took the lead in the general classification.[3] Anquetil, who felt sick and was behind in the general classification, did not start that stage.[4]

The last stage traditionally saw no problems for the leader, and Gaul became the first Luxembourgian cyclist since 1928 to win the Tour.[3]

In the final sprint in the last stage in the Parc des Princes, André Darrigade was in first position when he collided with Constant Wouters, the 70-year-old sécrétaire-général of the stadium, who was attempting to prevent photographers encroaching on the track. Darrigade needed five stitches, but Wouters injuries were more serious, and he died eleven days later.[9]

Stages

The 1958 Tour de France started on 26 June, and had no rest days.[10]

Stage results[2][11]
Stage Date Route Terrain Length Winner
1 26 June Brussels - Ghent Plain stage 184 km (114 mi)  André Darrigade (FRA)
2 27 June Ghent - Dunkirk Plain stage 198 km (123 mi)  Gerrit Voorting (NED)
3 28 June Dunkirk - Mers-les-Bains Plain stage 177 km (110 mi)  Gilbert Bauvin (FRA)
4 29 June Le Tréport - Versailles Plain stage 205 km (127 mi)  Jean Gainche (FRA)
5 30 June Versailles - Caen Plain stage 232 km (144 mi)  Tino Sabbadini (FRA)
6 1 July Caen - Saint-Brieuc Plain stage 223 km (139 mi)  Martin van Geneugden (BEL)
7 2 July Saint-Brieuc - Brest Plain stage 170 km (110 mi)  Brian Robinson (GBR)
8 3 July Chateaulin - Chateaulin Individual time trial 46 km (29 mi)  Charly Gaul (LUX)
9 4 July Quimper - Saint-Nazaire Plain stage 206 km (128 mi)  André Darrigade (FRA)
10 5 July Saint-Nazaire - Royan Plain stage 255 km (158 mi)  Pierino Baffi (ITA)
11 6 July Royan - Bordeaux Plain stage 137 km (85 mi)  Arrigo Padovan (ITA)
12 7 July Bordeaux - Dax Plain stage 161 km (100 mi)  Martin van Geneugden (BEL)
13 8 July Dax - Pau Stage with mountain(s) 230 km (140 mi)  Louis Bergaud (FRA)
14 9 July Pau - Luchon Stage with mountain(s) 129 km (80 mi)  Federico Bahamontes (ESP)
15 10 July Luchon - Toulouse Stage with mountain(s) 176 km (109 mi)  André Darrigade (FRA)
16 11 July Toulouse - Béziers Plain stage 187 km (116 mi)  Pierino Baffi (ITA)
17 12 July Béziers - Nîmes Plain stage 189 km (117 mi)  André Darrigade (FRA)
18 13 July Mont-Ventoux - Mont-Ventoux Mountain time trial 21 km (13 mi) Charly Gaul (LUX)
19 14 July Carpentras - Gap Stage with mountain(s) 178 km (111 mi)  Gastone Nencini (ITA)
20 15 July Gap - Briançon Stage with mountain(s) 165 km (103 mi)  Federico Bahamontes (ESP)
21 16 July Briançon - Aix-les-Bains Stage with mountain(s) 219 km (136 mi)  Charly Gaul (LUX)
22 17 July Aix-les-Bains - Besançon Stage with mountain(s) 237 km (147 mi)  André Darrigade (FRA)
23 18 July Besançon - Dijon Individual time trial 74 km (46 mi)  Charly Gaul (LUX)
24 19 July Dijon - Paris Plain stage 320 km (200 mi)  Pierino Baffi (ITA)

Classification leadership

The yellow jersey changed hands eleven times, the most ever.[1][12]

Stage General classification
 Points classification
 Mountains classification Team classification
1  André Darrigade (FRA)  André Darrigade (FRA) no award Belgium
2  Jos Hoevenaers (BEL)  Jos Hoevenaers (BEL)
3  Wim van Est (NED)  Jean Graczyk (FRA) Netherlands/Luxembourg
4 Belgium
5  Gilbert Bauvin (FRA) France
6  Gerrit Voorting (NED)
7
8
9  André Darrigade (FRA)
10
11
12
13  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)  Federico Bahamontes (ESP)
14  Vito Favero (ITA)
15
16
17
18  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA) Belgium
19
20
21  Vito Favero (ITA) France
22
23  Charly Gaul (LUX) Belgium
24
Final  Charly Gaul (LUX)  Jean Graczyk (FRA)  Federico Bahamontes (ESP)  Belgium

Results

General classification

The time that each cyclist required to finish each stage was recorded, and these times were added together for the general classification. If a cyclist had received a time bonus, it was subtracted from this total; all time penalties were added to this total. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey. Of the 120 cyclists that started the 1958 Tour de France, 78 finished the race. Gaul had an average speed of 36.919 km/h, which was a new record.[2]

Final general classification (1–10)[2]
RankRiderTeamTime
1  Charly Gaul (LUX)Netherlands/Luxembourg 116h 59' 05"
2  Vito Favero (ITA)Italy +3' 10"
3  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA)Centre-Midi +3' 41"
4  Jan Adriaensens (BEL)Belgium +7' 16"
5  Gastone Nencini (ITA)Italy +13' 33"
6  Jozef Planckaert (BEL)Belgium +28' 01"
7  Louison Bobet (FRA)France +31' 39"
8  Federico Bahamontes (ESP)Spain +40' 44"
9  Louis Bergaud (FRA)France +48' 33"
10  Jos Hoevenaers (BEL)Belgium +58' 26"

Points classification

The points classification was calculated by adding the stage ranks of each cyclist.

Final points classification (1–10)[13]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1  Jean Graczyk (FRA) Centre-Midi 247
2  Jef Planckaert (BEL) Belgium 406
3  André Darrigade (FRA) France 553
4  Jean Gainche (FRA) West/South West 584
5  Edouard Delberghe (FRA) Paris/North East 623
6  Gilbert Bauvin (FRA) France 660
7  Jos Hoevenaers (BEL) Belgium 663
8  Gastone Nencini (ITA) Italy 682
9  Piet van Est (NED) Netherlands/Luxembourg 718
10  Wim van Est (NED) Netherlands/Luxembourg 728

Mountains classification

The mountains classification was calculated by adding the points given to cyclists for reaching the highest point in a climb first.

Final mountains classification (1–11)[13]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1  Federico Bahamontes (ESP) Spain 78
2  Charly Gaul (LUX) Netherlands/Luxembourg 64
3  Jean Dotto (FRA) Centre-Midi 34
4  Gianni Ferlenghi (ITA) Italy 33
5  Jean Adriaenssens (BEL) Belgium 28
6  Nino Catalano (ITA) Italy 19
6  Piet van Est (NED) Netherlands/Luxembourg 19
8  Jacques Anquetil (FRA) France 18
8  Raphaël Géminiani (FRA) Centre-Midi 18
8  Gastone Nencini (ITA) Italy 18
8  Piet Damen (NED) Netherlands/Luxembourg 18

Team classification

The team classification was calculated as the sum of the daily team classifications, and the daily team classification was calculated by adding the times in the stage result of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the Belgian team, with a large margin over the Italian team.

Final team classification[13]
RankTeamTime
1 Belgium 352h 30' 58"
2 Italy +9' 05"
3 Netherlands/Luxembourg +43' 26"
4 France +59' 20"
5 Centre-Midi +59' 34"
6 Spain +3h 18' 48"
7 Paris/North East +3h 20' 00"
8 Switzerland/Germany +3h 30' 09"
9 West/South West +3h 45' 14"
10 Internationals +5h 23' 28"

Combativity classification

The combativity award was won by Federico Bahamontes.[1]

Final combativity classification (1–3)[14]
RankRiderTeamPoints
1  Federico Bahamontes (ESP) Spain 246
2  André Darrigade (FRA) France 243
3  Charly Gaul (LUX) Netherlands/Luxembourg 224

References

  1. 1 2 3 Augendre, Jacques (2009). "Guide Historique, part 6" (PDF) (in French). Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 2009-10-03. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "45ème Tour de France 1958" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Boyce, Barry (2004). "Little Charly Gaul Climbs to a Tour Victory". Cyling Revealed. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 McGann, Bill; McGann, Carol (2006). The Story of the Tour de France Volume 1: 1903-1964. Dog Ear Publishing. pp. 228–236. ISBN 1-59858-180-5. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  5. ↑ Thompson, Christopher S. (2008). The Tour de France: A Cultural History. University of California Pres. p. 283. ISBN 0-520-25630-1. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
  6. 1 2 Jones, Graham (August 2006). "Great Escapes". Cycling revealed. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  7. ↑ "45ème Tour de France 1958 - 21ème étape" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "The Tour - Year 1958". Amaury Sport Organisation. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  9. ↑ "Tour de France: An alternative view of the ultimate road race". The Independent. 6 July 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  10. ↑ Augendre, Jacques (2009). "Guide Historique, part 3" (PDF) (in French). Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original on 2009-10-03. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  11. ↑ Zwegers, Arian. "Tour de France GC Top Ten". CVCC. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  12. ↑ Hildenbrand, Bruce (20 August 2006). "81 Reasons The Yellow Jersey Still Matters". Bicycling. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 "1958: 45e editie". Tourdefrance.nl. 30 December 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  14. ↑ "Clasificacion General" (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 20 July 1958. p. 3. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.