The 1948 Tour de France was the 35th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 30 June to 25 July 1948. It consisted of 21 stages over .
The race was won by Italian cyclist Gino Bartali, who had also won the Tour de France in 1938. Bartali had almost given up during the race, but drew inspiration from a phone call from the Italian prime minister, who asked him to win the Tour de France to prevent civil unrest in Italy after assassination attempt against Togliatti. Bartali also won the mountains classification, while the team classification was won by the Belgian team.
Innovations and changes The prize for wearing the yellow jersey was introduced in 1948, sponsored by Les Laines, a French wool company.
In 1947, the media had complained that too many cyclists reached the end of the race, so the race was no longer heroic; this may have motivated a new rule between the third and the eighteenth stage, the rider last in the general classification was eliminated.
Whereas the 1947 Tour de France had been France-centred, the 1948 race became a more cosmopolitan race.
The Tour visited the Saar protectorate for the first time when the 18th stage passed Saarbrücken and Saarlouis. A second visit took place in 1953.
The first live television broadcast from the Tour de France was in 1948, when the arrival at the velodrome of Parc des Princes was broadcast live.
Teams
As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1948 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams.
After there had not been an official Italian team allowed in the previous edition, the Italians were back. The Italian cyclists were divided between Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi. Both argued in the preparation of the race about who would be the team leader. The Tour organisation wanted to have both cyclists in the race, so they allowed the Italians and Belgians to enter a second team.
In the end, Coppi refused to participate, and Bartali became the team leader.
The organisation still allowed the Italians and Belgians to enter a second team, but they were to be composed of young cyclists, and were named the Italy Cadets and the Belgium Aiglons.
The Tour organisation invited the Swiss to send a team, as they wanted Ferdinand Kübler, the winner of the 1948 Tour de Suisse, in the race. Kübler refused this because he could earn more money in other races. When the brothers Georges and Roger Aeschlimann announced that they wanted to join the race, they were quickly accepted, especially because they were from Lausanne, where the Tour would pass through. They were put in a team with eight non-French cyclists living in France, and were named the Internationals.
Twelve teams of ten cyclists entered the race, consisting of 60 French cyclists, 24 Italian, 22 Belgian, 6 Dutch, 4 Luxembourgian, 2 Swiss, 1 Polish and 1 Algerian cyclist.
The teams entering the race were:
Belgium Netherlands/Luxembourg Internationals Italy France Belgium Aiglons Italy Cadets Centre/South-West Île-de-France/North-East West Paris South-East
Route and stages
Bartali's three stage wins in a row was the last time that happened, until Mario Cipollini achieved four in a row in 1999. There were five rest days, in Biarritz, Toulouse, Cannes, Aix-les-Bains and Mulhouse. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit tunnel of the Col du Galibier mountain pass on stage 14.
+ Stage characteristics and winners Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 30 June Paris to Trouville Plain stage 2 1 July Trouville to Dinard Plain stage 3 2 July Dinard to Nantes Plain stage 4 3 July Nantes to La Rochelle Plain stage 5 4 July La Rochelle to Bordeaux Plain stage 6 5 July Bordeaux to Biarritz Plain stage 6 July Biarritz Rest day 7 7 July Biarritz to Lourdes Stage with mountain(s) 8 8 July Lourdes to Toulouse Stage with mountain(s) 9 July Toulouse Rest day 9 10 July Toulouse to Montpellier Plain stage 10 11 July Montpellier to Marseille Plain stage 11 12 July Marseille to Sanremo Plain stage 12 13 July Sanremo to Cannes Stage with mountain(s) 14 July Cannes Rest day 13 15 July Cannes to Briançon Stage with mountain(s) 14 16 July Briançon to Aix-les-Bains Stage with mountain(s) 17 July Aix-les-Bains Rest day 15 18 July Aix-les-Bains to Lausanne Stage with mountain(s) 16 19 July Lausanne to Mulhouse Stage with mountain(s) 20 July Mulhouse Rest day 17 21 July Mulhouse to Strasbourg Individual time trial 18 22 July Strasbourg to Metz Plain stage 19 23 July Metz to Liège (Belgium) Plain stage 20 24 July Liège (Belgium) to Roubaix Plain stage 21 25 July Roubaix to Paris Plain stage Total
Race overview
As the Italian team had not entered the Tours de France of 1939 and 1947, it was the first Tour de France for Bartali since his victory ten years before in 1938. His results in the Giro d'Italia had not been well, and it was not thought that Bartali could compete for the win.
Bartali however won the sprint in the first stage, and thanks to the bonification of one minute for the winner, he was leading the race. After that, the Italian team took a low profile in the race. In the second stage, Bartali lost the lead already; although his teammate Vincenzo Rossello won the stage, Belgian Jan Engels took over the yellow jersey.
In the third stage, a group escaped and built up a lead of almost 14 minutes. Among that group was Louison Bobet, and as he was the best-placed cyclist in that group he became the next leader. Also in that group was Roger Lambrecht; when Lambrecht again was able to be in the first group in the fourth stage, he took the lead, becoming the fourth rider in four stages to don the yellow jersey. Lambrecht kept it in the next stage, but after Bobet won the sixth stage, Bobet took back the lead, and the yellow jersey made him confident. In the Pyrenées, Bartali won both stages in a sprint, but Bobet was near and became the hero of the French spectators.
After the ninth stage, Bobet had built up a lead of more than nine minutes. In the tenth stage, he lost time, and Belgian cyclist Roger Lambrecht reduced the margin to 29 seconds. After the eleventh stage, Bobet was still in the lead, but was having problems, and after he fainted at the finish, he wanted to give up. After a meal, massage and sleeping, he changed his mind, and won the twelfth stage.
After the twelfth stage, Bartali was 20 minutes behind. Bartali thought about quitting the tour, but was persuaded to race on. That night, Bartali received a phone call while he was in bed. Alcide De Gasperi, prime minister of Italy, from the Christian Democratic party, told him that a few days earlier Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, had been shot, and Italy might be on the edge of a civil war.
De Gasperi asked Bartali to do his best to win a stage, because the sport news might distract people from the politics. Bartali replied that he would do better, and win the race. The next day, Bartali won stage 13 with a large margin. In the general classification, he jumped to second place, trailing by only 66 seconds.
In the fourteenth stage, Bartali and Bobet rode together over the Galibier and the Croix de Fer, but Bartali had been saving his energy, and left Bobet and every body else behind on the Col de Porte. Bartali won again, and took over the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. Bobet was now in second place, eight minutes behind. The next stage, stage 15, was also won by Bartali.
The sixteenth stage was not won by Bartali, but because his direct competitors lost time, he increased his lead to 32 minutes. Bartali lost minutes in the time trial in stage 17, but his lead was never endangered.
With each stage win of Bartali (seven in total), the Italian excitement about the Tour de France increased, and the political tensions quieted.
Classification leadership and minor prizes
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.
The budget of the Tour de France in 1948 was 45 million Francs, from which one third was provided by private enterprises.Dauncey, p.110 In total, 7 million Francs of prizes were awarded in the 1948 Tour de France. Of these, 600.000 Francs were given to Bartali for winning the general classification.
Bartali is the only cyclist to win two Tours de France ten years apart. Of the 120 cyclists, 44 finished the race.
Points for the mountains classification were earned by reaching the mountain tops first.
There were two types of mountain tops: the hardest ones, in category A, gave 10 points to the first cyclist, the easier ones, in category B, gave 5 points to the first cyclist.
The team classification was calculated by adding the times in the general classification of the best three cyclists per team.
The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange in the opening few kilometres of stage 1 at the summit of the Côte de Picardie in Versailles, Paris. This prize was won by Roger Lambrecht. The Tour de France in 1948 for the first time had a special award for the best regional rider. This was won by third-placed Guy Lapébie.
+Classification leadership by stage Stage Winner General classification Mountains classification Team classification 1 Gino Bartali Gino Bartali no award Belgium 2 Vincenzo Rossello Jan Engels Belgium B 3 Guy Lapébie Louison Bobet France 4 Jacques Pras Roger Lambrecht Internationals 5 Raoul Rémy 6 Louison Bobet Louison Bobet 7 Gino Bartali Bernard Gauthier France 8 Gino Bartali Jean Robic 9 Raymond Impanis 10 Raymond Impanis Internationals 11 Gino Sciardis 12 Louison Bobet Apo Lazaridès France 13 Gino Bartali Jean Robic 14 Gino Bartali Gino Bartali Gino Bartali 15 Gino Bartali 16 Edward Van Dijck 17 Roger Lambrecht Belgium 18 Giovanni Corrieri 19 Gino Bartali 20 Bernard Gauthier 21 Giovanni Corrieri FinalGino Bartali Gino Bartali Belgium
Final standings
General classification
+ Final general classification (1–10) Rank Rider Team Time1 Italy 147h 10' 36"2 Belgium + 26' 16"3 Centre/South-West + 28' 48"4 France + 32' 59"5 Netherlands/Luxembourg + 37' 53"6 France + 40' 17"7 Internationals + 49' 56"8 Internationals + 51' 36"9 Paris + 55' 23"10 Belgium + 1h 00' 03" Final general classification (11–44) Rank Rider Team Time11 Belgium + 1h 00' 13"12 Paris + 1h 02' 30"13 Paris + 1h 25' 08"14 Belgium + 1h 32' 13"15 Centre/South-West + 1h 39' 49"16 France + 1h 41' 26"17 France + 1h 42' 48"18 Internationals + 1h 45' 30"19 Italy + 1h 48' 50"20 Belgium Aiglons + 1h 59' 47"21 France + 2h 01' 58"22 Belgium Aiglons + 2h 15' 41"23 South-East + 2h 15' 59"24 South-East + 2h 34' 19"25 France + 2h 38' 01"26 Centre/South-West + 2h 42' 46"27 Italy + 2h 46' 48"28 Paris + 2h 56' 31"29 Italy + 2h 59' 10"30 Belgium + 3h 00' 54"31 Italy Cadets + 3h 02' 55"32 Île-de-France/North-East + 3h 05' 28"33 Italy + 3h 05' 56"34 Italy + 3h 07' 03"35 Île-de-France/North-East + 3h 18' 44"36 Netherlands/Luxembourg + 3h 24' 59"37 Internationals + 3h 26' 21"38 Italy Cadets + 3h 34' 29"39 South-East + 3h 45' 13"40 Île-de-France/North-East + 3h 48' 13"41 Italy + 3h 48' 30"42 Netherlands/Luxembourg + 3h 50' 41"43 South-East + 4h 14' 57"44 Italy Cadets + 4h 26' 43"
Mountains classification
+ Final mountains classification (1–5) Rank Rider Team Points1 Italy 622 France 433 France 384 Paris 305 France 286 France 267 Belgium 208 Centre/South-West 179 Internationals 1610 Internationals 15 Belgium 15
Team classification
+ Final team classification (1–5)Maso, p. 303 Rank Team Time1 Belgium 443h 58' 20"2 France + 28' 16"3 Paris + 56' 29"4 Internationals + 1h 00' 30"5 Italy + 2h 11' 36"
Aftermath