As was the custom since 1930, 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 was divided between Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi. Both argued in the preparation for 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 Italian Cadets and the Belgian 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: Belgium, Dutch/Luxembourg, Internationals, Italy, France, Belgian Aiglons, Italian Cadets, Centre–South-West, Ile de France–France-North-East, West-France, Paris and France-South-East. There were 60 French cyclists, 24 Italian, 22 Belgian, 6 Dutch, 4 Luxembourgian, 2 Swiss, 1 Polish and 1 Algerian cyclist.

Start list

By team

+Belgium No. Rider Pos. 1 DNF 2 DNF 3 10 4 30 5 DNF 6 11 7 DNF 8 DNF 9 2 10 14+Netherlands/Luxembourg No. Rider Pos. 11 DNF 12 DNF 13 42 14 DNF 15 36 16 DNF 17 DNF 18 DNF 19 DNF 20 5+International No. Rider Pos. 21 DNF 22 DNF 23 DNF 24 8 25 DNF 26 18 27 7 28 37 29 DNF 30 DNF+Italy No. Rider Pos. 31 1 32 33 33 34 34 29 35 DNF 36 DNF 37 41 38 19 39 DNF 40 27+France No. Rider Pos. 41 4 42 DNF 43 DNF 44 DNF 45 DNF 46 21 47 25 48 16 49 6 50 17+Belgium Aiglons No. Rider Pos. 51 20 52 22 53 DNF 54 DNF 55 DNF 56 DNF 57 DNF 58 DNF 59 DNF 60 DNF+Italy Cadets No. Rider Pos. 61 DNF 62 DNF 63 DNF 64 DNF 65 31 66 38 67 DNF 68 DNF 69 44 70 DNF+France - Centre/South-West No. Rider Pos. 71 DNF 72 15 73 3 74 DNF 75 DNF 76 DNF 77 DNF 78 DNF 79 DNF 80 26+France - Île de France/North-East No. Rider Pos. 81 35 82 DNF 83 DNF 84 DNF 85 DNF 86 32 87 DNF 88 DNF 89 DNF 90 40+France - West No. Rider Pos. 91 DNF 92 DNF 93 DNF 94 DNF 95 DNF 96 DNF 97 DNF 98 DNF 99 DNF 100 DNF+France - Paris No. Rider Pos. 101 12 102 28 103 DNF 104 DNF 105 DNF 106 DNF 107 DNF 108 DNF 109 13 110 9+France - South-East No. Rider Pos. 111 DNF 112 24 113 39 114 DNF 115 DNF 116 DNF 117 23 118 43 119 DNF 120 DNF

By rider + Legend No. Starting number worn by the rider during the Tour Pos. Position in the general classification DNF Denotes a rider who did not finish

No. Name Nationality Team Pos. 1 Norbert Callens Belgium DNF 2 André Declerck Belgium DNF 3 Raymond Impanis Belgium 10 4 Florent Mathieu Belgium 30 5 René Mertens Belgium DNF 6 Stan Ockers Belgium 11 7 Albert Ramon Belgium DNF 8 Emile Rogiers Belgium DNF 9 Briek Schotte Belgium 2 10 Edward Van Dijck Belgium 14 11 Cor Bakker Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 12 Henk de Hoog Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 13 Wim de Ruyter Netherlands/Luxembourg 42 14 Bernard Franken Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 15 Sjefke Janssen Netherlands/Luxembourg 36 16 Frans Pauwels Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 17 Henri Ackermann Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 18 René Biver Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 19 Willy Kemp Netherlands/Luxembourg DNF 20 Jeng Kirchen Netherlands/Luxembourg 5 21 Georges Aeschlimann International DNF 22 Roger Aeschlimann International DNF 23 Pierre Brambilla International DNF 24 Fermo Camellini International 8 25 Victor Joly International DNF 26 Edward Klabiński International 18 27 Roger Lambrecht International 7 28 Paul Néri International 37 29 Gino Sciardis International DNF 30 Giuseppe Tacca/Pierre Tacca / International DNF 31 Gino Bartali Italy 1 32 Antonio Bevilacqua Italy 33 33 Serafino Biagioni Italy 34 34 Giovanni Corrieri Italy 29 35 Giordano Cottur Italy DNF 36 Guido De Santi Italy DNF 37 Egidio Feruglio Italy 41 38 Bruno Pasquini Italy 19 39 Vincenzo Rossello Italy DNF 40 Primo Volpi Italy 27 41 Louison Bobet France 4 42 Louis Caput France DNF 43 Camille Danguillaume France DNF 44 Édouard Fachleitner France DNF 45 Émile Idée France DNF 46 Apo Lazaridès France 21 47 Paul Giguet France 25 48 Jean Robic France 16 49 Lucien Teisseire France 6 50 René Vietto France 17 51 Marcel Dupont Belgium Aiglons 20 52 Jan Engels Belgium Aiglons 22 53 Léon Jomaux Belgium Aiglons DNF 54 Lucien Mathys Belgium Aiglons DNF 55 Maurice Meersman Belgium Aiglons DNF 56 Maurice Mollin Belgium Aiglons DNF 57 Rik Renders Belgium Aiglons DNF 58 Florent Rondelé Belgium Aiglons DNF 59 André Rosseel Belgium Aiglons DNF 60 Adolph Verschueren Belgium Aiglons DNF 61 Oreste Conte Italy Cadets DNF 62 Enzo Coppini Italy Cadets DNF 63 Umberto Drei Italy Cadets DNF 64 Mario Fazio Italy Cadets DNF 65 Attilio Lambertini Italy Cadets 31 66 Vittorio Magni Italy Cadets 38 67 Aldo Ronconi Italy Cadets DNF 68 Virgilio Salimbeni Italy Cadets DNF 69 Vittorio Seghezzi Italy Cadets 44 70 Nello Sforacchi Italy Cadets DNF 71 Robert Desbats France - Centre/South-West DNF 72 Raphaël Géminiani France - Centre/South-West 15 73 Guy Lapébie France - Centre/South-West 3 74 Roger Lévêque France - Centre/South-West DNF 75 Alfred Macorig France - Centre/South-West DNF 76 Henri Massal France - Centre/South-West DNF 77 Paul Maye France - Centre/South-West DNF 78 Daniel Orts France - Centre/South-West DNF 79 Jacques Pras France - Centre/South-West DNF 80 Georges Ramoulux France - Centre/South-West 26 81 Pierre Baratin France - Île de France/North-East 35 82 Urbain Caffi France - Île de France/North-East DNF 83 Jean de Gribaldy France - Île de France/North-East DNF 84 Maurice De Muer France - Île de France/North-East DNF 85 Louis Déprez France - Île de France/North-East DNF 86 Alphonse Devreese France - Île de France/North-East 32 87 François Hélary France - Île de France/North-East DNF 88 César Marcelak France - Île de France/North-East DNF 89 Édouard Muller France - Île de France/North-East DNF 90 Daniel Thuayre France - Île de France/North-East 40 91 Robert Bonnaventure France - West DNF 92 Maurice Carpentier France - West DNF 93 Roger Chupin France - West DNF 94 Pierre Cogan France - West DNF 95 Jean-Marie Goasmat France - West DNF 96 Raymond Guégan France - West DNF 97 Yvan Marie France - West DNF 98 François Person France - West DNF 99 Roger Pontet France - West DNF 100 Eloi Tassin France - West DNF 101 André Brulé France - Paris 12 102 Robert Chapatte France - Paris 28 103 Maurice Diot France - Paris DNF 104 Raymond Goussot France - Paris DNF 105 Jean Lauk France - Paris DNF 106 Lucien Lauk France - Paris DNF 107 Jacques Marinelli France - Paris DNF 108 Robert Mignat France - Paris DNF 109 Kleber Piot France - Paris 13 110 Louis Thiétard France - Paris 9 111 Marius Bonnet France - South-East DNF 112 Bernard Gauthier France - South-East 24 113 Georges Martin France - South-East 39 114 Maurice Lauze France - South-East DNF 115 Pierre Molinéris France - South-East DNF 116 Victor Pernac France - South-East DNF 117 Raoul Rémy France - South-East 23 118 Jean Rey France - South-East 43 119 Amédée Rolland France - South-East DNF 120 Abdel-Kader Zaaf France - South-East DNF

Notes 1.The French naturalisation of Giuseppe Tacca, under the name of Pierre Tacca, became official during the Tour de France, on 2 July 1948.

References