As was the custom since 1930, the 1952 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. The three major cycling countries in 1952, Italy, Belgium and France, each sent a team of 12 cyclists. Other countries sent teams of 8 cyclists: Switzerland, Luxembourg (together with Australia), Netherlands and Spain. The French regional cyclists were divided into four teams of 12 cyclists: Paris, North East–Center, South East and West–South West. The last team of eight cyclists was made up out of cyclists from the French North African colonies. In the end, Luxembourg only sent 6 cyclists, so all together this made 122 cyclists.

There were 57 French (of whom 6 were Algerian), 13 Italian, 12 Belgian, 8 Dutch, 8 Spanish, 8 Swiss, 5 Luxembourgian and 1 Australian cyclist. The winners of the last two editions, Swiss cyclists Hugo Koblet and Ferdinand Kübler, were injured and did not enter the race, neither did French cyclist Louison Bobet.

On the last press conference before the race, Jacques Goddet did a poll amongst journalists, to see who they considered the main favourite. Coppi received 29 votes in that poll, followed by Géminiani and Bartali, both 26 votes.

By team

+Switzerland No. Rider Pos. 1 72 2 50 3 DNF 4 DNF 5 52 6 12 7 DNF 8 DNF+Belgium No. Rider Pos. 9 DNF 10 7 11 38 12 13 13 DNF 14 29 15 2 16 28 17 DNF 18 14 19 DNF 20 DNF+Italy No. Rider Pos. 21 41 22 4 23 62 24 9 25 1 26 46 27 58 28 27 29 6 30 56 31 51 32 35+France No. Rider Pos. 33 64 34 8 35 63 36 11 37 19 38 43 39 DNF 40 34 41 37 42 5 43 21 44 59+Netherlands No. Rider Pos. 45 60 46 76 47 15 48 53 49 69 50 17 51 22 52 25+Spain No. Rider Pos. 53 10 54 47 55 30 56 DNF 57 3 58 23 59 42 60 DNF+Luxembourg/Australia No. Rider Pos. 61 DNF 62 DNS 63 DNF 64 57 65 16 66 DNF 67 DNF 68 DNS+France - Paris No. Rider Pos. 69 DNF 70 DNF 71 DNF 72 DNF 73 36 74 DNF 75 DNF 76 31 77 DNF 78 40 79 DNF 80 48+France - North-East/Centre No. Rider Pos. 81 32 82 DNF 83 DNF 84 45 85 24 86 DNF 87 DNF 88 DNF 89 DNF 90 55 91 61 92 DNF+France - South-East No. Rider Pos. 93 68 94 44 95 DNF 96 DNF 97 DNF 98 66 99 DNF 100 65 101 DNF 102 71 103 67 104 20+France - West/South-West No. Rider Pos. 105 75 106 DNF 107 73 108 DNF 109 DNF 110 26 111 33 112 DNF 113 DNF 114 70 115 74 116 49+North Africa No. Rider Pos. 117 DNF 118 54 119 39 120 DNF 121 78 122 77 123 DNF 124 18

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 Heinrich Spuhler Switzerland 72 2 Walter Diggelmann Switzerland 50 3 Marcel Huber Switzerland DNF 4 Martin Metzger Switzerland DNF 5 Carlo Lafranchi Switzerland 52 6 Gottfried Weilenmann Switzerland 12 7 Roger Aeschlimann Switzerland DNF 8 Walter Reiser Switzerland DNF 9 Maurice Blomme Belgium DNF 10 Alex Close Belgium 7 11 Roger Decock Belgium 38 12 Alois De Hertog Belgium 13 13 Germain Derycke Belgium DNF 14 Maurice Neyt Belgium 29 15 Stan Ockers Belgium 2 16 André Rosseel Belgium 28 17 Robert Vanderstockt Belgium DNF 18 Edward Van Ende Belgium 14 19 Henri Van Kerckhove Belgium DNF 20 Rik Van Steenbergen Belgium DNF 21 Mario Baroni Italy 41 22 Gino Bartali Italy 4 23 Giulio Bresci Italy 62 24 Andrea Carrea Italy 9 25 Fausto Coppi Italy 1 26 Giovanni Corrieri Italy 46 27 Fiorenzo Crippa Italy 58 28 Franco Franchi Italy 27 29 Fiorenzo Magni Italy 6 30 Alfredo Martini Italy 56 31 Ettore Milano Italy 51 32 Luciano Pezzi Italy 35 33 Robert Bonnaventure France 64 34 Jean Dotto France 8 35 Bernard Gauthier France 63 36 Raphaël Géminiani France 11 37 Nello Lauredi France 19 38 Lucien Lazaridès France 43 39 Édouard Muller France DNF 40 Maurice Quentin France 34 41 Raoul Rémy France 37 42 Jean Robic France 5 43 Antonin Rolland France 21 44 Lucien Teisseire France 59 45 Hans Dekkers Netherlands 60 46 Henk Faanhof Netherlands 76 47 Jan Nolten Netherlands 15 48 Thijs Roks Netherlands 53 49 Hein Van Breenen Netherlands 69 50 Wim van Est Netherlands 17 51 Gerrit Voorting Netherlands 22 52 Wout Wagtmans Netherlands 25 53 Antonio Gelabert Spain 10 54 José Gil Spain 47 55 Francisco Masip Spain 30 56 José Pérez Llácer Spain DNF 57 Bernardo Ruiz Spain 3 58 José Serra Spain 23 59 Andrés Trobat Spain 42 60 Hortensio Vidaurreta Spain DNF 61 Robert Bintz Luxembourg/Australia DNF 62 René Biever Luxembourg/Australia DNS 63 Bim Diederich Luxembourg/Australia DNF 64 Johny Goedert Luxembourg/Australia 57 65 Jean Goldschmit Luxembourg/Australia 16 66 Willy Kemp Luxembourg/Australia DNF 67 John Beasley Luxembourg/Australia DNF 68 Edward Smith Luxembourg/Australia DNS 69 Louis Caput France - Paris DNF 70 Jean Carle France - Paris DNF 71 Robert Chapatte France - Paris DNF 72 Charles Coste France - Paris DNF 73 Georges Decaux France - Paris 36 74 Jacques Dupont France - Paris DNF 75 Pierre Gaudot France - Paris DNF 76 Jacques Marinelli France - Paris 31 77 Armand Papazian France - Paris DNF 78 Jacques Renaud France - Paris 40 79 Gino Sciardis France - Paris DNF 80 Eugène Telotte France - Paris 48 81 Gilbert Bauvin France - North-East/Centre 32 82 Roger Buchonnet France - North-East/Centre DNF 83 Jean-Marie Cieleska France - North-East/Centre DNF 84 Jean de Gribaldy France - North-East/Centre 45 85 Adolphe Deledda France - North-East/Centre 24 86 Robert Ducard France - North-East/Centre DNF 87 Marcel Dussault France - North-East/Centre DNF 88 Noël Lajoie France - North-East/Centre DNF 89 Georges Meunier France - North-East/Centre DNF 90 Pierre Pardoën France - North-East/Centre 55 91 Roger Rossinelli France - North-East/Centre 61 92 Alexandre Sowa France - North-East/Centre DNF 93 Jean Bertaina France - South-East 68 94 Siro Bianchi France - South-East 44 95 Dominique Canavèse France - South-East DNF 96 Albert Chaumarat France - South-East DNF 97 Édouard Fachleitner France - South-East DNF 98 Paul Giguet France - South-East 66 99 Michel Llorca France - South-East DNF 100 Joseph Mirando France - South-East 65 101 Pierre Molinéris France - South-East DNF 102 Adolphe Pezzuli France - South-East 71 103 René Rotta France - South-East 67 104 Vincent Vitetta France - South-East 20 105 André Bernard France - West/South-West 75 106 René Berton France - West/South-West DNF 107 Jean Delahaye France - West/South-West 73 108 Albert Dolhats France - West/South-West DNF 109 Guy Lapébie France - West/South-West DNF 110 Jean Le Guilly France - West/South-West 26 111 Jean Malléjac France - West/South-West 33 112 Alain Moineau France - West/South-West DNF 113 André Dufraisse France - West/South-West DNF 114 Tino Sabbadini France - West/South-West 70 115 Raymond Scardin France - West/South-West 74 116 Jacques Vivier France - West/South-West 49 117 Mustapha Chareuf North Africa DNF 118 Marcel Fernandez North Africa 54 119 Ahmed Kebaili North Africa 39 120 Gérard Guercy North Africa DNF 121 Henri Paret North Africa 78 122 Vincent Soler North Africa 77 123 Abdel-Kader Zaaf North Africa DNF 124 Marcel Zélasco North Africa 18

References