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Tour de France editions without previous winners in the peloton

Nicolas Frantz on the Col d'Allos at the Tour de France in 1927

During its 120-year long history, it happened only three times, when the peloton of Tour de France did not includ any previous winner.

Obviously, in 1903 there couldn't be any, because it was the very first edition.

In 1927, it seems to have been a generational change in the peloton of Tour de France. Several riders, who were successful before and right after the First World War has retired. A!so, sadly,  double TDF-winner Ottavio Bottecchia (1924 and 1925) was beaten during a training ride in June 1927 so seriously that he died a few days later. The exact circumstances of his death are still unclear.

Tour de France 1956 was a bit different story. Allegedly, the route was considered so easy, that many of the stars did not want to ride it. On the other hand, the fact that cyclists like Federico Bahamontes or Charly Gaul participated the race contradicts this theory. Anyway, this was the year, when Roger Walkowiak won the race. His success, quite unfairly, used to be dubbed as "the less deserved Tour de France victory".

 

 

Do you like the  history of Tour de France? Would you like to read about it more? Please look around PelotonTales blog, you will certainly find a fascinating story or an interesting fun fact about the time period or the cyclist you're looking for.

Just take a loot at the Tour de France fun facts category!

The Faces from the peloton series might be also interesting for you.

On PelotonTales blog,

the more far you go back in time, the more posts you will find.

The start of Word War I seems to be an important watershed in the history of road cycling races, and the blog follows this distinction too. One of the most busiest categories  focuses on the world of road cycling, especially the world of Tour de France before 1914.

MORE TOUR DE FRANCE FUN FACTS

Fausto Coppi celebrating his Tour de France victory in 1949

Giro d’ Italia -Tour de France doubles

Fausto Coppi was the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same year (1949) In 2024, 26 years after Marco Pantani’s double victory, Tadej Pogacar managed to win both Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year. The list of the riders Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1949… Read More »Giro d’ Italia -Tour de France doubles

Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard celebrating his first Tour de France victory in Paris in 2022

The slowest and the fastest Tour de France

You might wonder which Tour de France edition was the slowest and wich one the fastest. Here you have the answer. The slowest Tour de France was the 13th edition, held between 29th June and 27 July in 1919. The 5560 km long route of the race was  divided into 15 stages. (And it wasn’t… Read More »The slowest and the fastest Tour de France

Nicolas Frantz on the Col d'Allos at the Tour de France in 1927

Tour de France editions without previous winners in the peloton

During its 120-year long history, it happened only three times, when the peloton of Tour de France did not includ any previous winner. Obviously, in 1903 there couldn’t be any, because it was the very first edition. In 1927, it seems to have been a generational change in the peloton of Tour de France. Several… Read More »Tour de France editions without previous winners in the peloton

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TOUR DE FRANCE WINNERS

Tour de France history on PelotonTales blog: Louis Trousselier, Tour de France winner 1905

Tour de France winners: Louis Trousselier (1905)

There is a story about Louis Trousselier (1881-1939), the winner of Tour de France in 1905, that’s makes him one of those very characteristic protagonists of the early days of road cycling races: he lost all his prize money earned during the Tour de France by playing dice with friends on the night of his… Read More »Tour de France winners: Louis Trousselier (1905)

Henri Cornet, the younges Tour de France winner ever

Tour de France winners: Henri Cornet (1904)

Henri Cornet (1884-1941), the youngest Tour de France winner ever, had a quite short list of  triumphs. Indeed, besides winning the most famous cycling race, his other big success was his victory at Paris-Roubaix in 1906. Actually Cornet wasn’t the best rider on the roads at the Tour France in 1904. It was Maurice Garin,… Read More »Tour de France winners: Henri Cornet (1904)

Maurice Garin the winner of the first Tour de France

Tour de France winners: Maurice Garin (1903)

Maurice Garin (1871-1957), the winner of the first Tour de France became a professional cyclist only accidentally. Garin was racing as amateur already (he won his first race in 1893), when he decided to start at a race near to his hometown. He learned only at the start of the race, that this was an… Read More »Tour de France winners: Maurice Garin (1903)

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