Although the first ever Italian Grand Depart of Tour de France will take place in 2024, the race visited Italy for plenty of times, usually during mountain stages in the Alps.
Turin is one of the most visited Italian cities by Tour de France. In 1956, peloton made a trip to the place in 17th stage, and the next day went back to France. Though the Alps, of course.
Meanwhile, Tour de France history, (sort of) was made. Roger Walkowiak, the French rider, with no other success during his career, took the yellow jersey, and a few days later won the Tour de France. His triumph is often dubbed as "the less deserved victory" in the history of Tour de France. This sounds pretty much unfair, considering he did nothing wrong, in contrary, he did what a good GC rider has to do to win a grand tour:
he delivered a constant and solid performance, especially when it was needed the most, in the mountains.
Stage 17 from Gap to Turin was 234 km long and included Izoard, Mont Genévre and Sestriere. Wout Wagtmans, a Dutch rider was riding in yellow jersey. He became the leader general classification after stage 15. In general, Tour de France 1956 was mostly about successful breakaway attemps by less important riders. So came Roger Walakowiak into the lead in the first half of the race for a few days. Also Wagtmans managed to keep the yellow for a while, partially thanks to his breakaway activities. In the 17th stage, while Nino Defilippis, an Italian cyclist from Turin, won the stage, Roger Walkowiak jumped to the 2nd position in the GC.
On the next day, stage 18 started from Turin and after 250 km arrived in Grenoble. During the stage the peloton had to climb Mont Cenis, Croix de Fer and Luitel. This was the last chance for the climbers like Gaul, Bahamontes and Stan Ockers gain back some time in the general classification. The day went quite well for Charly Gaul. He won the stage, although he did not make it into the top10 of the general classification. Stan Ockers finished second.
Menawhile, Federico Bahamontes had a rather bad day in the saddle. On the last ascent he even trew away his bike and wanted to give up the race. But he was persuaded later not to do so. (He finished Tour de France 1956 in the 4th place of the general classification.)
But what was a bad day for a cyclist like Bahamontes,
it was probably one of the best performance of his entire career of Roger Walkowiak,
who managed to arrived in the finish together with the legendary Spaniard.
After the stage Walkowiak took the yellow jersey and managed to keep it until the very end of the race.
Miguel Angel Lopez conquers Col de la Loze (Tour de France retrospective -TDF 2020)
Col de la Loze was introduced to Tour de France in the 17th stage in 2020. The day delivered a Pog&Rog Show, a Lopez solo and a suddenly disappearing Bahrain-McLaren “suicide squad”. The 2 minutes gap between the three breakaway riders (Julian Alaphilippe, Richard Carapaz, Gorka Izagirre) and the peloton at foot of the 21… Read More »Miguel Angel Lopez conquers Col de la Loze (Tour de France retrospective -TDF 2020)
Fédérico Ezquerra on the Galibier (Tour de France 1936)
Col du Galibier is one of the oldest participats among the ascents the peloton of Tour de France used to climb in the Alps. It was already part the program of the 1911 edition when the race visited the Alps for the very first time. In 1936, Col du Galibier, alongside with Thélégraphe… Read More »Fédérico Ezquerra on the Galibier (Tour de France 1936)
20 July 1986 Tour de France visits Col du Granon
The 190 km long stage between Gap and Serre Chevalier included Col du Vars, Col d’Izoard and it was the first time the race visited Col du Granon. Before the stage Bernard Hinault (La Vie Claire) led the general classification, but he dropped on the Col d’Izoard. He was suffering from an old knee injury.… Read More »20 July 1986 Tour de France visits Col du Granon
19 July 1977 Lucien Van Impe ‘s crash on Alpe d’Huez
Thank you for being a devoted reader of PelotonTales. You are the reason why it’s worth spending so many hours to create new content and trying to improve this website. If you would show appreciation to my work, please consider supporting the blog with a small donation. Thank you! One of the oddest images from… Read More »19 July 1977 Lucien Van Impe ‘s crash on Alpe d’Huez
9 July 1963 – Fernando Manzaneque’s stage victory in the Alps
Fernando Manzaneque’s victory in the 16th stage of Tour de France 1963 isn’t intirguing because of some relation to the overall competition, but because it happened among rather extraordinary circumstances. Snow at the Tour de France is rare, but not impossible. During the 120 years of Tour de France history it happened a few times.… Read More »9 July 1963 – Fernando Manzaneque’s stage victory in the Alps
10 July 1976 Lucien Van Impe takes the yellow jersey at Tour de France
Lucien Van Impe was second in the general classification with 2 ‘ 41″ behind Raymond Delisle before the 14th stage of Tour de France 1976. The program of the day on the 10th of July 1976 was a 139 km long route in the Pyrenees between Saint-Gaudens and Saint-Larry-Soulan, including Col de Menté, Col du… Read More »10 July 1976 Lucien Van Impe takes the yellow jersey at Tour de France
Cyclists meet a local inhabitant during Tour de France 1925
During the first few decades in the history of Tour de France, mountain routes were kind of “terrae incognitae”, uncharted territories. We all know the story when Alphonse Steniès persuaded Henri Desgrange to include Tourmalet in the program of Tour de France 1910. He was struggling even to find a car driver, a local guide… Read More »Cyclists meet a local inhabitant during Tour de France 1925
Eddy Merckx on Blockhaus (Giro d’Italia 1967)
Every road cycling legend, every great champion has that first epic moment that defines their career. The moment that takes everyone by surprise, yet deep down, everyone knows this cyclist was always capable to do it. In 1967 Eddy Merckx was already a two-time Milano-Sanremo champion, after he repeated his success in previous year. He… Read More »Eddy Merckx on Blockhaus (Giro d’Italia 1967)
Horquette d’Ancizan at Tour de France
Horquette d’Ancizan has a short history regarding its appearances at Tour de France. 2022 Thibaut Pinot (FRA) 2019 Simon Yates (GBR) 2016 Chris Froome (GBR) 2013 Daniel Martin (IRL) 2011 Laurent Mangel (FRA) Horquette d’Ancizan will part of the program Tour de France 2024.
Jean Alavoine on the Col d’Aspin (Tour de France 1922)
Jean Alavoine (1888-1943) had a very good Tour de France in 1922. He won three stages, two of them in the Pyrenees and thanks to his great performance, he was wearing the yellow jersey for five days. Col d’Aspin was part of the program of the 6th stage alongside with Aubisque and Peyresourde, as usual.… Read More »Jean Alavoine on the Col d’Aspin (Tour de France 1922)