The 1950 Tour de France was the 37th Tour de France, taking place from 13 July to 7 August 1950. It consisted of 22 stages over 4775 km, ridden at an average speed of 32.788 km/h.
Gino Bartali, captain of the Italian team, threatened and assaulted by some French supporters accusing him to have caused Jean Robic's fall on the Col d'Aspin, retired after winning the 12th stage from Pau to Saint-Gaudens and left the race together with all the other Italian riders (including Fiorenzo Magni, who was wearing the yellow jersey). The lead transferred to Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kübler, who was able to keep the lead until the end of the race. Kübler became the first Swiss winner of the Tour de France.
The mountains classification was won by Louison Bobet, while the Belgian team won the team classification.
Algerian-French cyclist Abdel-Kader Zaaf became famous in this Tour de France by being so disoriented that he rode in the wrong direction.
Read more about 1950 Tour De France: Changes From The 1949 Tour De France, Participants, Race Details, Stages
Famous quotes containing the words tour and/or france:
“Left Washington, September 6, on a tour through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.... Absent nineteen days. Received every where heartily. The country is again one and united! I am very happy to be able to feel that the course taken has turned out so well.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The anarchy, assassination, and sacrilege by which the Kingdom of France has been disgraced, desolated, and polluted for some years past cannot but have excited the strongest emotions of horror in every virtuous Briton. But within these days our hearts have been pierced by the recital of proceedings in that country more brutal than any recorded in the annals of the world.”
—James Boswell (1740–1795)