40th Tour de France 1953

Bobet is Brilliant, as French Team Squabbles

The 1953 Grand Boucle marked the 50th Anniversary of the Tour de France. French people anxiously awaited a return of a powerful French National team to end the Italian/Swiss domination of the post World War 2 Tours. French National team managers worked overtime to put together a formidable squad.

The selection process for the French National team was controversial. The designation of Louison Bobet as the team leader sent an emotional shock wave through the French team. Bobet was an extremely hard worker in training and had the potential for greatness, but he had not generated success in his 5 previous TdF appearances. French teammate Raphael Geminiani expressed doubt over Bobet's strength after a DNF (did not finish) in the Giro d'Italia earlier that year. When the Tour began team manager Michel Bidot had more than his share of problems.

SPECIAL NOTE: TdF director Jacques Goddet feared the Tour was losing an element of excitement because individual riders were so dominate. Midway through the 1952 Tour Fausto Coppi was so far ahead, he doubled the prize money for second place to keep the peloton racing hard. In 1953, Goddet devised a plan to keep the sprinters racing hard for the entire race. A "Points Competition" was offered as a new classification. The points competition rewarded riders who finished high in the daily stage placement. Similar to the Maillot Jaune (race leader's Yellow Jersey), a distinctive jersey was needed to designate the classification leader and the Maillot Vert (Green Jersey) was born.

As the French team squabbled, the very strong Swiss team took early control of the race. Swiss sprinter Fritz Schaer wore the Maillot Jaune for 6 of the first ten stages.

SPECIAL NOTE: On stage 11 in the Pyrenees at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, the diminutive climber Jean Robic was handed a bottle filled with lead at the feed zone, weighing 10kg (22 pounds), so that he can gain speed on the descent. Robic gained the stage win and took over the overall lead and Maillot Jaune.

Louison Bobet moved into third place General Classification after stage 13 in Beziers. He trailed regional French rider Jean Mallejac by 3 minutes 13 seconds and Italian Giancarlo Astrua by 2 minutes. The pressure was on the French National team to generate time gains for a team member.

Bobet knew from Tour history that the stage from Gap to Briancon was the battleground for great individual accomplishments. After a hard early pace, the number of riders in the lead pack began to diminish and over the top of the Col de Vars the select group pushed toward the Col d'Izoard. Through the valley leading to the Izoard, Louison Bobet launched a brilliant attack. He set a relentless pace and cruised over the summit alone. Bobet crossed the finish line in Briancon for the stage win. His time gain on the race leader Mallejac was more than 12 minutes and 10'48” on teammate Raphael Geminiani. Bobet had snatched the Maillot Jaune and solidified control of the French National team.

Great champions have the ability to rise to all occasion. Louison Bobet won the final time trial and showed all of France that he was more than just a climber. The win gave Bobet an insurmountable 14'18” lead on Mallejac with just two stages remaining in the race.

Louison Bobet cruised across the finish line In Paris to claim his first TdF championship. For the French the 50th Tour de France anniversary celebration was extra sweet.

SPECIAL NOTE: Why was the Points Jersey Green? Tour organizers thought the color of hope was green and when the first points classification was instituted in 1953, the sponsor was Belle Jardinier. The new sponsor was a department store specializing in gardening products. Green is the predominate color of a garden, so they selected green as the symbolic color of their jersey.

TdF 1952

TdF 1954

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