The 39th running of the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

cycling classic The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

was held on Sunday, 27 March 1955. French rider

Louison Bobet Louis "Louison" Bobet (; 12 March 1925 - 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to ...

won the race in a three-man sprint with

Hugo Koblet Hugo Koblet (; 21 March 1925 – 6 November 1964) was a Switzerland, Swiss champion cycle sport, cyclist. He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a profes ...

and

Rik Van Steenbergen Rik Van Steenbergen (9 September 1924 – 15 May 2003) was a Belgium, Belgian racing cyclist, considered to be one of the best among the great number of successful Belgian cyclists. Early life Van Steenbergen was born in Arendonk into a po ...

.Vanwalleghem, Rik (1991), De Ronde van Vlaanderen, Pinguin, Belgium, , p 112 47 of 203 riders finished.

Race Report

was in an early breakaway with 12 riders and was first on the Kluisberg and

Kruisberg The Kruisberg, also known as Oude Kruisberg or Oude Kruisens, is a hill and road in the city of Ronse, in Flanders, Belgium. With its top at 122 m altitude, it is one of many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes, in the south of East-Flande ...

. In

Geraardsbergen Geraardsbergen (; french: Grammont, ) is a city and municipality located in the Denderstreek and in the Flemish Ardennes, the hilly southern part of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Geraardsbergen prop ...

, just after the peloton caught the group, Van Steenbergen,

Bernard Gauthier Bernard Gauthier (22 September 1924 – 23 November 2018) was a French road racing cyclist, who was professional from 1947 to 1961. He won the Bordeaux–Paris road race on four occasions. Major results ;1947 :Circuit Lyonnais :Tour de Franc ...

and

broke away on the steep Kloosterstraat. Gauthier did most of the work in the four-man group for his team leader Bobet. Van Steenbergen, favourite to win in the sprint, paid his earlier efforts and was beaten by Bobet and Koblet. Louison Bobet, a three-time winner of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, secured the first ever victory for a French rider in the Tour of Flanders.

Route

The race started in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

and finished in

Wetteren Wetteren () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , fl ...

– totaling 263 km. The course featured four categorized climbs: * Kluisberg *

Edelareberg Edelareberg is a hill in Oudenaarde, in the Belgian province of East Flanders. With its top at 80 m, it is one of the many hill formations in the Flemish Ardennes. The top of the Edelareberg is in the village of Edelare, from which the hill ...

* Kloosterstraat (

)

Results

References

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

1955 in road cycling 1955 in Belgian sport 1955 Challenge Desgrange-Colombo March 1955 sports events in Europe {{TourofFlanders-race-stub