1959 Tour De France
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The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th edition 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 ...
, taking place between 25 June and 18 July. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over . The race was won by Spanish cyclist
Federico Bahamontes Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...
, who also won the mountains classification. The points classification was won by French sprinter
André Darrigade André Darrigade (born 24 April 1929 in Narrosse) is a retired French professional road bicycle racer between 1951 and 1966. Darrigade, a road sprinter won the 1959 World Championship and 22 stages of the Tour de France. Five of those Tour vict ...
. The Belgian team became the winner of the team classification. Although the French national team had the favourites, the race was contested between Anglade, in a French regional team, and Bahamontes, in the Spanish national team. After the French national team refused to help Anglade, Bahamontes won the race. It was the first win by a Spanish cyclist.


Teams

The teams entering the race were: * Belgium * France * Internationals * Italy * Netherlands/Luxembourg * Spain * Switzerland/West Germany * Centre-Midi * Paris/North-East * West/South-West


Pre-race favourites

The French team included
Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the y ...
,
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 ...
, Raphael Géminiani and Roger Riviere, who were all considered possible Tour winners. This also posed a problem, as they did all want to be team captain, and refused to work for each other. The Spanish team was headed by
Federico Bahamontes Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...
, who in previous years did not care for flat stages and time trials, and only tried to win the
mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
. In the 1959 season, Bahamontes had
Fausto Coppi Angelo Fausto Coppi (; 15 September 1919 – 2 January 1960) was an Italian cyclist, the dominant international cyclist of the years after the World War II, Second World War. His successes earned him the title ''Il Campionissimo'' ("Champio ...
as manager, and Coppi convinced Bahamontes to focus on the general classification. The defending champion
Charly Gaul Charly Gaul Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting (8 December 1932 – 6 December 2005)Vito Favero Vito Favero (21 October 1932 – 16 May 2014) was an Italian road racing cyclist. He was professional from 1956 to 1962. In the 1958 Tour de France, he finished second. Stage 14 of the 1958 Tour was won by Federico Bahamontes but Favero too ...
and
Gastone Nencini Gastone Nencini (; 1 March 1930 – 1 February 1980) was an Italian road racing cyclist who won the 1960 Tour de France, 1960 Tour de France and the 1957 Giro d'Italia, 1957 Giro d'Italia. Nicknamed ''Il Leone del Mugello'', "The Lion of Mugel ...
, who had performed well in the 1958 Tour. Their team captain was
Ercole Baldini Ercole Baldini (26 January 1933 – 1 December 2022) was an Italian cyclist. As an amateur he won an Olympic gold medal in the road race and the world title in the individual pursuit on track, both in 1956.1958 Giro d'Italia The 1958 Giro d'Italia was the 41st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The Giro started in Milan, on 18 May, with a stage and concluded back in Milan, on 8 June, with a leg. A total of 120 riders from 15 teams ...
, but he was not expected to be able to compete against Gaul, Bahamontes and Anquetil. Of the cyclists in the French regional teams, Henri Anglade was the most notable. He was included in the Centre-Midi team. The cyclists were represented by agents, who negotiated for the prices in post-tour criteriums. There were two major agents: Daniel Dousset, who represented Anquetil, Rivière and Bahamontes, and Piel Poulidor, who represented Anglade. This made it more important for Anquetil to help Bahamontes than Anglade.


Route and stages

The 1959 Tour de France started on 25 June in
Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...
, and had two rest days, in
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...
and
Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...
. The highest point of elevation in the race was at the summit of the
Col de l'Iseran Col de l'Iseran (el. ) is a mountain pass in France, the highest paved pass in the Alps. A part of the Graian Alps, it is in the department of Savoie, near the border with Italy, and is crossed by the D902 roadway. The pass is part of the Route ...
mountain pass on stage 18.


Race overview

During the Tour, a package of
strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...
, addressed to one of the teams, was intercepted by the Tour doctor. Like in the previous years, Darrigade won the first stage. In the third stage, a group of 13 cyclists escaped, none of them considered favourites for the overall victory. The favourites let them escape, knowing that they would win enough time back in the mountains, and the group won more than 10 minutes on the rest. Robert Cazala from the French national team became the new leader. Anglade was riding well in the first stages. Because of an escape in stage 7, he gained a few minutes on the top favourites. In the ninth stage, the Belgian cyclists broke away, and the French team followed them. Cazala was not able to follow them, and he lost the lead.
Eddy Pauwels Eddy Pauwels (2 May 1935 – 6 March 2017) was a Belgian racing cyclist from 1958 to 1966. He won 4 stages in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey for 4 days in total. In 1962, Pauwels won the combativity award in the Tour de France. He d ...
became the new leader Pauwels lost the lead in the tenth stage, and regional Michel Vermeulin became the new leader. After stage 12, Anglade was in fifth place in the general classification, the first of the favourites for the overall victory. In the thirteenth stage, Anglade attacked and won the stage. He jumped to second place in the general classification. The French team director then concentrated the strategy on beating Anglade, because he thought Anglade was the main threat. The fifteenth stage was an individual mountain time trial, won by Spaniard Bahamontes. Bahamontes climbed to the second place in the general classification, only 4 seconds behind
Jos Hoevenaers Jos Hoevenaers (30 November 1932, in Antwerp – 14 June 1995, in Wilrijk) was a Belgian cyclist, reputed for his attacking style. In 1960 he wore the pink jersey of leadership for eight days in the Giro d'Italia, but Jacques Anquetil won inste ...
, the last man from the escaped group in stage 3 to stay high in the general classification.
Eddy Pauwels Eddy Pauwels (2 May 1935 – 6 March 2017) was a Belgian racing cyclist from 1958 to 1966. He won 4 stages in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey for 4 days in total. In 1962, Pauwels won the combativity award in the Tour de France. He d ...
was in third place, while Anglade was still in fourth place, only 43 seconds behind Hoevenaers. In the sixteenth stage, Pauwels was in the escaped group, and won enough time to take over the lead in the general classification. In the seventeenth stage, Bahamontes and Gaul escaped. Gaul won the stage, but Bahamontes took the leading position. The eighteenth stage would determine the outcome of the race. Bahamontes was leading, but his teammates had used a lot of energy the day before. The French national team was expected to attack. In the eighteenth stage, Gaul was the first one to attack, and reached the top of the Galibier first, but later the other riders got back to him. On the way down from the Iseran, Bahamontes and Gaul were left behind, and Anquetil and Rivière were expected to increase their efforts, such that Bahamontes and Gaul would not be able to get back to them. Anquetil and Rivière did not want to assist each other and did nothing, so Bahamontes and Gaul were able to get back. Anquetil and Rivière then were left behind. On the last climb, Anglade attacked. Baldini and Gaul could follow, but Bahamontes could not, and at some moment was five minutes behind. This made Anglade the virtual race leader, which was against the wishes of the national team. Anquetil and Rivière then reached Bahamontes, and helped him to get back to Anglade. The only risk for Bahamontes left was the time trial in stage 21. At the start, Bahamontes was leading by 5'40". In the time trial, Anglade won 1'39" back on Bahamontes, but that was not enough. When the Tour ended in the
Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...
velodrome in Paris, the French crowd booed the French national team, because they did not allow Anglade the victory.


Classification leadership and awards

The time that each cyclist required to finish each stage was recorded, and these times were added together for the
general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...
. If a cyclist had received a time bonus, it was subtracted from this total; all time penalties were added to this total. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey. The
points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
was calculated differently than in the years before. The winner of a stage received 100 points, down to 1 point for the 25th cyclist. André Darrigade took the lead by winning the first stage, and remained the leader for the rest of the race. The
mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
was calculated by adding the points given to cyclists for reaching the highest point in a climb first. The
team classification The team classification is one of the different rankings for which competitors can compete in a multiple stage cycling race. It differs from the other usual rankings (general classification, points, king of the mountain and best young rider competi ...
was calculated as the sum of the daily team classifications, and the daily team classification was calculated by adding the times in the stage result of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the Belgian team. In addition, there was a
combativity award The combativity award is a prize given in road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of ...
given after each stage to the cyclist considered most combative. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification.
Gérard Saint Gérard Saint (11 July 1935 in Argentan – 16 March 1960 in Le Mans) was a French professional road bicycle racer. In the 1959 Tour de France, Saint was the winner of the Combativity award. In 1960, while driving his Citroën DS near Le Mans ...
won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award. The
Souvenir Henri Desgrange The Souvenir Henri Desgrange is an award and cash prize given in the yearly running of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. It is won by the rider that crosses a particular point in the race, mostly the summits of the highest a ...
was given to the first rider to pass the memorial to Tour founder
Henri Desgrange Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 – 16 August 1940) was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France. Yo ...
near the summit of the
Col du Galibier The Col du Galibier (el. ) is a mountain pass in the southern region of the French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the eighth highest paved road in the Alps, and recurrently the highest point of the Tour de France. It connects Saint-M ...
on stage 18. This prize was won by
Charly Gaul Charly Gaul Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting (8 December 1932 – 6 December 2005) Tour de France by year Tour De France, 1959
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...