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The Tour de France was not held during the Second World War because the organisers refused German requests. Instead, some other races were organized, often with riders who might otherwise have ridden the Tour.

Contents 1 History 2 The Tour during the Occupation 3 The Tour after Liberation 4 Results 4.1 Circuit de France 4.2 Grand Prix du Tour de France 4.3 Ronde de France 4.4 La Course du Tour de France 5 External links 6 References

[edit] History

Italy, Germany and Spain had already refused to send teams to France for the 1939 Tour de France. The 1938 Tour de France winner, Gino Bartali, was among those affected. Henri Desgrange, the original race organizer, and Jacques Goddet, his deputy and replacement,^[1] had planned a race for 1940 but dropped the idea after the German invasion.^[2] The records and paperwork of the Tour were taken south to keep them safe but were never seen again.^[3]

[edit] The Tour during the Occupation

The German Propaganda Staffel wanted the Tour to be run and offered facilities otherwise denied, in the hope of maintaining a sense of normality.^[3][4] They offered to open the borders between German-occupied France in the north and the nominally independent Vichy France in the south but Goddet refused.^[3][5] He was, in any case, in little position to run a race of that scale because many of the staff had left L'Auto's office in Paris to go south.^[3]

Goddet's former colleague at L'Auto, Jean Leulliot, didn't have the same reluctance. Leulliot, who had been manager of the French team that won the Tour in 1937, had become head of sport at La France Socialiste which, despite its name, was a right-wing paper that sympathized with the Germans. Leulliot assembled sixty-nine riders for a race, the Circuit de France, which ran from 28 September to 4 October 1942. Over six stages and 1,650km, it went from Paris to Paris via Le Mans, Poitiers, Limoges, Clermont-Ferrand, St-Étienne, Lyon and Dijon.^[5][6].

One of the riders, Émile Idée, told the writer and cyclist Jean Bobet that he had been threatened with the Gestapo if he didn't take part.^[7] Bobet said: "I asked him to repeat it to see if I had understood. I was stunned [dans la tête ça fait tilt]!"^{[7] [8]}

L'Auto organized a readers' poll in 1943 to name the perfect team for a Tour de France, were one to be run. More than 10,000 took part.^[5] In 1940 it ran what it called the Grand Prix du Tour de France, the paper's assessment of the greatest riders by their placings in single-day races.^[9]

[edit] The Tour after Liberation

In 1944, L'Auto was closed - its doors nailed shut - and its belongings, including the Tour de France were sequestrated by the state for having published articles too close to the Germans.^[10] Rights to the Tour were therefore owned by the government. Jacques Goddet was allowed to publish another daily sports paper, L'Équipe, but there was a rival candidate to run the Tour: a consortium of the magazines Sports and Miroir Sprint. Each organised a candidate race. L'Équipe and Le Parisien Libéré had La Course du Tour de France^[11] ("The Race of the Tour de France" — as close as they dared come to calling the race by its original name.) and Sports and Miroir Sprint had La Ronde de France. Both were five-stage races, the longest the government would allow because of shortages.^[2] L'Équipe's race was better organised and appealed more to the public because it featured national teams which had been so successful before the war, when French cycling was at a high. L'Équipe was given the right to organize the 1947 Tour de France. ^{[12] [13]}

Émile Besson, communist sports writer and a member of the Resistance from 1943 when he was 17, called L'Équipe's victory political. Besson, who was a member of the national study into French sport under the Occupation, set up by Marie-George Buffet when she was sports minister between 1997 and 2002, said:

It was a bit much to have given them the right to run the Tour again after all that [referring to L'Auto's pro-German attitude and closure]. Goddet had the keys to the Velodrome d'Hiver when [the Germans wanted it] in the round-up of Jews in July 1942. After the Liberation, the battle between Left and Right had the Tour as one of its prizes.^[10]

Goddet had to defend his wartime behaviour at an inquiry in Algiers. He pointed to the way he had allowed Resistance workers to print anti-German tracts at his newspaper and called Émilion Amaury in his defence. Amaury had a blameless record in the Resistance.^[3] He was also a right-wing businessman; his ideals close to Goddet's^[14]. It was with Amaury and his paper, Le Parisien Libéré, that Goddet ran La Course du Tour de France. It was Amaury's reputation that landed Goddet the Tour.^[5] That, says Besson, and because the rival candidate was two magazines with a communist background and President Charles de Gaulle was determined to limit communist influence. De Gaulle had spent much of his time during the war trying to prevent communist domination of the Resistance. Communists held many key positions in France just before and after Liberation but De Gaulle refused even to thank them for their work. Albert Bourlon, who achieved the record post-war distance for a lone break in the 1947 Tour, told Jean Bobet that he was convinced that his membership of the Communist Party denied him access to the race afterwards^[15].

Amaury eventually took control of both the paper and the Tour de France, and as of 2009 is still the organiser of the Tour de France, under the name Amaury Sport Organisation.

Jean Leulliot was tried for his role in organising races under German patronage but he was cleared after fellow journalists, including Goddet, spoke in his favour.^[7][16]

[edit] Results

[edit] Circuit de France

The Circuit de France was organized in 1942 by La France Socialiste in both the occupied zone and Vichy France, to give a feeling of nationality. The race had six multinational teams, and was won by François Neuville. The inexperience of the organizers, combined with bad weather and logistical problems, made the race a disaster. Although there were plans to hold the race again in 1943, it was never held.^[6]

Stage results

Stage	Route	Length (km)	Winner
1	Paris - Le Mans	203	Guy Lapébie
2	Le Mans - Poitiers	226	Frans Bonduel
3A	Poitiers - Limoges	103	Georges Guillier
3B	Limoges - Clermont-Ferrand	163	Louis Caput
4	Clermont-Ferrand - Saint Etienne	203	François Neuville
5A	Saint Etienne - Lyon	56	Genial-Lucifer (team time trial)
5B	Lyon - Dijon	203	Albert Goutal
6	Dijon - Paris	358	Raymond Louviot

Overall Classification

Rank	Name	Time (Avg. Speed)
1	François Neuville	45h 32' 09" (33.270km/h)
2	Louis Thiétard	5' 23"
3	Louis Caput	5' 31"
4	Frans Bonduel	10' 26"
5	Léon Level	10' 54"
6	Albertin Disseaux	17' 10"
7	Raymond Louviot	19' 50"
8	Jean-Marie Goasmat	28' 16"
9	Emile Idée	34' 05"
10	Georges Guillier	44' 51"

[edit] Grand Prix du Tour de France

The Grand Prix du Tour de France was organized in 1943 and 1944. It was not a real race, but a classification made from nine one-day races.^[6] In 1943 the winner was Jo Goutorbe; in 1944, Maurice De Simpelaere. The Grand Prix du Tour de France was organized by Jacques Goddet, but he made it clear that it was not an official Tour de France.^[4]

[edit] Ronde de France

From 10 July to 14 July 1946, the Ronde de France was organized. It was won by Giulio Bresci, who also won two stages and the mountains classification.

Stage results

Stage	Route	Length (km)	Winner	Leader
1	Bordeaux - Pau	221	Elio Bertocchi	Elio Bertocchi
2	Pau - Toulouse	300	Giulio Bresci	Giulio Bresci
3	Toulouse - Montpellier	249	Raymond Louviot	Giulio Bresci
4	Montpellier - Gap	274	Giulio Bresci	Giulio Bresci
5	Gap - Grenoble	277	Apo Lazarides	Giulio Bresci

Overall Classification

Rank	Name	Time (Avg. Speed)
1	Giulio Bresci	45h 32' 09" (32.026km/h)
2	Ezio Bertocchi	4' 08"
3	Edouard Fachleitner	11' 24"
4	Pierre Cogan	14' 14"
5	Apo Lazarides	26' 50"
6	Giuseppe Tacca	30' 48"
7	Augusto Introzzi	44' 13"
8	Pierre Brambilla	58' 42"
9	Maurice de Muer	1h 02' 29"
10	Petrus Van Verre	1h 10' 13"

[edit] La Course du Tour de France

The Course du Tour de France (English: Race of the Tour of France), also known as Monaco-Paris was organised in 1946 by Le Parisien Libéré together with l'Equipe. The race had many things familiar to the old Tours de France: there were six national teams and five regional French teams, and the leader in the race was also given a yellow jersey.^[6] The race was won by French cyclist Apo Lazarides. The mountains classification was won by Jean Robic.

Stage results

Stage	Route	Length (km)	Winner	Leader
1	Monaco - Digne	185	Aldo Baito	Aldo Baito
2	Digne - Briançon	219	René Vietto	René Vietto
3	Briançon - Aix-les-Bains	263	Jean Robic	Jean Robic
4	Aix-les-Bains - Dijon	294	Adolfo Leoni	Apo Lazarides
5	Dijon - Paris	355	Adolfo Leoni	Apo Lazarides

Overall Classification

Rank	Name	Time (Avg. Speed)
1	Apo Lazarides	44h 31' 42" (29.554km/h)
2	René Vietto	37' 59"
3	Jean Robic	40' 25"
4	Lucien Teisseire	49' 58"
5	Emile Rol	52' 07"
6	Aldo Baito	54' 35"
7	Pierre Brambilla	57' 28"
8	Diego Marabelli	1h 00' 11"
9	Salvatore Crippa	1h 10' 59"
10	Auguste Mallet	1h 23' 53"

[edit] External links

• The Tour de France during the War
• Cyclingrevealed

[edit] References

Tour de France v • d • e

1903 • 1904 • 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909 • 1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 suspended because of World War I 1919 • 1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929 1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939 suspended because of World War II 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 General classification (maillot jaune) Points classification (maillot vert) Mountains classification (maillot à pois) Young rider classification (maillot blanc) Team classification (classement d'équipes) Combativity award (prix de combativité)