Читать книгу Mapping Le Tour: The unofficial history of all 100 Tour de France races - Ellis Bacon - Страница 32
Оглавление| Start: Paris, France, on 17 JuneFinish: Paris, France, on 15 July | |
| Total distance: 5475 km (3402 miles)Longest stage: 387 km (241 miles) | |
| Highest point:Col du Galibier: 2556 m (8386 ft)Mountain stages: 6 | |
| Starters: 162Finishers: 41 | |
| Winning time: 192 h 48’ 58”Average speed: 28.400 kph (17.646 mph) | |
| 1. Nicolas Frantz (Lux)2. André Leducq (Fra) at 50’ 07”3. Maurice De Waele (Bel) at 56’ 16” |
Nicolas Frantz’s convincing 1927 Tour win was repeated in 1928, and this time he became only the second rider to hold the yellow jersey all the way from start to finish. Ottavio Bottecchia had been the first to perform the feat, in 1924, but that was ‘only’ over fifteen stages. Luxembourger Frantz defended it over twenty-two stages.
It was touch and go as late as stage 19 between Metz and Charleville, however, when a mechanical problem lost Frantz 40 minutes to stage winner Marcel Huot of the Alleluia-Wolber outfit, but by that point in the race, Frantz had enough of a buffer over team-mate André Leducq to ensure that the race was in the bag anyway.
Leducq, having finished fourth overall, and best Frenchman, the year before, held the French end up again, improving this time to finish runner-up to his Alcyon team-mate, the dominant Frantz. The importance of team riding continued to grow – in the Tour’s first couple of decades in existence, riders rode very much for themselves – and Desgrange stuck with the team time trial format for most of the race, despite the confusion of the roadside crowds. Of the Tour’s twenty-two stages, fifteen were held as team time trials.
One of those teams was the French-sponsored, but green-and-gold-jerseyed, Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop squad, made up of three Australian riders – Ernie Bainbridge, Hubert Opperman (knighted in 1968 for his work as the Maltese High Commissioner) and Perry Osborne – plus a Kiwi, Harry Watson.
Nicolas Frantz won despite losing 40 minutes due to a mechanical problem
