The coming of national teams

The remaining members of the French
team at the finish of the 1930 Tour de France

The six surviving members of the French team take their Lap of Honour in Paris: André Leducq, Antonin Magne, Marcel Bidot, Pierre Magne, Charles Pélissier and Jules Merviel. The other two members of the team, Victor Fontan and Joseph Mauclair, both retired on stage nine.

Henri Desgrange, disgusted with the way the major cycle manufacturers' teams diluted the individual heroism of the event, elected to run the 1930 Tour with national, rather than trade, teams. To pay for this innovation - for no cycle manufacturer was going to pay for an event with little publicity value - Desgrange introduced the Publicity Caravan, a feature to this day.

100 riders took part: 8 each from Belgian, French, German, Spanish and Italian teams, with another 60 Touristes - Routiers. This was also the beginning of the great French domination: Charles Pélissier won eight stages, and André Leducq won overall by about 14 minutes from Learco Guerra. This was despite a dramatic fall by Leducq on the descent of the Galibier. In spite of losing many minutes, Leducq regained the bunch and even went on to win the stage with the help, ironically, of his teammates! One wonders what Desgrange thought of it all...

Stage winners

	Stage	Winner	Overall Leader
Stage 1	Paris - Caen, 206km	Charles Pélissier	Charles Pélissier
Stage 2	Caen - Dinan, 203km	Learco Guerra	Learco Guerra
Stage 3	Dinan - Brest, 206km	Pélissier	Guerra
Stage 4	Brest - Vannes, 210km	Omer Taverne	Guerra
Stage 5	Vannes - Les Sables d'Olonne 202km	André Leducq	Guerra
Stage 6	Les Sables d'Olonne - Bordeaux 285km	Jean Aerts	Guerra
Stage 7	Bordeaux - Hendaye, 222km	Jules Merviel	Guerra
Stage 8	Hendaye - Pau, 146km	Alfredo Binda	Guerra
Stage 9	Pau - Luchon, 231km	Binda	André Leducq
Stage 10	Luchon - Perpignan, 322km	Pélissier	Leducq
Stage 11	Perpignan - Montpellier, 164km	Pélissier	Leducq
Stage 12	Montpellier - Marseille, 209km	Antonin Magne	Leducq
Stage 13	Marseille - Cannes, 181km	Guerra	Leducq
Stage 14	Cannes - Nice, 132km	Louis Péglion	Leducq
Stage 15	Nice - Grenoble, 333km	Guerra	Leducq
Stage 16	Grenoble - Evian, 331km	Leducq	Leducq
Stage 17	Evian - Belfort, 282km	Frans Bonduel	Leducq
Stage 18	Belfort - Metz, 223km	Pélissier	Leducq
Stage 19	Metz - Charleville, 159km	Pélissier	Leducq
Stage 20	Charleville - Malo-Les-Bains, 271km	Pélissier	Leducq
Stage 21	Malo-Les-Bains - Paris, 300km	Pélissier	Leducq

In a nutshell

Pélissier was the last rider to win four stages in a row until Mario Cipollini completed the feat in 1999

Results

Overall

1st: André Leducq, France, 4818km in 172h 12' 16" (27.978km/h)
2nd: Learco Guerra, Italy, @14' 13"
3rd: Antonin Magne, France, @16' 03"
4th: Jef Demuysère, Belgium, @21' 34"
5th: Marcel Bidot, France, @41' 18"
6th: Pierre Magne, France, @45' 42"
7th: Frans Bonduel, Belgium, @56' 19"
8th: Benoît Fauré, France (Touriste - Routier), @58' 34"
9th: Charles Pélissier, France, @1h 04' 37"
10th: Adolf Schön, Germany, @1h 21' 39"

(59th: Marcel Ilpide, France (Touriste - Routier), @15h 10' 18")

Team

1st: France 517h 34' 09"
2nd: Belgium @1h 48' 55"
3rd: Germany @5h 09' 59"

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