Race Details
In the first stage, the Belgians had a good start. Jean Aerts won the stage, with Jef Demuysere in second place. In the second stage, there were struggles in the Belgian team between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking cyclists. Aerst, Dutch-speaking, did not get the support from his French-speaking team mates, and lost ten minutes in that stage, together with the Italian favourites. German Kurt Stöpel won the stage, and donned the yellow jersey, thanks to the bonification. Stöpel was the first German cyclist to lead the general classification in the Tour de France. In the third stage, the longest stage of this Tour with 387 km, Stöpel lost the lead to André Leducq. Leducq kept the lead for the rest of the race, winning six stages along the way. In the fifth stage, Spanish Vicente Trueba escaped and reached the top of the Col d'Aubisque first. On the way down, Benoît Fauré overtook him, and reached the Tourmalet first. But he didn't win the stage, as Italian Antonio Pesenti caught him. Behind the leaders in the stage, Leducq was fighting for the leading position in the general classification. He was not a good climber, but was one of the best descenders.
One one stage, Leducq flatted, and received a wheel from his team mate Georges Speicher, who would win the next Tour.
In the tenth stage, Leducq almost lost the lead. Camusso had escaped, and Stöpel had followed him. Leducq lost more than five minutes in the stage, and even more due to the bonification time. After that stage, Stöpel was within three minutes of Leducq, and Camusso within six minutes. In the eleventh stage, Leducq could have lost the race. Benoît Fauré, a French cyclist riding as a touriste-routier, escaped, and was followed by Francesco Camusso. At one point, they were so far ahead that Camusso was the virtual leader, but eventually they were caught back.
Leducq also crossed the finishline first in the eighteenth stage, but the jury relegated him because he had been pushed by Albert Barthélemy.
Leducq and Stöpel finished in the same group for most of the stages. Only in four stages was there a time difference:
- Stage 3, when Leducq won 45 seconds
- Stage 5, when Leducq won 20 seconds
- Stage 10, when Stöpel won 2 minutes and 52 seconds
- Stage 13, when Leducq won 1 minute and 50 seconds
Without the bonification system, the time difference between Leducq and Stöpel was three seconds. Leducq received 31 bonification minutes (six first places, two second places and three third place), while Stöpel received only 7 bonification minutes (one first place and three third places).
Read more about this topic: 1932 Tour De France
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