1926 Tour de France

The 1926 Tour de France was the 20th edition, held from 20 June to 18 July over seventeen stages and 5,745 km at 24.064 km/h, the longest Tour in history, on a route that hugged the borders of France. It was the first edition to start away from the Paris area, so the riders crossed the mountains of the east twice, at the start and at the finish. The Belgian Lucien Buysse won. Henri Desgrange had cut the stage count from eighteen to seventeen to make stages longer, raising the average to 338 km. Of 126 starters, 82 were touriste-routiers without team support; the favourites rode for Automoto, with two-time winner Ottavio Bottecchia and Buysse, and Alcyon, with Bartolomeo Aymo and Nicolas Frantz.