1935 Tour de France

The 1935 Tour de France was the 29th edition, held from 4 to 28 July over 21 stages and 4,338 km. Although the French team started as favourites, the Belgian Romain Maes took the lead on the first stage and never gave it up. His biggest threat, Antonin Magne, had to abandon halfway through after being hit by a motorist. On the eighth stage the Spanish rider Francisco Cepeda crashed on a fast descent and died on the way to hospital. Geneva hosted the first stage finish and start in Switzerland, and the prize fund passed one million francs for the first time. National teams of eight from Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany and France were joined by individual riders and 30 touriste-routiers, 93 riders in all.