1936 Tour de France

The 1936 Tour de France was the 30th edition, held from 7 July to 2 August over 21 stages and 4,442 km. Henri Desgrange, race director since 1903 and recovering from kidney surgery at 71, followed the race in a car full of cushions but gave up after the second stage and handed the direction to Jacques Goddet. The Belgian Sylvère Maes won; he fought the Frenchman Maurice Archambaud in the early stages until Archambaud lost many minutes on stage eight, then built a large lead over Antonin Magne and his own teammate Vervaecke. Belgium won the team classification, the Spaniard Julián Berrendero the mountains, and Maes a one-off points classification. A stage was split into three parts for the first time, and the new French summer holidays swelled the crowds.