1948 Tour de France

Bartali wins ten years on, with Italy's prime minister on the telephone.

The 1948 Tour de France was the 35th edition, held from 30 June to 25 July over 21 stages and 4,922 km, and was won by the Italian Gino Bartali, ten years after his 1938 victory, together with the mountains classification. Bartali had nearly given up during the race, but a telephone call from the Italian prime minister, asking him to win in order to calm unrest in Italy after the assassination attempt on Togliatti, gave him new purpose. A prize for wearing the yellow jersey, sponsored by the wool firm Les Laines, was introduced, and from stage 3 to 18 the last rider in the classification was eliminated each day. The race visited the Saar for the first time, Belgium won the team classification, and the finish at the Parc des Princes was the Tour's first live television broadcast.