1949 Tour de France

The 1949 Tour de France was the 36th edition, held from 30 June to 24 July over 21 stages and 4,808 km. The Italian team was split between Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi, both possible leaders; Coppi almost refused to start and nearly abandoned mid-race, feeling unsupported, before recovering in the Alps. He won the race, with Bartali, the previous year's winner, second, took the mountains classification and led Italy to the team classification. For the first time a stage finished in Spain, at San Sebastián on stage 9, and a third category of mountain was added. Italy, Belgium and France sent teams of twelve, the other nations teams of six.