1951 Tour de France

The 1951 Tour de France was the 38th edition, held from 4 to 29 July over 24 stages and 4,690 km, and was won by the Swiss Hugo Koblet, who used his time-trial ability to gain large amounts of time. The race started outside the Île-de-France for the first time since 1926, a change that became permanent apart from 1963, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 2003. The Dutchman Wim van Est became the first rider from his country to lead the Tour, and more famous still for falling into a ravine while wearing the yellow jersey. Italy, Belgium and France sent teams of twelve and the smaller nations teams of eight, with four French regional teams and a team from the North African colonies, 123 riders in all.