# 1927 Tour de France

The 1927 Tour de France was the 21st edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 19 June to 17 July. It consisted of 24 stages over 5,398 km (3,354 mi).
This tour featured the first win by Nicolas Frantz, a cyclist from Luxembourg. Frantz had come in second in the previous tour, and went on to win the tour in 1928 as well. It also showcased the debuts of André Leducq (4th) and Antonin Magne (6th), two French riders who would win the Tour de France in coming years.
Because Tour director Henri Desgrange was dissatisfied with the tactics used in the long flat stages in the previous years, the individual team start format was introduced, similar to the later team time trial. In this concept, used in stages 1 to 9, 14 and 18 to 23, teams left fifteen minutes after each other. The concept did not make the race more interesting, so after the 1929 Tour de France, it was removed again.

## Innovations and changes

In 1926 and previous years, in the flat stages without mountains most cyclists finished together, and the winner was determined by a bunch sprint. The Tour organisation did not like this, because they wanted the cyclists to ride individually, and have a more spectacular race. For this reason, most of the flat stages in the 1927 Tour de France were started separately, with 15 minutes in between teams, and the touriste-routiers starting last. The idea was that the stars of the race could not see their rivals, and had no choice but to ride as fast as they could on every stage.
In 1926, as an experiment the Tour started outside Paris, in the Alps. In 1927, this decision was reverted, and the Tour started again in Paris. The route of the 1927 Tour de France was similar to other Tours before 1926 that started in Paris, only some stages had been split, making the average stage shorter, from 338 km per stage in 1926 to 221 km per stage in 1927.

## Race overview

In the first stage, the Alcyon-team suffered twenty punctures. The Dilecta-Wolber team won the first stage, led by Francis Pélissier, who was the first leader of the general classification.
In the sixth stage, Francis Pélissier abandoned sick. His teammate Ferdinand Le Drogo became the new leader. In the seventh stage, Le Drogo was in the yellow jersey in the region where he was born. His supporters cheered for him, and he got excited and sped away from his teammates. That costed him too much energy, and he lost 20 minutes in that stage to the J.B. Louvet team, so the lead was transferred to Hector Martin, from the J.B. Louvet team. In stage 8, the Dilecta team lost more than one hour, and they saw nothing left to win, and abandoned the race. At the end of stage 9, when the first group of team-time-trials stopped, there were only 57 cyclists left in the race, 35 of which were touriste-routiers, and only 22 had sponsors.
The first mountain stage was stage eleven. In that stage, touriste-routier Michele Gordini escaped secretly from the peloton. When the peloton found out he was away, he had already built a 45-minute advantage, and was the virtual leader of the race. Then he suffered from mechanical problems, and was passed before the end of the stage. Frantz won the stage, and took the yellow jersey.
In stages 12 and 13, Frantz finished in the leading group. Stage 14 was run in the team-time-trial format, and did not cause big changes in the general classification. Frantz then won the fifteenth stage and finished second in the sixteenth stage, and increased his lead to more than one hour. In the seventeenth stage, Frantz lost 15 minutes to second-placed Maurice De Waele, but because this was the last mountain stage, he had practically secured the victory.
The rest of the stages did not cause big changes in the general classification. The only exception was the 23rd stage, where De Waele lost more than half an hour, but his margin to the third-placed rider was large enough.

## Results

In stages 1 to 9 and 18 to 23, the cyclists started in teams, each 15 minutes apart; the touriste-routiers started last. The cyclist who reached the finish fastest was the winner of the stage. In stages 10 to 17, all cyclists started together. The time that each cyclist required to finish the stage was recorded. For the general classification, these times were added up; the cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey.

### Stage winners

Stage characteristics and winners :
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance | Type | Type | Winner | Race leader |
| 1 | 19 June | Paris to Dieppe | 180 km (110 mi) | | Team time trial | Francis Pélissier (FRA) | Francis Pélissier (FRA) |
| 2 | 20 June | Dieppe to Le Havre | 103 km (64 mi) | | Team time trial | Maurice Dewaele (BEL) | Francis Pélissier (FRA) |
| 3 | 21 June | Le Havre to Caen | 225 km (140 mi) | | Team time trial | Hector Martin (BEL) | Francis Pélissier (FRA) |
| 4 | 22 June | Caen to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin | 140 km (87 mi) | | Team time trial | Camille van de Casteele (BEL) | Francis Pélissier (FRA) |
| 5 | 23 June | Cherbourg to Dinan | 199 km (124 mi) | | Team time trial | Ferdinand Le Drogo (FRA) | Francis Pélissier (FRA) |
| 6 | 24 June | Dinan to Brest | 206 km (128 mi) | | Team time trial | André Leducq (FRA) | Ferdinand Le Drogo (FRA) |
| 7 | 25 June | Brest to Vannes | 207 km (129 mi) | | Team time trial | Gustaaf van Slembrouck (BEL) | Hector Martin (BEL) |
| 8 | 26 June | Vannes to Les Sables d'Olonne | 204 km (127 mi) | | Team time trial | Raymond Decorte (BEL) | Hector Martin (BEL) |
| 9 | 27 June | Les Sables d'Olonne to Bordeaux | 285 km (177 mi) | | Team time trial | Adelin Benoit (BEL) | Hector Martin (BEL) |
| 10 | 28 June | Bordeaux to Bayonne | 189 km (117 mi) | | Plain stage | Pé Verhaegen (BEL) | Hector Martin (BEL) |
| 11 | 30 June | Bayonne to Luchon | 326 km (203 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 12 | 2 July | Luchon to Perpignan | 323 km (201 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Gustaaf van Slembrouck (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 13 | 4 July | Perpignan to Marseille | 360 km (220 mi) | | Plain stage | Maurice Dewaele (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 14 | 5 July | Marseille to Toulon | 120 km (75 mi) | | Team time trial | Antonin Magne (FRA) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 15 | 6 July | Toulon to Nice | 220 km (140 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 16 | 8 July | Nice to Briançon | 275 km (171 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Julien Vervaecke (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 17 | 9 July | Briançon to Evian | 283 km (176 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Pé Verhaegen (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 18 | 11 July | Evian to Pontarlier | 213 km (132 mi) | | Team time trial | Adelin Benoit (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 19 | 12 July | Pontarlier to Belfort | 119 km (74 mi) | | Team time trial | Maurice Geldhof (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 20 | 13 July | Belfort to Strasbourg | 145 km (90 mi) | | Team time trial | Raymond Decorte (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 21 | 14 July | Strasbourg to Metz | 165 km (103 mi) | | Team time trial | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 22 | 15 July | Metz to Charleville | 159 km (99 mi) | | Team time trial | Hector Martin (BEL) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 23 | 16 July | Charleville to Dunkerque | 270 km (170 mi) | | Team time trial | André Leducq (FRA) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| 24 | 17 July | Dunkerque to Paris | 344 km (214 mi) | | Plain stage | André Leducq (FRA) | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) |
| | Total | Total | 5,398 km (3,354 mi) | 5,398 km (3,354 mi) | 5,398 km (3,354 mi) | 5,398 km (3,354 mi) | 5,398 km (3,354 mi) |

### General classification

Final general classification (1–10) :
| Rank | Rider | Sponsor | Time |
| 1 | Nicolas Frantz (LUX) | Alcyon–Dunlop | 198h 16' 42" |
| 2 | Maurice De Waele (BEL) | Labor–Dunlop | + 1h 48' 21" |
| 3 | Julien Vervaecke (BEL) | Armor–Dunlop | + 2h 25' 06" |
| 4 | André Leducq (FRA) | Thomann–Dunlop | + 3h 02' 05" |
| 5 | Antonin Magne (FRA) | Alleluia–Wolber | + 4h 38' 23" |
| 6 | Adelin Benoit (BEL) | Alcyon–Dunlop | + 4h 45' 01" |
| 7 | Pé Verhaegen (BEL) | J.B. Louvet | + 6h 18' 36" |
| 8 | Julien Moineau (FRA) | Alleluia–Wolber | + 6h 36' 17" |
| 9 | Hector Martin (BEL) | J.B. Louvet | + 7h 07' 34" |
| 10 | Maurice Geldhof (BEL) | J.B. Louvet | + 7h 16' 02" |
Final general classification (11–39) :
| Rank | Rider | Sponsor | Time |
| 11 | Raymond Decorte (BEL) | J.B. Louvet | + 8h 17' 12" |
| 12 | Louis Muller (BEL) | Armor–Dunlop | + 8h 27' 49" |
| 13 | Jan Debusschere (BEL) | Alcyon–Dunlop | + 10h 51' 56" |
| 14 | Gustaaf Van Slembrouck (BEL) | J.B. Louvet | + 11h 01' 54" |
| 15 | Pierre Magne (FRA) | Alleluia–Wolber | + 12h 12' 37" |
| 16 | Louis Delannoy (BEL) | Labor–Dunlop | + 13h 28' 02" |
| 17 | Jos Hemelsoet (BEL) | J.B. Louvet | + 14h 08' 18" |
| 18 | Secondo Martinetto (ITA) | Touriste-Routier | + 14h 37' 12" |
| 19 | Henri Touzard (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 15h 08' 03" |
| 20 | José Pelletier (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 15h 52' 28" |
| 21 | Maurice Arnoult (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 16h 05' 01" |
| 22 | Charles Martinet (SUI) | Touriste-Routier | + 16h 53' 36" |
| 23 | Albert Jordens (BEL) | Touriste-Routier | + 17h 18' 48" |
| 24 | Michele Gordini (ITA) | Touriste-Routier | + 17h 21' 11" |
| 25 | Giovanni Canova (ITA) | Touriste-Routier | + 17h 52' 52" |
| 26 | André Devauchelle (FRA) | Alleluia–Wolber | + 18h 02' 10" |
| 27 | Charles Krier (LUX) | Touriste-Routier | + 20h 42' 32" |
| 28 | Léon Despontin (BEL) | Touriste-Routier | + 21h 15' 02" |
| 29 | Giuseppe Rivella (ITA) | Touriste-Routier | + 22h 14' 26" |
| 30 | Marcel Gendrin (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 22h 20' 35" |
| 31 | Omer Mahy (BEL) | Touriste-Routier | + 22h 27' 49" |
| 32 | Giovanni Rossignoli (ITA) | Touriste-Routier | + 22h 31' 18" |
| 33 | Camille Segers (BEL) | Touriste-Routier | + 22h 52' 35" |
| 34 | Edoaurd Teisseire (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 23h 59' 59" |
| 35 | Jules Nempon (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 25h 39' 05" |
| 36 | Amand Goubert (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 27h 04' 27" |
| 37 | André Drobecq (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 27h 10' 20" |
| 38 | Pierre Claes (BEL) | Touriste-Routier | + 29h 12' 19" |
| 39 | Jacques Pfister (FRA) | Touriste-Routier | + 30h 03' 51" |