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Story of the Tour de France

1920 Tour de France

June 27 to July 27

Results, stages with running GC, photos and history

1919 Tour | 1921 Tour | Tour de France Database | 1920 Tour Quick Facts | 1920 Tour de France Final GC | Stage results with running GC | The Story of the 1920 Tour de France |

1920 Tour quick facts:

113 riders started, 22 finished.

15 Stages covering 5,503 kilometers. Winner Thys averaged 24.072 km/hr

Phillipe Thys became the Tour's first triple winner, a record that would not be equaled until Louison Bobet won his third Tour in 1955.

Honoré Barthélemy, the highest place Frenchman, finished 8th, with a broken collarbone!

Belgians occupied the top 7 places in the final General Classification and won 12 of the 15 stages.

Final Complete 1920 Tour de France General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys (La Sportive): 228hr 36min 13sec
  2. Hector Heusghem (La Sportive) @ 57min 21sec
  3. Firmin Lambot (La Sportive) @ 1hr 39min 35sec
  4. Léon Scieur (La Sportive) @ 1hr 44min 58sec
  5. Émile Masson, Sr. (La Sportive) @ 2hr 56min 52sec
  6. Louis Heusghem (La Sportive) @ 3hr 40min 47sec
  7. Jean Rossius (La Sportive) @ 3hr 49min 55sec
  8. Honoré Barthélemy (La Sportive) @ 5hr 35min 19sec
  9. Félix Goethals (La Sportive) @ 9hr 23min 7sec
  10. Joseph Vandaele (La Sportive) @ 10hr 45min 41sec
  11. Eugène Dhers (La Sportive) @ 11hr 15min 9sec
  12. Joseph Pelletier (Delage) @ 20hr 4min 32sec
  13. Théo Wynsdau (J B Louvet) @ 25hr 14min 2sec
  14. Noël Armenc (Devaux) @ 33hr 25min 47sec
  15. Joseph Muller (J B Louvet) @ 33hr 48min 53sec
  16. Henri Ferrara (Devaux) @ 34hr 32min 27sec
  17. Guglielmo Ceccherelli (Radior) @ 48hr 40min 35sec
  18. Marius Matheron (Martin) @ 51hr 11min 4sec
  19. Etienne Dorfeuille (Delage) @ 53hr 10min
  20. Pierre Hudsyn (Automoto) @ 55hr 57min 46sec
  21. André Coutte @ 55hr 57min 46sec
  22. Charles Raboisson @ 69hr 5sec

Stage results with running GC:

Stage 1, Sunday, June 27: Paris - Le Havre, 388 kilometers.

Louis Mottiat: 14 hr 50min 46sec

  1. Louis Mottiat: 14hr 50min 46sec
  2. Jean Rossius s.t.
  3. Philippe Thys s.t.
  4. Félix Goethals s.t.
  5. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  6. Francis Pélissier @ 2min 46sec
  7. Eugène Dhers @ 15min 33sec
  8. Henri Pélissier @ 16min 56sec
  9. Eugène Christophe s.t.
  10. Léon Scieur s.t.

Louis Mottiat was the leader after the first stage, but Rossius, Thys, Goethals and Masson were tied with him on time.

Stage 2, Tuesday, June 29: Le Havre - Cherbourg, 364 kilometers.

  1. Philippe Thys: 15 hr 17min 48sec
  2. Félix Goethals s.t.
  3. René Chassot s.t.
  4. Francis Pélissier s.t.
  5. Hector Tiberghien s.t.
  6. Jules Masselis s.t.
  7. Louis Mottiat s.t.
  8. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  9. Félix Sellier s.t.
  10. Théo Wynsdau s.t.
    11.  

Thys was now the leader with an elapsed time of 30hr 8min 34sec, but the quartet of Rossius, Goethals, Mottiat and Masson were still tied with him on time.

Stage 3, Thursday, July 1: Cherbourg - Brest, 405 kilometers.

  1. Henri Pélissier: 16hr 9min
  2. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  3. Eugène Christophe s.t.
  4. Philippe Thys s.t.
  5. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  6. Honoré Barthélemy s.t.
  7. Jean Rossius s.t.
  8. Léon Scieur s.t.
  9. Félix Goethals s.t.
  10. Louis Heusghem s.t.

Thys remained the leader with an elasped time of 46hr 17min 34sec. Mottiat was no longer among those tied for the lead which now included Rossius, Goethals and Masson.

Stage 4, Saturday, July 3: Brest - Les Sables d'Olonne, 412 kilometers.

  1. Henri Pélissier: 15 hr 59min 28sec
  2. Philippe Thys s.t.
  3. Romain Bellenger s.t.
  4. Louis Mottiat s.t.
  5. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  6. Eugène Christophe s.t.
  7. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  8. Robert Jacquinot @ 13min 56sec
  9. Louis Heusghem s.t.
  10. Hector Tiberghien s.t.

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys 62hr 33min 58sec
  2. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  3. Eugène Christophe @ 16min 56sec

Stage 5, Monday, July 5: Les Sables d'Olonne - Bayonne, 482 kilometers.

  1. Firmin Lambot: 19hr 44min 0sec
  2. Philippe Thys s.t.
  3. Jean Rossius s.t.
  4. Joseph Vandaele s.t.
  5. Félix Goethals s.t.
  6. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  7. Louis Mottiat s.t.
  8. Honoré Barthélemy s.t.
  9. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  10. Léon Scieur s.t.

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys
  2. Emile Masson s.t.
  3. Eugène Christophe @ 16min 56sec

Stage 6, Wednesday, July 7: Bayonne - Luchon, 326 kilometers.

Pyrenean Stage: Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde

  1. Firmin Lambot: 15hr 15min 25sec
  2. Philippe Thys @ 2min 31sec
  3. Hector Heusghem @ 13min 49sec
  4. Louis Heusghem @ 28min 5sec
  5. Léon Scieur @ 41min 42sec
  6. Emile Masson, Sr. @ 55min 5sec
  7. Louis Mottiat @ 1hr 0min 46sec
  8. Félix Goethals @ 1hr 4min 10sec
  9. Honoré Barthélemy @ 1hr 9min 35sec
  10. Jean Rossius @ 1hr 10min 0sec

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 97hr 16min 27sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 28min 14sec
  3. Emile Masson, Sr. @ 52min 34sec

Stage 7, Friday, July 9: Luchon - Perpignan, 323 kilometers.

Pyrenean Stage: Ares, Portet d'Aspet, Port, Puymorens

  1. Jean Rossius: 13hr 41min 50sec
  2. Philippe Thys s.t.
  3. Léon Scieur s.t.
  4. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  5. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  6. Honoré Barthélemy @ 15min 26sec
  7. Louis Heusghem @ 1min 29sec
  8. Emile Masson, Sr. @ 36min 34sec
  9. Louis Mottiat @ 1hr 0min 50sec
  10. Félix Goethals @ 1hr 14min 50sec

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 110hr 58min 17sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 28min 14sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 20min

Stage 8, Saturday, July 11: Perpignan - Aix en Provence, 325 kilometers

  1. Louis Heusghem: 12hr 12min 18sec
  2. Philippe Thys @ 8min 3sec
  3. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  4. Léon Scieur s.t.
  5. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  6. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  7. Louis Mottiat s.t.
  8. Joseph Van Daele s.t.
  9. Jean Rossius@ 13min 13sec
  10. Félix Goethals s.t.

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 123hr 10min 35sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 28min 14sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 20min

Stage 9, Tuesday, July 13: Aix en Provence - Nice, 356 kilometers

Major ascents : Braus, Castillon

  1. Phillipe Thys: 16hr 15min 44sec
  2. Joseph Vandaele @ 5min 16sec
  3. Léon Scieur @ 11min 26sec
  4. Hector Heusghem @ 31min 41sec
  5. Jean Rossius @ 32min 39sec
  6. Jean Rossius @ 32min 39sec
  7. Honoré Barthélemy @ 35min 46sec
  8. Henri Ferrara @ 52min 13sec
  9. José Pelletier s.t.
  10. Félix Goethals @ 1hr 3min 37sec

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 139hr 26min 19sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 59min 55sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 37min 4sec

Stage 10, Thursday, July 15: Nice - Grenoble, 333 kilometers

Major ascents: Allos, Bayard

  1. Hector Heusghem: 14hr 47min 39sec
  2. Jean Rossius s.t.
  3. Philippe Thys s.t.
  4. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  5. Léon Scieur @ 2min 51sec
  6. Louis Heusghem @ 7min 36sec
  7. Emile Masson, Sr. @ 20min 35sec
  8. Honoré Barthélemy @ 51min 10sec
  9. Eugène Dhers s.t.
  10. Félix Goethals @ 56min 47sec

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 154hr 13min 58sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 59min 55sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 37min 4sec

Stage 11, Saturday, July 11: Grenoble - Gex, 362 kilometers.

Major ascents: Galibier, Aravis

  1. Léon Scieur: 15hr 30min 43sec
  2. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  3. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  4. Louis Heusghem s.t.
  5. Philippe Thys @ 2min 34sec
  6. Honoré Barthélemy @ 31min 40sec
  7. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  8. Joseph Muller @ 1hr 15min 56sec
  9. Jean Rossius @ 1hr 34min 49sec
  10. Eugène Dhers @ 1hr 51min 5sec

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 169hr 47min 15sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 57min 21sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 34min 30sec

Stage 12, Monday, July 19: Gex - Strasbourg, 354 kilometers

  1. Philippe Thys: 14hr 19min 19sec
  2. Jean Rossius s.t.
  3. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  4. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  5. Louis Heusghem s.t.
  6. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  7. Joseph Vandaele @ 6min 36sec
  8. Léon Scieur s.t.
  9. Félix Goethals @ 16min 25sec
  10. Honoré Barthélemy s.t.

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 184hr 6min 34sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 57min 21sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 34min 30sec

Stage 13, Wednesday, July 21: Strasbourg - Metz, 354 kilometers

  1. Philippe Thys: 11hr 13min 34sec
  2. Jean Rossius s.t.
  3. Félix Goethals s.t.
  4. Honoré Barthélemy s.t.
  5. Louis Heusghem s.t.
  6. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  7. Léon Scieur s.t.
  8. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  9. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  10. Noël Amenc s.t.

General Classification:

  1. Philippe Thys: 195hr 20min 8sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 57min 21sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @1hr 34min 30sec

Stage 14, Friday, July 23: Metz - Dunkirk, 433 kilometers.

  1. Félix Goethals: 18hr 33min 51sec
  2. Philippe Thys s.t.
  3. Jean Rossius s.t.
  4. Joseph Vandaele s.t.
  5. Léon Scieur s.t.
  6. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  7. Honoré Barthélemy s.t.
  8. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  9. Louis Heusghem @ 14sec
  10. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.

GC after Stage 14:

  1. Philippe Thys: 214hr 7min 59sec
  2. Hector Heusghem @ 57min 21sec
  3. Firmin Lambot @ 1hr 34min 30sec

Stage 15 (final stage), Sunday, July 27: Dunkirk - Paris, 340 kilometers.

  1. Jean Rossius: 14hr 31min 40sec
  2. Philippe Thys s.t.
  3. Hector Heusghem s.t.
  4. Honoré Barthélemy s.t.
  5. Emile Masson, Sr. s.t.
  6. Eugène Dhers s.t.
  7. Léon Scieur s.t.
  8. Louis Heusghem @ 5min 5sec
  9. Firmin Lambot s.t.
  10. Joseph Muller @ 20min 32sec

Complete Final 1920 Tour de France General Classification.

The Story of the 1920 Tour de France

This excerpt is from "The Story of the Tour de France", Volume 1 If you enjoy it we hope you will consider purchasing the book, either print or electronic. The Amazon link here will make either purchase easy.

Desgrange stuck to the basic formula he had used since 1910: 15 stages over about 5,000 kilometers, going counter-clockwise around the perimeter of France. In 1920, it was 5,519 kilometers to be exact, from Sunday, June 27 to Sunday, July 25. He kept this configuration through 1924. 113 riders started that Sunday in June, 1920.

Philippe Thys had attempted the 1919 Tour in poor physical condition, being unable to finish even the first stage. Humiliated by the verbal caning Desgrange gave him in the pages of L'Auto, Thys resumed his habits of hard work and trained assiduously over the winter. By the start of the 1920 season he was ready to begin racing at his former high level. It almost all came to naught when he broke his collarbone in a crash in Milan-San Remo in March. Made of steel, Thys finished the remaining 50 kilometers of that race. He was able to recover his form in time to start the Tour. He rode for the manufacturer's consortium, La Sportive and had as manager Alphonse Baugé, who had been the architect of many of both Peugeot's and Alcyon's pre-war victories.

Louis Mottiat wins the first stage.
The first stage ended in a sprint won by Louis Mottiat. Since 5 riders finished with the same time that day, they shared the lead: Louis Mottiat, Thys, Jean Rossius, Félix Goethals and Émile Masson. Of these, only Goethals was French. The other 4 were Belgian. This was only the beginning of the Belgian lock on the 1920 Tour. As the race progressed the Belgians would tighten their grip.

With his win in the second stage from La Havre to Cherbourg, Thys became first among the 5 who were still tied on time for first place in the General Classification. He was now the Yellow Jersey and never relinquished the lead from then on.

The first 5 stages ended in big sprints. Desgrange hated that. He wanted his riders suffering and straggling in one by one. Henri Pélissier showed his wonderful class by winning 2 of those stages, numbers 3 and 4. He would have been leading the Tour at that point if he hadn't lost almost 17 minutes in the first stage.

Again, Henri Pélissier's stubborn, angry side came out. On stage 5 Henri threw away a spent tire. Desgrange assessed him a 2-minute penalty. Tour rules were strict. A rider must end a stage with everything he had at the start: clothing, tires, etc. Henri did the predictable thing. He quit. Desgrange also did the predictable. He used his newspaper, L'Auto, to make fun of Pélissier. Desgrange said Pélissier didn't know how to suffer and that he would never win the Tour.

Stage 6, on the Toumalet. This stage would take the winner, Firmin Lambot, over 15 hours to complete. The rider on the left, Jean Rossius would finish over an hour later. The rider on the right, Jules Masselis would need 18 hours, 35 minutes to finish the stage. And he finished in the middle of the field.
Stages 6 and 7 went over the Pyrenees. Thys rode economically, avoiding any bravado or useless displays. He kept within range the riders who might be threats to his lead, and rode no harder than necessary. He might have been able to win one of the stages, but he seems content to have let others (Lambot and Rossius) take the wins while he kept both his time and physical energy intact. The result was a 28-minute lead over his fellow Belgian, Louis Heusghem. Eugène Christophe, continuing his bad fortune, had to abandon with back pains. The Pyrenees had so far managed to ruin 2 Tours for Christophe.

Eugène Christophe in the Pyrenees, before back pains forced him to quit.

A rough and tumble arrival into Aix en Provence for the end of the 8th stage. Louis Heusghem beat the field by over 8 minutes.
Thys really iced his victory in stage 9, with some tough climbing on the way to Nice, by winning the stage. Hector Heusghem, who was in second place in the General Classification, came in over 30 minutes later. That day Thys increased his lead over Heusghem from 28 minutes to almost exactly 1 hour. Heusghem won the next day, but Thys finished right with him, coming in third with the same time.

In that same stage 9 the epic suffering of Honoré Barthélémy started when he had a hard crash. His back was so badly hurt he had to turn his handlebars up so that he didn't have to bend over as far. Yet that wasn't the worst of the crash. A road flint had pierced and ruined one eye. He was not only bleeding and beat up, he was now half blind. Unstoppable, he removed the flint, re-mounted his bike and finished the stage. We're not done with Honoré yet.

The Tour did have imperfections in its organization. The Yellow Jersey hadn't been awarded to the Tour's leader that year so far. After Thys' victory in stage 9, he was belatedly given the Maillot Jaune.

Stage 10, the pack climbs the Allos.
There was only 1 Alpine stage, stage 11. It went over the Galibier and the Aravis. Thys' worst performance of the 1920 Tour was this day, fifth place, showing how tightly he controlled the race. After the Alps, Thys won two more stages, 12 and 13.

The lead riders on the Galibier in the Alps, likely Firmim Lambot and Leon Scieur.
When the Tour concluded at the Parc de Princes in Paris the crowds were so large that the racers had to walk their bikes to get to the finish line. There were only 22 finishers of the 1920 Tour, still over twice the number who had completed the Tour the year before. Even though Thys was Belgian, the 20,000 cycling-crazed fans who were there to greet the brave finishers generously acclaimed the winner. The band played the Belgian anthem, La Brabançonne.

Philippe Thys after winning stage 13. Just two more days of racing left.
Honoré Barthélemy (who lost his eye on stage 9) finished the Tour. His eighth place made him the best-placed Frenchman in a sea of Belgians. He crashed several more times after his terrible fall in stage 9. In addition to losing an eye and ruining his back and being cut, bruised and bleeding, the later falls added a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder to his suffering. The fans, moved by his courage, carried him after he crossed the finish line. He later replaced the blinded eye with a glass eye, which he would occasionally lose during bikes races.

Philippe Thys had done what no other racer had been able to accomplish. By winning the 1920 Tour de France, he was the first to win 3 Tours. This feat would not be matched again until the 1953, '54, and '55 triple victories of Louison Bobet. Thys' completion of the hat-trick came 7 years after his first win. He surely would have won more if the war had not interrupted his career. L'Auto thought that without the Great War's interruption Thys might have been winning his sixth or seventh Tour.

Philippe Thys. Would he have won 7 Tours if there had been no war?
L'Auto went on to say that Thys was the most complete racer since Gustave Garrigou. His record-breaking third Tour victory was the result of a tough regimen of training and clear-headed, thoughtful riding. He took his trade, bike racing, seriously. His results (let us charitably ignore 1919) prove it. L'Auto also wrote that when a rider finished a Tour at the same weight he started, it was a sign of his good form and ample preparation. In 1919 Eugène Christophe started and finished at 67 kilograms. In 1920 Thys started and finished at 69 kilograms.

Thys' 1920 victory continued the domination of the Tour by Belgian riders. Belgians won in 1912, '13, '14, '19, '20, '21, '22, '26, and '29.

Let's look at how the small nation of Belgium mastered the 1920 Tour de France.

1. Victory in the General Classification
2. Belgians took the top 7 places overall
3. Belgians won 12 of the 15 stages
4. The Yellow Jersey was always worn by a Belgian, from Mottiat after stage 1 until Thys' final victory in stage 15

1920 Tour de France final General Classification (all rode for the La Sportive manufacturer's consortium):

1. Philippe Thys: 228 hours 36 minutes 13 seconds
2. Hector Heusghem @ 57 minutes 21 seconds
3. Firmin Lambot @ 1 hour 39 minutes 35 seconds
4. Léon Scieur @ 1 hour 44 minutes 58 seconds
5. Émile Masson, Sr. @ 2 hours 56 minutes 52 seconds