1932 Tour de France

In the 1931 Tour de France, there had been a time bonification system, which gave 3 minutes of bonification to the winner of the stage, if he finished more than three minutes ahead of the second cyclist in that stage. In 1932, this bonification system changed: now the winner of the stage received 4 minutes, the second-placed cyclist 2 minutes and the third-placed cyclist 1 minute, plus an extra three minutes if the margin was more than three minutes. The number of stages decreased from 24 to 21. The total distance also decreased, so the average length per stage remained about the same, 215 km (compared to 160–170 km in modern Tours). ==Teams==

For the third year, the race was run in the national team format, with five different teams. Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and France each sent a team with eight cyclists, while Germany and Austria sent a combined team, with seven German cyclists and one Austrian cyclist. In addition, 40 cyclists joined as touriste-routiers. Charles Pélissier, who had won 13 stages in the 1930 and 1931 Tours, and Antonin Magne, the winner of 1931, were absent from the French team. Still, there were so many good French cyclists in that time that the French team was still considered superior. The Italian team included three Giro d'Italia winners: the winner from the 1930 Giro d'Italia, Luigi Marchisio; the winner from the 1931 Giro d'Italia, Francesco Camusso and the winner from the 1932 Giro d'Italia, Antonio Pesenti. The Belgium team had Jef Demuysere, who had fought for the victory in the previous Tour until the end and had come second, and two-time world champion Georges Ronsse. ==Race overview==

In the first stage, the Belgians had a good start. Jean Aerts won the stage, with Jef Demuysere in second place. In the second stage, there were struggles in the Belgian team between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking cyclists. Aerst, Dutch-speaking, did not get the support from his French-speaking teammates, and lost ten minutes in that stage, together with the Italian favourites. German Kurt Stöpel won the stage, and donned the yellow jersey, thanks to the bonification. Stöpel was the first German cyclist to lead the general classification in the Tour de France. On one stage, Leducq flatted, and received a wheel from his teammate Georges Speicher, who would win the next Tour. , winner of the 1934 Tour de France (pictured at the Tour) In the tenth stage, Leducq almost lost the lead. Camusso had escaped, and Stöpel had followed him. Leducq lost more than five minutes in the stage, and even more due to the bonification time. • Stage 3, when Leducq won 45 seconds • Stage 5, when Leducq won 20 seconds • Stage 10, when Stöpel won 2 minutes and 52 seconds • Stage 13, when Leducq won 1 minute and 50 seconds Without the bonification system, the time difference between Leducq and Stöpel was three seconds. Leducq received 31 bonification minutes (six first places, two second places and three third place), while Stöpel received only 7 bonification minutes (one first place and three third places). ==Results==

The cyclist to reach the finish in the least time was the winner of the stage. The time that each cyclist required to finish the stage was recorded. For the general classification, these times were added together. If a cyclist had received a time bonus, it was subtracted from this total; all time penalties were added to this total. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey. The team classification was calculated by adding up the times in the general classification of the three highest ranking cyclists per team; the team with the least time was the winner. Stage winners General classification Kurt Stöpel was the first German to reach the podium of the Tour de France. ==Aftermath==

Winner André Leducq kept riding the Tour de France until 1938, but he never managed to win again, although he had three more stage victories. ==Notes==