1922 Tour de France

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Final Standings
Overall	Firmin Lambot	222h 08' 06"
Second	Jean Alavoine	+41' 15"
Third	Félix Sellier	+42' 02"

The 1922 Tour de France was the 16th Tour de France, taking place June 25 to July 23, 1922. The 1922 Tour was comprised of 15 stages covering a total of 5372 kilometers. The race was won by the Belgian cyclist Firmin Lambot. It was the second time Lambot had won the overall Tour de France title, he had previously won the 1919 Tour de France.

At the beginning of the race one saw the tactics of Robert Jacquinot, an interesting rider from the twenties, and some action from Eugene Christophe. During the Pyrenees stages, the skilled climber Jean Alavoine appeared in the lead after three consecutive stage wins: Bayonne, Luchon, and Perpignan. One should note that Lambot was 48 minutes behind Christophe at one point, but then plowed ahead to his win at the Champs-Elysees.

Alavoine's success appeared to be written in stone as they raced through the southern part of the race. This was especially true when he increased his lead to more than 22 minutes in Briancon. On the stage to Geneva the frigid weather and several mechanical issues beared down on Alavoine. Thus it was not Lambot who attacked, but Heusghem (who had been second for the last two years). It appeared that this was going to be his shining Tour, however his bicycle broke on the ride to Metz. Heusghem made a prohibited bike change to stay in race for first. However, this defied the rules, during this time, and he was docked one hour by race officials, dropping him to fourth overall. This is when Lambot noticed his change and took over in Dunkerque. Amidst all this Lambot took his second win of the Tour de France at the age of 37, becoming the first to win the Tour de France without winning a stage.

[edit] Results

[edit] Overall standings

Rank	Name	Country	Time
1	Firmin Lambot	Belgium	222h 08' 06"
2	Jean Alavoine	France	41' 15"
3	Félix Sellier	Belgium	42' 02"
4	Hector Heusghem	Belgium	43' 56"
5	Victor Lenaers	Belgium	45' 32"
6	Hector Tiberghien	Belgium	1h 21' 35"
7	Léon Despontin	Belgium	2h 24' 29"
8	Eugene Christophe	France	3h 25' 29"
9	Jean Rossius	Belgium	3h 26' 06"
10	Gaston Degy	France	3h 49' 13"