As was the custom since 1930, the 1956 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. Seven national teams were sent, with 10 cyclists each from France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg/Mixed (the latter a combined team of seven Luxembourgian cyclists plus one Portuguese, one British and one Italian cyclist). France additionally sent five regional teams from 10 cyclists each, divided into Center-North East France, South East France, West France, Ile de France and South West France. In total, 120 cyclists started the race.

The winner of the three previous editions, Louison Bobet, was absent because he had surgery. There were less climbs than usual and no mountain top finishes, so cycling experts expected this edition to be too easy. No other former Tour de France winner started the race. This was the third time in history that the race started without former winners, after the initial 1903 Tour de France and the 1927 Tour de France. As Bobet was not there, the race was open, and so there were many riders thought able to win the Tour. The most favourite of these was probably Charly Gaul, who had won the 1956 Giro d'Italia, although he was in a weak team, and would also be aiming for the mountains classification.

Start list By team

+France No. Rider Pos. 1 46 2 2 3 54 4 16 5 12 6 49 7 DNF 8 34 9 9 10 35+Italy No. Rider Pos. 11 55 12 27 13 41 14 5 15 48 16 24 17 42 18 23 19 22 20 26+Belgium No. Rider Pos. 21 3 22 39 23 17 24 20 25 21 26 33 27 32 28 8 29 45 30 DNF+Netherlands No. Rider Pos. 31 15 32 DNF 33 86 34 28 35 DNF 36 DNF 37 30 38 DNF 39 11 40 6+Spain No. Rider Pos. 41 4 42 65 43 74 44 DNF 45 29 46 58 47 77 48 DNF 49 70 50 81+Switzerland No. Rider Pos. 51 87 52 DNF 53 64 54 60 55 DNF 56 DNF 57 62 58 DNF 59 47 60 DNF+Luxembourg Mixed No. Rider Pos. 61 10 62 DNF 63 51 64 13 65 DNF 66 83 67 68 68 14 69 DNF 70 36+France – North-East/Centre No. Rider Pos. 71 DNF 72 43 73 82 74 71 75 80 76 DNF 77 DNF 78 DNF 79 52 80 1+France – South-East No. Rider Pos. 81 88 82 19 83 DNF 84 DNF 85 DNF 86 7 87 57 88 69 89 75 90 53+France – West No. Rider Pos. 91 76 92 DNF 93 50 94 56 95 59 96 DNF 97 63 98 18 99 25 100 37+France – Île-de-France No. Rider Pos. 101 38 102 DNF 103 DNF 104 DNF 105 40 106 DNF 107 44 108 DNF 109 72 110 66+France – South-West No. Rider Pos. 111 85 112 31 113 78 114 DNF 115 73 116 79 117 61 118 67 119 84 120 DNF

By rider + Legend No. Starting number worn by the rider during the Tour Pos. Position in the general classification DNF Denotes a rider who did not finish

No. Name Nationality Team Pos. 1 Pierre Barbotin France 46 2 Gilbert Bauvin France 2 3 Louis Bergaud France 54 4 André Darrigade France 16 5 Jean Forestier France 12 6 Raphaël Géminiani France 49 7 François Mahé France DNF 8 Jean Malléjac France 34 9 René Privat France 9 10 Antonin Rolland France 35 11 Pierino Baffi Italy 55 12 Agostino Coletto Italy 27 13 Angelo Conterno Italy 41 14 Nino Defilippis Italy 5 15 Alessandro Fantini Italy 48 16 Pasquale Fornara Italy 24 17 Pietro Giudici Italy 42 18 Bruno Monti Italy 23 19 Gastone Nencini Italy 22 20 Arigo Padovan Italy 26 21 Jan Adriaensens Belgium 3 22 Jean Brankart Belgium 39 23 Alex Close Belgium 17 24 Fred De Bruyne Belgium 20 25 Gilbert Desmet Belgium 21 26 Raymond Impanis Belgium 33 27 Marcel Janssens Belgium 32 28 Stan Ockers Belgium 8 29 Richard Van Genechten Belgium 45 30 André Vlayen Belgium DNF 31 Daan de Groot Netherlands 15 32 Jos Hinsen Netherlands DNF 33 Jef Lahaye Netherlands 86 34 Jan Nolten Netherlands 28 35 Michel Stolker Netherlands DNF 36 Piet Van De Brekel Netherlands DNF 37 Leo van der Pluym Netherlands 30 38 Wies van Dongen Netherlands DNF 39 Gerrit Voorting Netherlands 11 40 Wout Wagtmans Netherlands 6 41 Federico Bahamontes Spain 4 42 Salvador Botella Spain 65 43 Miguel Bover Spain 74 44 Miguel Chacón Spain DNF 45 Jesús Loroño Spain 29 46 René Marigil Spain 58 47 Carmelo Morales Spain 77 48 Miguel Poblet Spain DNF 49 Bernardo Ruiz Spain 70 50 José Serra Spain 81 51 Werner Arnold Switzerland 87 52 Jacky Bovay Switzerland DNF 53 Claude Frei Switzerland 64 54 Jean-Claude Grèt Switzerland 60 55 Hans Hollenstein Switzerland DNF 56 Fausto Lurati Switzerland DNF 57 Remo Pianezzi Switzerland 62 58 Fritz Schär Switzerland DNF 59 Max Schellenberg Switzerland 47 60 Ernst Traxel Switzerland DNF 61 Antonio Barbosa Alves Luxembourg Mixed 10 62 Aldo Bolzan Luxembourg Mixed DNF 63 Marcel Ernzer Luxembourg Mixed 51 64 Charly Gaul Luxembourg Mixed 13 65 Edmond Jacobs Luxembourg Mixed DNF 66 Willy Kemp Luxembourg Mixed 83 67 Nicolas Morn Luxembourg Mixed 68 68 Brian Robinson Luxembourg Mixed 14 69 Jean Schmit Luxembourg Mixed DNF 70 Jean-Pierre Schmitz Luxembourg Mixed 36 71 Ugo Anzile France – North-East/Centre DNF 72 Mario Bertolo France – North-East/Centre 43 73 Roger Chupin France – North-East/Centre 82 74 Adolphe Deledda France – North-East/Centre 71 75 Camille Huyghe France – North-East/Centre 80 76 Pierre Pardoën France – North-East/Centre DNF 77 Raymond Reisser France – North-East/Centre DNF 78 Gilbert Scodeller France – North-East/Centre DNF 79 Pierre Scribante France – North-East/Centre 52 80 Roger Walkowiak France – North-East/Centre 1 81 Roger Chaussabel France – South-East 88 82 Jean Dotto France – South-East 19 83 Raymond Elena France – South-East DNF 84 Lucien Fliffel France – South-East DNF 85 José Gil France – South-East DNF 86 Nello Lauredi France – South-East 7 87 Jean Lerda France – South-East 57 88 Raymond Meyzenq France – South-East 69 89 Joseph Mirando France – South-East 75 90 Vincent Vitetta France – South-East 53 91 Armand Audaire France – West 76 92 Arthur Bihannic France – West DNF 93 Roger Hassenforder France – West 50 94 Louis Caput France – West 56 95 Claude Le Ber France – West 59 96 Eugène Letendre France – West DNF 97 Joseph Morvan France – West 63 98 Fernand Picot France – West 18 99 Maurice Quentin France – West 25 100 Joseph Thomin France – West 37 101 Nicolas Barone France – Île-de-France 38 102 Stanislas Bober France – Île-de-France DNF 103 Seamus Elliott France – Île-de-France DNF 104 René Fournier France – Île-de-France DNF 105 Raymond Hoorelbeke France – Île-de-France 40 106 Jean Le Guilly France – Île-de-France DNF 107 Francis Siguenza France – Île-de-France 44 108 Henri Sitek France – Île-de-France DNF 109 Jean-Claude Skerl France – Île-de-France 72 110 Alfred Tonello France – Île-de-France 66 111 Philippe Agut France – South-West 85 112 Pierre Beuffeuil France – South-West 31 113 Albert Dolhats France – South-West 78 114 Georges Gay France – South-West DNF 115 Robert Gibanel France – South-West 73 116 Marcel Guitard France – South-West 79 117 Valentin Huot France – South-West 61 118 Maurice Lampre France – South-West 67 119 Tino Sabbadini France – South-West 84 120 Jacques Vivier France – South-West DNF

References