As was the custom since 1930, the 1953 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. Seven national teams were sent, with 10 cyclists each from Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France. France additionally sent five regional teams of 10 cyclists each, divided into Ile de France, Center-North East France, South East France, West France and South West France. One Luxembourgian cyclist did not start, so 119 cyclists started the race.

The winner of the previous edition, Fausto Coppi, did not defend his title, apparently due to injury. The reasons were not clear: it could have been injury, but it was also possible that Coppi did not want to ride in the same team as his rival Gino Bartali, or that the Tour direction urged the Italian team not to select Coppi because he had dominated the 1952 Tour, or that Coppi chose to prepare for the 1953 UCI Road World Championships. The big favourites became Hugo Koblet and Louison Bobet.

The last five editions had been won by Italian and Swiss cyclists, so the French cycling fans were anxious for a French win. When team manager Michel Bidot had selected Bobet as the French team captain, controversy arose. Bobet had shown his potential strength, but had already tried to win the Tour de France five times without succeeding. His teammate Raphaël Géminiani thought that Bobet was not strong enough, after he did not finish the 1953 Giro d'Italia earlier that year.

Start list By team

+Italy No. Rider Pos. 1 3 2 53 3 11 4 56 5 54 6 DNF 7 42 8 15 9 DNF 10 22+Switzerland No. Rider Pos. 11 DNF 12 DNF 13 61 14 32 15 DNF 16 68 17 57 18 DNF 19 6 20 67+Belgium No. Rider Pos. 21 45 22 4 23 28 24 52 25 DNF 26 43 27 23 28 DNF 29 34 30 33+Spain No. Rider Pos. 31 DNF 32 DNF 33 48 34 DNF 35 50 36 46 37 73 38 14 39 24 40 74+Luxembourg No. Rider Pos. 41 DNF 42 DNF 43 18 44 DNF 45 DNS 46 DNF 47 DNF 48 66 49 DNF 50 72+Netherlands No. Rider Pos. 51 DNF 52 19 53 29 54 DNF 55 40 56 36 57 13 58 5 59 DNF 60 17+France No. Rider Pos. 61 1 62 35 63 DNF 64 75 65 9 66 8 67 30 68 51 69 7 70 26+France - Île-de-France No. Rider Pos. 71 25 72 DNF 73 60 74 DNF 75 31 76 DNF 77 41 78 76 79 DNF 80 49+France - North-East/Centre No. Rider Pos. 81 20 82 16 83 DNF 84 55 85 39 86 DNF 87 DNF 88 27 89 64 90 47+France - South East No. Rider Pos. 91 DNF 92 DNF 93 21 94 69 95 12 96 38 97 DNF 98 63 99 59 100 DNF+France - West No. Rider Pos. 101 65 102 DNF 103 71 104 DNF 105 10 106 2 107 70 108 62 109 44 110 DNF+France - South-West No. Rider Pos. 111 DNF 112 DNF 113 58 114 37 115 DNF 116 DNF 117 DNF 118 DNF 119 DNF 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 Giancarlo Astrua Italy 3 2 Mario Baroni Italy 53 3 Gino Bartali Italy 11 4 Giovanni Corrieri Italy 56 5 Umberto Drei Italy 54 6 Adolpho Grosso Italy DNF 7 Livio Isotti Italy 42 8 Fiorenzo Magni Italy 15 9 Rossello Minardi Italy DNF 10 Vincenzo Rossello Italy 22 11 François Chevalley Switzerland DNF 12 Emilio Croci-Torti Switzerland DNF 13 Carlo Lafranchi Switzerland 61 14 Marcel Huber Switzerland 32 15 Hugo Koblet Switzerland DNF 16 Martin Metzger Switzerland 68 17 Remo Pianezzi Switzerland 57 18 Otto Meili Switzerland DNF 19 Fritz Schär Switzerland 6 20 Max Schellenberg Switzerland 67 21 Jan Adriaensens Belgium 45 22 Alex Close Belgium 4 23 Hilaire Couvreur Belgium 28 24 Alfred De Bruyne Belgium 52 25 Alois De Hertog Belgium DNF 26 René De Smet Belgium 43 27 Raymond Impanis Belgium 23 28 Robert Vanderstockt Belgium DNF 29 Martin Van Geneugden Belgium 34 30 Richard Van Genechten Belgium 33 31 Victorio García Spain DNF 32 José Gil Spain DNF 33 Antonio Gelabert Spain 48 34 Vicente Iturat Spain DNF 35 Jesús Loroño Spain 50 36 Francisco Masip Spain 46 37 Dalmacio Langarica Spain 73 38 José Serra Gil Spain 14 39 Andrés Trobat Spain 24 40 José Vidal Porcar Spain 74 41 Bim Diederich Luxembourg DNF 42 Marcel Dierkens Luxembourg DNF 43 Marcel Ernzer Luxembourg 18 44 Charly Gaul Luxembourg DNF 45 Lucien Gillen Luxembourg DNS 46 Jean Goldschmit Luxembourg DNF 47 Edy Hein Luxembourg DNF 48 Willy Kemp Luxembourg 66 49 Jim Kirchen Luxembourg DNF 50 Jean Schmit Luxembourg 72 51 Sjefke Janssen Netherlands DNF 52 Jan Nolten Netherlands 19 53 Thijs Roks Netherlands 29 54 Henk Steevens Netherlands DNF 55 Adri Suykerbuyk Netherlands 40 56 Hein Van Breenen Netherlands 36 57 Wim van Est Netherlands 13 58 Wout Wagtmans Netherlands 5 59 Adrie Voorting Netherlands DNF 60 Gerrit Voorting Netherlands 17 61 Louison Bobet France 1 62 Adolphe Deledda France 35 63 Jean Dotto France DNF 64 Bernard Gauthier France 75 65 Raphaël Géminiani France 9 66 Nello Lauredi France 8 67 Jean Le Guilly France 30 68 Raoul Rémy France 51 69 Antonin Rolland France 7 70 Lucien Teisseire France 26 71 Stanislas Bober France - Île-de-France 25 72 Louis Caput France - Île-de-France DNF 73 Maurice Diot France - Île-de-France 60 74 Jean Guéguen France - Île-de-France DNF 75 Maurice Quentin France - Île-de-France 31 76 Attilio Redolfi France - Île-de-France DNF 77 Jacques Renaud France - Île-de-France 41 78 Claude Rouer France - Île-de-France 76 79 Eugène Telotte France - Île-de-France DNF 80 Alfred Tonello France - Île-de-France 49 81 Ugo Anzile France - North-East/Centre 20 82 Gilbert Bauvin France - North-East/Centre 16 83 Guy Buchaille France - North-East/Centre DNF 84 Jean Dacquay France - North-East/Centre 55 85 Jean Forestier France - North-East/Centre 39 86 Roger Hassenforder France - North-East/Centre DNF 87 Jacques Labertonnière France - North-East/Centre DNF 88 Georges Meunier France - North-East/Centre 27 89 Bernard Quennehen France - North-East/Centre 64 90 Roger Walkowiak France - North-East/Centre 47 91 Émile Baffert France - South East DNF 92 Ahmed Kebaïli France - South East DNF 93 Lucien Lazaridès France - South East 21 94 Siro Bianchi France - South East 69 95 Joseph Mirando France - South East 12 96 Pierre Molinéris France - South East 38 97 René Privat France - South East DNF 98 René Rotta France - South East 63 99 Vincent Vitetta France - South East 59 100 Marcel Zelasco France - South East DNF 101 Armand Audaire France - West 65 102 Roger Chupin France - West DNF 103 Norbert Esnault France - West 71 104 Émile Guérinel France - West DNF 105 François Mahé France - West 10 106 Jean Malléjac France - West 2 107 Bernard Bultel France - West 70 108 Joseph Morvan France - West 62 109 Roger Pontet France - West 44 110 Jean Robic France - West DNF 111 Louis Barès France - South-West DNF 112 Hubert Bastianelli France - South-West DNF 113 Claude Colette France - South-West 58 114 André Darrigade France - South-West 37 115 Robert Desbats France - South-West DNF 116 Jacques Dupont France - South-West DNF 117 Henri Paret France - South-West DNF 118 Hervé Prouzet France - South-West DNF 119 Tino Sabbadini France - South-West DNF 120 Jacques Vivier France - South-West DNF

References