1956 UCI Road World Championships

The 1956 UCI Road World Championships were held on August 25th and 26th in Ballerup , Denmark .

Racing action

The 13-kilometer-long Ballerup circuit, located near the Danish capital Copenhagen , had to be ridden 22 times by professional drivers . In cold weather with rain and wind, only 28 of the 71 drivers who started survived the 285-kilometer race. The decisive attack was made on lap 17, twelve players managed to break away from the field and gain a lead of over two minutes. The top group was dominated by six Belgians, including defending champion Stan Ockers . In addition, three Dutch, two French and the only Italian Fiorenzo Magni were there . At the finish the Dutchman Gerrit Schulte cleared the alley for his Belgian six-day race partner Rik Van Steenbergen , so that he won the sprint ahead of his compatriot Rik Van Looy . Schulte sprinted to 3rd place. The 31-year-old van Steenbergen, who had also won the World Championship title in Denmark in 1949, needed an average speed of 38.8 km / h for his 1956 victory. Of the six German drivers who started, only Emil Reinecke survived the race in 23rd and Horst Backat in 25th. Both reached the finish line twelve minutes behind the winner.

The day before, the amateur drivers had determined their world champion. They had to cover 194 kilometers on the circuit. With a record speed of 40.4 km / h, the 23-year-old Dutchman Frans Mahn won the sprint title ahead of the Belgian Norbert Verougstraete .

Results

Professionals - 285 km

space	athlete	country	time
1	Rik Van Steenbergen	BEL	7:26:15 h
2	Rik Van Looy	BEL	7:26:15 h
3	Gerrit Schulte	NED	7:26:15 h
4th	Stan Ockers	BEL	every 7:26:15 h
5	Fred De Bruyne	BEL
6th	Germain Derijcke	BEL
7th	Gerrit Voorting	NED
8th	Louison Bobet	FRA
9	Jacques Dupont	FRA
10	Daan de Groot	NED
11	André Vlayen	BEL	+ 0:12 min
12	Fiorenzo Magni	ITA	+ 0:30 min
13	André Darrigade	FRA	+ 2:35 min
14th	Seamus Elliott	IRL	+ 2:35 min

space	athlete	country	time
15th	Fausto Coppi	ITA	all + 2:35 min
16	Bernard Gauthier	FRA
17th	Pierino Baffi	ITA
18th	Jean Adriaenssens	BEL
19th	David Bedwell	GBR	+ 6:56 min
20th	Cleto Maule	ITA	all + 11:58 min
21st	Remo Pianezzi	SUI
22nd	Antonio Ferraz	ESP
23	Emil Reinecke	GER
24	Jean-Claude Graet	SUI
25th	Horst Backat	GER
26th	Willem Rusman	NED
27	Kaj Allan Olsen	THE
28	Alessandro Fantini	ITA	+ 15:00 min

Amateurs - 194 km

space	athlete	country	time
1	Frans Mahn	NED	4:47:54 h
2	Norbert Verougstraete	BEL	equal time
3	Jan Buis	NED	equal time

literature

• Helmer Boelsen : The history of the cycling world championship , Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-936973-33-4 , p. 72

Web links

• Results professionals at www.radsport-seite.de
• Results amateurs at www.museociclismo.it