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. In the third stage, the longest stage of this Tour with 387 km, Stöpel lost the lead to André Leducq.