The 1953 Tour de France saw the introduction of the points classification, which gives the green jersey to its leader.

Changes in the Tour formula were made: Only one time trial was used, instead of two the previous year; the time bonus for the first cyclist to cross a mountain top was removed; there were fewer mountain stages; the number of cyclists per team was increased from 8 to 10.

Seven national teams were sent, with 10 cyclists each from Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France.

Bobet had shown his potential strength, but had already tried to win the Tour de France five times without succeeding.

His team-mate Raphaël Géminiani thought that Bobet was not strong enough, after he did not finish the 1953 Giro d'Italia earlier that year.

[6] The 1953 Tour de France started on 3 July, and had two rest days, in Bordeaux and Monaco.

[7] The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,360 m (7,740 ft) at the summit of the Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage 18.

[5] Jean Robic, the winner of the 1947 Tour de France, rode for the regional team from West.

Robic had won the 1947 Tour de France, but only captured the lead in the ultimate stage, so he never wore the yellow jersey during that race.

[4] Robic lost the yellow jersey in the next stage, after he crashed and the French national team attacked.

The French team captain intervened, and they found a solution: Bobet agreed to give his prize money to his team-mates, if they helped him win the Tour.

[4] In that stage, Robic had fallen down, and lost many minutes, so he was no longer considered able to win the Tour.

[6] In the eighteenth stage in the alps, Bobet followed Jesús Loroño who attacked on the Col de Vars.

[5] For the finish in Paris, eleven former Tour de France winners were present: Maurice Garin (who won the 1903 edition), Gustave Garrigou (1911), Philippe Thys (1913, 1914 and 1920), Lucien Buysse (1926), André Leducq (1930 and 1932), Antonin Magne (1931 and 1934), Georges Speicher (1933), Romain Maes (1935), Sylvère Maes (1936 and 1939), Roger Lapébie (1937) and Ferdinand Kübler (1950).

The results showed that the pre-war greats were no longer dominant: all cyclists in the top ten had turned professional after the Second World War.

In 1953, this system was kept, with the addition of a classification that was led by the rider with the most points from votes in all stages, and an overall super-combativity award.

[20][21] The 1953 Tour de France had two young rider making their debuts, Charly Gaul and André Darrigade.