1956 Challenge Desgrange-Colombo

Ninth edition of the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo
Details
Dates	19 March – 21 October
Location	Europe
Races	11
Champions
Individual champion	Fred De Bruyne (BEL) (Mercier–BP–Hutchinson)
Nations' champion	Belgium

The 1956 Challenge Desgrange-Colombo was the ninth edition of the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo. It included eleven races: all the races form the 1955 edition were retained with no additions. Fred De Bruyne won the first of his three individual championships while Belgium retained the nations championship.

Races

Date	Race	Country	Winner	Team	Report
19 March	Milan–San Remo	Italy	Fred De Bruyne (BEL)	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson	Report
2 April	Tour of Flanders	Belgium	Jean Forestier (FRA)	Follis–Dunlop	Report
8 April	Paris–Roubaix	France	Louison Bobet (FRA)	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson	Report
22 April	Paris–Brussels	France/ Belgium	Rik Van Looy (BEL)	Faema-Guerra-Van Hauwaert	Report
5 May	La Flèche Wallonne	Belgium	Richard Van Genechten (BEL)	Elvé-Peugeot	Report
6 May	Liège–Bastogne–Liège	Belgium	Fred De Bruyne (BEL)	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson	Report
19 May – 10 June	Giro d'Italia	Italy	Charly Gaul (LUX)	Faema-Guerra-Van Hauwaert	Report
16 June – 23 June	Tour de Suisse	Switzerland	Rolf Graf (SUI)		Report
5 July – 28 July	Tour de France	France	Roger Walkowiak (FRA)	North-East/Centre	Report
7 October	Paris–Tours	France	Albert Bouvet (FRA)	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson	Report
21 October	Giro di Lombardia	Italy	André Darrigade (FRA)	Bianchi–Pirelli	Report

Final standings

Riders

	Cyclist	Team	Points
1	Fred De Bruyne (BEL)	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson	84
2	Fiorenzo Magni (ITA)		66
3	Stan Ockers (BEL)		62
4	Jean Forestier (FRA)		61
5	Andre Vlayen (BEL)		47
6	Charly Gaul (LUX)		46
7	Louison Bobet (FRA)		44
8=	Germain Derycke (BEL)		41
8=	Jef Planckaert (BEL)		41
8=	Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)		41

Nations

	Nation	Points
1	Belgium	569
2	France	326
3	Italy	323

References

• 1956 Challenge Desgrange-Colombo results at Cycling Archives