<P> No teams from Italy , Germany or Spain rode in 1939 because of tensions preceding the Second World War ( after German assistance to Franco in the Spanish Civil War it was widely expected Spain would join Germany in a European war , though this did not come to pass ) . Henri Desgrange planned a Tour for 1940 , after war had started but before France had been invaded . The route , approved by military authorities , included a route along the Maginot Line . Teams would have been drawn from military units in France , including the British , who would have been organised by a journalist , Bill Mills . Then the Germans invaded and the race was not held again until 1947 ( see Tour de France during the Second World War ) . The first German team after the war was in 1960 , although individual Germans had ridden in mixed teams . The Tour has since started in Germany four times : in Cologne in 1965 , in Frankfurt in 1980 , in West Berlin on the city 's 750th anniversary in 1987 and in Düsseldorf in 2017 . Plans to enter East Germany in 1987 were abandoned . </P>
<P> No teams from Italy , Germany or Spain rode in 1939 because of tensions preceding the Second World War ( after German assistance to Franco in the Spanish Civil War it was widely expected Spain would join Germany in a European war , though this did not come to pass ) . Henri Desgrange planned a Tour for 1940 , after war had started but before France had been invaded . The route , approved by military authorities , included a route along the Maginot Line . Teams would have been drawn from military units in France , including the British , who would have been organised by a journalist , Bill Mills . Then the Germans invaded and the race was not held again until 1947 ( see Tour de France during the Second World War ) . The first German team after the war was in 1960 , although individual Germans had ridden in mixed teams . The Tour has since started in Germany four times : in Cologne in 1965 , in Frankfurt in 1980 , in West Berlin on the city 's 750th anniversary in 1987 and in Düsseldorf in 2017 . Plans to enter East Germany in 1987 were abandoned . </P>
when was the tour de france not held
when was the tour de france not held
1939
1939