Tour de France: epic and legend in 11 memorable deeds

The story of the Tour de France has been leaving a sample of cyclists who only enhance the race and direct it directly with the legend, in clear complicity with the sumptuous scenarios that hold their routes. The ingredients are clear: one or more ports, a city, a corridor that accepts the challenge of betting everything for a goal ... Thus they have been writing The brightest pages of the Tour de France, with the courage and determination of a good number of champions. Let's look at some of the most memorable episodes. As they say, they are not all that are (much less), but they are all who are:

1948 Tour: Bartali's comeback in the Alps

[Caption id = "Attachment_6191" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Gino Bartali dealt with such a lethal blow in the alpine stages of the 1948 tour that ended up winning the gala round with more than 25 minutes on the second classified.[/caption] That July 14, 1948, Gino Bartali slept in Cannes 21 minutes from the leader of the Tour de France, the young Louison Bobet, who had once again put time the day before. Ahead were three alpine stages, yes; But the old champion, about to turn 34, seemed eliminated from the fight. Then something changed with a call to the hotel, nothing less than the Italian prime minister, Alcide de Gasperi, supplicating Bartali to win for the homeland, that the country was on the edge of a civil war for the attack perpetrated against the communist leader, Palmiro Togliatti, that people needed to see their hero: “You can do a lot for Italy”Bartali heard. Whether for the call or for his own pride as a champion, Bartali goes to action the next day, July 15. It is its land: 274 kilometers to Briançon, with the climbs to the colors of Allos, Wars and Izoard. And on top of the weather in the Alps, as he likes. Jean Robic Corona the first two colossi; Bobet, suffers. The race comes broken to the Izoard, and there Bartali gives the great hand blow. He leaves alone and wins in Briançon after more than ten hours of stage. Robic has not been able to follow him, and Bobet loses more than 19 minutes. The flying monk is already less than two minutes from yellow. The next day, second blow: Bartali Upload El Galibier and the Croix de Fer, and is planted in Aix-Le-Bains with almost six minutes on Stan Ockers, second. Bobet enters more than seven and the yellow jersey passes to the Tuscan. But Bartali has not finished the task yet: the next day, July 18, he wins again in Lausana, after another eight and a half -hour alpine crossing. It is the culmination of the masterpiece: three victories in a row, to go from being 21 minutes from Bobet, to leave the French for more than half an hour. Bartali ends the tour with 26 minutes of advantage over the second, Stan Ockers, and with seven stages won. He has paid attention to the prime minister, and no longer seems so old: he has won the yellow jerse mountain.

Tour of 1951: Hugo Koblet is exhibited in agen with a boil

[Captation id = "Attachment_6241" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Koblet starred in a spectacular getaway of more than 100 kilometers alone to end up winning the 1951 tour (Dutch National Archives).[/caption] The day before, Hugo Koblet had spent a 216 -kilometer ordeal in the tenth stage of the 1951 France tour, which Bernardo Ruiz won in Brive's goal. A boil in its noblest parts had barely left the Swiss sit on the armchair. Koblet had barely reached the goal, with wasted time and the shadow of abandonment flying over. At the hotel, doctors begin by saying that you have to snap, but that option is quickly discarded because it means to say goodbye to the tour. So, someone proposes an emergency solution: cocaine suppositories. There are no anti -doping controls and, at great evils, great remedies. There is no other. The 11th stage, of 177 kilometers, barely has difficulties in its journey to Agnen. Koblet is told to go calm, to pass it as I can and then look. But after an hour of career, the Swiss attacks in a tachuela and leaves, taking the Frenchman Louis Deprez to a wheel, which he releases a few kilometers away. Behind, the other favorites, the ockers, Coppi, Robic, Magni, Geminiani and company, let them do. There are more than one hundred kilometers and Koblet is still alone. Everything seems a lantern, and this is understood by its director, Alex Burtin, who reaches his height and asks: “What are you doing, how far do you plan to go like this, at this speed?” And Koblet, who is rolling as possessed, with his head in the handlebar, replies: “To the goal”. The alarm ends up jumping among the favorites, which separate their gregarious and are understood to organize the persecution. But Koblet does not eye and keeps his pulse above three minutes of advantage. It will arrive in Agnen winning the battle with an advantage of 2:35 minutes, after resisting a voracious persecution of more than three hours. Days after the feat, on the way to Bagnères de Luchon and with the Tourmalet in between, Koblet will escape with Fausto Coppi, he will win the stage and take the yellow jersey so as not to release it until Paris. That July 18, the boil did not go from being a bad dream.

Tour of 1952: Coppi conquers Alpe d’Huez and flies on the way from Sestriere

[Captation id = "Attachment_6192" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Coppi won the first stage that the Tour uploaded the Alpe d'Huez and the next day the Croix de Fer, the Télégraphe, El Galibier and the Montgenèvre.[/caption] Fausto Coppi arrives at the Tour of France from 1952 to double. Il Campioníssimo It comes from winning another Tour of Italy, this time against Fiorenzo Magni. He is motivated, because he also needs to compensate for his unfortunate 1951, with that improper tenth position, 46 minutes from Hugo Koblet. That July 4 Coppi is not yet a leader: yellow is carried by his faithful Andrea Carrea, the luxury gregarious that has helped him win the turn. It is the day when the Tour de France goes up for the first time in history to Alpe D’Huez, after 266 kilometers of Alpine crossing. As soon as the new colossus starts, Fausto escapes with Jean Robic, the often French climber, of the few capable of getting into trouble. The two open hollow, until Coppi launches the decisive attack at six kilometers and will only conquer Alpe D’Huez. It will be a new yellow jersey for five seconds. The rent is meager for Coppi, which needs more. The next day seems ideal to expand it: 182 kilometers from Bourg D’Aisans to Sestrières, nothing less than with the Croix de Fer, the Télégraphe, El Galibier, Montgenèvre and the final climb. Fausto Corona all in the lead and wins at the finish line with 9:33 minutes about Stan Ockers, 10:09 about Gino Bartali, 11:24 About Jean Robic ... the one that comes closest is Bernardo Ruiz, at 7:33. “Coppi was a phenomenon, the best of the time and maybe in history”, He would say years later the Alicante of the man who would win the Tour of that 1952 with almost half an hour of advantage. It was a masterpiece.

1958 Tour: Charly Gaul

[Captation id = "Attachment_6243" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Luexemburgos Charly Gaul cut more than 15 minutes away in the last mountain stage of the 1958 tour, which ended up winning.[/caption] The young Jacques Anquetil arrived at France from 1958 to revalidate his victory of the previous year. With 24 years, he appeared among the favorites, despite the fact that things with the Headquarters of the France team Anduvieen Revueltas. However, the road dictated a new law and raised the climbers of legend, Charly Gaul the most. The Luxembourgés gave a first blow to Anquetil in his field, winning for seven seconds the first time trial, under the rain of Chateaulin, his natural habitat. The second was even more forceful: Gaul won the Bahamontes in the chrono -scallop to Mont Ventoux and sent Anquetil more than four minutes, standing third in the general. But things twisted again the next day, when the leader, Raphael Geminiani, leaves GAP with Anquetil, Nencini and some more important men. Gaul and Bahamontes accuse their exhibition in the chrono -scallop and do not respond; They lose ten minutes. The blow is brutal: the Luxembourgués stays fourth in the yellow jersey, and only a mountain stage remains, which goes from Briançon to Aix-Le-Bains, with the ports of Litel and Porte, first category, more They knocked on and Granier. The Great Gesta takes place on July 16, with rain, as Charly Gaul likes, who does not waste time and leaves with bahamontes in the first ramps of Litel. But the Toledo is not going well and can not follow the rhythm of the Luxembourg, which flies on the way to the high exceeding the remains of a getaway. In the descent, Gaul throws himself in an open grave, takes the head and crown first the bearing col with more than four minutes of advantage. There is sinking anquethyl, and the differences begin to be abysmal: the advantage exceeds five minutes, in Granier it rises to six ... The mountain angel He ends up winning the stage with 7:50 minutes on Jan Adriaensns, and puts Vito Favero, 14:34 to the Geminiani leader, 19:01 to Nencini and Bobet ... Anquetil arrives sunk, more than 23 minutes. Gaul jumps to the third place of the general, 1:09 minutes from the new leader, Vito Favero, and only 28 seconds from Geminiani. The two would give the coup de grace in the time trial of Dijon, the eve of arriving in Paris, where the Luxembourg would touch the glory winning the Tour of France.

1964 Tour: The last Bahamontes dance in the Pyrenees

[Captation id = "Attachment_6195" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Federico Martín Bahamontes was chosen in 2013 as the best climber in the Tour de France of all time (Michiel Hendryckx, Creative Commons).[/caption] After signing a good bouquet of deeds and starring in a memorable hand in hand with Anquel Mountain Grand Prize. The Toledo eagle He has won alone in Briançon, and reaches the Pyrenees in a position to finish off both objectives. He understands that the occasion is in the 16th stage, from Luchon to Pau, with five ports in the 197 kilometers of jour of Andorra, and that he also aspired to take the mountain. Both Spaniards strengthen the getaway together, supposedly with the covenant that target bahamontes in finish to assault the podium, and that Jiménez first passes through the ports, but the planning changes when Avila's watchmaker Corona the first three Cols and puts a provisional mountain leader. According to Bahamontes, Jiménez stopped giving him relay and that convinced him to move on to the attack in full ascent to Aubisque. It is there where the Abulense faints and bahamontes goes alone. The Toledo Corona the Pyrenean colossus with about six minutes on the favorites, while Jiménez loses more and more land and ends up saying from the car that wait for others, that there are no more ports to Pau and that has nothing to do Only in the plain. The Abulense told after he stopped at a bar to wait and “To buy a Coca-Cola and something to eat”. Already without rivals, Bahamontes finishes its last recital in the Tour de France and wins the stage with 1:54 minutes of advantage over the group of chosen ones, in addition to finishing off its sixth reign of the mountain and a new podium in Paris. It would end third, less than four minutes from the historic pulse between Anquetil and Poulidor.

Tour of 1969: Eddy Merckx enters anger and sweeps Mourenx

[Captation id = "Attachment_6226" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Eddy Mercks made his tour in the tour in 1969 and that same year he already wrote the first page of his legend in the Ronda Gala.[/caption] 1969 brought the overwhelming debut of Eddy Merckx in the Tour de France. The Belgian became leader in Alsace's ball, in the sixth stage, and from there he dedicated himself to crushing all his rivals. When he arrived at the Queen of the Pyrenees, with the end in Mourenx, he had already added four partial victories and was a leader with more than eight minutes of advantage, but that July 15 The cannibal He got up angry: he joined, on the one hand, that his wife, Claudine, was going to give birth to his daughter and could not contact her; And on the other, he learned that his best gregarious, Martin Van Den Bossche, was going to leave the Faema. A rabid to not be able, that day Merckx warned before leaving: "When the others arrive at the finish line I will have shower”. The climbs to the Aspin and the Pyresourde did not contribute too much, but at the beginning of the Tourmalet, Van Den Bossche gave him to attack and ended up turning on to the beast: Merckx reacted immediately, surpassed him as a ray, and went alone with 140 kilometers ahead, wearing the yellow jersey. They could only see him in the goal of Mourenx, where he put 7:56 minutes to the persecutor, including Van Den Bossche. Enough time for the promised shower.

Tour of 1971: Luis Ocaña amazes and rolls in Orcières-Merlette

[Captation id = "Attachment_6245" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Luis Ocaña left 68 runners out of control, forcing the Tour organization to raise the percentage of time not to leave the mutilated race (Dutch National Archives, Creative Commons).[/caption] On July 8, 1971, the one that for many is the largest cycling exhibition always took place, for how it occurred and for whom it was defeated, nothing less than Eddy Merckx. He brought the signing of a Spanish from Priego, deeply rooted in France: Luis Ocaña. Merckx reached that 11th stage of the Tour very close to the yellow of Joop Zoetemelk, in a good disposition to seek his third consecutive victory, and the organizers were worried with a new exhibition of superiority. But some things were not in place: Merckx had not been able to take the exit in the Tour of Italy, its traditional filming, and had already suffered against Ocaña to win the Dauphiné. Above, the Spanish had distanced him for a few seconds in the Puy de Dôme. So Priego understands that it is the day to lie down when Cannibal, in the 137 kilometers dotted with the climbs to the Côte de Laffrey and the Col de Noyer, before the final ascension. Output, the Kas bursts the race with José Manuel Fuente, and the attack dismantles Molteni de Merckx. Ocaña goes to action in Laffrey, where he jumps for an attack by Agostinho and takes the leader Zoetemelk and Lucien Van Impe to Rued. Merckx does not respond and Ocaña, who throws like a possessed, leads the persecutors to Agostinho. When the quartet arrives at Col de Noyer, the BIC leader increases the intensity of the festival: it goes only in the absence of seventy kilometers, and in the middle of the port it takes a minute of advantage over the third of the leader. Above, there will be four and ... almost six in relation to Merckx! Ocaña rises to Orcières-Merlette Plethoric, further increasing differences. The finishing balance will be amazing: the stage wins in less than four hours and leaves 68 runners out of control, which forces the organization to raise the percentage of the time limit, from 12% to 15%, so that the race It is not mutilated. The differences are equally amazing: 5:52 minutes to the second, Van Impe, and 8:42 to the Zoetemelk and Merckx group, which ends up saying that of: “Ocaña has killed us how the Cordoba kills bulls” It was the greatest defeat of the Belgian, who then did not know that he would win again because Ocaña's fatal destiny was written in the Col de Menté.

1994 Tour: Induráin takes the roller in Hautacam

[Captation Id = "Attachment_6182" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Induráin had a very characteristic way of leaving his rivals behind in the big ports, always pedaling with a constant rhythm (Denp images, creative commons)[/caption] Miguel Induráin He had his fourth tour of France on July 13: he had made a extraterrestrial exhibition at the Bergerac counter And he already carried the yellow jersey. But the race had barely reached his Ecuador and the Navarro needed to take another twist in the Pyrenees to distant his great rival, the Swiss Toni Rominger. That 11th stage was long, nothing less than 263 kilometers, but concentrated its hardness only in the final port of Hautacam, an unpublished rise of 16 kilometers to 7.3%. In the first ramps, Marco Pantani attacks. It is the Italian who caused the Induráin crisis in the Valico de Santa Cristina, as soon as the Mortirolo passed, the one that cost him the Italian turn of that year. The Navarro chooses to let do, and later observe Rominger's suffering and decides Take command in the first person. There are still seven kilometers for the top and Navarro will no longer look back. It imposes a suffocating rhythm that immediately declons to Rominger. Then Alex Zülle, Piotrumov Piotrumov, from Las Cuevas… five of the goal only two French, Richard Vicenque and Luc Leblanc, and already has Pantani in the spotlight, less than half a minute. Induráin will consume hunting shortly before the last kilometer banner, without the Italian being able to hook at its frantic rhythm. If Leblanc will do, that without giving a relay, he will win the sprint for the stage between the fog of Hautacam. To Navarro all that gave him the same: he sent Rominger more than five minutes in the general, surpassed all the other rivals and showed the world that he could also take the roller on the mountain.

Tour of 1998: Pantani flies under the rain of the Galibier

[Captation id = "Attachment_6246" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Marco Pantani won the 1998 Tour defeating Ullrich with a spectacular attack in El Galibier (Hein Ciere, Creative Commons)[/caption] That of 1998 was the Tour de France of the Festina scandal, and the yellow jersey seemed like Jan Ullrich, the young German who had razed the previous year, to the controls of the powerful Telekom of Walter Godefroot. But he arrived on July 27 and a often climber born next to the sea, in ceasenatic, changed the story in the rain and the cold of the Alps: Marco Pantani. Ullrich dominated the tour. He had taken the lead in the first time trial, winning Tyler Hamilton and his great rival, Bobby Julich, and few bet on Pantani, despite the fact that the brand new champion of the Italian turning had won in Beille Plateau and distanced Ullrich in Luchon. But the third blow of Pirate He arrived, and this time it was colossal proportions. The stage, 189 kilometers between Grenoble and Les Deux Alpes, brought them: climbs to the Croix de Fer and Al Galibier, for the hard north face, and the final port, more bearable. For the Croix de Fer there were no notable movements, but everything changed under the storm of the Galibier, once its first part, the one of the Col du télégraphe. Pantani demaró, with his style of grabbing the lower part of the handlebars, and went to devour the last five kilometers of the Alpine colossus. Ullrich, with the disarticulated telekom, began to suffer under the storm, while the Italian passed as a motorcycle to the survivors of a leak. Pantani crowned alone with almost three minutes on Ullrich, but seeing that more than sixty kilometers were missing until Les Deux Alps, he decided to wait for Rodolfo Massi and Marcos Serrano to save efforts in the valley. Upon arriving at Les Deux Alpes, he flew uphill again and entered into a solo goal, charging decisive advantages: almost six minutes to Julich, near Nine to Jan Ullrich ... Pantani dressed in yellow while the German entered defeated. The next day, Ullrich launched a very hard offensive in the Col de la Madeleine, but Pantani solded his wheel. The defeat of German and the glory of Pirate They had already been written in the Galibier.

Tour of 2008: Carlos Sastre enters the legend of Alpe d’Huez

[Caption id = "Attachment_6248" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "900"] Carlos Sastre put Frank Schleck more than 2 minutes in the 12 kilometers of the Alpe D'Huez climb in the 2008 tour, which ended up winning (Celso Flores, Creative Commons)[/caption] Carlos Sastre's life as a cyclist changed on July 23, 2008, when he won the Tour of France in the brightest way and in the best stage: Alpe d’Huez. The Abulense was a great cyclist, he had achieved several podiums in the big turns and was a regular of the Top 10. But no one imagined that he could reach the top, that it could be the best in the best race, and less that he would do it without be the chief of ranks of his team, the CSC. That day the 17th stage of the Tour was played, a 210 -kilometer alpine crossing that came out of Enbrun, heading to the colossus of the 21 curves. In the morning everything was doubts in the tailor team, which led the Tour with Frank Schleck, but had all the rivals stalking, including the Abulense, seventh to 49 seconds. The director, Bjarne Rijs, was not clarified with the strategy to follow, and when asked Sastre heard: "I want to win”. Said and done: Carlos Sastre attacked at the base of Alpe d’Huez, more than 12 kilometers from the top, as he had planned. "I was clear that I had to start up, without waiting at the end”I would say later. And he left alone, without looking back and without could hold Denis Menchov, who tried to follow him in vain. Behind, in the favorite group, only looms and surveillance, nobody moved in a determined way: neither the Schleck brothers, nor Cadel Evans, nor Alejandro Valverde ... Carlos Sastre entered the winning skiing station, rounding an incontestable victory, with 2:13 minutes of advantage over Samuel Sánchez, who gave time to the yellow jersey group. The precious garment ended in his hands: leader with 1:24 about Frank Schleck, and 1:34 about Cadel Evans, which he could contain in the final counterreloj of Saint-Amand-Montond to win the Tour de France for 58 seconds. A feat that Carlos Sastre wanted to dedicate to his brother -in -law, the ill -fated Chava Jiménez: "It is a dream that we both wanted, sure that from there it has helped me”.

2020 Tour: Pagačar wins the race legs above in the planche des Belles Filles

[Captation Id = "Attachment_8259" Align = "Alignnone" Width = "744"] Image: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet[/caption] The Tour of France wrote one of the most shocking pages in its history in 2020. A tour that had to be held in September because of the pandemic. The epic moment took place in the penultimate stage. Despite being only 21 years old, Tadej Pogačar was exhibited in the Planche des Belles Filles. A chrono of 36 km that will be remembered for years. Destroyed his teacher, Primoz Roglic, stripping him of the yellow jersey when the race seemed almost sentenced. The Slovenian cut a disadvantage of 57 seconds and proclaimed champion of the most atypical edition of the French round. In this way, the Emirates cyclist would become the youngest winner of the Gala Round since World War II. The great defeated of the day was Roglic. After leading the test during twelve stages, he crossed the finish line with a disadvantage of 1 '56' '. The Jumbo team leader could not defend the margin he had and ended up collapsed, 59 seconds from the first position of the podium of the general classification. To the memory will be its disheveled countenance and its out of place, as a symbolic image of the defeat. In a way, he reminded the defeat that Laurent Fignon suffered in 1989. When he had the cattle tour, the French ended up losing his race for eight seconds, being bent by a plethoric Greg Lemond in the final counterreloj held in Paris. It was the tour with the most tight victory in history.