No matter the age, it seems that the bike is not forgotten. Federico Bahamontes had put his away for good when he retired from the pelotons in 1965. In order to maintain his legend, which he watched over with rare attention, the Spaniard swore he only got back in the saddle once. It was a sad day in May 1994, for a last tribute to Luis Ocaña, winner of the Tour de France in 1973.
Federico Bahamontes died on Tuesday August 8 at the age of 95, the mayor of Toledo, Carlos Velasquez announced on social networks. Born on July 9, 1928, in Val de Santo Domingo (province of Toledo), he joined his compatriot but also most of his rivals, friends or enemies, of yesterday: Bobet, Anquetil, Rivière, Nencini, Gaul, Poulidor…
Winner of the 1959 edition of the Tour de France, the “Aigle de Tolède” – as La Grande Boucle director Jacques Goddet called him in 1957 – was the oldest surviving Tour winner. He had plenty of time to recount his great victories and defeats with this profusion of details, anecdotes and excuses specific to these champions of a barely televised era.
“To pay tribute to my victory in the Tour, I was the first to ride my bike on the lawn of the Bernabeu [the Real Madrid stadium]”, he said as if to recall his place as a pioneer. The first Spanish winner of the Tour, he inspired the Fuente and Ocaña in the 1970s and planted the first seed that would later allow the flowering of this triumphant Spain with the Delgado, Indurain or Contador.
An ice cream before the descent
If “Spanish climber” has long sounded redundant, it’s because Bahamontes shaped the style. His qualities, the young cyclist owes them a lot to the topography of his city. Perched on a hill above the Tagus, the capital of Castilla-La Mancha offers the ideal terrain to develop climbing skills. Apprentice in a bicycle repair shop, it is by playing the courier for the merchants of Toledo that the teenager begins to get his legs. L’Equipe journalist Pierre Chany will compare his “flexibility” to that of a “flamenco dancer” when he sees him swaying his long, lean body on the steep slopes of the Alps or the Pyrenees.
Bahamontes also comes with a reputation as a whimsical, even fanciful runner. For his first Tour de France in 1954, he took the lead at the top of the Col de Romeyère, in the Alps, and took the time to enjoy an ice cream while waiting for his pursuers. The greedy may remember that he had allowed himself this frozen break while waiting for a mechanical repair, the legend has taken its place.
The climber, who would live only from climbing, if possible with big percentages, sublime one day, quickly resigned the next day, is not very interested in the race for the general classification which requires consistency in effort. Six times winner of the mountain classification on the Tour, he saw Richard Virenque overtake him by one unit in 2004. Pride took a hit. According to his eldest, the Frenchman does not have the explosiveness and class of great mountaineers like him: “He doesn’t come close to my ankle. Don’t blame me, but if he’s a climber, I’m Napoleon. »
With the help of Gaul and the divided French
It was in 1959 that the Spaniard had his moment of glory on the Tour de France. At the foot of the podium three years earlier, he saw his hopes dashed in 1958 from the first stages due to stomach pain which he feared was the start of appendicitis, before, having just recovered, to be the only one to hang on to Charly Gaul’s aerial pedaling in the Alps and to win two stages.
Before taking the start in Mulhouse, at the end of June 1959, Bahamontes, 31, announced the color: yellow and nothing else. Gaul, Bahamontes… The two best climbers of their generation respect each other, even if the Spaniard judges the Luxembourger as “a funny guy who checks couples at the hotel through the keyhole”. Dropped overall on this 1959 Tour, Gaul proved to be a precious breakaway companion for him on the 17th stage between Saint-Etienne and Grenoble. The first stage, the second the yellow jersey.
The following days, the leader wavered in the face of the threat of Henri Anglade. Fortunately for the Spaniard, the Anquetil, Rivière and Bobet (who live together in the French team) prefer to favor his destiny than to see a “little runner” from the Centre-Midi regional team triumph in their place.
A museum to his glory
In 1963, “the Eagle of Toledo” still soars, but finishes second behind an untouchable Jacques Anquetil in the last time trial. The following year, he completed his collection with the only missing place on his list, the third.
Having become the manager of a cycle and moped shop in Toledo after his career, he liked to show the museum to his glory. In 2009, he took Le Monde journalist Jean-Louis Aragon through the streets of his city where, he said, “I am treated like a king”.
For a while now, nostalgia had become a faithful friend. In his memories, the sun burned the bodies, his hands were placed at the top of the handlebars, so he climbed again and again the Aubisque, the Telegraph or the Izoard, alone in the lead of course. “I relive those moments every day,” he said. All this still gives me so much emotion, and following today’s races, seeing the places I’ve been, I have goosebumps and I’m happy. Spain is sad today.