Charly Gaul
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charly Gaul (December 8, 1932 – December 6, 2005) was a road professional cyclist from Luxembourg. He was an accomplished time trialist, however, he was renowned as a climbing specialist. His climbing ability earned him the nickname of The Angel of the Mountains in the 1958 Tour de France which he won overall and took four stage victories. He was also successful in the Giro d'Italia, winning in 1956 and 1959, and claiming several further high places. Gaul was known for his strong performances in cold and wet weather conditions, of which he often took advantage to attack his rivals. He was known for his high pedaling cadence in a day when it was very uncommon.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Gaul worked in a butcher's shop and as a slaughterman in an abattoir at Bettembourg before turning professional. In 1952 he finished second in the Tour of Austria. He won his first professional event in his native Luxembourg in 1953, and was second in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race. The following year he was second in his country's road race championship (an event he later won six times), won a stage in the Dauphiné Libéré, and won a bronze medal in the 1954 World Cycling Championship.
[edit] Tour de France career
[edit] Early years
Gaul rode his first Tour de France in 1953, but abandoned on the sixth stage. He also started the 1954 Tour but again abandoned before the finish.
In the 1955 Tour , he finished third overall, won two stage victories and the overall mountains classification. He won stage 8 to Briançon and looked set for a second straight win the next day, but crashed while in the lead on a rain-soaked Alpine descent. He retained hopes of a high finishing position, and attacked in the Pyrenees, winning stage 17 (Toulouse to Saint-Gaudens) ahead of eventual overall winner Louison Bobet. This effort paid off earning him third place on general classification and victory in the "King of the Mountains" competition.
After a hard-fought victory in the 1956 Giro d'Italia (in which he had also taken three stage wins - including an epic eight-minute victory in the Dolomites stage from Merano to Trento), Gaul was almost half an hour down after just six days' racing in the 1956 Tour de France , but he was confident he could close the gap in the mountains. He won the Mountains classification again, and two more stages - a mountain individual time trial on stage 3 and stage 18 to Grenoble. But his efforts did little good in the overall classification: he finished 13th overall.
Gaul started the 1957 Tour, but abandoned after just two days of racing, with no stage wins.
[edit] 1958 victory
Gaul returned to the Tour with a vengeance in 1958. Third in that year's Giro, he started the French tour in dominant fashion and won four stages, three of them time trials, including the stage 18 ascent of Mont Ventoux. He faced competition in the mountains from fellow climbing specialist, the Spaniard Federico Bahamontes, but used his time trialling abilities to limit any losses. On Mont Ventoux, he beat Bahamontes by 31 seconds to move into third place overall, but he lost more than ten minutes, partly through mechanical difficulties, the following day. On the last day in the Alps, he launched one last do-or-die attack and gained 15 minutes on the then race leader, Raphaël Géminiani by the finish at Aix-les-Bains. It proved decisive and Gaul's Tour victory was assured.
[edit] 1959 Tour
In 1959, the defending champion was 12th overall in the Tour de France. He lost time in the sweltering heat of the Pyrenees stages, but won at Grenoble again, with Bahamontes second (on his way to overall victory).
[edit] Late Tours
Gaul missed the 1960 edtion of the Tour. In 1961 he returned, earning third place overall and one stage victory, Stage 9 to Grenoble. In this tour he was hampered by injury: in the Alps he crashed on the descent of the Cucheron, bruising his hip, shoulder and knee. At the beginning of the final stage Gaul was second to Jacques Anquetil. Breaking the traditions of the Tour, Guido Carlesi attacked as the Tour entered its final kilometre overcoming a four second deficit to Gaul. This moved him to second overall, relegating Gaul to third.
In 1962 he finished the race in 9th place with no stage victories. It is worth noting, however, that the 1962 Tour was contested by trade teams for the first time in years, rather than national teams and Gaul's team was not one of the strongest that year. Coming from a small country, Gaul was usually placed in a mixed team, poorly supported by riders of limited abilities as domestiques. His final contested Tour was the 1963 edition, but unfortunately he abandoned before the finish and before earning any stage placings.
[edit] Giro d'Italia
Gaul twice won the Giro d'Italia, in 1956 and 1959. In the 1959 Giro d'Italia he also won the Giro's mountains classification and three stages. His stage victory at Courmayeur had seen him take a 10-minute advantage over Jacques Anquetil over the final two climbs of the day. In the 1960 Giro he earned another stage victory on his way to third place overall. In 1961 he finished fourth overall in the Giro.
[edit] Other major victories
- 1954: Circuit des 6 Provinces
- 1955: Tour du Sud-Est
- 1956:
- Tour de Luxembourg
Luxembourg National Road Champion
- 1957: Luxembourg National Road Champion
- 1959:
- Tour de Luxembourg
- Luxembourg National Road Champion
- 1960: Luxembourg National Road Champion
- 1961:
- Tour de Luxembourg
- Luxembourg National Road Champion
- 1962: Luxembourg National Road Champion
[edit] Retirement
Charly Gaul retired from cycling in 1963. He made an abortive comeback in 1965 that accomplished no victories. Afterwards he spent six months running a café near the main train station in the centre of Luxembourg city then slipped out of public view. For a quarter of a century his whereabouts were practically unknown. He was discovered in the middle of the Ardennes forest, following a hermitic lifestyle in a small hut.
He was invited by the Tour Society in 1989 to make an appearance at the Tour de France in Luxembourg. He attended and began following cycling again and taking part as a guest official at many races. He attended a reunion of former Tour de France winners when the centenary race was presented in October 2002. On December 6, 2005, Gaul died, two days before his 73rd birthday.
[edit] Trivia
Charly Gaul's victory in the 1958 Tour de France occurred in the same year as Charles De Gaulle (similar name) came to power in France.
[edit] External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New award |
Luxembourgian Sportsperson of the Year 1954 – 1956 |
Succeeded by Josy Stoffel |
| Preceded by Fiorenzo Magni |
Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1956 |
Succeeded by Gastone Nencini |
| Preceded by Jacques Anquetil |
Winner of the Tour de France 1958 |
Succeeded by Federico Bahamontes |
| Preceded by Josy Stoffel |
Luxembourgian Sportsperson of the Year 1958 |
Succeeded by Jean Link |
| Preceded by Ercole Baldini |
Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1959 |
Succeeded by Jacques Anquetil |
