Sunday July twentieth 1969; that’s properly over 50 years in the past now, however I keep in mind it clearly because the day that I first grew to become conscious {of professional} bicycle racing – I used to be 14 years-old. I walked in to the lounge of our little flat in Kirkcaldy, Scotland and glanced on the black and white TV within the nook; the night information had simply begun and the image was of a biking monitor with the stands crammed to capability.
In January we misplaced our pal and colleague Ed Hood, two years after his devastating stroke. We are going to always remember Ed and his information, connections within the biking world, his writing type and love for the game. Ed wrote 1000’s of gorgeous articles for PEZ, so we can pay homage the ‘King of the Blackberry’ with re-runs of his nice work.
And a giant thanks to everybody who contributed to Ed’s ‘Go Fund Me’. It made a giant distinction to his final two years.
You possibly can learn the PEZ-Crew’s reminiscences of Ed Hood HERE.
“What’s this?” I believed to myself; all of a sudden a rider banked proper from out of nowhere, into the ending straight, raised himself from the saddle and pumped on the pedals earlier than sitting down and settling into a robust rhythm across the concrete. The moment he appeared, the gang went loopy, hats, programmes and no matter else was of their palms flew into the air and the mantra went up; “Ed-dy! Ed-dy! Ed-dy!” I used to be transfixed by this tall man, sprawled alongside the highest tube of his white bicycle; “Eddy Merckx has turn out to be the primary Belgian rider for 30 years to win the Tour de France,” mentioned the BBC announcer.
Eddy Merckx on high. A well-known place.
Proper there, I knew there was no different sport for me. Merckx gained that Tour by nearly 18 minutes from the fashionable however eccentric Roger Pingeon (France), the person who gained the sick fated 1967 Tour the place Tom Simpson died. This was the beginning of the Merckx period; six phases plus the workforce time trial fell to him, that yr.
In 1970 he gained once more, this time by practically 13 minutes from that yr’s sufferer – Joop Zoetemelk (Holland); Eddy took eight phases and the TTT, simply in case we thought that ’69 had been a fluke.
The crash that took out Ocaña.
We had been confirmed Merckx followers, and in 1971 it appeared like our man was properly on the way in which to his hat trick; however Luis Ocaña (Spain) had different concepts. As virulent Huge Ted followers we may have admiration for no different GC riders; albeit the likes of Belgians Patrick Sercu and Roger De Vlaeminck – not forgetting our personal Barry Hoban – had been additionally objects of our pagan idolatry.
However it wasn’t till I few years later, when Eddy was in his twilight and I’d really seen Ocaña race that I realised how stylish the Spaniard was. He took two mountain phases on his approach to prizing unfastened Merckx’s grip on the yellow jersey and regardless of Merckx’s remorseless assaults within the days that adopted, it didn’t look good for us – or Eddy.
Luis Ocaña.
It was Mom Nature who intervened on the Belgian’s behalf; Ocaña crashed in a thunderstorm on the descent of the Col de Mente, his brakes rendered ineffective by rivers of mud washing off the mountain. Eventual second general, Joop Zoetemelk cannoned into the Spaniard as he lay on the tarmac – and the dream was over. We consoled ourselves that Eddy would have attacked to the top and Ocaña would have cracked, finally (possibly!).
Eddy.
Eddy made it 4 in 1972 with Ocaña going out as a consequence of a lung an infection, regardless of having been in high kind, confirmed by wins within the Dauphine and Spanish championships. The closest that runner up Felice Gimondi – Tour winner in 1965 – may get to Eddy, was 10 minutes.
With Merckx finishing a Vuelta (it was within the Spring again then) and Giro double in 1973 he ‘handed’ on le Tour, leaving the street clear for Ocaña to take six phases and the GC by quarter-hour from Bernard Thevenet (France).
And should you suppose that the pursuit of excellence and lightweight weight in bicycles is a brand new phenomenon, bear in mind that Ocana rode a British made Speedwell titanium body to victory.
Nobody has spent extra time in yellow than Eddy Merckx.
The next yr, 1974, Eddy returned; eight phases and the GC by the identical variety of minutes from Raymond Poulidor (France) confirmed that he was again in enterprise.
The Merckx period ended on stage 15 of the 1975 Tour de France when genial Frenchman Bernard Thevenet caught and dropped the Grasp on the climb to Pra Loup. A loopy fan’s arduous punch to the Belgians kidney on the Puy de Dome stage hadn’t helped Eddy’s situation and there was hypothesis that the treatment he took to ease the ache performed an element in his collapse.
Bernard Thevenet.
An ‘on cam’ Merckx might need pulled it again, however a crash at first of stage 17 left him with a damaged jaw, unable to ingest stable meals. A lesser man would have gone dwelling; however he wasn’t a lesser man – he was Eddy Merckx. That was the Tour the place the French lastly discovered to like le Cannibal, as he refused to retire and devalue Thevenet’s win.
Interviewed earlier than the beginning of the ceremonial final stage into Paris and requested if he would assault Thevenet, he replied; “sure after all!” however added with a wry smile; “however just a bit.”
By no means once more would I love a rider as a lot as I admired Eddy.
Lucien Van Impe took the 1976 Tour de France.
It was the yr of the lengthy scorching summer season in 1976; Merckx didn’t begin, Thevenet went out with sickness, Maertens was rampant with eight stage wins however tiny Belgian Lucien Van Impe climbed to glory – it will be greater than 20 years earlier than one other ‘pure’ climber sampled the very best view in Paris.
…And Zoetemelk was second once more.
Van Impe might need gained for a second time in ’77 however for a badly timed crash and it was Thevenet who once more topped the rostrum forward of Hennie Kuiper (Holland), amid rumours of yellow jerseyed riders failing dope checks and the organisers protecting it up; the Tour couldn’t have such scandals – if solely they’d had a crystal ball.
Thevenet would inform me years later that he owed his win to that uncommon factor; a mistake by Kuiper’s Raleigh supervisor, Peter Publish who saved the workforce driving in assist of German ‘Golden Boy’ Dietrich Thurau, who gained the prologue and held the jersey for the primary 15 phases, however was by no means going to beat the excessive mountains.
If Publish had burned out much less Raleigh candles in assist of ‘Didi’ and thought extra in regards to the Dutchman, it’d properly have been a unique ending.
Dietrich (DiDi) Thurau.
We first heard of Bernard Hinault in 1977 when he gained Liege – Bastogne – Liege and Gent – Wevelgem.
The Spring of ’78 noticed him win the Vuelta – however, le Tour?
It was the ‘D phrase’ that propelled Hinault within the route of yellow; Belgium’s Michel Pollentier (who nonetheless manages beginner groups in Belgium) was caught attempting to beat the testers on the high of l’Alpe d’Huez with a chunk of rubber tube and a flask of ‘clear’ urine – loopy, however true!
The one and solely, Bernard Hinault.
The Belgian headed dwelling, Zoetemelk pulled on the maillot jaune however Hinault blasted the sphere within the 72 Ok chrono a number of days later to expire winner in Paris by just below 4 minutes from Zoetemelk.
The final Tour of the 70’s additionally went to ‘le blaireau’ – ‘the badger’ as he was now recognized (the French behavior of nicknaming each single rider is likely one of the few issues that I dislike about our great sport) gained seven phases, together with the final one, on the Champs Elysees with Zoetemelk once more second.
And should you’re a ‘techie’ – this was the primary yr of the seven velocity freewheel.
The 80’s – Dallas, shoulder pads, Campag C Document, an everlasting second comes first and . . . . an American winner!
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