Hardest post war TDF stage?
Pictures/Video or it never happened, here's my choice. Briancon - Aix les Bains 1948
Gino Bartelli battling with Louison Bobet on the Croix de Fer. They'd already tackled the Galibier and had the Cols de Porte, Cucheron and Granier ahead of them before arriving in Aix les Bains.
Bartelli punctures at the summit, DS Binda tells Bartelli to hang back for a group of 6 while Bobet and another rider battle on against a headwind to Grenoble. They come together at the foot of the Col de Porte where an exhausted Bobet cracks and finishes 9 minutes down on Bartelli.
WFT Bartelli doesn't even have a cable pull derailleur on his bike!
and the stage on video:-
http://www.ina.fr/sport/cyclisme/video/ ... ns.fr.html
Gino Bartelli battling with Louison Bobet on the Croix de Fer. They'd already tackled the Galibier and had the Cols de Porte, Cucheron and Granier ahead of them before arriving in Aix les Bains.
Bartelli punctures at the summit, DS Binda tells Bartelli to hang back for a group of 6 while Bobet and another rider battle on against a headwind to Grenoble. They come together at the foot of the Col de Porte where an exhausted Bobet cracks and finishes 9 minutes down on Bartelli.
WFT Bartelli doesn't even have a cable pull derailleur on his bike!
and the stage on video:-
http://www.ina.fr/sport/cyclisme/video/ ... ns.fr.html
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Proper racing back then - tell kids today and they'll laff in your face!
Can't add anything as my cycling history is crap. However, whilst I admire top pros today I at least feel I can guess at what it is like to race a modern Tour stage (although I'd probably under-estimate it). I can't even begin to comprehend how they raced in those conditions, on those roads and with that equipment.0 -
Great flim clip. I'm trying to imagine a modern GC leader on the side of the road with tyre levers and pump.
When did riders stop carrying their own spares?0 -
davidof wrote:Pictures/Video or it never happened, here's my choice. Briancon - Aix les Bains 1948
Gino Bartelli battling with Louison Bobet on the Croix de Fer.
Lovely clip and all that, but sorry to be pedantic: I think you might mean "Bartali"?0 -
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Don't worry - if you search "Bartelli" you'll find you're not the only one...
Although I quite like the idea that he was such a hard b@stard and they rode races with such ferocious brutality that it actually physically changed the way his name was spelled...0 -
The thing that struck me was that the descent that was horrible, the ones that wanted it went for it, and the ones in the back were those complaining it was too dangerous and trying to organise a "go slow".
Or something0 -
If you could go back in time and give one of those guys a modern Pro bike, I wonder how that would affect their performance?0
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The Mad Rapper wrote:If you could go back in time and give one of those guys a modern Pro bike, I wonder how that would affect their performance?
ummm... Ive thought about this a lot and I think they'd go faster0 -
Sport's different now.
That's basically about testing a rider's 'tank'.
It's now all about the 'engine'.0 -
The Mad Rapper wrote:If you could go back in time and give one of those guys a modern Pro bike, I wonder how that would affect their performance?
They'd never get through that mud (and the carbon frames would melt in those conditions anyway).0 -
Pross wrote:The Mad Rapper wrote:If you could go back in time and give one of those guys a modern Pro bike, I wonder how that would affect their performance?
They'd never get through that mud (and the carbon frames would melt in those conditions anyway).
They seemed to manage OK at the Giro!
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1996
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What is the story behind that one?Contador is the Greatest0
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It wasn't mud but Frigging "Gravel" (or mud, stones or rocks)Pross wrote:
They'd never get through that mud (and the carbon frames would melt in those conditions anyway).
A fortnights holiday was spent on those climbing roads with Saddle Bags & Tents.
If you hit a rock at speed you could go over the side.Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 19720 -
1996frenchfighter wrote:What is the story behind that one?
Bjarne Riis with his drugs winning the TDF.
He pulled those faces, up to a couple of years earlier and got very little reward and then he joined Telekom.Organiser, National Championship 50 mile Time Trial 19720 -
frenchfighter wrote:What is the story behind that one?
160 miles over Pyrenees (7 climbs I think!) in fierce heat - St 17 of '96 Tour should've been a procession for Indurain (stage went through his home town)... A charged and charging break of Festina riders plus Riis and Ullrich put horrible amounts of time into everyone.
Boardman says it was the most brutal day on the bike he ever had...0 -
I always think of the 1992 stage from St Gervais to Sestrieres as the hardest stage with most climbing in the last couple of decades. 6 big French Alps climbs (Saisies, Cormet de Roselend, Col d'Iseran, Mont Cenis, Sestriere), and 255 km. Chiappucci won it after a 100 km+ solo - huge time gaps in the top 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orMnutFbptQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqoH6R-9 ... ure=relmfu0 -
OCDuPalais wrote:
Boardman says it was the most brutal day on the bike he ever had...frenchfighter wrote:What is the story behind that one?
I remember chatting to Chris before the start of a long mountain stage back around then, he had fear in his eyes. I hadn't appreciated the environment in which he worked at the time and just thought he was being a bit of a wimp.BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
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davidof wrote:OCDuPalais wrote:
Boardman says it was the most brutal day on the bike he ever had...frenchfighter wrote:What is the story behind that one?
I remember chatting to Chris before the start of a long mountain stage back around then, he had fear in his eyes. I hadn't appreciated the environment in which he worked at the time and just thought he was being a bit of a wimp.
I think there are a number of riders whose ethics and careers probably deserve even more respect in hindsight - Boardman, Hunt and Hammond to name several just from the Brit side - but plenty of others too.0 -
1996 was brutal. Perhaps the hardest stage was stage 7 which was filled with drama
Heulot who was a u-23 then (now DS saur sojasun) got into yellow earlier in the race. He tried to defend the jersey and was literally broken before the stage finished and abandoned in tears - he did have tendinitis in his knee (Visibly it's finished for Stepahen." comments Marc Madiot on the radio. ) Indurain also cracked on the climb - all sorts of things were blamed but the previous day had been a rain deluge all day with the finish into aix le bains (won by Bogey below) Indurain was struggling with the cold and a chink opened in his armour. With doping at its prime any weakness was exposed in an unforgiving way. Boardrman thought he might even have a chance of a top 10 in this tour. When he eventually went past us on the Roseland he looked like a 4th cat in a Premier calendar. Literally weaving in the road and still two climbs to go Not sure how he finished or even made the Pyrenees This was more than deux vitesse.
It was even a tough day for Berzin!! I think it was around this day Riis got his Mr 60% title.
Good account http://joepapp.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/1996-tour-de-france-stage-7-chambery.html
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Thanks for the info guys. Sounds brutal and PEDs having a large effect...I pity those clean riders who had to try and stay in contention.Contador is the Greatest0
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greasedscotsman wrote:Pross wrote:The Mad Rapper wrote:If you could go back in time and give one of those guys a modern Pro bike, I wonder how that would affect their performance?
They'd never get through that mud (and the carbon frames would melt in those conditions anyway).
They seemed to manage OK at the Giro!
That was a great stage and tough by modern standards but you can't really compare it with the 'road' in the OP picture.0 -
Pross wrote:greasedscotsman wrote:They seemed to manage OK at the Giro!
That was a great stage and tough by modern standards but you can't really compare it with the 'road' in the OP picture.
Alright, give them a cyclo cross bike!
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davidof wrote:Pictures/Video or it never happened, here's my choice. Briancon - Aix les Bains 1948
Gino Bartelli battling with Louison Bobet on the Croix de Fer. They'd already tackled the Galibier and had the Cols de Porte, Cucheron and Granier ahead of them before arriving in Aix les Bains.
Bartelli punctures at the summit, DS Binda tells Bartelli to hang back for a group of 6 while Bobet and another rider battle on against a headwind to Grenoble. They come together at the foot of the Col de Porte where an exhausted Bobet cracks and finishes 9 minutes down on Bartelli.
WFT Bartelli doesn't even have a cable pull derailleur on his bike!
and the stage on video:-
http://www.ina.fr/sport/cyclisme/video/ ... ns.fr.html
Great stuff. Bartali had been 21 minutes behind Bobet 2 days earlier, completely written off, and in two epic stages took the yellow. All to the backdrop of Italy reeling on the brink of a revolution.... The French fans on that stage chucked snowballs at him, and some booed him when he crossed the line.
Some riders actually got off their bikes to flap their arms about to keep warm. A Belgian rider who punctured had to use his teeth to change his tyre as his fingers were so numb. Meanwhile Robic was so furious with the French fans who'd turned on him he got off his bike to chase one, and later broke down in tears when one of them gave him some stick.
Savage stage.
Guess who read "Road to Valor" a few months ago ;-)Warning No formatter is installed for the format0
