Reckless: The Life and Times of Luis Ocana
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A brief synopsis of his life story comes up now and again in other biographies because it is so tragic. I don't think I've encountered anyone in cycling that has been so unlucky both on the bike and in life.0
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Roger Riviere would give him a challenge on that front. Both blighted by misfortune.Yellow Peril wrote:I don't think I've encountered anyone in cycling that has been so unlucky both on the bike and in life.Twitter: @RichN950 -
One potentially interesting aspect is the rivalry - both on and off the bike - between Fuente and Ocana. In contrast to the former, Ocana lived and trained in France; a self-imposed political exile during the Franco era. Support between the two thus ran along a nasty political divide. Later in life, however, a bitter and twisted Luis voiced his dislike for the post-Franco modernisation of Spain and supported the French xenophobe JM le Pen.
Of course, he is mostly remembered for his rivalry with Merckx, Thevenet, Zoetemelk & Poulidor in the early seventies. He crashed out of stage 14 in the 1971 TdF when he led Merckx by about 8 min.0 -
skylla wrote:One potentially interesting aspect is the rivalry - both on and off the bike - between Fuente and Ocana. In contrast to the former, Ocana lived and trained in France; a self-imposed political exile during the Franco era. Support between the two thus ran along a nasty political divide. Later in life, however, a bitter and twisted Luis voiced his dislike for the post-Franco modernisation of Spain and supported the French xenophobe JM le Pen.
Of course, he is mostly remembered for his rivalry with Merckx, Thevenet, Zoetemelk & Poulidor in the early seventies. He crashed out of stage 14 in the 1971 TdF when he led Merckx by about 8 min.
Wasn't that where he took unnecessary risks when descending?0 -
Yellow Peril wrote:skylla wrote:One potentially interesting aspect is the rivalry - both on and off the bike - between Fuente and Ocana. In contrast to the former, Ocana lived and trained in France; a self-imposed political exile during the Franco era. Support between the two thus ran along a nasty political divide. Later in life, however, a bitter and twisted Luis voiced his dislike for the post-Franco modernisation of Spain and supported the French xenophobe JM le Pen.
Of course, he is mostly remembered for his rivalry with Merckx, Thevenet, Zoetemelk & Poulidor in the early seventies. He crashed out of stage 14 in the 1971 TdF when he led Merckx by about 8 min.
Wasn't that where he took unnecessary risks when descending?
If I remember correctly it was Merckx who came off his bike on a wet descent and Ocana and a whole lot of other riders (Zoetemelk? Thevenet?) who crashed into him/them. Ocana pulled the short straw though and was airlifted away.0 -
ok, Augustinho and Zoetemelk - Merckx doesn't seem to crash at all. And yes, it's very wet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLURDJ03-Z80 -
A documentary about Luis in spanish:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/video.html? ... d=MTEzOTM=
It seems it was the rivalry between him and Fuente (the eventual stage 14 winner) that made him take the risk.0 -
l'equipe
elcyclista.com (the acc. story is not entirely correct - he cycled for fagor in '68&'69):
http://elcyclista.com/2012/04/04/one-tough-spainard/0 -
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