Ferdinand Kübler

Ferdinand Kübler

Personal information
Full name	Ferdinand Kübler
Nickname	Ferdi, The Cowboy, The Eagle of Adliswil
Born	(1919-07-24) 24 July 1919 Marthalen, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Allround
Professional team(s)
1945–1947 1948–1957 1948–1949 1949 1949–1952 1952–1955 1953–1955 1956	Cilo Tebag Peugeot-Dunlop Bartali Frejus Fiorelli La Perle-Hutchinson Carpano-Coppi
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France General Classification (1950) Points classification (1954) 8 stages One-day races and Classics Bordeaux–Paris (1953) Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1951, 1952) La Flèche Wallonne (1951, 1952)
Medal record Competitor for   Switzerland Road bicycle racing World Championships Gold 1951 Varese Elite Men's Road Race Silver 1949 Copenhagen Elite Men's Road Race Bronze 1950 Moorslede Elite Men's Road Race
Infobox last updated on 16 April 2007

Ferdinand "Ferdi" Kübler (pronounced [ˈfɛʁdinant ˈkyːblɐ]; born 24 July 1919) is a retired Swiss cyclist with over 400 professional victories, including the 1950 Tour de France and the 1951 World Road Race Championship.

Biography

Kubler was born in Marthalen. He began racing professionally in 1940 but his early career was limited to Switzerland by the Nazi occupation elsewhere. He was multiple Swiss national champion and a three time winner of the Tour de Suisse.

Kubler's most successful years in international racing were 1950–1952, when the classics had resumed after the Second World War. He won the La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, both in 1951 and 1952, in a time where these races were still contested in the same weekend.^[1] He was also World Road Race Champion in 1951, having placed second in 1949 and third in 1950.

He rode the Giro d'Italia from 1950–1952, placing fourth once, and third twice. Kubler abandoned the 1947 and 1949 Tours de France, despite an early stage win in each. In the 1950 Tour, he benefited from the absence of Fausto Coppi, sidelined after a crash in the Giro. Overcoming Gino Bartali, Kubler became champion by over nine minutes, also winning three stages. In the 1954 Tour, Kubler won the points jersey and came second behind Louison Bobet.^[2]

Kubler was a high-spirited and impulsive rider sometimes given to strategically unwise attacks, out of exuberance and competitive drive. He was known as "the cowboy" because of his penchant for Stetson hats. He retired from racing in 1957 at 38. He is the oldest living Tour de France winner.^[3]

Palmarès

Grand Tour results timeline

References

External links

• Palmares (French)

v t e UCI Road World Champions – Men's road race 1927 Binda 1928 Ronsse 1929 Ronsse 1930 Binda 1931 Guerra 1932 Binda 1933 Speicher 1934 Kaers 1935 Aerts 1936 Magne 1937 Meulenberg 1938 Kint 1946 Knecht 1947 Middelkamp 1948 Schotte 1949 Van Steenbergen 1950 Schotte 1951 Kübler 1952 Müller 1953 Coppi 1954 Bobet 1955 Ockers 1956 Van Steenbergen 1957 Van Steenbergen 1958 Baldini 1959 Darrigade 1960 Van Looy 1961 Van Looy 1962 Stablinski 1963 Beheyt 1964 Janssen 1965 Simpson 1966 Altig 1967 E. Merckx 1968 Adorni 1969 Ottenbros 1970 Monseré 1971 E. Merckx 1972 M. Basso 1973 Gimondi 1974 E. Merckx 1975 Kuiper 1976 Maertens 1977 F. Moser 1978 Knetemann 1979 Raas 1980 B. Hinault 1981 Maertens 1982 Saronni 1983 LeMond 1984 Criquielion 1985 Zoetemelk 1986 Argentin 1987 S. Roche 1988 Fondriest 1989 LeMond 1990 Dhaenens 1991 Bugno 1992 Bugno 1993 Armstrong 1994 Leblanc 1995 Olano 1996 Museeuw 1997 Brochard 1998 Camenzind 1999 Freire 2000 Vainšteins 2001 Freire 2002 Cipollini 2003 Astarloa 2004 Freire 2005 Boonen 2006 Bettini 2007 Bettini 2008 Ballan 2009 Evans 2010 Hushovd 2011 Cavendish 2012 Gilbert 2013 Costa