Federico Bahamontes

Federico Bahamontes

Bahamontes in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Alejandro Martín Bahamontes
Nickname	The Eagle of Toledo
Born	(1928-07-09) July 9, 1928 Santo Domingo-Caudilla, Castile-La Mancha, Spain
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Retired
Rider type	Climber
Professional team(s)
1953–1954	Splendid
1955	Terrot-Hutchinson
1956	Girardengo-ICEP
1957	Mobylette
1958	Faema-Guerra
1959	Tricofilina-Coppi/Kas
1960	Faema
1961	VOV
1962–1965	Margnat-Paloma-Inuri
Major wins
Tour de France General classification: (1959) Mountains classification: (1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964) 7 stages (1954-1965) Giro d'Italia Mountains classification: (1956) 1 stage (1956-1961) Vuelta a España Mountains classification: (1957, 1958) 3 stages (1955-1965)

Federico Martín Bahamontes (pronounced: [feðeˈɾiko marˈtin βa.a.ˈmon.tes]; born 9 July 1928) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. Born as Alejandro Martín Bahamontes. He is the first cyclist to complete a "career triple" in winning the "King of the Mountains" classification in all three Grand Tours.

Biography

Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla (Toledo), of Cuban descent. His family was devastated during the Spanish civil war and Bahamontes' father, Julián, took the family to Madrid as refugees. There Julian Martín lived by breaking rocks before opening a fruit and vegetable stall.

“

"My father was neither a red nor a fascist - he simply didn't like the idea of people coming along and demanding he give away olives, butter and chickens into which he had put to much work, so we left Toledo," Bahamontes said.[1]

”

Bahamontes worked as a delivery boy. His hero and eventually his friend was Julián Berrendero, winner of the Vuelta a España in 1941 and 1942 and later selector of national teams.

He began racing in the late 1940s, winning his first race, wearing a baseball shirt^[2] on 18 July 1947. It was 12 years to the day before his first Tour de France triumph.

He took the mountains jersey and won the first stage of the 1953 Tour of Asturias at 23, while still not a full professional. The Spanish cycling federation picked him for the 1954 Tour de France the following year and his instructions from the national coach was "Try to win it."^[2] He didn't win but he did win the mountains competition and finish 25th.

Bahamontes was a climbing specialist to whom reporters gave the nickname the 'Eagle of Toledo. He rode in a distinctive upright style, staring ahead, his shorts pulled high on his thighs, his hands repeatedly changing position on the handlebars. He won the Tour de France in 1959, and won the Tour's "King of the Mountains" classification six times (1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964). He also took second and third places overall in 1963 and 1964 respectively. In total, he won seven Tour stages.

He was also second in the 1957 Vuelta a España, and won the mountains competition then and the following year, 1958, when he finished 6th. He also won the mountains competition in the Giro d'Italia in 1956.

Bahamontes was not initially considered a contender for in the 1959 Tour de France, but he benefited from an early escape on a stage in the Pyrenees, and then won a mountain time trial to the Puy-de-Dôme. Into the Alps, he combined with fellow climber Charly Gaul to extend the lead into Grenoble, and although French riders Henry Anglade and Jacques Anquetil cut their deficits, neither made up enough time to threaten Bahamontes' overall lead. He won by just over four minutes from Anglade, and became King of the Mountains too.

Anquetil was whistled as he finished the Tour on the Parc des Princes because spectators had worked out that he and others had contrived to let Bahamontes rather than the Frenchman Anglade win. The French team was unbalanced by internal rivalries. Anglade was unusual in that he was represented by the agent Roger Piel while the others had Daniel Dousset. The two men controlled all French racing.^[3] Dousset worked out that his riders had to beat Bahamontes or make sure that Anglade didn't win. Since they couldn't beat Anglade, they contrived to let Bahamontes win because Bahamontes, a poor rider on the flat and on small circuits, would be no threat to the post-Tour criterium fees that made up the bulk of riders' - and agents' - earnings.

In 1960 Bahamontes got no further than the first few days of the Tour. The writer Roger St Pierre said:

"One of the most poignant photographic images in Tour history captured the dejected Spaniard sitting on the platform astride his suitcase, head in hands as he waited for the train to take him back home having abandoned the race before it even really got going.^[4]

In 1963 and 1964 Anquetil exacted revenge. In the 1963 Tour de France he beat Bahamontes into second place. Bahamontes and Anquetil performed well in the Alps and on one stage were first and second overall, three seconds apart. However, the Spaniard's efforts to retain his mountains leadership rebounded on him. He was unable to break away from Anquetil on the stage to Chamonix and Anquetil's victory in the time trial sealed his fourth Tour win, with Bahamontes 3:35 behind. Bahamontes insisted he lost the race because of collusion between Anquetil and the Tour organiser, Jacques Goddet. He said:

“

They gave him (Anquetil) an extra second at the end of stage 17, where he'd got all the peloton to work for him and a motorbike had given him a hand as well. I had the yellow jersey but there was no point continuing to fight even with just four days to go. There was a time trial the following day[5] and I knew the whole thing had been set up against me.[2]

”

A year later, in the 1964 Tour de France Anquetil took his fifth victory and the margin over Bahamontes in third was 4:44; Raymond Poulidor took second place. Bahamontes at least had the satisfaction of his sixth King of the Mountains win and two more stage wins (bringing his total Tour de France stage wins to seven).

Bahamontes' Tour in 1965 marked the end of his career. He floundered on the mountains where once he had flown. He finished the day to Bagnères de Bigorre, at the foot of the Tourmalet, only just inside the time limit. He tried a colourful attack on the col du Portet d'Aspet next day and then climbed out of the saddle and out of the Tour de France for ever.

Riding style

Bahamontes was a talented climber but a poor descender, sometimes taking one foot off the pedal to take mountain bends like a speedway rider. He landed in a cactus bush descending the Montserrat as an amateur and thereafter refused to descend mountains alone, once waiting at the top of a col in the Tour de France for other riders to arrive. He reached the top minutes before a chase group arrived, and famously passed the time eating ice cream by the side of the road.

He was also temperamental, throwing his bike down a ravine to stop any pressure to continue riding when he dropped out of the 1956 Tour de France on the col de Luitel. The following year he dropped out again when the retirement of his team-mate, Miguel Poblet, left him without support. He held on to his bike but took off his shoes.

Retirement

Bahamontes retired to run a bicycle and motorcycle shop in Toledo. There he receives letters every week, some addressed to "F. Bahamontes, Spain" and sometimes to his name and with a picture of an eagle.^[2]

He is mentioned in the French film Le Fabuleux Déstin d'Amélie Poulain, known in English as Amelie. Amélie finds a box of toys left behind by an owner of her flat. She returns them to the owner - by now a middle aged man - and he is reminded of his childhood, part of which involved watching Bahamontes ride to victory in the 1959 Tour de France.

In 2013, during his 85th birthday that coincided with the 100th edition of Le Tour de France, he was named the best climber in the history of the race (ahead of French rider Richard Virenque) by a prestigious jury selected by L' Équipe Magazine [6][7][8][9][10]. Members of the jury included actual riders, such as French climber Thomas Voeckler, and legends like five-times winner of the race Bernard Hinault, as well as the general director of Le Tour de France Christian Prudhomme[8][10]. The award was given by the French President François Hollande[10].

Honored with Premio Nacional Francisco Fernández Ochoa [11]

Palmarès

Grand Tour results timeline

	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965
Tour	25	DNE	4	DNF-9	8	1	DNF-2	DNE	14	2	3	DNF-10
Stages won	0	—	0	0	2	1	0	—	1	1	2	0
Mountains classification	1	—	2	NR	1	1	NR	—	1	1	1	NR
Points classification	NR	—	19	NR	NR	NR	NR	—	NR	3	12	NR
Giro	DNE	DNE	DNF	DNE	17	DNE	DNE	DNF	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE
Stages won	—	—	0	—	1	—	—	0	—	—	—	—
Mountains classification	—	—	1	—	4	—	—	NR	—	—	—	—
Points classification	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vuelta	N/A	21	4	2	6	DNF	DNF	DNE	DNE	DNE	DNE	10
Stages won		0	0	1	0	1	1	—	—	—	—	0
Mountains classification		5	2	1	1	NR	NR	—	—	—	—	5
Points classification		NR	3	7	NR	NR	NR	—	—	—	—	NR

Legend

1	Winner
2–3	Top three-finish
4–10	Top ten-finish
11–	Other finish
DNE	Did Not Enter
DNF-x	Did Not Finish (retired on stage x)
DSQ	Disqualified
N/A	Race/classification not held
NR	Not Ranked in this classification

References

[6] http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Bahamontes-ce-prix-est-merite/382048 (in French)

[7] http://www.rtve.es/deportes/20130628/bahamontes-elegido-mejor-escalador-historia-del-tour-lequipe/700880.shtml (in Spanish)

[8] http://ciclismo.as.com/ciclismo/2013/06/28/tour_francia/1372424273_880254.html (in Spanish)

[9] http://ciclismo.as.com/ciclismo/2013/07/07/tour_francia/1373217712_629661.html (in Spanish)

[10]http://www.diariovasco.com/tour-francia/2013/noticias/bahamontes-mejor-escalador-201307072024.html (in Spanish)

[11] http://boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2014-11545 (in Spanish)

Further reading

• Fotheringham, Alasdair (2012). The Eagle of Toledo: The Life and Times of Federico Bahamontes, the Tour's Greatest Climber. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-78131-037-3. Retrieved 1 November 2013. 

External links

• Complete Palmarès
• Federico Bahamontes profile at Cycling Archives
• Official Tour de France results for Federico Bahamontes

Tour de France winners of the General classification 1903–1919 1903: Maurice Garin 1904: Henri Cornet 1905: Louis Trousselier 1906: René Pottier 1907–08: Lucien Petit-Breton 1909: François Faber 1910: Octave Lapize 1911: Gustave Garrigou 1912: Odile Defraye 1913–14: Philippe Thys 1915–18: World War I 1919: Firmin Lambot 1920–1939 1920: Philippe Thys 1921: Léon Scieur 1922: Firmin Lambot 1923: Henri Pélissier 1924–25: Ottavio Bottecchia 1926: Lucien Buysse 1927–28: Nicolas Frantz 1929: Maurice De Waele 1930: André Leducq 1931: Antonin Magne 1932: André Leducq 1933: Georges Speicher 1934: Antonin Magne 1935: Romain Maes 1936: Sylvère Maes 1937: Roger Lapébie 1938: Gino Bartali 1939: Sylvère Maes 1940–1959 1940–46: World War II 1947: Jean Robic 1948: Gino Bartali 1949: Fausto Coppi 1950: Ferdinand Kübler 1951: Hugo Koblet 1952: Fausto Coppi 1953–55: Louison Bobet 1956: Roger Walkowiak 1957: Jacques Anquetil 1958: Charly Gaul 1959: Federico Bahamontes 1960–1979 1960: Gastone Nencini 1961–64: Jacques Anquetil 1965: Felice Gimondi 1966: Lucien Aimar 1967: Roger Pingeon 1968: Jan Janssen 1969–72: Eddy Merckx 1973: Luis Ocaña 1974: Eddy Merckx 1975: Bernard Thévenet 1976: Lucien Van Impe 1977: Bernard Thévenet 1978–79: Bernard Hinault 1980–1998 1980: Joop Zoetemelk 1981–82: Bernard Hinault 1983–84: Laurent Fignon 1985: Bernard Hinault 1986: Greg LeMond 1987: Stephen Roche 1988: Pedro Delgado 1989–90: Greg LeMond 1991–95: Miguel Indurain 1996: Bjarne Riis 1997: Jan Ullrich 1998: Marco Pantani 2006–present 1999–2005: results vacated because of doping 2006: Óscar Pereiro 2007: Alberto Contador 2008: Carlos Sastre 2009: Alberto Contador 2010: Andy Schleck 2011: Cadel Evans 2012: Bradley Wiggins 2013: Chris Froome 2014: Vincenzo Nibali

Tour de France winners of the Mountains classification 1933 Vicente Trueba 1934 René Vietto 1935 Félicien Vervaecke 1936 Julián Berrendero 1937 Félicien Vervaecke 1938 Gino Bartali 1939 Sylvère Maes 1947 Pierre Brambilla 1948 Gino Bartali 1949 Fausto Coppi 1950 Louison Bobet 1951 Raphaël Géminiani 1952 Fausto Coppi 1953 Jesús Loroño 1954 Federico Bahamontes 1955–1956 Charly Gaul 1957 Gastone Nencini 1958–1959 Federico Bahamontes 1960–1961 Imerio Massignan 1962–1964 Federico Bahamontes 1965–1967 Julio Jiménez 1968 Aurelio González Puente 1969–1970 Eddy Merckx 1971–1972 Lucien Van Impe 1973 Pedro Torres 1974 Domingo Perurena 1975 Lucien Van Impe 1976 Giancarlo Bellini 1977 Lucien Van Impe 1978 Mariano Martínez 1979 Giovanni Battaglin 1980 Raymond Martin 1981 Lucien Van Impe 1982 Bernard Vallet 1983 Lucien Van Impe 1984 Robert Millar 1985 Luis Herrera 1986 Bernard Hinault 1987 Luis Herrera 1988 Steven Rooks 1989 Gert-Jan Theunisse 1990 Thierry Claveyrolat 1991–1992 Claudio Chiappucci 1993 Tony Rominger 1994–1997 Richard Virenque 1998 Christophe Rinero 1999 Richard Virenque 2000 Santiago Botero 2001–2002 Laurent Jalabert 2003–2004 Richard Virenque 2005–2006 Michael Rasmussen 2007 Mauricio Soler 2008 Bernhard Kohl 2009 Franco Pellizotti 2010 Anthony Charteau 2011 Samuel Sánchez 2012 Thomas Voeckler 2013 Nairo Quintana 2014 Rafał Majka

Tour de France winners of the Combativity award 1956 André Darrigade 1957 Nicolas Barone 1958 Federico Bahamontes 1959 Gérard Saint 1960 Jean Graczyk 1961 Team West-Southwest 1962 Eddy Pauwels 1963 Rik Van Looy 1964 Henry Anglade 1965 Felice Gimondi 1966 Rudi Altig 1967 Désiré Letort 1968 Roger Pingeon 1969–1970 Eddy Merckx 1971 Luis Ocaña 1972 Cyrille Guimard 1973 Luis Ocaña 1974–1975 Eddy Merckx 1976 Raymond Delisle 1977 Gerrie Knetemann 1978 Paul Wellens 1979 Hennie Kuiper 1980 Christian Levavasseur 1981 Bernard Hinault 1982 Régis Clère 1983 Serge Demierre 1984 Bernard Hinault 1985 Maarten Ducrot 1986 Bernard Hinault 1987 Régis Clère 1988 Jérôme Simon 1989 Laurent Fignon 1990 Eduardo Chozas 1991–1992 Claudio Chiappucci 1993 Massimo Ghirotto 1994 Eros Poli 1995 Hernán Buenahora 1996–1997 Richard Virenque 1998–1999 Jacky Durand 2000 Erik Dekker 2001–2002 Laurent Jalabert 2003 Alexander Vinokourov 2004 Richard Virenque 2005 Óscar Pereiro 2006 David de la Fuente 2007 Amets Txurruka 2008 Sylvain Chavanel 2009 None 2010 Sylvain Chavanel 2011 Jérémy Roy 2012 Chris Anker Sørensen 2013 Christophe Riblon 2014 Alessandro De Marchi