Ferdinand Kübler

Ferdinand Kübler

Kübler at the 1954 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Ferdinand Kübler
Nickname	Ferdi, The Cowboy, The Eagle of Adliswil, Mr 100,000 Volts[1]
Born	(1919-07-24)24 July 1919 Marthalen, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland
Died	29 December 2016(2016-12-29) (aged 97) Zurich, Switzerland
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Allround
Professional team(s)
1945–1947	Cilo
1948–1957	Tebag
1948–1949	Peugeot-Dunlop
1949	Bartali
1949–1952	Frejus
1952–1955	Fiorelli
1953–1955	La Perle-Hutchinson
1956	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 Representing   Switzerland Men's road bicycle racing World Championships 1949 Copenhagen Elite Men's Road Race 1950 Moorslede Elite Men's Road Race 1951 Varese Elite Men's Road Race

Ferdinand "Ferdi" Kübler (pronounced [ˈfɛrdinand ˈkyːblər]; 24 July 1919 – 29 December 2016) was a Swiss cyclist with more than 400 professional victories, including the 1950 Tour de France and the 1951 World Road Race Championship.

Biography

Kübler 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. Kübler'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.^[2] 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. Kübler 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, Kübler became champion by over nine minutes, also winning three stages. In the 1954 Tour, Kübler won the points jersey and came second behind Louison Bobet.^[3] Kübler was the first Swiss winner of the Tour de France.^[4]

Kübler 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.

Kübler died in Zurich on 29 December 2016 at the age of 97.^[5] Prior to his death he was the oldest living Tour de France winner.^[6]

Career achievements

Major results

Source:^[7]

Grand Tour results timeline

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ferdi Kübler.

• Palmares (in French)

UCI Road World Champions – Men's road race

1927: Binda 1928–29: 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 1956–57: Van Steenbergen 1958: Baldini 1959: Darrigade 1960–61: Van Looy 1962: Stablinski 1963: Beheyt 1964: Janssen 1965: Simpson 1966: Altig 1967: Merckx 1968: Adorni 1969: Ottenbros 1970: Monseré 1971: Merckx 1972: Basso 1973: Gimondi 1974: Merckx 1975: Kuiper 1976: Maertens 1977: Moser 1978: Knetemann 1979: Raas 1980: Hinault 1981: Maertens 1982: Saronni 1983: LeMond 1984: Criquielion 1985: Zoetemelk 1986: Argentin 1987: Roche 1988: Fondriest 1989: LeMond 1990: Dhaenens 1991–92: 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 2006–07: Bettini 2008: Ballan 2009: Evans 2010: Hushovd 2011: Cavendish 2012: Gilbert 2013: Costa 2014: Kwiatkowski 2015–16: Sagan