Federico Bahamontes

Federico Bahamontes

Bahamontes in 1962
Personal information
Full name	Alejandro Martín Bahamontes
Nickname	The Eagle of Toledo
Born	(1928-07-09) 9 July 1928 Santo Domingo-Caudilla, 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 individual stages (1954–1965) Giro d'Italia Mountains classification (1956) 1 individual stage (1956–1961) Vuelta a España Mountains classification (1957, 1958) 3 individual stages (1955–1965)

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

Early life

Bahamontes was born in Santo Domingo-Caudilla (Toledo). 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 too much work, so we left Toledo," Bahamontes said.^[1]

Career

He began racing in the late 1940s, winning his first race, wearing a baseball shirt^[2] on 18 July 1947. 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 did not win but he did win the mountains competition and finish 25th. 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.

In the 1959 Tour de France, Bahamontes 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. 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]

Bahamontes in 1960

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. The Spaniard's efforts to retain his mountains leadership, however, 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 finished the day to Bagnères de Bigorre, at the foot of the Tourmalet, only just inside the time limit. He tried an attack on the col du Portet d'Aspet next day and then climbed out of the saddle and out of the Tour de France forever.

Monument of Federico Bahamontes in Toledo (Spain) donated by Fundación Soliss

Retirement

Bahamontes in his bicycle shop in Toledo in 2005

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 Amélie. Amélie discovers in her flat a small box of toys and souvenirs, hidden years before by a previous resident. She searches and finds the box's owner - now a middle-aged man - who is reminded by its trinkets of a time in boyhood when he listened by radio to 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 the popular French rider Thomas Voeckler, and legends like five-time 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]

Career achievements

References

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Federico Bahamontes.

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