Hugo Koblet

Hugo Koblet (pronounced [ˈhuːɡo ˈkoːblɛt]; 21 March 1925 – 6 November 1964[1]) was a Swiss champion cyclist. He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a professional.[2] He died in a car accident amid speculation that he had committed suicide.

Hugo Koblet

Koblet at the 1956 Ronde van Nederland
Personal information
Full name	Hugo Koblet
Nickname	Beautiful Hugo, Le pédaleur de charme
Born	21 March 1925 Zürich, Switzerland
Died	6 November 1964 (aged 39) Egg, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland
Team information
Discipline	Road and Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Professional teams
1946	Amberg/Mercier-R. Lapebie
1947	Amberg/Fuchs
1948	Tebag/Fiorelli
1949	Cilo
1950–1954	Cilo/Guerra/La Perle-Hutchinson
1955	Faema/Cilo
1956	Cilo/Saint Raphaël-R. Geminiani-Dunlop
1958	Cilo
1959	Cilo/Ghigi
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France General classification (1951) Giro d'Italia General classification (1950) Mountain classification (1950)

Origins

Hugo Koblet was the son of Adolf and Héléna Koblet (pronounced Kob-lett[3]), bakers in Zürich. He lived with his mother, a widow, and with an elder brother. His brother baked bread and cakes and Hugo was restricted to sweeping the floor and making deliveries by bicycle.[4] He left the bakery at 17 and worked as a trainee mechanic at the Oerlikon velodrome in the city. His first race was a 10 km hill-climb, which he won. That caught the attention of Léo Amberg, a former Tour de France rider who had come second in the Tour of Switzerland. Amberg insisted he ride the track and Koblet became national amateur pursuit champion in 1945. He turned professional in 1946 and won the New York and Chicago six-day races. It was after the races that he developed a love of the United States, driving to California and Florida. He had learned English by watching American and British films.[4] He won the Swiss pursuit championship every year from 1947 to 1954. In 1947 he finished third and in 1951 and 1954 second in the world championship.

The road to the Oerlikon vélodrome in Zürich is named after Koblet.

Professional success

Koblet won the 1950 Swiss road championship and then became the first non-Italian to win the Giro d'Italia.[5][4] In 1951 he defeated Fausto Coppi to win the Grand Prix des Nations, an individual time trial with the status of unofficial world championship. The most important victory came that year at the Tour de France. He won overall and took five stages – two time-trials, two conventional stages and another in the mountains.[6] In 1951 he "rode the best off his wheel" between Brive and Agen, said Cycling Plus, "just 20 miles into the stage, then covered 88 miles on his own to win by three minutes. This was despite a frantic chase by such greats as triple Tour winner Louison Bobet, double winner Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi." The time differences when the Tour ended at the Parc des Princes meant he had beaten Raphaël Géminiani by 12 km, Lucien Lazarides by 18, Bartali by 18 and Coppi by 27.[6]

1951 Tour de France

The 1951 Tour de France started in Metz, the second time outside Paris. The main riders were Louison Bobet for France, Fausto Coppi and an ageing Gino Bartali for Italy. Coppi was hindered by grief at the death of his brother, Serse.[7] Both Coppi and Bobet were pushed out of the running when Koblet won the time-trial from La Guerche to Angers. Their position was confirmed four days later when Koblet attacked on a gentle descent after two hours of the stage from Brive to Agen, a day expected to be a quiet journey towards the Pyrenees. He won again at Luchon, Montpellier and Geneva.

Decline and death

Hugo Koblet was a handsome man whose fame brought beautiful women and a lifestyle that affected his career. He was "the most charming of men to talk to," said Jock Wadley.[8] René de Latour wrote in Sporting Cyclist: "Koblet had not an enemy at all. His ready and kindly smile came from deep down inside, and one knows from the start that this was a man without rancour, a rare thing to say of anybody who has raced in top competition on the road where the intense physical struggle often leads to jealousy and dispute."[8]

He never rode again at the same level as the 1951 Tour de France.[9] Jean Bobet said Koblet began to suffer in the mountains at 2,000m, then 1,500, then at 1,000 until "we saw him unable to ride over the smallest hill.".[10] The author Olivier Dazat said photographs showed not the handsome man he had been but a rider suddenly aged, worried and preoccupied.[9] René de Latour wrote: "There is a question mark about Hugo Koblet's life, the mystery of why he was never as good again as in the 1951 Tour. After this year, his pedalling had less power. Soon after that magnificent win, Koblet was invited to Mexico to follow the national amateur tour.[11] When he came back he was still, it seemed, the same incredibly easy pedaller. But the efficiency was partly gone. He visited specialists and took courses of treatment, but without any real success. He went to Mexico in 1951 [and] never came back from the land of guitars and sombreros. And nobody knows why!"[4]

He came second in the Giro d'Italia in 1951 and 1952 and retired in 1958.

Six years after his retirement, Koblet died at 39, four days after a car crash, with speculation that his death may have been suicide. He had been profligate with his money[12] and was in debt. He was being pursued for unpaid tax[12] and his marriage had broken up. A witness, Émile Isler, saw Koblet driving his white Alfa Romeo at 120–140 kmh.[12][9] between Zürich and Esslingen. He drove past a pear tree, turned then drove back. He passed it again finally turned a third time and drove into it.[13]

Personal life

Koblet married a 22-year-old model, Sonja Buhl, in 1953.[12] They spent their honeymoon in Spain and bought a villa at Forch, overlooking the lake at Zürich. Pirelli and Alfa-Romeo employed him in South America but the couple returned, Koblet disappointed and confused.[12] The marriage began to break up. His confusion included forgetting that he had signed a contract for 7 million lire for a comb to be made in his name in Italy.[12] He and Sonja parted and Koblet moved alone into a studio apartment alongside a garage he opened near the Oerlikon velodrome.

He asked Sonja for a reconciliation in 1964 but she refused.[12] It was later that year that he died. Sonja refused her husband's inheritance rather than take on his debts.[12]

Nickname

Koblet always carried a comb and a bottle of eau de cologne when he raced, sometimes combing his hair before the finish, always cleaning his face before meeting photographers.[14][15] Philippe Brunel wrote in L'Equipe that at the end of his long ride to Agen in 1951, "followers were astonished to see him sit up, blow kisses to girls and take out of his pocket a sponge soaked in water. He was barely across the line when he rinsed his face in Perrier,[16] combed his hair, then started his stopwatch."[12] The music hall artist Jacques Grello nicknamed him the Pédaleur de Charme in Parisien Libéré in 1951.[4][5][9]

Film

Koblet's life was the subject of a cinema film, Hugo Koblet: Pédaleur de Charme, in 2010. It starred Manuel Löwensberg as Koblet, Sarah Bühlmann as his wife Sonja, Chantal Le Moign and Dominique Müller.[17] It attributed his decline to "doping abuse."[18] It was directed by Daniel von Aarburg, who included archive film and interviews with Koblet's contemporaries.

Anecdote

In 1951, I was 18. One evening after the race ended, I was hanging about outside a hotel hoping to see the riders when the boss asked me to carry Koblet's suitcases to his room. I was so proud! For me, he was the greatest of them all. Well, when I went back downstairs again, I met him. He thanked me very politely and gave me two Swiss francs, an enormous amount at the time. I kept the coin for a long time, like a good-luck charm, swearing I would never spend it. And I only did, three years later, to buy a copy of Miroir Sprint which had Ferdi Kubler, my other idol, on the cover.

– Willy Schweizer, former president of the Swiss cycling union, 52 years later.[3]

Career achievements

Major results

1947

  Switzerland national pursuit champion

1948

  Switzerland national track pursuit champion

Six days of Chicago (with Walter Diggelmann)

1949

  Switzerland national track pursuit champion

Six days of New York (with Walter Diggelmann)

1950

  Switzerland national track pursuit champion

Giro d'Italia:

Winner overall classification

Winner mountains classification

Winner stages 6 and 8

Tour de Suisse

1951

  Switzerland national track pursuit champion

Critérium des As

Tour de France:

Winner overall classification

Winner stages 7, 11, 14, 16 and 22

Grand Prix des Nations

Giro d'Italia:

Winner stage 19

6th place overall classification

1952

  Switzerland national track pursuit champion

1st Züri-Metzgete

Giro d'Italia:

8th place overall classification

1953

  Switzerland national track pursuit champion

Tour de Suisse

Tour de Romandie

Giro d'Italia:

2nd place overall classification

Winner stage 7B

1954

Züri-Metzgete

Giro d'Italia:

2nd place overall classification

Winner stages 15 and 21

1955

Tour de Suisse

1st Swiss Road Race Championship

Giro d'Italia:

10th place overall classification

Winner stage 21

1956

Vuelta a España:

Winner stage 9

Grand Tour results timeline

	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956
Giro d'Italia	1	6	8	2	2	10	DNE
Stages won	2	1	0	1	2	1	—
Mountains classification	1	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	—
Points classification	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tour de France	DNE	1	DNE	DNF-10	DNF-13	DNE	DNE
Stages won	—	5	—	0	0	—	—
Mountains classification	—	3	—	—	NR	NR	—
Points classification	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	NR	NR	—
Vuelta a España	DNE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	DNE	DNF
Stages won	—					—	1
Mountains classification	—					—	NR
Points classification	N/A					N/A	N/A

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)
DNS-x	Did Not Start (no started on stage x)
HD	Finished outside time limit (occurred on stage x)
DSQ	Disqualified
N/A	Race/classification not held
NR	Not Ranked in this classification

References

1. Cyclisme : la fiche coureur de HUGO KOBLET. Lequipe.fr (23 July 2014). Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
2. Hugo Koblet. velopalmares.free.fr
3. LES GRANDS DUELS DU TOUR (3) Koblet-Kubler : le seigneur et le pirate. Le Monde. 2 July 2003.
4. Sporting Cyclist, UK, 1965
5. Cycling Plus, UK, September 1999
6. Le Monde, France, 29 July 1951
7. Hugo Koblet seul contre tous, Tour de France 1951 – Les petites histoires du Tour (Cyclisme Info par Jean-Paul Brouchon). Jeanpaulbrouchon-cyclisme.typepad.fr (14 July 2012). Retrieved on 2015-08-05.
8. Sporting Cyclist, UK, December 1964
9. Dazat, Olivier (1987), Seigneurs et Forçats du Vélo, Calmann-Lévy, France, ISBN 978-2-7021-1615-9, p84
10. Cited Dazat, Olivier (1987), Seigneurs et Forçats du Vélo, Calmann-Lévy, France, ISBN 978-2-7021-1615-9, p84
11. Some sources say he raced there
12. L'Équipe, France, 24 June 2003
13. Ollivier, Jean-Paul, Hugo Koblet, le pédaleur de charme, Éditions Glénat, France
14. Cycling Plus, UK, July 1999
15. Hugo Koblet, le Pédaleur de Charme de JPO | Histoire et Légende du cyclisme. Legenducyclisme.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2015.
16. Perrier employed a man to hand out bottles of its mineral water at the finish of races, so that riders would be pictured drinking from them
17. SWISS FILMS: Hugo Koblet – Pédaleur de charme. Swissfilms.ch. Retrieved on 5 August 2015.
18. Synopsis. hugokoblet.ch

External links

• Hugo Koblet at Cycling Archives
• Official Tour de France results for Hugo Koblet
• Portrait and autograph of Hugo Koblet