Charly Gaul
Encyclopedia
Charly Gaul was a professional cyclist. He was a national cyclo-cross champion, an accomplished time triallist and a better climber. His ability earned him the nickname of The Angel of the Mountains in the 1958 Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

, which he won with four stage victories. He also won the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

 in 1956 and 1959. Gaul rode best in cold, wet weather. In later life he became a recluse and lost much of his memory.

Early life

Charly Gaul - pronounced Gowl - was a fragile-looking man with a sad face and disproportionately short legs. He had "a sad, timid look on his face, marked with an unfathomable melancholy [as though] an evil deity has forced him into a cursed profession amidst powerful, implacable riders," as one writer put it.

Gaul worked in a butcher's shop and as a slaughterman in an abattoir at Bettembourg
Bettembourg
Bettembourg is a commune and town in southern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, which is part of the district of Luxembourg., the town of Bettembourg, which lies in the east of the commune, has a population of 7,157...

 before turning professional on 3 May 1953 for Terrot, at the age of 20. By then he had already won more than 60 races as an amateur having started racing in 1949. They included the Flêche du Sud and the Tour of the 12 Cantons. He won a stage up the climb of Grossglockner during the Tour of Austria when he was 17, setting a stage record. It was his first race outside Luxembourg. The writer Charlie Woods said:

"The Grossglockner is slightly higher than Mont Ventoux and just as formidable. One can imagine the youngster engaging rather sheepishly with such a monster. He knew that he could climb well on ordinary hills, but this was no man's land. At half-distance, however, despite his manager's exhortations to caution, his class told and he found himself alone in the lead. A few moments of giddy pleasure were soon dispatched by the ever-present need to keep the pedals turning; he was, after all, still in no man's land. This show of force was greeted by another, a thunderstorm and the first squalls of rain probably cooled the fever of his labours and brought with it a lighter, freer atmosphere. He had always been at ease in rainfall [and] beginning to pedal now with an edge of fierce affirmation, he perhaps completely forgot himself for a long series of ramps and bends... To such an extent that not only did he win the stage but broke the existing record for the climb.


His first professional race was the Critérium de la Polymultipliée, which he finished eighth. His first professional win was in 1953 in Luxembourg, in the national cyclo-cross championship. He came second the same year in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
Dauphiné Libéré
The Critérium du Dauphiné is an annual cycling road race, run over eight stages in the Dauphiné region in France during the first half of June. The race was inaugurated by a local newspaper, the Dauphiné Libéré, which gave its name to the event...

 stage race. The following year he was second in the Luxembourg road championship (which he won six times), won a stage in the Dauphiné Libéré, and won a bronze medal in the 1954 world championship.

Riding style

Gaul was 1m 73 tall and weighed 64 kg. His lightness was a gift in the mountains, where he won the climbers' competition in the Tour de France of 1955 and 1956. Unusual for a light man, he was also an accomplished time-trialist, in one Tour de France beating the world leader, Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964...

. Gaul pedalled fast on climbs, rarely changing his pace, infrequently getting out of the saddle. His contemporary, Raphaël Géminiani
Raphael Geminiani
Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

, said Gaul was "a murderous climber, always the same sustained rhythm, a little machine with a lower gear than the rest, turning his legs at a speed that would break your heart, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock." The journalist Pierre About wrote that Gaul had "irresistible sprightliness [allegresse]", that he had "the air of an angel for which nothing is difficult."

The writer Jan Heine said: "Nobody else ever climbed that fast. Gaul dominated the climbs of the late 1950s, spinning up the hills as amazing cadences, his legs a blur while his cherubic face hardly showed the strain of his exceptional performances." Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...

 called him "without doubt, one of the three or four best climbers of all time."

Philippe Brunel of the French newspaper, L'Équipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...

, said: "In the furnace of the 1950s, Gaul seemed to ride not against Bahamontes, Anquetil Adriessens, but against oppressive phantoms, to escape his modest origins, riding the ridges to new horizons, far from the life without surprises which would have been his had he stayed in Luxembourg." Gaul was weakest on flat stages and in the heat. In the 1957 Tour de France he went home after two days, stricken by the temperature in what Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...

 called a "crematorium Tour". He was at his best in cold and rain, winning the following year's race after a lone ride through the Alps in a day-long downpour described by the French newspaper, L'Équipe as "diluvian". It was the first time the Tour had been won by a pure climber.

The writer Roger St Pierre said of Gaul in the bad weather of the 1956 Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

, in which a stage through the Dolomites
Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...

 ended with the 12 km climb of Monte Bondone:

"Charly averaged just four miles an hour over the final uphill kilometres of that murderous stage and collapsed at the finish, being taken off to the welcome warmth of his hotel, wrapped in a blanket. But he had assured his overall victory by beating his closest challenger on that nightmarish day by many minutes. The rest of the field was spread-eagled over several hours, some even having stopped for warm baths en route!"


Gaul moved from 11th to first place. Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet
Jacques Goddet was a French sports journalist and director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986....

 wrote in L'Équipe: "This day surpassed anything seen before in terms of pain, suffering and difficulty."

Gaul was a variable rider who could delight and disappoint, almost at random. He was talented in stage races but unremarkable in one-day events.

Early years

Gaul rode his first Tour de France in 1953
1953 Tour de France
The 1953 Tour de France was the 40th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 26, 1953. It consisted of 22 stages over 4479 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.593 km/h....

, but abandoned on the sixth stage. He also started the 1954 Tour
1954 Tour de France
The 1954 Tour de France was the 41st Tour de France, taking place from July 8 to August 1, 1954. It consisted of 23 stages over 4656 km, ridden at an average speed of 33.229 km/h....

 but again abandoned before the finish. He came to the 1955 Tour
1955 Tour de France
The 1955 Tour de France was the 42nd Tour de France, taking place from July 7 to July 30, 1955. It consisted of 22 stages over 4495 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.446 km/h....

 after winning the mountainous Tour de Sud Ouest and finishing third in the Tour of Luxembourg. He conceded a lot of time on the opening flat stages, not helped by being in a weak team. His fight back started in the Alps, where the first stage was from Thonon-les-Bains
Thonon-les-Bains
Thonon-les-Bains is a town in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:...

 to Briançon
Briançon
Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....

. He attacked and dropped the Dutch climber, Jan Nolten
Jan Nolten
Jan Nolten was a Dutch professional road bicycle racer. Nolten participated in five Tours de France, and won two stages.- Palmarès :1952*...

 Crossing the col du Télégraphe he had five minutes on his chasers; by the top of the Galibier he had 14m 47s. By the finish he had moved from 37th to third. He was on his way to winning the next day as well when he crashed descending in the rain. He attacked again when the race reached the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

, winning stage 17 from (Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

 to Saint-Gaudens) ahead of the eventual overall winner, Louison Bobet
Louison Bobet
Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...

. He won the mountains competition and finished third in Paris.

After a hard-fought victory in the 1956 Giro d'Italia (in which he took three stages - including an eight-minute victory in the Dolomites
Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...

 stage from Meran to Monte Bondone, near Trento
Trento
Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...

),

Gaul was almost half an hour down after six days' racing in the 1956 Tour de France
1956 Tour de France
The 1956 Tour de France was the 43rd Tour de France, taking place from July 5 to 28, 1956. It consisted of 22 stages over 4498 km, ridden at an average speed of 36.268 km/h....

, but he was confident he could close the gap in the mountains. He won the mountains prize again, and two more stages - a mountain individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

 on stage three and stage 18 to Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

. But his efforts did little good in: he finished 13th.

Gaul started the 1957 Tour
1957 Tour de France
The 1957 Tour de France was the 44th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 20, 1957. It was composed of 22 stages over 4665 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.250 km/h....

, but abandoned after two days with no stage wins.

1958

Gaul returned to the Tour in 1958
1958 Tour de France
The 1958 Tour de France was the 45th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 19, 1958. The total race distance was 24 stages over 4,319 km, at an average speed of 36.919 km/h....

. Third in that year's Giro, he started dominantly and won four stages, three of them time trials, including the ascent of Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some 20 km northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the Drôme département. It is the largest mountain in the region and has been nicknamed the "Giant of Provence", or "The Bald...

. His time of 1h 2m 9s from the Bédoin side, which in those days was cobbled in the first kilometres and poorly surfaced to the summit, stood as a record until Jonathan Vaughters
Jonathan Vaughters
Jonathan Vaughters is an American former professional racing cyclist and current manager of the professional cycling team.- Racing career :...

 beat it 31 years later in the Dauphiné Libéré.Vaughters broke the record for the ascent of Mont Ventoux with 26 other riders, timed in 56m 50s. Gaul was there to see it happen and had forecast the fastest would take less than an hour. He told Cycle Sport in August 1999: I am glad that my record will fall. That's what records are there for, to be beaten. The road is pretty similar, slightly better surfaced, but the equipment is better, too. That is bound to have an effect. I can remember that, like today, it was very hot and I was worried about that because I didn't respond well to the heat." The last time Gaul had tried the climb, he said it took "a whole two hours."

On the last day in the Alps, his manager, Jo GoldschmidtGaul's manager, Jo Goldschmit's first name was Jean but he was always referred to as Jo looked at the rain falling and woke Gaul with the words: "Come on soldier... This is your day." Gaul woke delighted at the cold rain and angry at the memory of how he had been denied the Giro the previous year, when he was attacked as he stopped by the roadside (see below). A lot of riders took advantage of his halt but he most blamed Bobet, a man as refined and diffident as Gaul was coarse and brusque.

His feelings for Bobet had turned to "flaming hatred," said the historian Bill McGann. He sought out his tormentor before the stage started. The impact was all the greater because the two had barely spoken to each other since the Giro. "You're ready, Monsieur Bobet?", he asked, laying emphasis on the false politeness of the monsieur. "I'll give you a chance. I'll attack on the Luitel climb. I'll even tell you which hairpin. You want to win the Tour more than I do? Easy. I've told you what you need to know."

There was a prize of 100,00 francs at the top of the col de Lautaret in memory of the race's founder, Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...

. The Dutchman Piet van Est won it, with Bahamontes behind him. A small group broke clear on the descent and had eight minutes on the rest. Gaul began the chase and shed rider after rider, including the Spaniard, Salvador Botella, who held eighth place. He stopped, covered his head in his hands and wept. Team mates turned back to encourage him. He burst into tears again when he saw them and climbed into the race ambulance.

Gaul and Bahamontes dropped the rest. At first the rest thought that Gaul had lost too much time earlier in the race to be a threat, that he was looking only at the best climber's prize. But on the climb to the col de Luitel Gaul dropped Bahamontes as well. He was within three minutes of the leaders at the top, with Bahamontes a minute behind. Gaul took the lead and moved ahead as the race progressed through "a curtain of water, a deluge without an ark", as L'Équipe described it.. Michel Clare, reporting for the paper, said: "I was on a motorbike and I had to stop at Granier for a hot grog. I was so cold that afterwards it was an hour before I could start writing." When he finally began his report in the press room at Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It is situated on the shore of Lac du Bourget, by rail north of Chambéry.-Geography:...

, he wrote: "I remember only a curtain of rain. A deluge without an Ark. The caravan'The caravan' is a term used for the procession of vehicles preceding and following the race dissolved from the moment it entered the sea of clouds that followed the pretty chalets of [the ski station of] Chamrousse. Now we know what it means to be 'soaked to the bone.' I thought of Jacques Anquetil, whose face was becoming more and more triangular and yellow. I thought of them all, the known and the unknown, sailors carried away by the flood and who tried desperately to avoid being shipwrecked. One man escaped from the storm. Charly Gaul. Finally, his time had come." Gaul crossed the line at the lake in Bourget-en-Aix he in near darkness with a slight smile, 12m 20s ahead of the rest and 15 minutes ahead of the leader, Raphaël Géminiani
Raphael Geminiani
Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

.When Gaul crossed the line in Bourget-en-Aix it was dark enough that the streetlights had come on and cars and motorcycles were using their headlights. The finish line had begun to wash away in the rain.

It moved him to third place, and two days later Gaul got those 67 seconds and more in a time-trial on a difficult circuit at Châteaulin
Châteaulin
Châteaulin is a commune in the Finistère department in the region of Brittany in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:...

, riding at 44.2kmh. There he beat even Anquetil, suffering a lung infection after the rainy ride to Bourget-en-Aix.The 1958 Tour de France became known as the Judas Tour. Géminiani and Bobet chased after Gaul and Géminiani asked his fellow Frenchman to help. Bobet couldn't or wouldn't. He had a fragile personality (see main entry: Louison Bobet
Louison Bobet
Louis 'Louison' Bobet was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955...

), he was suffering and he was quite possibly demoralised by Gaul's taunting. Géminiani was a good climber but not in Gaul's class. Géminiani lost his lead by a quarter of an hour and accused Bobet publicly of betraying him, calling him "Judas." (See main entry: Raphaël Géminiani
Raphael Geminiani
Raphaël Géminiani is a French former road bicycle racer. He had six podium finishes in the Grand Tours. He is one of four children of Italian immigrants who moved to Clermont-Ferrand. He worked in a cycle shop and started racing as a boy...

.)

1959

In 1959
1959 Tour de France
The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 18 July 1959. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over 4,391 km, and the winner had an average speed of 35.474 km/h....

, he was 12th. He lost time in the heat of the Pyrenees but won the stage to Grenoble again, with the eventual overall winner Bahamontes second.

Late Tours

Gaul missed the 1960
1960 Tour de France
The 1960 Tour de France was the 47th Tour de France, taking place between 26 June and 17 July 1960. The race featured 128 riders, of which 81 finished...

  Tour. In 1961
1961 Tour de France
The 1961 Tour de France was the 48th running of the Tour de France. It meandered through France from 25 June to 16 July 1961. It consisted of 21 stages, a total of , which was ridden at an average speed of . Out of the 132 riders who started the tour, 72 managed to complete the tour's tough course...

 he came third and won stage nine to Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

. He crashed in the Alps, on the descent of the Cucheron, bruising his hip, shoulder and knee. At the beginning of the final stage he was second to Anquetil. Guido Carlesi
Guido Carlesi
Guido Carlesi was an Italian professional road bicycle racer. Carlesi won two stages in the Tour de France and seven stages in the Giro d'Italia...

 attacked as the Tour entered its final kilometre, overcoming a four-second deficit to Gaul. This moved him to second, relegating Gaul to third.

In 1962
1962 Tour de France
The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 15, 1962. It was composed of 22 stages over 4274 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.306 km/h. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams...

 he finished ninth with no stage victories. The 1962 Tour was contested by trade rather than national teams for the first time since 1929, and Gaul's was not one of the strongest. His final contested Tour was 1963
1963 Tour de France
The 1963 Tour de France was the 50th Tour de France, taking place June 23 to July 14, 1963. The total race distance was 21 stages over 4137 km, with riders averaging 37.092 km/h...

, when he dropped out without winning any stages.

Giro d'Italia

Gaul won the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

 in 1956 and 1959. His victory in 1956 came after leaving the field in the climb of Monte Bondone at 1,300m (see above). Snow fell and Gaul was alone with
88 km to go. It was so cold that he had to be carried off his bike at the finish and stopped on the way up for a drink. René de Latour
René de Latour
René de Latour was a Franco-American sports journalist, race director of the Tour de l'Avenir cycle race, and correspondent of the British magazine, Sporting Cyclist, to which he contributed to 120 of the 131 issues.-Background:René de Latour was born in 42nd Street, New York...

 of Sporting Cyclist
Sporting Cyclist
Sporting Cyclist was a British cycling A4-sized magazine originally called Coureur. It began in 1957 and closed after 131 issues in October 1968.-Coureur:...

 wrote:

"A search was going on for a missing man. The searcher-in-chief was former world champion Learco Guerra
Learco Guerra
Learco Guerra was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1934 Giro d'Italia....

, now manager of the Faema
Faema
FAEMA primarily engaged in the production of espresso machines, was founded in 1945 by Carlo Ernesto Valente, in Milan, Italy....

 team. The man he was looking for was Charly Gaul, who had not been seen for the last 20 minutes. Guerra was driving his car up the mountain pass, peering through the clogged-up windscreen when, by sheer chance, he saw a bike leaning against the wall of a shabby mountain trattoria. 'That's Charly's bike!' he exclaimed to his mechanic.


"They rushed into the bar and there, sitting on a chair sipping hot coffee, was Charly Gaul, exhausted, so dead to the world that he could hardly speak. Guerra knows bike riders. He talked gently to Gaul. 'Take your time, Charly,' he said. 'We're going to take care of you.' While a masseur was ripping off Gaul's wet jersey, Guerra had some water warmed and poured it over the rider's body. Then, rubbed down from head to toes, Gaul's body gradually came back to life. He lost that glassy look and in a few minutes he was a new man again... With the encouragement of his followers he managed to reach the top, literally miles ahead of Fiorenzo Magni
Fiorenzo Magni
Fiorenzo Magni is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.He was born in Vaiano, province of Prato . He was the "third man" of the golden age of Italian cycling, at the time of the great rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali...

, who finished second at 12¼ minutes. The cheering spectators could hardly believe that men had suffered such hardships up there in the icy mountain. On the way, 44 had fallen by the wayside."


The American magazine, VeloNews, said:
"The weather turned colder and colder, and on the long, steep slopes of the Giro's final mountain, light snow soon turned to a full blizzard as the temperature dropped to freezing point. Fornara was overcome by the cold and took refuge in a farmhouse. Other race leaders rode to a standstill before keeling over in the ditches. Some stopped to drink hot chocolate or dip their freezing hands in bowls of hot water offered by the spectators. In all, 46 of the day's 89 starters would pull out. Gaul just kept on going. He was on his own after 10km of the 14km climb, riding through the thickening snow in his usual smooth style. He arrived at the finish almost eight minutes ahead of the second man, Alessandro Fantini, and 12m15s ahead of defending champion Fiorenzo Magni.


"His face a wrinkled mess, his hands and feet turned blue, Gaul took the pink jersey, and won the Giro two days later by 3m27s over Magni. The young Luxembourger had etched his name into the annals of not only cycling, but all sports with one of the courageous and remarkable upsets in modern times."


On the stage victory to Courmayeur
Courmayeur
Courmayeur is an Italian town and comune in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley, in northern Italy. It is located at the foot of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe, in the Graian Alps range, and is crossed by the Dora Baltea...

 he took a 10-minute advantage over Anquetil on the final two climbs.

Gaul lost the 1957 Giro after stopping for what was described in French papers as "a natural need" on the road to Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

. His rivals, particularly Bobet and Gastone Nencini
Gastone Nencini
Gastone Nencini was an Italian road racing cyclist who won the 1960 Tour de France and the 1957 Giro d'Italia....

 attacked. Gaul was upset at a breach of race etiquette and still more annoyed to find himself referred to as Monsieur Pi-Pi, which in French rhymes with and means pee-pee. Gaul rounded on Bobet and said: "I will get my revenge. I will kill you. Remember I was a butcher. I know how to use a knife." It was that that sparked the attack in the following year's Tour de France (see above).

In the 1960 Giro he won a stage on his way to third place. In 1961 he finished fourth.

Cyclo-cross

Gaul was national cyclo-cross champion at the start and the end of his time as a professional. He also came fifth in the world championships of 1956 and 1962. He won in Dippach in 1955, Kopstal, Colmar-Berg and Bettembourg in 1956, Schuttrange, Ettelbruck, Kopstal, Bissen and Colmar-Berg in 1957, Alzingen in 1958, Muhlenbach in 1960.

Personality

Gaul was taciturn and spoke rarely to anyone but a circle including Anglade, Roger Hassenforder
Roger Hassenforder
Roger Hassenforder is a former French professional racing cyclist from Alsace.-Biography:Hassenforder was a professional cyclist from 1952 to 1965. He was known as the joker of the cyclists and therefore was nicknamed "boute-en-train". He was known for his interviews during the course...

, Nencini and Bahamontes. The writer Philippe Brunel described his reputation within cycling as "notorious" [sulfureuse]. "His eloquence and assurance seemed reserved for the bike, and the bike alone," said Charlie Woods.

Gaul was popular with fans but not among his rivals. Roger St Pierre said: "With his boyish good looks and Jack the Giantkiller style, Charly Gaul was loved by the fans. He had his friends, too - his faithful lieutenant Marcel Ernzer even rode an identical bike so that his master would not be uncomfortable if he had to borrow it after a crash or a puncture.Gaul was said to have been especially popular with married women in Italy, receiving up to 60 letters some days. The story, possibly apocryphal, is that they were given to Ernzer to read. Some were so frank that Ernzer is said to have sworn never to marry. But he was not always popular with his rivals, his unpredictable, schoolboyish temperament, his lazy riding on the flat and his sometimes insufferable ego winning him few allies in the bunch."

Many of his problems, said the writer Jan Heine, appeared to have been caused by a hostile peloton
Peloton
The peloton , field, bunch or pack is the large main group of riders in a road bicycle race. Riders in a group save energy by riding close near other riders...

, which often seemed to do anything to make Gaul lose. He rarely shared what he won with those who helped him, said René de Latour in Sporting Cyclist. Brian Robinson rode with Gaul in a mixed team in the 1956 Tour de France. He said Gaul had no intention of discussing tactics or of sharing his prizes with the rest of the team in return for their help. Robinson said:

"Together with the rest of the team we were all in the same hotel and every hour I expected to be summoned to what I thought would be a certainty on the eve of the start - a conference to discuss tactics, allocation of prize money, etc. That such a meeting was not held seems an extraordinary thing to me. Everybody had taken it for granted that all in the Luxembourg team [of which Robinson, although British, was part] would be riding for Charly Gaul. Had such a conference taken place on the even of the race and my orders had been to nurse Gaul from Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

 to Paris, with the promise of a cut of the total prize money won by the team at the end, I would have obeyed those orders until I dropped. But there were no such orders and when the question of sharing the prize money was brought upRobinson said he was sure Gaul would win £2,000 as king of the mountains during a meal, it was vaguely dismissed with 'We'll talk about that later.'"


When Robinson won £250 on the first day and became the team's best-placed rider, "many of my friends in rival teams congratulated me on my effort [but] the least enthusiastic of all seemed Gaul. " Similar events happened in other teams. Gaul rode in 1958 for a team largely of Dutchmen. They did nothing to help him in the wind on flat stages, said the French rider Henry Anglade
Henry Anglade
Henry Anglade is a former French cyclist. In 1959 he was closest to winning the Tour de France, when he finished second, 4:01 behind Federico Bahamontes. In 1960 he wore the yellow jersey for two days.-Origins:...

, who knew Gaul well, who came from the same region and was one of the few French riders close to him. "He wasn't helped to move up through the echelons,An echelon, known in French as a bordure or eventail, is a technique groups of riders employ to protect each other from side winds. Rather than ride in a line or a group, they fan out across the road with each rider taking a turn protecting the others before taking up shelter at the other side of the road. Several echelons can form at the same time and it is important to be in one and, preferably, the front one. A light rider like Gaul would be particularly vulnerable in a crosswind. " he said. Gaul in turn said the Dutch were "too interested in their personal classification."

Doping

Gaul rode in an era before drug tests and drug rules.Drug testing started in Belgium and then in France in 1965 but there was little serious effort within cycling until the death of Tom Simpson in the Tour de France in 1967. The first tests in the Tour de France, at Bordeaux, led to a strike by riders next morning. Pictures show that he frequently frothed at the mouth. Goddet spoke of his dribbling during his record ride up Mont Ventoux: "Yes, it was without doubt the first time that I saw the soft and thin face of the Luxembourger, who never shows signs of suffering, running with the sweat of pain, the dribble of effort flooding his shaven chin and sticking to his chest in long dirty ropes."

Gaul rode best in the cold and poorly in the heat. His rival, Bahamontes, didn't name Gaul but said that the heat suited him best "because then others couldn't take as much amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...

. Marcel Ernzer, Gaul's domestique, recalled a conversation with Gaul:
"Charly's going to die."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Charly takes too many pills."

"But everybody takes them."

"Yes, but Charly a lot more than the others."

Retirement

Gaul's career effectively ended with the Tour de France in 1962. "Without knowing it, he was climbing the slope of his own decline," said Philippe Brunel.
He grumbled as he climbed the Pyrenees and his eyes were flecked with blood.


"At Saint-Gaudens, after his faithful team-mate and roommate Marcel Ernzer had dropped out, he spoke of his lassitude. Gaul was never the same. At the end of the season, he left the Gazzola team, tried Peugeot (which came to nothing), a comeback (equally nothing) in the Lamote-Libertas team."


Gaul stopped for good after a track meeting at Niederkom in 1965. He never recovered from the hurt of being whistled by the crowd when he made his last appearance on the road in the country, riding for a poor team, Lamote, sponsored by a Belgian brewery and achieving nothing. He ran a café at Bonnevoie near the train station in Luxembourg city before slipping out of public view.

Life as a recluse

Gaul moved into a small hut in a forest in the Luxembourg Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

. There he wore the same clothes every day - patterned green trousers, studded walking boots and a sweater or jacket - and went walking with his dog, Pocki. He had a telephone but never answered it. He removed his name from the phone book. His rare excursions were to buy everyday goods and shopkeepers who met him spoke of a man who was ill and depressed, that he hadn't recovered from separating from his second wife. When journalists found him to ask more he confirmed he was distressed but declined to say more.

He appeared now and then anonymously beside the road during the Tour de France, unrecognisable with a beard, straggling hair and a paunch.

His isolation lasted until 1983, the 25th anniversary of his victory in the Tour de France and the year he met his third wife, Josée.Gaul married three times, including once in Dover, England, on a special licence. It was one of only two visits to Britain, the other being to ride the track at Herne Hill, London. He moved with her into a house in the south-west suburbs of Luxembourg city. There he spoke to Pilo Fonck of the radio and television station, RTL
RTL Television
Rtl.de' redirects here. For other uses, see RTL.RTL Television , or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T , in larger population centres...

. "I was as happy as a kid," Fonck said. "I had the interview of my life, the one that everybody wanted to have." Of his life as a hermit, Gaul told Fonck:

Public recognition

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg recognised Gaul's past and his return to society by offering him a job as archivist at the sports ministry. There, said Philippe Brunel, "he could go back into the past, put together day after day, scrupulously, the puzzle of his life, looking for why this need to escape from society."

The organisers of the Tour de France invited him in 1989 as their guest when the race started in Luxembourg. He made his first public appearance there, with his daughter, Fabienne. He received the Tour de France medal from the organiser, Jean-Marie Leblanc
Jean-Marie Leblanc
Jean-Marie Leblanc is a French retired professional road bicycle racer who was general director of the Tour de France from 1989 to 2005, when he reached pensionable age and was succeeded by Christian Prudhomme.He became a professional in 1966 and rode until 1971...

. He attended a reunion of former Tour winners when the centenary race was presented in October 2002. He began following cycling again, particularly Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani
Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely considered one of the best climbers in professional road bicycle racing...

, the leading climber of the time. He was a guest at many races, including stages of the Tour. There he sat beside the rostrum and answered questions put by the commentator, Daniel Mangeas
Daniel Mangeas
Daniel Mangeas, is a former baker who has been the commentator of the Tour de France and other important cycle races in France and Belgium since 1974...

. William Fotheringham
William Fotheringham
William Fotheringham is a sports writer specialising in cycling and rugby. As a newspaper journalist he writes for The Guardian. Fotheringham was a features editor for Cycling Weekly, and the first editor of Cycle Sport and Procycling magazine...

, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, said Gaul "cut a curious figure - plump, shambling, confused - his eyes hidden behind thick spectacles above a wispy beard, a far cry from his heyday in the 1950s."

Death and inheritance

Gaul died of a lung infection two days before his 73rd birthday, following a fall in his house at Itzig
Itzig
Itzig may mean:* The Itzig family, famous for its contribution to Jewish and German cultural history* Julius Eduard Hitzig, born Isaac Elias ItzigPlace names:* Itzig, Luxembourg...

. He left a wife, Josée, and daughter, Fabienne. VeloNews said: "Gaul raced in a different era, and his like will never be seen again." Charlie Woods said:

"By one of those telling ironies of eternal recurrence his riding style has come back into fashion. Switch on any mountain stage these days and the screen fills with our contemporary grimpeurs earnest twiddling'Twiddling' is a British cycling expression for pedalling fast. American English says "spinning". upwards. Whether they realise it or not, they've all taken a crank out of Charly's chainwheel. There is a further, rather touching irony attached to the identity of the rider who has revived this way with inclines. As regards physique and disposition he is far removed from the 'angelic' Luxembourger. Who could he be, this opportune plagiarist, this new twiddler-in-chief? Why, none other that the present king of the hill himself, Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...

."


A cyclo-sportive event is held each summer in Luxembourg in Gaul's memory, sometimes attended by his wife and daughter.

France

  • Romeyere, 1954. Stage - Lyon-Grenoble
  • Aravis, 1955. Stage - Thonon les Bains-Briançon
  • Galibier, 1955. Stage - Thonon les Bains-Briançon
  • Télégraphe, 1955. Stage - Thonon les Bains-Briançon
  • Cayolle, 1955. Stage - Briançon-Monaco
  • Vasson (col), 1955. Stage - Briançon-Monaco
  • Aspin, 1955. Stage - Toulouse-St Gaudens
  • Peyresourde, 1955. Stage - Toulouse-St Gaudens
  • Aubisque, 1955. Stage - St Gaudens-Pau
  • Portet d'Aspet, 1956. Stage - Luchon-Toulouse
  • Latrape, 1956. Stage - Luchon-Toulouse
  • Sestrières, 1956. Stage - Gap-Turin
  • Luitel, 1956. Stage - Turin-Grenoble
  • Ventoux, 1958.
  • Cucheron, 1961. Stage - St Etienne-Grenoble
  • Granier, 1961. Stage - St Etienne-Grenoble
  • Porte, 1961. Stage - St Etienne-Grenoble
  • Vars, 1955. Stage - Briançon-Monaco
  • Porte, 1958. Stage - Briançon-Aix les Bains
  • Galibier, 1959. Stage - Le Lautaret-St Vincent (Ita)


  • Italy

    • Palena, 1956. Stage - Pescara-Campobasso
    • Basilica di San Luca, 1956. Stage - Livorno-Lucca
    • Costalunga, 1956. Stage - Meran-Monte Bondone
    • Rolle, 1956. Stage - Meran-Monte Bondone
    • Brocon, 1956. Stage - Meran-Monte Bondone
    • Bondone, 1956. Stage - Meran-Monte Bondone
  • Boscochiesa Nuova, 1957. Stage - Verona-Boscochiesa Nuova
  • Grand St Bernard, 1957. Stage - Saint Vincent-Sion (Swi)
  • Brocon, 1957. Stage - Trento-Levico Terme
  • Abetone, 1959. Stage - Salsomaggiore-Abetone
  • Vesuvio, 1959. Stage - Escalade du Vesuve
  • Eremo, 1959. Stage - Circuit de San Marino
  • Fugazze, 1959. Stage - Verona-Rovereto
  • Rolle, 1959. Stage - Trento-Bolzano
  • Grand St Bernard, 1959. Stage - Aosta-Courmayeur
  • Petit St Bernard, 1959. Stage - Aosta-Courmayeur
  • Terminillo, 1960, Stage - Pescara-Rieti
  • Stelvio, 1961. Stage - Trento-Bormio


  • Other major victories

    1954
    National cyclo-cross champion
    Circuit des 6 Provinces

    1955
    Tour du Sud-Est

    1956:
    Tour de Luxembourg
    Tour de Luxembourg
    Tour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.HC, the highest rating below the ProTour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale , the sport's governing body. In 2006, the Tour was part of the UCI Europe...

    National road champion

    1957
    National road champion

    1959:
    Tour de Luxembourg
    National road champion

    1960
    National road champion

    1961
    Tour de Luxembourg
    National road champion

    1962
    National road champion
    National cyclo-cross champion


    Grand Tour results timeline

    1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963
    Giro
    Giro d'Italia
    The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

    DNE DNE DNE 1 4 3 1 3 4 DNF DNE
    Stages won 3 2 1 3 1 1 0
    Mountains classification 1 2 3 1 5 7 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
    Tour
    Tour de France
    The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

    DNF-6
    1953 Tour de France
    The 1953 Tour de France was the 40th Tour de France, taking place from July 3 to July 26, 1953. It consisted of 22 stages over 4479 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.593 km/h....

    DNF-12
    1954 Tour de France
    The 1954 Tour de France was the 41st Tour de France, taking place from July 8 to August 1, 1954. It consisted of 23 stages over 4656 km, ridden at an average speed of 33.229 km/h....

    3
    1955 Tour de France
    The 1955 Tour de France was the 42nd Tour de France, taking place from July 7 to July 30, 1955. It consisted of 22 stages over 4495 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.446 km/h....

    13
    1956 Tour de France
    The 1956 Tour de France was the 43rd Tour de France, taking place from July 5 to 28, 1956. It consisted of 22 stages over 4498 km, ridden at an average speed of 36.268 km/h....

    DNF-2
    1957 Tour de France
    The 1957 Tour de France was the 44th Tour de France, taking place June 27 to July 20, 1957. It was composed of 22 stages over 4665 km, ridden at an average speed of 34.250 km/h....

    1
    1958 Tour de France
    The 1958 Tour de France was the 45th Tour de France, taking place June 26 to July 19, 1958. The total race distance was 24 stages over 4,319 km, at an average speed of 36.919 km/h....

    12
    1959 Tour de France
    The 1959 Tour de France was the 46th Tour de France, taking place between 25 June and 18 July 1959. The race featured 120 riders, of which 65 finished. The Tour included 22 stages over 4,391 km, and the winner had an average speed of 35.474 km/h....

    DNE 3
    1961 Tour de France
    The 1961 Tour de France was the 48th running of the Tour de France. It meandered through France from 25 June to 16 July 1961. It consisted of 21 stages, a total of , which was ridden at an average speed of . Out of the 132 riders who started the tour, 72 managed to complete the tour's tough course...

    9
    1962 Tour de France
    The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 15, 1962. It was composed of 22 stages over 4274 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.306 km/h. After more than 30 years, the Tour was again contested by trade teams...

    DNF-16
    1963 Tour de France
    The 1963 Tour de France was the 50th Tour de France, taking place June 23 to July 14, 1963. The total race distance was 21 stages over 4137 km, with riders averaging 37.092 km/h...

    Stages won 0 0 2 2 0 4 1 1 0 0
    Mountains classification NR NR 1 1 NR 2 2 2 4 0
    Points classification NR NR NR NR NR 24 4 11 NR NR
    Vuelta
    Vuelta a España
    The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

    DNE DNE DNE DNE DNE DNE DNE DNF DNE DNE DNE
    Stages won 0
    Mountains classification NR
    Points classification NR


    External links


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