I caught a fish this big!
This post could also have been titled as an Anatomy of a Photo or Awesome Italian Guys-Guido Bontempi or The Hardmen.
As an Anatomy of a Photo…where do you start? All these sprinters and no one but Van Poppel is even wearing a helmet. What could go wrong? And back there is Sean Kelly, his thought bubble would be something like, ahhh for fuck’s sake, then a long string of unintelligible Carrick curses.
As an awesome Italian guy, Guido Bontempi could just flash this photo at the awesome guy hall of fame and walk in. He wore the Maillot Jaune, won multiple stage in all three grand tours and was a badass. I remember him as more of a passista than a pure sprinter. When I think back to his racing in the Tour and the limited coverage us in the USA were fed, two memories stand out. One was him in a break, either solo or with one other unfortunate soul and Bontempi, face flushed red with exertion, hammering and hammering away at the front. Hammering is not even a strong enough word for what he was doing. If they had power meters back then he would have broken his. The other was a Tour finish where he was up against some faster finishers so he just opened up a sprint from 800 meters out and just powered his way to the line. The pure fast-twitch riders just couldn’t burn it from that far out. It was an amazing show of bravado.
He also was not afraid to go up to Belgium in the Spring and win Gent-Wevelgem a few times. These old school riders who battled in Belgium and Northern France in the Spring and then kept it going through the Vuelta and beyond, that is a good way to get into the Hardman category too.
My friend and owner of my old LBS used to do a phenomenal mime of a sprint finish using just a set of loose handle bars that were lying around the shop. There would be much throwing of bars back and forth, faster and faster, then the bars drop and the arms go up, hands outstretched, “I caught a fish this big!” Every time I see a sprint victory photo like this I can’t help but think of the big fish.
Epilogue: In researching this photo just now, I thought wikipedia had missed Bontempi’s 1987 Tour win, stage 7 from Épinal to Troyes. Maybe I should correct this? No, don’t bother Gianni. Bontempi failed doping control at the end of this stage and the win went to Manuel-Jorge Dominguez. FFS, do I scrap the whole article? Oh cycling, you are a cruel mistress. If I scrapped this one I’d have to scrap a lot more than this one. I still say he is a badass, for these glasses alone.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Great read Gianni and Guido looks pretty damn cool as well
Looking at his shorts, he may have forgotten to jettison a vial of something helpful...
Nice one Gianni!
Quote: "The other was a Tour finish where he was up against some faster finishers so he just opened up a sprint from 800 meters out and just powered his way to the line...". Unquote.
I remember reading an article in the late 80's about a phenomenon which Dutch journalists (among others, no doubt) referred to as the emergence of 'a new type of racing cyclist: the 'finisher'' (i.e. as opposed to the 'sprinter').
Jan Raas and, in particular, Gerrie Knetemann were often held up as examples of this breed: they were the kind of riders who would not indulge in 'sprinting tactics' (i.e. sussing each other out, sometimes to the point of nearly performing a 'sûr place' within sight of the finish line). Instead, they would simply open the throttle several hundreds of meters prior to the finish line, and never look back...
The interesting thing was, that a lot of the guys who were quite good at this were in fact accomplished time trial experts, rather than 'pure' sprinters. Kinda makes sense, I suppose...
Sjeez - I'm older than I think. Said article was probably published in the EARLY eighties or even the late seventies: Jan Raas became World Champion in 1979; Knetemann in 1978. *Sigh...*
@Ccos
Yep, I don't see Jan Raas or Bontempi whipping out a pacifier and putting it in their mouths. I'm sure cavemen were doing the exact same gesture standing over a killed beast. There is something very atavistic about the arms up, head up, victory is mine.
Getting a little testy is the correct reaction.
@osbk67
Great photo! I wonder if that is Kelly again, in the yellow KAS kit, cursing again. That is quite a bit of daylight in between.
@Ron
heheee, yeah, they are probably as hard as marble by now. The Tommasini deserves it. That is classy, getting those brakes on your Italian steed.
@Gianni
It was more so stopping after the sprint. With the press and team support on the other side of the line there have been some nasty crashes. And they did suck, but it may be slightly exaggerated. Oh and they where VERY sexy brakes.
@Gianni
Speaking of classy... everyone I can see has white bare tape, white socks, and black bib shorts. They certainly did things right back then. Every time I see the red shorts of cofidis or blue shorts of astana I cant help but cringe. There was no reason to change things...
@Gianni
Yep, Kelly second, Johan Capiot third, Vanderaerden fourth, Pierino Gavazzi fifth, Bugno sixth. Frank Hoste, also a top sprinter at the time, had an off day and could only manage 11th...