Guest Article: Anatomy of a Photo – The Perfect Personification of Rule #5
We are lucky to have @wiscot as a contributor of guest articles. He eschews the carbon ball for real research and his love of cycling history is heartfelt. As the Dauphine winds down @wiscot spins a story of real toughness on the bike.
VLVV, Gianni
It may have been late May in the south of France, but the chill of the pre-dawn morning was all too real as the riders rolled out for the first of 567 kilometers (372 miles) from Bordeaux to Paris. For Jacques Anquetil, his exhausted appearance was justified: he’d just completed the first half of one of the most audacious sporting endeavors in history. In the late afternoon of the previous day (May 29, 1965) he had finished a tough, wet, eight-stage Dauphine Libere, winning the race overall. The plan, hatched by his manager Raphael Geminiani, was for him to start””and win””the longest classic on cycling’s calendar, Bordeaux-Paris, which began the next day. No-one had ever contemplated such a double, let alone with the intention””or capability””of winning both.
Anquetil finished with the Dauphine’s podium ceremonies at 5pm, showered, and ate a quick meal of steak tartare and two beers. (His gastronomic habits were highly unorthodox even in the 60s). He was then driven to the airport where, with the aid of a plane rumored to have been provided by French President Charles de Gaulle, he flew to Bordeaux to begin Bordeaux-Paris against such stellar opposition as Tom Simpson and Jean Stablinski, (Simpson had won Bordeaux-Paris in 1963 and Stablinski had been world champion in 1962). The race began at 2am.
From the beginning of his career, Anquetil had always been deceptive. As a boyish and slender 19 year-old he stunned the cycling world by winning the 140 kms Grand Prix des Nations time trail held in the Chevreuse Valley. At the first attempt he beat such riders as Coppi. As his career progressed, he would win eight more Nations, establishing himself as virtually unassailable against the clock. However, even in the days of the Nations and Tour de France time trials being regularly over 100 kms, Bordeaux-Paris was a freak: 567 kms with the first half being mano-a-mano, with the riders teaming up with dernys at the halfway point to be paced to the Parc des Princes velodrome. Although it would survive until 1988, even by 1965 races such as Bordeaux-Paris were an anachronism, a throwback to the early days of the Tour de France when stages regularly topped 400 kilometers.
By 1965 Anquetil was cycling’s dominant rider. He had won five Tours de France, two Giros (including the Tour-Giro double in 1964) and one Vuelta, eclipsing Coppi’s record of seven grand tour victories. Nevertheless, the diminutive Norman was not as popular as his more solidly-built arch-rival Raymond Poulidor. Perceived as aloof and calculating in carefully rationing effort to maximum advantage, he was regularly jeered and booed upon winning whereas Poulidor, “the eternal second”, was greeted with warmth and adulation. The Dauphine Libere/Bordeaux-Paris double was a calculated move by Geminiani to assert Anquetil in the eyes of the public as the greatest French rider.
Anquetil had been initially reluctant for the attempt, easily recognizing the sheer physical-and psychological-difficulty of the task. His wife Janine thought it a mad concept, but the wily Geminiani wasn’t averse to using a bit of reverse psychology, implying that the double was beyond Anquetil’s ability. Subsequently, cajoled by his manager, he had signed up, but after four cold, wet hours of riding wrapped up in thick jerseys, leg warmers and hats, his conviction wavered and he climbed off around 7am. Geminiani, hoping for a historic and unlikely-to-be-matched feat (and wanting to maintain his credibility by having a successful outcome to his crazy idea), vociferously urged his rider on in a manner that questioned Anquetil’s character and sexuality. “Quitter” was one word used after Anquetil had sought the warmth of the team car. Slurs on his masculinity were also expressed. Stung by such criticism, Anquetil climbed back on his bike redoubled his efforts. (For the record, Anquetil’s colorful “love-life” left no doubt as to his heterosexuality).
By the time the riders were paired with their dernys and the race entered the familiar roads of the Chevreuse Valley, it was a race between Anquetil, Stablinski and Simpson. Sensing the win, Anquetil attacked. Geminiani recalls the poor derny’s engine making strange noises as it was pushed to its limits by its human equivalent. Neither the derny nor the rider faltered, and upon arriving in the velodrome with almost a minute’s lead, Anquetil tearfully received the rapturous welcome Geminiani had hoped for. The double had been accomplished. Never before, and never again, would a rider attempt such an audacious feat.
Whether Anquetil ever truly won over the French public’s affection vis-Ã -vis Poulidor is debatable. Many would argue not. Certainly, Geminiani thought not: “I can still hear the way he was whistled when he rode. More than once, I saw him crying in his hotel room after suffering the spitting and insults of spectators.” What is undisputable is that the greatest””and craziest”” feat in cycling history belongs to a slight, blond Norman who did whatever it took to win. With all due respect to the Prophet, when Rule #5 is invoked or cited, it should really be termed the Anquetil Rule.
Outstanding tribute to Anquetil! A Hardman if there ever was one.
I love the pictures of him and Poulidor killing themselves to beat each other.
Jacques had tremendous hair too!
Well written! Chapeau!
Terrific, Wiscot! Wasn’t Gem also responsible for cajoling Coppi into an ill-fated trip to Africa? The killer of cycling’s greats?
Great stuff wiscot. Cool to hear Geminiani’s name come up, as I just read Tomorrow We Ride and he was a fixture on Equip Bobet during his riding years.
Great history lesson, thanks!
@Steampunk
And everyone thinks Bjarne is a pain in the ass! Questioning someone’s manhood because they want out of the Bourdeaux-Paris slog? Nice guy.
The riders were a different breed of men back then. I don’t think Frandy would have done so well in the day.
Fascinating article, wiscot! Well done.
Who from this generation would be capable of racing Bordeaux-Paris, let alone doing it the (early) morning after completing the Dauphine Libere? Not many, I’d guess.
A very enjoyable read! Thanks for posting it.
Yeah, I doubt Geminiani would have had much patience with Frandy. I think he wanted Anquetil to carry on so as to save face for having such a crazy idea; JA quitting would have been sensible and defendable. Coming up with the idea in the first place would have made Gem seen crazy bordering on callous.
I’ll check on the Coppi/Gem relationship and get back to you.
Another reason B-P ended was that no big names rode it anymore. After Herman van Springel’s remarkable run of victories (7 wins in 11 years), it really became the preserve of the super domestiques with a few exceptions like Duclos-Lasalle (1983). It was too specialized and too close to the Giro. The last three didn’t even have dernys!
@Steampunk
@Steampunk
It was Geminiani who took Coppi to Africa, but I don’t think he can be blamed in any way for the malaria (which Gem also contracted) or subsequent misdiagnosis and poor treatment from Coppi’s doctors!
Great stuff, Wiscot!
@Oli
No: I was stretching things (more than) a little, but in lieu of his coaxing Anquetil above, you could picture him pushing Coppi to Rule V the malaria…
@wiscot
It seems as though these ultra-endurance events have been passed down from the pros to the amateurs. Bordeaux-Paris: it’s like doing 200 on 100, and then turning around and going back again.
@Steampunk
Don’t give our 200 on 100 crowd any more crazy ideas!
@itburns
I am part of that crowd. I will likely be cycling down from Ottawa to North Troy the day before the ride. Going back north will be a cinch.
Excellent write up @wiscot! An amazing tale of endurance of one man.
That last paragraph is a gem. Men, no matter how hard, are but men.
Get to the part about where he sleeps with every women in his path, sucking moules frites from their navels and dousing them in champagne.
Just found out about this site, and after reading the the rules this is the first article I read. Excellent, much less BS than modern cycling website are full of. Thank you
from now on, when it’s cold, i’m not wearing a gay ass lycra skull cap under a helmet, i’m wearing just a bad ass knit cap like a real cyclist….
No getting around it. Those guys were a different breed than the riders now. Part of me wishes that the young ones in the bunch now did a little history beyond Eddy to see how hard those guys really were.
Good shit @wiscot! Chapeau!
Wonder if he obsessed about shoes too?
@TBONE
Yeah, what he said.
Great read Mr Wiscot, I knew Jacques was a bit of a wildman, but I never knew this story and how damned hard he was.
I like his style…
Talking of Rule #5 – how is this for commitment from the Manxman?
“I’m already four kilos lighter than my normal race weight,” the world champion told the Belgian media. “I’ve stopped candy, soft drinks and ready meals. That’s not easy: in the beginning I got tired very fast and I found it difficult. It was hard to adapt to it.”
Great article, Wiscot! For more on JA, I highly recommend Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape by Paul Howard – a good read.
Not sure where else to ask this, so I do it here and call it ‘Anatomy of how to post a fucking photo?’ I’ve never been able to figure out how to add a photo to a post – I can link to one and have it come up in the pop-up window, but every time I either try to use the ‘upload photo’ feature or the ‘insert image’ (where you enter a photo URL), all I get is the stupid little blue box with a question mark that tells me I’m an idiot and that I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. If someone could assist, It would be most appreciated.
@brett
Brett, thanks for posting one of my fave photos of JA. I believe if you look up the dictionary for “Casually Deliberate” this picture illustrates the concept perfectly. Hard to believe ciggies were once touted as beneficial to your health . . .
567 kms? A 140 km TT? Riding 567 the morning after a stage race? Completely incomprehensible. I’m happy to string together to solid days of 70 or 80 km. Those distances are just staggering.
Excellent work, wiscot! Thanks for this!
excellent pull there Wiscot
Anquetil deserves much credit, for all he did, it was masterful. His life on and off the bike was interesting, and having gone back and watching some old reels of the TT’s in the Tour, he (IMHO) started to exploit the advantages of a specialist honing skills to take out chunks of time in the TT discipline. Til Anquetil, I am not mindful (off the top of my head) of anyone who TT’d so well. His spin was much like Coppi’s, very souplesse, yet he could Roule out with the best of them, and ah he was able to rouleur well, climb well, he TT’d better than most and developed this.
His dick of a coach, NOW that was news to me and I had never heard this portion of his life account recalled. Thanks for that, excellent work
Last year I was riacing at the Southeast Idaho Sr. Games going up a climb when this little old man with no water bottle cruises by me. He was a 75 year old Frenchman that raced against Anquetil in his youth. We had quite the conversation after the race.
@Oli
Here’s the deal on Gem’s involvement in Coppi going to Africa. Coppi was a lifelong hunter and an acknowledged marksman with a 20 caliber rifle. In late 1959 Gem wrote to him and proposed what amounted to a nice wee African junket: go and ride a race against some locals and get a free safari thrown in. Other pros invited were Anquetil, Riviere, Anglade, and Hasssenfonder. What was not to like? It’s the end of the season, a trip to Africa, a gentleman’s race and some potentially top-notch hunting and all for free. Remember, this was 1959, a trip like this was highly exotic and a very nice perk of his status as Campionissimo.
Anquetil won the race and Coppi was second – the “local” riders rode heavy bikes with bells on them. It was a laugh.The hunting was fun – Coppi and Gem went together, but they came back empty-handed in terms of big game; Coppi felt the hunting back home was better. It was that night that Coppi was continually bitten by mosquitoes and contracted malaria. Leaving Africa (Ouagadougu , in Burkina Faso, to be exact) bacause of felling unwell and the poor hunting, Coppi arrived back in Italy on December 18th. By the 2nd of January he was virtually in a coma, unable to tell doctors of his recent travels which might have prompted a different course of treatment, The Campionissimo died at 8:45am.
So was Gem responsible for Coppi’s death? Yes, in that he invited Coppi to Africa. No, in that Coppi could have refused to go. No, because none of the other European pros got sick. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-11/tour-de-france-family-control-under-assault-as-race-teams-rebel.html
A little snippet from Bloomberg online about the business end of things.
@Cyclops +1!!
@Gianni “I don’t think Frandy would have done so well in the day.”
Or…maybe that is just what the littel f@ckers need, and maybe Bruyneel is an old school genius who will push them to a TdF one-two finish. Well, probably not, but stranger things have happened.
I think current PC cycling misses the old dictatorial DS/team manager style in many ways. Possibly only Marc Madiot harks back to the good old days.
And while I’m at it, Bordeaux-Paris features (although not by name) in the French film “Ghislain Lambert’s Bicycle” (I hope that link works). Check it out, it’s quite a laugh.
Keepers Tour attendees will remember this movie as being the only DVD that would play in the Yellow Van of Death.
@wiscot
Or it’s not Gem’s fault in any way. If one invites someone somewhere and a disaster occurs I can’t see that it’s the inviter’s fault in any way – if one invited someone to a wedding in another country and the plane crashed en route would the person who sent the invite be blamed?
I know this is all semantics, but for some reason it irks me…
Not trying to start a fight, I hasten to add…I’ve said my piece this time!
@Oli Imposter
Obviously, Oli stepped out of the room.
Late to the party, but this is one of the coolest stories in Cycling – and well told! Thanks @wiscot! Besides the feat itself, just the distance of the race blows my mind. Excellent reminder of what it means to be truly hard.
@Bianchi Denti
Hmmmm, I don’t remember that part even though I saw parts of that DVD 20 times.
And I don’t think Bruyneel could toughen up anyone to that degree of hardness, I really don’t know how those rides were done, the drugs could not have been that much better. 567kms? Really? FFS, no wonder the race died out because no one wanted to race in it.
But you try to tell the young people about that today…
Great youtube clip of Anquetil’s Double: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4yqv7s6nbY
Some serious serious Frenchness going on.
Favorite Anq vid, in case it’s not been posted:
@Oli
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
@duck lewis
Woops – double posted!
Anq gems:
[dmalbum: path=”/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/frank/2012.06.13.04.00.14/”/]
And, of course – BRR’s all-time best post:
@frank
Serious, serious bromance right there. And coming from me that’s saying something.
@frank
The bottle hand-up photo isn’t Anquetil, even though the shot is always worth posting.
@Oli
Oli, I was playing Devil’s advocate there. No way would I think that Gem was responsible. He isseud a very attractive invitation. Coppi accepted. Beyond that he had no control over events to follow.
@Oli
Tongue firmly buried in cheek with my original comment about Gem. Really.
@kootenaycycle
Cheers mate, and welcome to the fold. We’re still full of shit, but possibly less so than others, depending on where you’re looking.
@Oli
Ha – right you are! Forgive me for not noticing the rider.