Although Louison Bobet is remembered mostly by his three consecutive Tour de France victories (1953, 1954, 1955), he also had some success in the world of one day races.
Actually,
Louison Bobet won four of the five monuments,
he missed only the triumph at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Nevertheless, he attended La Doyenne three times, his best result was a 4th place in 1952.
But he won Milano-Sanremo and Giro di Lombardia in 1951, Ronde van Vlaanderen in 1955 and Paris-Roubaix in 1956.
Bobet rode Giro di Lombardia seven times during his career, he had other top10 results besides his victory in 1951. That year was a good one for him, he already won the other Italian monument in spring. He finished 7th at the Giro d’Italia (and won the mountain classification) , but had only a 20th place at the Tour de France.
Bobet used a quite simple tactic during “The Race of Falling Leaves“:
he put his wheel behind Fausto Coppi.
In the end phase of the race Bobet was the only foreign rider in the group of favourits, what he tried to use as an advantage when he dropped from this group deliberately. This was what the Romans called “divide et impera” [“divide and conquer”]. The Italian riders started to look each other, and the pace was slowing.
Bobet attacked when nobody expected him, and won the race ahead of Giuseppe Minardi. The third rider was Fausto Coppi.
With his victory, Louison Bobet became the first non-Italian rider to win Milano-Sanremo and Giro di Lombardia in the same year.
IF YOU LIKE PELOTONTALES BLOG,
PLEASE SUPPORT IT WITH A SMALL DONATION VIA PAYPAL
THANK YOU!
MORE STORIES FUN FSCTS AMD ICONIC IMAGES FROM THE HISTORY OF THE MONUMENTS
Adrie van der Poel wins Ronde van Vlaanderen (1986)
The 70th Ronde van Vlaanderen was held on the 6th April 1986. After the Koppenberg, a 10-man breakaway group formed. With 30 km to go, Eddy Planckaert and Steve Bauer rode away from this group. On the Muur Kappelmuur (Muur van Geraardsbergen) Planckaert dropped, menawhile Sean Kelly, Jean-Philippe Vandenbranden and Adrie van der Poel joined … Read more
The longest Ronde van Vlaanderen
The first Ronde van Vlaanderen (1913) was the longest edition of the race: it was 324 km long
Jesper Skibby’s crash on the Koppenberg (Ronde van Vlaanderen 1987)
In 1987, Skibby rode solo at the head of the race, when he reached Koppenberg. He had an advantage of two minutes, but climbing the hill he became slower and slower and the peloton came closer. The car of the race commissaire followed Skibby so close, that when they wanted to move away, the car … Read more
Eddy Merckx on the cobbles (Paris-Roubaix 1970)
The picture was taken on a training ride before Paris-Roubaix in 1970. Eddy Merckx earned his first Paris-Roubaix victory in 1968. Next year he became second. The 68th edition of the “Hell of the North” on the 12th April in 1970 witnessed his second triumph. Merckx also won the race in 1973.