This is Charly Gaul topping the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard on his way to winning the 1959 Giro d’Italia. It was his second Giro, and both were won using his incredible climbing talent.
But Gaul wasn’t like other climbers of his day, as a once great rider and team manager explained to Chris during a magazine interview he did in the late 2000s.
“They called Gaul the Angel of the Mountains, but he was a devil as far as I’m concerned, because he climbed in a way that tempted you to think you could stay with him.
“Other great climbers, like Federico Bahamontes made repeated attacks, rapid accelerations, and you would know you couldn’t match them. Instead you rode tempo behind limiting your losses.
“Gaul would go to the front and slowly increase the pace. He would spin a much lower gear than others, which was irritating. You’d be trying to stay with him and seeing that infernal spinning of his legs, up down, tick-tock. Like clockwork, but getting faster.
It was mesmerising, but any rider following was being slowly lured into the red. Climbing harder than they should, then harder than they could, and shortly after they blew. When inevitable came they could lose a hatful of time, because they had nothing left. It happened to a number of riders, and it happened to Jacques Anquetil in Italy in 1959.”
Anquetil led by four minutes at the start of stage 21, Aosta to Courmayeur. But there was 296 kilometres to do, and the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard was a perfect climb for Gaul. The average gradient is only five percent, but it’s 30 kilometres long, gaining 1,400 metres and climbing to 2,200 metres.
Gaul clicked into his rhythm at the bottom of the climb, and reports of the day say he rode at close to 30kph all the way up the climb. Anquetil was the last rider who could follow, but focussing on holding Gaul meant he forgot to eat.
Three kilometres from the summit Anquetil fell apart. He lost 7 minutes to Gaul in those three kilometres, and 10 by the finish in Courmayeur. Charly Gaul had won another Grand Tour with an incredible effort in the mountains.
This and many more stories are in our book about Jacques Anquetil - Cycling Legends 03: Jacques Anquetil, the Man Behind the Mask' which also includes a feature on Charly Gaul. Read more here.
