Rik Van Looy: King of the Classics

Belgian cyclist Rik Van Looy is from my generation; he is a little over two years older than me.

Spending his childhood the duration of WWII, when his country was occupied by Germany.

His eleventh birthday would have come and gone through some of the fiercest fighting of the war as the allied armies advanced though Belgium in the closing days of 1944.

In 1952 at 18 years of age, Van Looy won the Belgian amateur road championship; he turned professional the following year.

Nicknamed "King of the Classics," he was the first cyclist to win all five one day classic races, a feat since achieved by only two other riders, fellow Belgians Roger De Vlaeminck and Eddy Merckx.

Rik Van Looy  may not have even started bike racing but as a young boy in the late 1940s he delivered newspapers on a heavy bicycle.

Because the first part of his name was the same as a Belgian cycling superstar of that time, he was constantly teased and called Rik Van Steenbergen.

What a thrill it must have been for the young Van Looy in 1956 when he won a Silver Medal in the World Road Championship behind none other than Rik Van Steenbergen.

1956 would be a great season for the 22 year old Rik Van Looy, earlier that year he had won the Paris - Bruxelles race beating Bernard Gauthier, and this time Rik Van Steenbergen made third place. (See picture below.)  

Above: Twenty-two year old Van Looy on his way to winning the 1956 Paris-Bruxelles race. Looking relaxed with 23 kms to go in the 293 km (182 miles.) race. (Picture from Aldo Ross's Pic of the Day.)  

Rik Van Looy won the World Road Race Championship in 1960 and 1961, he was 2nd in 1956 and 1963, also 4th in 1957. He won the Paris - Roubaux three times in 1961, 1962, and 1965

In other one-day races, Van Looy won the Paris-Tours in 1959 and 1967, the Ghent-Wevelgem in 1956, 1957, and 1962. He won the Milan - San Remo in 1958, and the Fleche Wallone a decade later in 1968.

Other classic wins were, Tour of Flanders in 1959, and 1962, the Liege - Bastogne - Liege in 1961, and the Tour of Lombary in 1959.

In the Grand Tours, he won the Points Jersey in the 1963 Tour de France and the Mountains Jersey in the 1960 Giro d’Italia. In 1959 and 1965 Van Looy was 3rd overall and won the points jersey in the Vuelta a Espana.

He racked up a total of 7 stage victories in the TDF, 12 in the Giro d’Italia, and 18 in the Vuelta a Espana. 

Above: Rik I and Rik II, as they were sometimes called. Rik Van Steenbergen (Nearest the camera.) and Rik Van Looy, wearing the World Champion's "Rainbow" Jersey.  

Above: Rik Van Looy wins the 1961 World Championship ahead of Nino Defilippis (Italy.) and Raymond Poulidor (France.)

Above: Rik Van Looy wins the 1968 Faleche Wallone. No victory salute, just a huge smile.

Above: Jacques Anquetil in the winner's Yellow Jersey (Left.) with Rik Van Looy wearing the Points Winner Green Jersey at the end of the 1963 Tour de France.

Above: Edgard Sorgeloos (Right.) gives a wheel to Van Looy during the 1962 Belgian Road Championship. 

Rik Van Looy’s professional career spanned eighteen seasons; sandwiched between fellow Belgians Rik Van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx. Beginning at age 19 in late 1953 and ending at age 36 in 1970. During this time, he racked up an impressive 379 professional road victories.

Like Van Steenbergen, most of Van Looy's victories were attributed to his dynamic finishing sprint. Also a star on the track, winning eleven Six-Day races between 1957 and 1968. For nine of these victories he was paired with Dutchman Peter Post

Footnote: 

Coincidentally, the Milan-San Remo race was first held this day on March 15th 1907 and known as "La Primavera" after the early blooming primrose flower, Milan-San Remo is the first of cycling's monuments on the calendar and is held in mid March.

As the name implies, the race runs from Milan, Italy to San Remo, a town on the Italian Riviera. The 180 mile (290 km) course includes one major climb, The Turchino, and a few smaller climbs.

Other pictures from this Rik Van Looy site

The tale of two Tommy Godwins: Part II

When I got my first lightweight bike and started cycling seriously in 1951, the name Tommy Godwin was well known to me. There was the amazing long distance cyclist I wrote of in my last article.

Then there was another unrelated Tommy Godwin who won medals in the Olympics just a few years earlier in 1948. However, in the ignorance of my youth I thought they were one and the same person.

It wasn’t until 1952 at age 16, when on the whim of two older cycling club members, I joined them on a ride from Luton, about 30 miles north of London, to Birmingham. A round trip of 180 miles; the reason, to visit Tommy Godwin’s bike shop.

They may have mentioned the shop was in Birmingham, but as a naive youngster it never occurred to me that this was a whole different part of the country.

When we got to Tommy’s shop in Birmingham, it was not just the man that impressed me, or the amazing array of lightweight bike equipment, it was his "Brummie" accent.*

A Brummie is a native of Birmingham, England, and this was the first time I had ventured so far from home. Far enough that people there spoke in a totally different dialect.

It wasn't until I was on the ride home, (On the same day incidentally.) I mentioned Tommy Godwin’s One Year Mileage Record; I then learned this was a different Tommy Godwin. This was track cyclist and Olympic medalist Tommy Godwin.

Years later, in the late 1960s, I would move to Worcester, just south of Birmingham. I would return to Tommy Godwin’s shop, and meet him again on several occasions.

Now forward to the present time and in researching for this article I learned that Tommy Godwin was actually born in America; in Connecticut to be precise. (That is if I can trust Wikipedia.)

He never spoke of this, and must have went over to England at a very early age, because I always considered him a Brummie born and bred.

The success of British cycling, particularly on the track, can be traced back directly to Tommy Godwin.  A top track rider of his day; Godwin was National Sprint Campion in 1948.

He also won two bronze medals in the Olympics, held in London that same year; one in the Team Pursuit, one in the individual Kilometer Time Trial. The picture above shows Tommy in recent years with his two Olympic medals.

Born in 1920, he will be one of the ambassadors at the next Olympics in London, to be held in 2012. He is at this time president of the Solihull Cycling Club in the West Midlands of the UK.

In 1936 Tommy Godwin went to work for BSA, a large bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer in Birmingham.

The picture right shows a young Tommy on a track bike he built himself at the BSA factory.

In 1950, Godwin opened his own retail bike shop on Silver Street, in Kings Heath, Birmingham. He also built frames under his own name in the back of his shop

The shop became a Mecca for racing cyclists from the whole West Midlands area; it was one of the reasons why this region became such a hot bed for bicycle racing.

After running his business all day, Tommy would be coaching young local riders in the evening and weekends. Later in 1963, this lead to Godwin becoming the first paid British National Coach.

One youngster who was bitten by the bike racing bug at Tommy’s shop, was a young Michael Bennett, who under Godwin’s tutelage went on to win medals in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. Graham Webb who became World Road Champion in 1967, is another of Godwin’s protégés.

Michael Bennett is now one of the driving forces behind the current crop of British riders. He was the main man in the organizing of the depart stage of the Tour de France when it started from London a few years back.

Tommy Godwin and his bike shop, which he ran until he retired in 1986, was a very important part of Britain’s cycling history.

The success of his shop was due to his success as a track cyclist. The shop and Tommy’s coaching was the reason the area produced so many great riders.

My frame building business was in Worcester just 25 miles south of Birmingham; this in turn lead to my initial success as a framebuilder, because there were so many World Class riders to draw from as customers for my frames.

We can all thank Tommy Godwin for what he has done, and continues to do for the sport of cycling.

If anyone reading this knows how to contact Tommy Godwin, (Maybe someone in the Solihull Club.) I would ask him today, was he really born in Connecticut, and did he ever meet his namesake, the other Tommy Godwin?

Footnote: If you are not farmiliar with a Brummie accent,* think John Oliver of the Daily Show, or Ozzy Osbourne

The tale of two Tommy Godwins: Part I

There are two former top British cyclists named Tommy Godwin; the first not so well known even amoung cyclists from the UK. None the less he should not go unrecognized. 

Born in Stoke on Trent in 1912, he won over 200 amateur and professional races in his lifetime, but his greatest achievement was the World One Year Mileage record.

In the year 1939 he rode a bicycle 75,065 miles. (120,805 km.) That is over 200 miles per day, in all kinds of weather, 365 days of the year, or the equivalent of riding round the world, three times in one year.

WWII broke out in September 1939 and due to blackout restrictions, Tommy was forced to ride in the dark with his lamps taped over, so they gave only the slightest glimmer.

The record originated a year before Godwin was born, in 1911 sponsored by “Cycling” Magazine, and was set that year by Frenchman, Marcel Planes, who covered 34,666 miles. (55,790 km.)

No mean feat in of itself, when you consider this is roughly 95 miles a day, on a single gear, when many roads were little more than dirt tracks.

Over the years there were many attempts at this record, nine were successful, the final record was set by Tommy Godwin; WWII brought an end to further attempts, and they were never resumed.

The picture at the top of the page shows Tommy starting out in the rain, on his daily ride; he is with an official time keeper. You will notice there is a cable driven mileage recorder attached to the front wheel of his bike.

The bike equipped with mudguards, and a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gear, probably weighed in excess of 30 lbs. I’m sure Sturmey Archer was one of his many sponsors for this epic ride; along with the manufacturers of the other equipment he used.

The record is in theory still open for challenge, although not for entry in the Guinness Book of World Records; the publishers have deemed the record too dangerous to repeat.

After covering the new record distance by the end of 1939, Tommy kept riding until May of 1940 to cover 100,000 miles. He then spent several months recovering and quite possibly learning how to walk again.

Later that year he joined the Royal Air Force where he remained until the war ended in 1945. Keen to race as an amateur after the war, Tommy was banned from competition by British cycling officials because he was a former professional.

Godwin died age 63 while on a bike ride with friends in 1975. There is a memorial plaque in the Fenton Manor Sports Center, Stoke on Trent, Tommy’s birth town.

Anyone who has ridden a bike seriously can appreciate what it would take to ride 200 miles a day, for a year. It would mean riding between 12 and 18 hours a day, much of it in the dark, and imagine the amount of food one would have to consume to fuel such a ride.

My car has covered 100,000 miles in the last eight years, Tommy Godwin did the same distance on a bicycle in less than a year and a half. 

Read more about this incredible man, Tommy Godwin here. 

Next time I will write about the cycling's other Tommy Godwin. (More well known, in the UK.) One I met on several occasions, and is still with us, a former Olympic medal winner, and former GB Team Manager.

Rik Van Steenbergen: Road Sprinter Supreme

Anyone who followed this year’s Tour de France could not help be impressed with the multiple stage wins by Britain’s Mark Cavendish; together with the overwhelming Team HTC Columbia support.

Winning the Tour de France is all about climbing ability, and because of this history tends to forget these great individual stage victories.

People know names like Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali, and Louison Bobet, all great climbers from the late 1940s and 1950s; a period often refered to as "The Golden Age of Cycling."

But who were the great road sprinters of that era, taking most of the bunch finishes? One that springs to my mind was Belgian rider Rik Van Steenbergen.

A big man, 6’ 3” 183 lbs, (190.5 cm 83.18 Kgs.) he had a long professional career that began in war torn Belgium in 1943 and lasted until 1966, Van Steenbergen won 270 times on the road, including 3 World Road Championships, in 1949, 1956 and 1957, all taken in sprint finishes.

He won the Tour of Flanders in his first year as a professional at age 18. He won the same event in 1944 and 1946. The Paris-Roubaix in 1948 and 1952, the Flech-Wallone in 1949 and 1958, Paris-Brussels in 1950, and the Milan-San Remo in 1954.   

(Above.) Rik Van Steenbergen uses his explosive sprint to win the 1954 Milan-San Remo followed home by Anasti, Favero and Coppi.

Van Steenbergen like many great road sprinters was a prolific winner on the track, a total of 715 times including 40 six-day wins. He rode year round, road events spring and summer, and six-day events through the winter.

In spite of this non-specializing he took 15 stage wins in the Giro d’Italia in five appearances, and 4 TDF stage wins in three appearances.

His best Giro result was in 1951 when he finishes second overall behind Italy’s Fiorenzo Magni, beating no less than Ferdi Kubler and Fausto Coppi into 3rd and 4th places respectively. Pretty impressive for a sprinter who couldn’t climb.

Perhaps one of Rik Van Steenbergen’s greatest victories was his 1952 Paris-Roubaix win. With 40 Km. to go the Belgian rider was in a group 50 seconds down on a three man break, consisting of Coppi, Kubler, and Jacques Dupont.

On a 5 Km cobble-stone section of the course Van Steenbergen attacked solo out of the chasing group and miraculously bridged the gap.

Towards the finish, Coppi attacked again and again. Kubler was dropped, Dupont punctured, but Van Steenbergen managed to hang on and in the final sprint beat Coppi easily.

The world may never see such a versatile rider again. He was immensely popular; born in 1924 he died in 2003 at age 78 after a long illness.

His funeral was attended by a veritable who’s who of cycling, including Eddy Merckx, Rik van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck, Walter Godefroot, Johan De Muynck, Lucien van Impe, Freddy Maertens and Briek Schotte.

Also attending were the UCI president Hein Verbruggen and Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt

Ferdi Kubler: At 90 years is the oldest living TDF winner

Above: Swiss cyclist Ferdi Kubler is given encouragement by his wife Rosa, at the summit of one of his many epic climbs

The early part of this last week I noticed this blog was getting an unusually high number of hits from Switzerland, and in particular Zurich.

The hits were originating from Google searches for two Swiss riders, Ferdi Kubler winner of the 1950 Tour de France, and Hugo Koblet winner the following year in 1951.

The reason for all this unexpected activity, an article in Swiss newspaper “Tribune de Geneve.”The occasion, the 90th Birthday of Ferdi Kubler, making him the oldest living Tour de France winner. Born 24th July, 1919.

Kubler was a remarkable rider, a great climber but could sprint also. This was evident when he placed 2nd to Frenchman Luison Bobet, in the 1954 TDF and won the Green (Points.) Jersey that year. Ferdi Kubler won the World Championship Road Race in 1951. A more complete list of his career achievements can be viewed here.

The brief article written in French unfortunately lost much in translation. It was in the form of an interview with Kubler as he watched this year's Tour on TV.

Described as having the memory of an elephant he reminisced on the differences in riding as a professional cyclist almost sixty years ago.

The winnings for his 1950 TDF ride were reported at 25,000 Francs; however, after sharing the purse with the rest of his team his take home pay was more like 4,000 Francs, or less than $4,000 dollars at today’s rate of exchange.

Without any trace of bitterness or regret he remarked that today’s riders although somewhat pampered and making more money in comparison to his day, they still do not make as much as tennis players for example.

 He also remarked that professional cyclists train longer and harder than most athletes because they compete in one of the toughest sports in the world.

On his rivalry with the other Swiss rider Hugo Koblet (Above on left with Kubler leading.) the writer of this piece remarked as I had done here two yers ago,it is impossible to comment about one without the other. Whether this was because they were both from Zurich, Switzerland, or simply because their last names were so similar.

The writer of the article remarked, and I have left the literal translation:

The two were neither friends nor enemies, but are inseparable in the collective memory. Their rivalry has benefited as one to another. Their songs of bravery struck the imagination, impregnated lasting generations.

Unfortunately Hugo Koblet never got to reach the great age of Ferdi Kubler, having died tragically in a car crash in 1964 at the age of 39.

One of the heroes of my youth, I wish this grand old gentleman a very happy birthday, and the question I have as I write this is, why was Ferdi Kubler not honored during this year's Tour de France? Especially during the stages that went through Switzerland?

I have also previously written about Koblet here, and there is a video of one of his epic battles with Italian, Fausto Coppi.

Update: Ferdi Kubler passed away on 29th December 2016. I wrote a tribute on the 30th. Dec. 2016