Carlos de Torres
Madrid, Aug 8 (EFE).- “You can win the Tour. Forget fighting only for the mountains. You have the capacity to win the Tour.” This phrase that the Italian myth Fausto Coppi dedicated to Bahamontes while they were eating crumbs could be the starting point for the Águila de Toledo to achieve an unprecedented feat in cycling and Spanish sport on July 18, 64 years ago. : Won the 1959 Tour de France.
That point of view of the ‘campeonissimo’ was fulfilled in a year of great historical events in Spain. The President of the United States Dwight E. Eisenhower visited our country and the Franco regime inaugurated the Basilica of the Valley of the Fallen 20 years after the end of the civil war.
Spain was still mourning the 144 victims in the Zamora town of Ribadelago when a dam of the Vega de Tera Reservoir burst and needed some joy for that divided, torn society.
On July 18, then the feast of the National Uprising, a gift arrived from Paris. Alejandro Martín Bahamontes, known as Federico because his uncle imposed it that way, became the first great individual hero in the history of Spanish sports.
The press turned to the Toledo cyclist, the son of a road laborer who was a carpenter, harvester, fruit truck unloader and black marketeer. An athlete with a personality “very his”, nonconformist, with high doses of arrogance.
Spain’s sports record reflected Zarra’s goal in 1950, Paulino Uzcudun’s punches and Di Stefano’s Real Madrid European Cups as credentials.
In that post-war Spain, society hardly gave credit to Fede’s feat. She was received by Franco, who told her at the reception in El Pardo that he had “to continue putting the Spanish flag on the highest peaks.” And he listened to the “Generalissimo”. “I have conquered all the ports of the Pyrenees,” said the Eagle a short time ago.
The newspapers also reflected collateral details such as the kiss that his wife, Fermina, dedicated to the champion in the Parc des Princes in Paris. The wife traveled to the French capital with a suitcase and two suits made by a Toledo dressmaker.
“I WAS RUNNING AWAY”
For many, including himself, Bahamontes was a genius, someone without equal. On the bike, a relentless climber capable of winning the Tour mountain prize six times, currently only surpassed by the Frenchman Richard Virenque, with 7 titles.
The Eagle of Toledo received its nickname from a French journalist, as opposed to a rival and climber of the time, the Luxembourger Charlie Gaul, also known as the Flying Angel.
It is remembered from that Tour of 59 that competed for national teams and also the disputes between the riders of the same team. In the Spanish group it was not an exception and the controversy between Bahamontes and Jesús Loroño was famous.
Dalmacio Langarica, the national coach, thought that Bahamontes could win the Tour, but the difficult thing was to convince the Toledo man to obey his orders without question.
“If I go, Loroño doesn’t go.” And Loroño did not go. That summed up who the Eagle was on and off the road.
From that triumph, the legends followed one another, although sometimes with a dose of fantasy. One of them placed Bahamontes at the top of a port calmly eating an ice cream, while he waited for the peloton.
Often volcanic, Bahamontes says that he did not win the Tour of 64 because the Spanish betrayed him, but apparently it was because he “did not listen to anyone” and left Julio Jimémez, with whom he was escaping, stranded. According to Fede, the Spanish helped Anquetil.
Fede was Fede, and there was no other like it. He dominated the passes like no one else, but his ego was of a “special category”, like Galibier and Tourmalet together, almost like Everest.
The Tour de France has always valued his figure, he never forgot to congratulate him on his birthday, coinciding with the race. The “Grande boucle” paid homage to Fede during the race through Girona, in 2008. That day he was shown a huge, mythical photo, where Anquetil and Poulidor appeared crowning the Puy de Dôme, side by side.
“You are not in the photo, Mr. Bahamontes. Where were you?” asked Jean Marie Leblanc, then director of the Tour.
The Eagle flew his wits. “How was I going to appear in the photo, if I was escaping”, he settled.
Bahamontes was the oldest living Tour champion and had just turned 95. In Toledo a sculpture extols his figure, and as long as he was able to speak he always left behind pearls. An encyclopedia of memories, with him always as the main star. “If I had Induráin’s team I would have won seven Tours,” he said.
The legend of Bahamontes as a climber went beyond the sports field. The famous film “Amelie” echoed the triumph of the Águila de Toledo in 1959 and the novel by Miguel Delibes “Five hours with Mario” also alludes to the cyclist.
With Bahamontes a unique copy of Eagle is extinguished. Let no one doubt them, Fede will continue climbing. He will already be searching the highest peaks for Julito Jiménez, another king of the mountain who took to the sky. A watchmaker and an imperial bird. Spanish cycling, up there, will be well represented. EFE
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