Charly Gaul

Charly Gaul ( born December 8, 1932 in Luxembourg - Pfaffenthal; † December 6, 2005 in Luxembourg ) was one of the most successful bike racer Luxembourg. He won the Tour de France in 1958.

Cycling career

In 1949, Gaul started cycling. The professional career of the "Angel of the Mountains" said climbers lasted from 1953 until 1965. Besides his victory in the Tour in 1958 Gaul reached in 1955 and 1961, two third-place finishes in the Tour de France, the most important cycling race in the world. He was the first pure climber, who won the overall victory. In 1955 and 1956 he also won the prize for the best climber. 1956 and 1959 won Gaul in the Giro d'Italia. In total, he scored ten stage victories in the Tour de France stage victories and eleven at the Giro d' Italia. The UCI Road World Championships 1954 he finished third. Five times he was voted "Sportsman of the Year" in Luxembourg. In 1999, the Luxembourg Sports Press named him Sportsman of the Century.

After sports

After his resignation Gaul opened a bar near the main railway station of Luxembourg. After six months, however, he left a bar and a wife and retreated to the forests of the Ardennes. He lived there for two decades as a hermit without electricity and running water, stuffed into a cabin with Christian symbols. After 20 years he returned to Luxembourg, married a second time and was the father of a daughter. He never made ​​a public statement of his previous withdrawal.

Two days before his 73rd birthday Charly Gaul died of a pulmonary embolism in the Zitha Clinic in Luxembourg City. Shortly before, he had been admitted after a fall at his home in Izzy there.

Palmarčs

1954

  • Circuit of 6 Provinces ( 1st place)
  • World Cup (3rd place)

1955

  • Tour de France (3rd place)

1956

  • Luxembourg Championship ( 1st place)
  • Tour du Luxembourg ( 1st place)
  • Giro d' Italia ( 1st place)
  • Tour de France ( 13th place )

1957

  • Luxembourg Championship ( 1st place)
  • Giro d' Italia ( 4th place)

1958

  • Tour de France ( 1st place)
  • Giro d' Italia (3rd place)

1959

  • Giro d' Italia ( 1st place)
  • Tour de France ( 12th place )
  • Tour du Luxembourg ( 1st place)
  • Luxembourg Championship ( 1st place)

1960

  • Luxembourg Championship ( 1st place)
  • Giro d' Italia (3rd place)
  • World Cup ( 7th place)

1961

  • Tour de France (3rd place)
  • Giro d' Italia ( 4th place)
  • Tour du Luxembourg ( 1st place)
  • Luxembourg Championship ( 1st place)

1962

  • Tour de France ( 9th place)
  • Luxembourg Championship ( 1st place)

Literature on the subject

  • Roland Barthes: The Tour de France is an epic. In: Gunter Gebauer, Gerd Hort leather ( ed.): Sport - Eros - death. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-518-11335-6. (Edition Suhrkamp 1335) ( original in French: Le Tour de France comme épopée In: .. Mythologies Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1957, pp. 110-121 )
  • Uphill, downhill with Charly Gaul. Editioun François Mersch, Luxembourg 1959.
  • Christian Laborde: L'ange qui aimait la pluie. Editions Albin Michel, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-226-06977-1.
  • Gaston Zangerlé: Charly Gaul, the angel of the mountains and his time. Éditions Saint -Paul, Luxembourg 1998.
  • Gaston Zangerlé: The Myth Charly Gaul. Éditions Saint -Paul, Luxembourg 2006, ISBN 2-87963-597-7. ( French version: La saga Charly Gaul )
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