July 4th, 1952

On this date in 1952 the Tour visited L'Alpe d'Huez for
the first time. It was a huge stage, 266km beginning
in Lausanne, Switzerland. It took almost 9 hours to
complete. Switchback 1 is named for the victor that day,
Fausto Coppi. He took the yellow jersey that day and
would keep it all the way to Paris, where his margin
over Belgium's Stan Ockers was a mind boggling 28 minutes.
It was the second time he had won the Giro-Tour double.

Coppi had the kind of class that racing cyclists dream
about.

Bob Schwartz

Bob Schwartz wrote:
On this date in 1952 the Tour visited L'Alpe d'Huez for
the first time. It was a huge stage, 266km beginning
in Lausanne, Switzerland. It took almost 9 hours to
complete. Switchback 1 is named for the victor that day,
Fausto Coppi. He took the yellow jersey that day and
would keep it all the way to Paris, where his margin
over Belgium's Stan Ockers was a mind boggling 28 minutes.
It was the second time he had won the Giro-Tour double.

Coppi had the kind of class that racing cyclists dream
about.

Bob Schwartz

Hey Bob, you channeling Benjo?
And that's a compliment.
Bill C

Bill C wrote:

Hey Bob, you channeling Benjo?
And that's a compliment.
Bill C


bob knows a ton about bike racing himself (not trying to set up a
deathmatch here, just sayin

h

h squared wrote:
Bill C wrote:

Hey Bob, you channeling Benjo?
And that's a compliment.
Bill C


bob knows a ton about bike racing himself (not trying to set up a
deathmatch here, just sayin

h
Never had any doubt about Bob's knowledge. This just could've been a
Benjo post and we're lucky to have both of them around.
Bill C

Bill C wrote:
Hey Bob, you channeling Benjo?
And that's a compliment.
Bill C

One is only as good as one's reference materials. Benjo
kicks ass in that department.

http://www.kenpapai.com/cycling/rbr/maso2003.jpg

When Benjo's book comes out in English, I'm on it.

Bob Schwartz

Bob Schwartz wrote:
On this date in 1952 the Tour visited L'Alpe d'Huez for
the first time. It was a huge stage, 266km beginning
in Lausanne, Switzerland. It took almost 9 hours to
complete. Switchback 1 is named for the victor that day,
Fausto Coppi. He took the yellow jersey that day and
would keep it all the way to Paris, where his margin
over Belgium's Stan Ockers was a mind boggling 28 minutes.
It was the second time he had won the Giro-Tour double.

http://anonymous.coward.free.fr/rbr/tdf-timegap.png
http://anonymous.coward.free.fr/rbr/tdf-dominance.png

Robert Chung wrote:
http://anonymous.coward.free.fr/rbr/tdf-dominance.png

In 1961 there were two stages the first day. After stage 1b Anquetil was
in yellow and held it until the end of the race.

"Bill C" schreef in bericht
oups.com...


h squared wrote:
Bill C wrote:

Hey Bob, you channeling Benjo?
And that's a compliment.
Bill C


bob knows a ton about bike racing himself (not trying to set up a
deathmatch here, just sayin

h
Never had any doubt about Bob's knowledge. This just could've been a
Benjo post and we're lucky to have both of them around.
Bill C


Or Martin Ros could have started posting.