Charly Gaul

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Charly Gaul, 1998

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

Cycling career

He already proved his qualities as a strong mountain rider as an amateur . On the Tour of Austria in 1951 and 1952 he was the Großglockner King , ie he was the first to cross the Großglockner on the stage. Gaul started cycling in 1949. The professional career of the mountain specialist called "Angel of the Mountains" lasted from 1953 to 1965. In addition to his victory in the Tour de France in 1958 , Gaul achieved two third places in this Grand Tour in 1955 and 1961 . In 1955 and 1956 he also won the mountain classification . In 1956 and 1959 Gaul won the Giro d'Italia . In total, he achieved ten stage victories in the Tour de France and eleven stage victories in the Giro d'Italia. At the UCI Road World Championships in 1954 , he finished third. He was voted “ Sportsman of the Year ” in Luxembourg four times . In 1999 the Luxembourg sports press voted him Sportsman of the Century .

After the sport

After his resignation, Gaul opened a bar near Luxembourg Central Station. After six months, however, he left the bar and his wife and retired to the woods of the Ardennes . There he lived for two decades like a hermit without electricity or running water, in a hut filled with Christian symbols. After 20 years he returned to Luxembourg, married a second time and had a daughter. He never made a public statement for 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 there after falling at his home in Itzig.

The Nelux team in the stadium in 1958, horse in front

Successes (selection)

1954
1955
  • Tour du Sud-Est
1956
1957
  • Luxembourg Championship
1958
1959;
1960
  • Luxembourg Championship
1961
1962
  • Luxembourg Championship

Literature on the subject

  • Roland Barthes : The Tour de France as an epic . In: Gunter Gebauer, Gerd Hortleder (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 . Edition 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 of Charly Gaul. Éditions Saint-Paul, Luxembourg 2006, ISBN 2-87963-597-7 . (French version: La saga Charly Gaul )
  • Chrëscht Beneké: Luxembourg athlete of the 20th century. 50s. Éditions Revue, Luxembourg 2009, ISBN 2-919999-56-7 .
  • Francois Mersch: Uphill, downhill with Charly Gaul. Publisher Francois Mersch, Luxembourg, 1975.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Glaner: Triumphs and Tragedies . Part 2. Bad Vöslau 2009, p. 170 .
  2. ^ Richard Moore: In Search of Robert Millar. HarperCollins, 2007, p. 303.

Web links

Commons : Charly Gaul  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Horse, Charly
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Luxembourgish cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Pfaffenthal
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 2005
Place of death Luxembourg City