Lucien Gillen

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Lucien Gillen (right), 1958

Lucien "Lull" Gillen (born October 7, 1928 in Luxembourg ; † August 11, 2010 ibid) was a Luxembourg cyclist .

Cycling career

He had his first successes on the street as a member of the Pignon Bonneweg association : in 1946 the Débutants title and the Critérium des Jeunes. In 1947 he became a professional driver . For 20 years, from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, Lucien Gillen was one of the most successful professional cyclists in Luxembourg; he was mainly active in track cycling . He was 18 times Luxembourgish champion in sprint and single pursuit . In 1963 he was also national runner-up in road racing.

Gillen was also successful internationally: in 1949 he became vice world champion in the single pursuit of amateurs (behind Fausto Coppi ); 1952 and 1954 each third among the professionals. On November 20, 1955, he also set a world record over five kilometers indoors on the 200-meter-long cycle track in the newly opened “Palazzo dello Sport” in Milan (6:19, 40 min), which was planned by the Münster architects Schürmann . The record lasted only four weeks, however, until it was undercut by Swiss racing driver René Strehler by five seconds.

Lull Gillen started in 116 six-day races ; He drove his first in 1948 in New York a few days after his 20th birthday and finished second, together with the two-time Luxembourg road champion Mathias Clemens . He finished ten six-day races as the winner, six of them with the Italian Ferdinando Terruzzi . He drove his last in 1966 in Milan with Willi Altig , Rudi Altig's brother ,

Job and family

Lucien was the son of the racing driver Maurice Gillen , who started in the sprint at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris . After the end of his active career, Lucien Gillen worked in banking. For many years he was president of Panathlon Luxembourg and of “VC Le Guidon Bartringen”; In 1968 he was the sporting director of the Berlin six-day race . The road race “6-Days Lull Gillen” is held annually in his honor. He was a keen advocate of building a covered velodrome in Luxembourg. He was also a member of the Bartringen municipal council for 15 years and in 2005 received the “Prix d'honneur” from the Luxembourg sports press association. Gillen was married and had two sons. After finishing his career in 1966, he turned to the financial industry. He worked at Credit Europeen, later at CIAL, today's Banque de Luxembourg.

Commitment to a Luxembourg cycling track

After his career, Gillen, who achieved his greatest successes on the track, was one of the driving forces behind the construction of a new cycling track in the Grand Duchy. The Belairer Velodrome track, inaugurated on August 28, 1921 by Luxembourg's Prince Felix (on which Gillen won his national track title), was 333 meters long and was a classic cycling track of its time. It was also a stage destination of the Tour de France in 1947 . In its heyday, it had an audience of 10,000. 1952 began the demolition of the railway, which lasted until 1958. Since then, there has been no cycling track in Luxembourg. Gillen started and supported several initiatives for planning and building a new railway. He argued that Luxembourg had venues for all Olympic sports except track cycling . Several projects that he played a key role in (such as in Cessingen or Kirchberg) could not be realized for financial reasons. The current plans for a velodrome in Mondorf are a late effect of its use.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lull Gillen (81) deceased -. In: tageblatt.lu. August 12, 2010, accessed January 22, 2020 .
  2. ^ Cycling , November 22, 1955
  3. ^ Werner Ruttkus, Wolfgang Schoppe: Round gyro & Berlin air . Self-published by Werner Ruttkus, Zossen 2011, p. 168 .
  4. ↑ Program 62nd Berlin 6-Day Race October 3-9, 1968
  5. ^ Federation du Sport Cycliste Luxemboutgeois (ed.): Guide du Cyclisme 07 . Differdange 2007, p. 29 .
  6. ^ Federation du Sport Cycliste Luxembourgeois (ed.): Guide du Cyclisme . Luxembourg 2003, p. 30-31 .
  7. ↑ A historical project: Plans for the Velodrom in Mondorf presented. Tageblatt Letzeburg, accessed on April 6, 2019 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gillen, Lucien
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gillen, Lull
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Luxembourgish cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Luxembourg
DATE OF DEATH August 11, 2010
Place of death Luxembourg