Philipp Hilbert

Philipp Hilbert (* 26. September 1911 in Frankenthal , † 5. September 1992 ) was a German pro - cyclist .

At the age of 16, Philipp Hilbert started cycling. As a teenager and amateur, he was able to achieve 150 victories on the road and track. In 1929 he became German champion. In 1938 the trained iron caster became a professional; When he was just gaining a foothold in the profession, the Second World War broke out. However, he was not drafted until 1943 as an "essential war worker" in an iron foundry. In Italy he was briefly taken prisoner of war.

After the end of the war, Hilbert initially raced again as an amateur until he switched to the professionals again in 1947. In 1948 he took part in the IRA's Green Belt , a predecessor of the Germany tour . He finished the 1510-kilometer tour as the winner and received the green belt and a 600-mark victory bonus. The year before, Hilbert had won the stage from Düsseldorf to Cologne in the tour , which was held again for the first time after the war in 1947. In later years Hilbert liked to tell the anecdote that the night before this victory he had been dancing until 3 a.m. In 1949 Hilbert won another stage of the Green Belt .

In 1951 Hilbert, known as "Black Gypsy" or "Fips", ended his career as a professional racing driver. He then ran a cigarette and magazine shop with a lottery acceptance point and a company that set up slot machines.

literature

• Wolfgang Kauer: “'E Kalti Flasch Bier' and then back on the pedals”, in: Pfalzsport , No. 4, April 2008, p. 21

Individual evidence

1. ↑ It is not known in which discipline.

Web links

• Philipp Hilbert in the Radsportseiten.net database