1953 UCI Road World Championships

The 1953 UCI Road World Championships took place on August 29 and 30, 1953 in Lugano , Switzerland .

Racing action

On Sunday, August 30th, 70 professional drivers started the fight for the world title. Among them was the 33-year-old Italian Fausto Coppi , who had tried to get the rainbow jersey since 1946 . Now, after seven years, he finally won the title. On the 15 kilometer long hilly circuit of Lugano, the professionals had to master 18 laps and had to drive 270 kilometers in front of around 300,000 mostly Italian spectators.

Coppi, who had to do without the Tour de France this year (the organizers had not invited him due to his superiority), pulled away from the field in the 14th lap, together with the Belgian Germain Derycke . At times, both had a lead of over seven minutes over their pursuers. On the 18th lap, Coppi pulled off an irresistible sprint that the Belgian could not follow. Derycke was also handicapped because the Italian fans stormed the race track behind Coppi and prevented him from catching up with Coppi. He lost another six minutes to the new world champion. Coppi needed an hourly average of 35.2 km / h for his victory. The main field had meanwhile been completely torn apart, between the third Stan Ockers from Belgium and the 16th, the Dutchman Thijs Roks , there were more than seven minutes.

Even the best German Ludwig Hörmann was 14 minutes behind Coppi in 14th place. Of the eight German drivers who started, only Valentin Petry crossed the finish line in 21st place. The German defending champion Heinz Müller was one of the 43 drivers who retired .

For the amateurs , who had to complete 180 kilometers on the first day of the world championships, the world championship became a festival for Italian and Belgian drivers. While the Italians celebrated a double success at the top with Riccardo Filippi and Gastone Nencini , the Belgians, together with Rik Van Looy , were able to place four athletes in the top 10 as third. German amateurs had nothing to do with the course of the race. Filippi drove an hourly average of 36 km / h.

Results

Pros August 30th, 270 km

space	athlete	country	time
1	Fausto Coppi	ITA	7:30:59 h
2	Germain Derycke	BEL	+ 6:22 min
3	Stan Ockers	BEL	+ 7:33 min
4th	Michele Gismondi	ITA	+ 7:34 min
5	Nino Defilippis	ITA	+ 9:11 min
6th	Charly Gaul	LUX	+ 9:12 min
7th	Ferdy Kübler	SUI	+ 12:57 min
8th	Louison Bobet	FRA
9	Raphaël Géminiani	FRA
10	Marcel Ernzer	LUX
11	Martin Van Geneugden	BEL
12	Pasquale Fornara	ITA
13	Wout Wagtmans	NED
14th	Ludwig Hörmann	GER	+ 14:38 min

space	athlete	country	time
15th	Antonin Rolland	FRA	+ 14:38 min
16	Thijs Roks	NED	+ 14:44 min
17th	André Darrigade	FRA	+ 19:39 min
18th	Albéric Schotte	BEL	+ 19:39 min
19th	Andres Trobat	ESP	+ 19:39 min
20th	Gerrit Voorting	NED	+ 19:47 min
21st	Valentin Petry	GER	+ 27:13 min
22nd	Francisco Massip	ESP
23	Bernardo Ruiz	ESP
24	Jesús Loroño	ESP
25th	Adolphe Deledda	FRA
26th	Vincenzo Rossello	ITA
27	David Bedwell	GBR	+ 28:55 min

Amateurs, August 29, 180 km

space	athlete	country	time
1	Riccardo Filippi	ITA	4:59:19 h
2	Gastone Nencini	ITA	4:59:19 h
3	Rik Van Looy	BEL	+ 8 sec
4th	Michel Van Aerde	BEL	?
5	André Noyelle	BEL
6th	Eluf Dalgaard	THE
7th	Francis Gelhausen	LUX
8th	Emiel Van Cauter	BEL
9	Piet van den Brekel	NED
10	Attilio Moresi	SUI

literature

• Helmer Boelsen: The history of the cycling world championship . Covadonga Verlag, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-936973-33-4 , p. 62

See also

• UCI Track World Championships 1953

Web links

• Professionals at www.radsport-seite.de
• Amateurs at www.radsportseiten.net