oldest winner of the Tour de France, Federico Bahamontes is dead

Nicknamed “the Eagle of Toledo”, Federico Bahamontes left to join the skies. The cyclist, first Spanish winner of the Tour de France in 1959, and six times best climber of the Grande Boucle died on Tuesday August 8 at the age of 95.

Federico Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France in 1959, died at the age of 95, the mayor of Toledo announced on Tuesday, where the rider considered one of the best climbers in history was from.

“It is with deep sadness that we mourn the loss of Federico Martín Bahamontes, the Eagle of Toledo, a reference in the sport that took the name of our city to the highest“, said Carlos Velázquez on his Twitter account, now renamed “X”.

“The first Spaniard to win the Tour de France is part of our country’s sporting history, with more than 74 victories to his nameadded the mayor. The city has also decreed two days of official mourning, the town hall said on its website.

Bahamontes, forever in history

Born on July 9, 1928 in Santo Domingo near Toledo, Bahamontes definitely entered the history of cycling on July 18, 1959 by winning the Tour de France.

The “Aigle de Tolède”, nickname given by a French journalist, participated in its first Tour in 1954 and won the mountain classification six times (1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964) in ten participations in the large loop.

Winner of the Vuelta twice (1954 and 1957), he remained at the top in his thirties and relaunched his career under the authority of his sporting director Raoul Rémy.

During the Anquetil years, “Fede” featured twice more (2nd in 1963, 3rd in 1964) on the Tour podium, the race that best suited this rider who loved the scorching temperatures.

If he won eleven mountain stages in the three big tours (7 in France, 1 in Italy, 3 in Spain), he was however limited by his poor skills as a downhiller at a time when arrivals at the top were less frequent.

“If he had been born 20 years later, he would have doubled his score“, estimated Pierre Chany, the journalist of reference of the time.

“Legend of our sport, he was the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France, an event that also consecrated him as one of the best climbers in history.“, also said the Spanish Cycling Federation in a message posted on Twitter.

After his retirement, Bahamontes remained involved in cycling as a team manager and then manager of the Vuelta a Toledo. He also ran his own bike shop.