Federico Martín Bahamontes, the first great hero of Spanish sport

'El Águila de Toledo', who died at the age of 95, flew over legends such as Jacques Anquetil to win the 1959 Tour de France

MADRID, 8 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

It was 1959. Real Madrid had just lifted their fourth consecutive European Cup. Spain was beginning to emerge from the straits caused by the Civil War and one of those post-war children, Federico Martín Bahamontes, became the first legend on July 18, an extra pay day for the Spaniards in commemoration of the coup d'état. of Spanish sport.

Born on July 9, 1928 in the Toledo town of Santo Domingo-Caudilla as Alejandro, it was one of his uncles, named Federico, who decided that he would go down in history with his name. He trained as a carpentry apprentice, but his love for two wheels began to take shape in the bicycle workshop of cyclist Moisés Alonso.

On the bicycle he completed his income, in a time of economic hardship, with the black market, and those long distances of more than 30 kilometers one way and many others back began to shape the cyclist who years later would devastate the mountains.

His first successes came at the end of the forties with the Vuelta a Ávila, where he was proclaimed winner of the general classification and was crowned the best climber, and little by little he took steps until he became a professional in 1954, the year in which he debuted in the round that would make him go down in history: the Tour de France.

There he gained a reputation as an eccentric in the international media when during the 17th stage, after suffering a breakdown on his bicycle and with more than two minutes ahead of his rivals at the top of La Romèyre, he allowed himself to order an ice cream while waiting for assistance. "With two balls," he told the shopkeeper as he held the cone.

He was crowned king of the mountain and his earnings allowed him to open a bicycle shop in his city, whose shield, with a double-headed eagle, would be used by a foreign sports journalist to give Bahamontes his legendary nickname: 'The Eagle of Toledo' .

Meanwhile, in Spain, his enmity with fellow cyclist Jesús Loroño began to be more than evident; His fight was fierce in the 1957 Vuelta a España, which the Biscayan would win ahead of the Toledo, who would take the mountains classification -which he had also achieved the year before in the Giro d'Italia-, an achievement that he would repeat in 1958 in the Spanish round and in the gala.

His career took a radical turn during a hunting game with greyhounds in Toledo with the legendary Fausto Coppi, who convinced him that he did not have to settle for the mountains and that he had plenty of conditions to reign in the general classification of the 'Grande Boucle'. '. In the ranks of Tricofilina-Coppi he faced the 1959 Vuelta, in which he ended up abandoning, but the seed was planted.

The Tour was run with national teams, and in 1959 he still had to face another scandal; the coach Dalmacio Langarica chose Bahamontes and Antonio Suárez as leaders, which led to the resignation of Loroño, who was even sanctioned with two months without competing for assaulting the coach.

Cycling competition held in Spain in which Federico Bahamontes and Jacques Anquetil participated, among which there was great competition for titles at the European level - Europa Press Archive

Bahamontes kept the type on the flat, and in the time trial of the fifth stage he mitigated the damage by losing only two minutes with the legendary Jacques Anquetil, who at that time had already won one of his five Tours (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964 ). With the arrival of the Pyrenees, he began to gain ground, and at the Puy de Dôme he delivered the blow in the time trial. In the Alps, on the way to Grenoble, he finally dresses in yellow.

He would no longer let go of the leader's jersey until Paris, where it was confirmed, ahead of the Frenchmen Henry Anglade and Anquetil, the first Spanish champion of the French round, a milestone in a Spain not used to showing off its chest. Upon his arrival in Toledo, he was cheered by an ecstatic crowd as he traversed the streets aboard a convertible car, a tour he replicated in his 2018 tribute.

After that great success, he was second in the 1963 edition of the Tour, behind Anquetil, and third in 1964, also won by 'Maître Jacques' and with Raymond Poulidor second. He retired in 1965, with a record of 11 stage victories in grand tours -seven in the Tour, three in the Vuelta and one in the Giro- and with nine mountain grand prix, six of them in the 'Grande Boucle'. '.

After his retirement, he took charge of his bicycle shop and promoted the organization of the Tour of Toledo, and he only got back on the bike in tribute to the late Luis Ocaña, who followed in his footsteps by winning the 1973 Tour. The French race honored him on the occasion of his centenary by proclaiming him the best climber in its history.

In addition to Ocaña, Pedro Delgado, Miguel Indurain, Óscar Pereiro, Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre emulated his feat by becoming champions of the gala round. For all of them, 'El Águila de Toledo' paved the way.