View source for Hugo Koblet

{{Short description|Swiss cyclist (1925–1964)}}
{{redirect|Koblet|other people named Koblet|Koblet (surname)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox cyclist
| name          = Hugo Koblet
| image         = Hugo Koblet 1956.jpg
| caption       = Koblet at the 1956 [[Ronde van Nederland]]
| full_name     = Hugo Koblet
| nickname      = Beautiful Hugo<br>''Le pédaleur de charme'' (The charming pedaler)
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1925|03|21|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Zürich]], [[Switzerland]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1964|11|06|1925|03|21|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Uster]], [[Canton of Zurich]], Switzerland
| height        =
| weight        =
| currentteam   =
| discipline    = Road and Track
| role          = Rider
| ridertype     = Climber
| amateuryears1 =
| amateurteam1  =
| proyears1     = 1946
| proteam1      = Amberg/Mercier-R. Lapebie
| proyears2     = 1947
| proteam2      = Amberg/Fuchs
| proyears3     = 1948
| proteam3      = Tebag/Fiorelli
| proyears4     = 1949
| proteam4      = Cilo
| proyears5     = 1950–1954
| proteam5      = Cilo/Guerra/La Perle-Hutchinson
| proyears6     = 1955
| proteam6      = Faema/Cilo
| proyears7     = 1956
| proteam7      = Cilo/Saint Raphaël-R. Geminiani-Dunlop
| proyears8     = 1958
| proteam8      = Cilo
| proyears9     = 1959
| proteam9      = Cilo/Ghigi
| majorwins     = '''[[Grand Tour (cycling)|Grand Tours]]'''
:'''[[Tour de France]]'''
::[[General classification in the Tour de France|General classification]] ([[1951 Tour de France|1951]])
:'''[[Giro d'Italia]]'''
::[[General classification in the Giro d'Italia|General classification]] ([[1950 Giro d'Italia|1950]])
:: [[Mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia|Mountain classification]] ([[1950 Tour de France|1950]])
}}

'''Hugo Koblet''' ({{IPA|de|ˈhuːɡo ˈkoːblɛt|pron}}; 21 March 1925 – 6 November 1964<ref>[https://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/CyclismeFicheCoureur1909.html Cyclisme : la fiche coureur de HUGO KOBLET]. Lequipe.fr (23 July 2014). Retrieved on 2015-08-05.</ref>) was a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] champion [[cycle sport|cyclist]]. He won the [[Tour de France]] and the [[Giro d'Italia]] as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a professional.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716231938/http://velopalmares.free.fr/koblet.htm Hugo Koblet]. velopalmares.free.fr</ref> He died in a car accident amid speculation that he had committed suicide.

==Origins==

Hugo Koblet was the son of Adolf and Héléna Koblet,<ref name="multimania1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20130502030048/http://membres.multimania.fr/davidrouzeau/koblet-kubler.html LES GRANDS DUELS DU TOUR (3) Koblet-Kubler : le seigneur et le pirate]. ''Le Monde''. 2 July 2003.</ref> bakers in [[Zürich]]. He lived with his mother, a widow, and with an elder brother. His brother baked bread and cakes and Hugo was restricted to sweeping the floor and making deliveries by bicycle.<ref name=sc>Sporting Cyclist, UK, 1965</ref> He left the bakery at 17 and worked as a trainee mechanic at the Oerlikon velodrome in the city. His first race was a 10&nbsp;km hill-climb, which he won. That caught the attention of [[Leo Amberg|Léo Amberg]], a Swiss former Tour de France rider who had come second in the Tour of Switzerland. Amberg insisted Koblet ride the track and Koblet became national amateur pursuit champion in 1945. He turned  professional in 1946 and won the New York and Chicago six-day races. It was after the races that he developed a love of the United States, driving to California and Florida. He had learned English by watching American and British films.<ref name=sc/> 
He won the Swiss pursuit championship every year from 1947 to 1954. In 1947 he finished third and in 1951 and 1954 second in the world championship.

[[File:Hugo Koblet-Weg.jpg|thumb|left|The road to the Oerlikon vélodrome in Zürich is named after Koblet.]]

==Professional success==
Koblet won the 1950 Swiss road championship and then became the first non-[[Italy|Italian]] to win the [[1950 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]].<ref name="Cycling Plus, UK, September 1999">Cycling Plus, UK, September 1999</ref><ref name=sc/> In 1951 he defeated [[Fausto Coppi]] to win the [[Grand Prix des Nations]], an [[individual time trial]] with the status of unofficial world championship. The most important victory came that year at the [[1951 Tour de France|Tour de France]]. He won overall and took five stages – two time-trials, two conventional stages and another in the mountains.<ref name=lm>Le Monde, France, 29 July 1951</ref> In 1951 he "rode the best off his wheel" between [[Brive]] and [[Agen]], said ''Cycling Plus'', "just 20 miles into the stage, then covered 88 miles on his own to win by three minutes. This was despite a frantic chase by such greats as triple Tour winner [[Louison Bobet]], double winner [[Gino Bartali]] and [[Fausto Coppi]]." The time differences when the Tour ended at the [[Parc des Princes]] meant he had beaten [[Raphaël Géminiani]] by 12&nbsp;km, [[Lucien Lazaridès]] by 18, Bartali by 18 and Coppi by 27.<ref name=lm/>

===1951 Tour de France===
The 1951 Tour de France started in [[Metz]], the second time outside Paris. The main riders were Louison Bobet for France, Fausto Coppi and an ageing Gino Bartali for Italy. Coppi was hindered by grief at the death of his brother, Serse.<ref>[http://jeanpaulbrouchon-cyclisme.typepad.fr/info_courses/2009/07/hugo-koblet-tour-de-france-1951-les-petites-histoires-du-tour.html Hugo Koblet seul contre tous, Tour de France 1951 – Les petites histoires du Tour (Cyclisme Info par Jean-Paul Brouchon)]. Jeanpaulbrouchon-cyclisme.typepad.fr (14 July 2012). Retrieved on 2015-08-05.</ref> Both Coppi and Bobet were pushed out of the running when Koblet won the time-trial from La Guerche to Angers. Their position was confirmed four days later when Koblet attacked on a gentle descent after two hours of the stage from Brive to Agen, a day expected to be a quiet journey towards the Pyrenees. He won again at Luchon, Montpellier and Geneva.

==Decline and death==
Hugo Koblet was a handsome man whose fame brought beautiful women and a lifestyle that affected his career. He was "the most charming of men to talk to", said [[Jock Wadley]].<ref name=sc2>''Sporting Cyclist'', UK, December 1964</ref> [[René de Latour]] wrote in ''[[Sporting Cyclist]]'': "Koblet had not an enemy at all. His ready and kindly smile came from deep down inside, and one knows from the start that this was a man without rancour, a rare thing to say of anybody who has raced in top competition on the road where the intense physical struggle often leads to jealousy and dispute."<ref name=sc2/>

He never rode again at the same level as the 1951 Tour de France.<ref name="autogenerated84">Dazat, Olivier (1987), Seigneurs et Forçats du Vélo, Calmann-Lévy, France, {{ISBN|978-2-7021-1615-9}}, p84</ref> [[Jean Bobet]] said Koblet began to suffer in the mountains at 2,000m, then 1,500, then at 1,000 until "we saw him unable to ride over the smallest hill.".<ref>Cited Dazat, Olivier (1987), Seigneurs et Forçats du Vélo, Calmann-Lévy, France, {{ISBN|978-2-7021-1615-9}}, p84</ref> The author Olivier Dazat said photographs showed not the handsome man he had been but a rider suddenly aged, worried and preoccupied.<ref name="autogenerated84"/> René de Latour wrote: "There is a question mark about Hugo Koblet's life, the mystery of why he was never as good again as in the 1951 Tour. After this year, his pedalling had less power. Soon after that magnificent win, Koblet was invited to Mexico to follow the national amateur tour.<ref>Some sources say he raced there</ref> When he came back he was still, it seemed, the same incredibly easy pedaller. But the efficiency was partly gone. He visited specialists and took courses of treatment, but without any real success. He went to Mexico in 1951 [and] never came back from the land of guitars and sombreros. And nobody knows why!"<ref name=sc/>

In 1953 he was back in good shape and finished second in the [[1953 Giro d'Italia|Giro]], when [[Fausto Coppi|Coppi]] attacked and left him behind on the climb up the [[Stelvio Pass]]; in the [[1954 Giro d'Italia|1954 Giro]] he had to help his [[domestique]] [[Carlo Clerici]] who whas unexpectedlky leading the race, and finished again in second place. He retired from competition in 1958.

Six years after his retirement, Koblet died at 39, four days after a car crash, with speculation that his death may have been [[suicide]]. He had been profligate with his money<ref name=eq>L'Équipe, France, 24 June 2003</ref>  and was in debt. He was being pursued for unpaid tax<ref name=eq/> and his marriage had broken up. A witness, Émile Isler, saw Koblet driving his white [[Alfa Romeo]] at 120–140 kmh.<ref name=eq/><ref name="autogenerated84"/> between Zürich and [[Esslingen, Switzerland|Esslingen]]. He drove past a pear tree, turned then drove back. He passed it again finally turned a third time and drove into it.<ref>Ollivier, Jean-Paul, Hugo Koblet, le pédaleur de charme, Éditions Glénat, France</ref>

==Personal life==
Koblet married a 22-year-old model, Sonja Buhl, in 1953.<ref name=eq/> They spent their honeymoon in Spain and bought a villa at Forch, overlooking the lake at Zürich. [[Pirelli]] and [[Alfa-Romeo]] employed him in South America but the couple returned, Koblet disappointed and confused.<ref name=eq/> The marriage began to break up. His confusion included forgetting that he had signed a contract for 7 million [[Italian lira|lire]] for a comb to be made in his name in Italy.<ref name=eq/> He and Sonja parted and Koblet moved alone into a studio apartment alongside a garage he opened near the Oerlikon velodrome.

He asked Buhl for a reconciliation in 1964 but she refused.<ref name=eq/> It was later that year that he died. Buhl refused her husband's inheritance rather than take on his debts.<ref name=eq/>

==Nickname==
Koblet always carried a comb and a bottle of [[eau de cologne]] when he raced, sometimes combing his hair before the finish, always cleaning his face before meeting photographers.<ref name=cp>Cycling Plus, UK, July 1999</ref><ref>[http://legenducyclisme.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/hugo-koblet-le-pedaleur-de-charme-de-jpo/ Hugo Koblet, le Pédaleur de Charme de JPO | Histoire et Légende du cyclisme]. Legenducyclisme.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2015.</ref> Philippe Brunel wrote in [[L'Equipe]] that at the end of his long ride to Agen in 1951, "followers  were astonished to see him sit up, blow kisses to girls and take out of his pocket a sponge soaked in water. He was barely across the line when he rinsed his face in [[Perrier]],<ref>Perrier employed a man to hand out bottles of its mineral water at the finish of races, so that riders would be pictured drinking from them</ref> combed his hair, then started his stopwatch."<ref name=eq/> The music hall artist Jacques Grello nicknamed him the ''Pédaleur de Charme'' in ''Parisien Libéré'' in 1951.<ref name=sc/><ref name="Cycling Plus, UK, September 1999"/><ref name="autogenerated84"/>

==Film==
Koblet's life was the subject of a cinema film, ''Hugo Koblet: Pédaleur de Charme'', in 2010. It starred Manuel Löwensberg as Koblet, Sarah Bühlmann as his wife Sonja Buhl, Chantal Le Moign and Dominique Müller.<ref>[http://www.swissfilms.ch/fr/film_search/filmdetails/-/id_film/2146532858 SWISS FILMS: Hugo Koblet – Pédaleur de charme]. Swissfilms.ch. Retrieved on 5 August 2015.</ref> It attributed his decline to "doping abuse."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120315170152/http://www.hugokoblet.ch/synopsis/ Synopsis]. hugokoblet.ch</ref> It was directed by Daniel von Aarburg, who included archive film and interviews with Koblet's contemporaries.

==Anecdote==
:In 1951, I was 18. One evening after the race ended, I was hanging about outside a hotel hoping to see the riders when the boss asked me to carry Koblet's suitcases to his room. I was so proud! For me, he was the greatest of them all. Well, when I went back downstairs again, I met him. He thanked me very politely and gave me two Swiss francs, an enormous amount at the time. I kept the coin for a long time, like a good-luck charm, swearing I would never spend it. And I only did, three years later, to buy a copy of ''Miroir Sprint'' which had [[Ferdi Kubler]], my other idol, on the cover.
:'' – Willy Schweizer, former president of the Swiss cycling union, 52 years later.''<ref name="multimania1"/>

==Career achievements==
===Major results===
====Road====
{{palmares start}}
;1947 
:1st Baden Criterium
:1st Le Locle
:1st Nyon Criterium
:1st Oftringen Criterium
:1st Stage 1a (TTT) [[Tour de Romandie]]
:1st Stage 1a [[1947 Tour de Suisse|Tour de Suisse]]
:3rd [[Zürich–Lausanne]]

;1948 
:1st Genève Criterium
:1st [[GP Lausanne]]
:1st Stage 4b [[Tour de Romandie]]
:1st Stage 5 [[1948 Tour de Suisse|Tour de Suisse]]

;1949 
:1st Stage 3 [[Tour de Romandie]]

;1950 
:1st [[File:Jersey pink.svg|20px]] Overall [[1950 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]]
::1st [[File:Jersey green.svg|20px]] Mountains classification
::1st Stages 6 & 8
:1st Overall [[1950 Tour de Suisse|Tour de Suisse]]
::1st Stages 4a, 4b & 6
:1st [[GP de Suisse]]
:1st Aarau Criterium
:1st [[GP von Basel]]
:1st Payerne Criterium
:2nd Overall [[Tour de Romandie]]
:6th [[Trofeo Baracchi]]

;1951 
:1st [[File:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] Overall [[1951 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
::1st Stages 7, 11, 14, 16 & 22
:1st [[Grand Prix des Nations]]
:1st [[GP de Suisse]]
:1st Azencriterium
:1st Genève Criterium
:1st Genève (TTT)
:1st [[Neuchâtel–Genève]]
:1st Vallorbe Criterium
:1st Brussel Criterium
:2nd Overall [[1951 Tour de Suisse|Tour de Suisse]]
::1st Stages 2 & 7
:2nd Overall [[Tour de Romandie]]
:6th Overall [[1951 Giro d'Italia)|Giro d'Italia)]]
::1st Stage 19

;1952 
:1st Meisterschaft von Zürich
:2nd Overall [[Tour de Romandie]]
::1st Stage 4
:8th Overall [[1952 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]]

;1953 
:1st [[File:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] Overall [[Tour de Romandie]]
::1st Stages 1, 2 & 3a
:1st [[File:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] Overall [[Tour de Suisse]]
::1st Stages 3, 6 & 8
:1st Neuhausem
:Alvalade Track Race
::1st Individual Pursuit
::1st Omnium
:1st Stages 2b & 3 [[Roma–Napoli–Roma]]
:2nd Overall [[1953 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]]
::1st Stage 8

;1954 
:1st [[GP de Suisse]]
:1st Meisterschaft von Zürich
:1st [[Cagliari–Sassari]]
:1st Winterthur
:1st [[GP Martini]]
:1st Stage 3a [[Roma–Napoli–Roma]]
:1st Stage 4a [[1954 Tour de France|Tour de France]]
:2nd Overall [[1954 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]]
::1st Stages 15 & 21
:3rd Overall [[Driedaagse van Antwerpen]]
::1st Stages 1a & 3b
:4th [[Trofeo Baracchi]]

;1955 
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Road Race, National Road Championships
:1st [[File:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] Overall [[Tour de Suisse]]
::1st Stage 2
:1st [[Giro del Ticino]]
:1st Sète
:1st Ussel
:1st Winterthur
:2nd Overall [[Tour de Romandie]]
::1st Stage 3b
:2nd [[1955 Tour of Flanders|Tour of Flanders]]
:10th Overall [[1955 Giro d'Italia|Giro d'Italia]]
::1st Stage 21

;1956 
:1st Stage 9 [[1956 Vuelta a España|Vuelta a España]]

;1957 
:1st Cagliari
:3rd Overall [[Tour de Romandie]]

;1958 
:1st Stage 1 [[Clasico El Colombiano]]
{{palmares end}}

====Track====
{{palmares start}}
;1945 
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Amateur Track Championships

;1946 
:2nd Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships

;1947 
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:3rd Individual Pursuit, [[UCI Track Cycling world Championships]]

;1948
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:1st Chicago Six Days

;1949
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:1st New York City Six Days

;1950
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:1st Hannover Six Days

;1951
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships

;1952
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:1st Dortmund Six Days I
:1st Dortmund Six Days II
:1st Frankfurt am Main Six Days

;1953
:1st [[File:UEC Champion Jersey.svg|20px]] Individual Pursuit, [[European Track Cycling Championships]]
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:1st Brussel Six Days
:1st Frankfurt am Main Six Days

;1954
:1st [[File:UEC Champion Jersey.svg|20px]] Madison, [[European Track Cycling Championships]]
:1st [[File:MaillotSuiza.svg |20px]] Individual Pursuit, National Track Championships
:1st Zürich Six Days

;1955
:1st Dortmund Six Days

;1957
:1st Madison, Prix Houlier-Comès

{{palmares end}}

=== Grand Tour results timeline ===
{| class="wikitable"
|- 
|
! scope="col" | 1950
! scope="col" | 1951
! scope="col" | 1952
! scope="col" | 1953
! scope="col" | 1954
! scope="col" | 1955
! scope="col" | 1956
|-
![[Giro d'Italia]]
|  style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"| 1
|  style="text-align:center; background:#eee8aa;"| 6
|  style="text-align:center; background:#eee8aa;"| 8
|  style="text-align:center; background:thistle;"| 2
|  style="text-align:center; background:thistle;"| 2
|  style="text-align:center; background:#eee8aa;"| 10
| style="text-align:center;"|DNE
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Stages won
| style="text-align:center;"| 2
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 0
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
| style="text-align:center;"| 2
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Mountains classification
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Points classification
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A
|-
![[Tour de France]]
| style="text-align:center;"|DNE
|  style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"| [[1951 Tour de France|1]]
| style="text-align:center;"|DNE
|  style="text-align:center; background:#aaa;"| [[1953 Tour de France|DNF-10]]
|  style="text-align:center; background:#aaa;"| [[1954 Tour de France|DNF-13]]
| style="text-align:center;"|DNE
| style="text-align:center;"|DNE
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Stages won
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 5
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 0
| style="text-align:center;"| 0
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Mountains classification
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|  style="text-align:center; background:thistle;"| 3
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Points classification
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
| style="text-align:center;"| —
|-
![[Vuelta a España]]
| style="text-align:center;"| DNE
| rowspan="4"  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
| rowspan="4"  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
| rowspan="4"  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
| rowspan="4"  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
| style="text-align:center;"| DNE
|  style="text-align:center; background:#aaa;"| DNF
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Stages won
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| 1
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Mountains classification
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| —
| style="text-align:center;"| NR
|-
| style="text-align:right;"|Points classification
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A 
|  style="text-align:center; color:#888888;"| N/A
|}
{{grandtourlegend}}

==References==

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== External links ==
*{{Cycling Archives|8440}}
*[http://histo.letour.fr/HISTO/us/TDF/coureur/3200.html Official Tour de France results for Hugo Koblet]
*[http://www.cyranos.ch/koblet-e.htm Portrait and autograph of Hugo Koblet]

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{succession box|before={{flagicon|SUI}} [[Armin Scheurer]]|title=[[Swiss Sportspersonality of the year|Swiss Sportsman of the Year]]|years=1951|after= {{flagicon|SUI}} [[Josef Stalder]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Tour de France Yellow Jersey}}
{{Giro d'Italia general classification winners}}
{{Tour de Suisse winners}}
{{Giro d'Italia mountains classification winners}}
{{Swiss National Road Race Championships (men)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koblet, Hugo}}
[[Category:Swiss male cyclists]]
[[Category:Tour de France winners]]
[[Category:Swiss Tour de France stage winners]]
[[Category:Giro d'Italia winners]]
[[Category:Swiss Giro d'Italia stage winners]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Cyclists from Zurich]]
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:Tour de Suisse stage winners]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss sportsmen]]