le grimpeur

Charly Gaul - part 21
Guy WR posted in Climbers on January 29th, 2007

As mentioned in part 1, Charly Gaul has several interesting connections to modern racing.

First, his climbing style. By historical accounts, Gaul may have been the first to pioneer high-cadence pedalling for climbing, ahead of the approach developed by Chris Carmichael and Lance Armstrong (apparently inspired by Miguel Indurain). Observers speak of Gaul’s gear choice, a metronomic spin, and immovable upper body to minimise wasted energy.
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Charly Gaul - part 10
Guy WR posted in Climbers on January 22nd, 2007

Charly Gaul, by all accounts, was an enigmatic rider. Perhaps the first modern climbing specialist, ‘the winged climber’ raced amid the golden post-1945 era of Bobet, Geminiani, Bahamontes, and Anquetil. Gaul’s incredible climbing feats were punctuated, however, by boughts of anonymity in the peloton and his eventual disappearance from cycling altogether.
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Climbing l’Alpe d’Huez0
Guy WR posted in Classic Climbs on January 17th, 2007

After around 38 minutes on the road to the summit of l’Alpe d’Huez, I’m at corner seven (virage 7 in local parlance) where thousands of savagely crazed Dutch cycling fans will in a few days gather to cheer on their local heroes for this year’s Tour de France.

Up ahead, seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong has just stepped off his bike at the top of the climb and is looking for a cold beer. At least he would be if he’d started at the bottom alongside me, and if he rode the 37 minutes and 36 seconds he rode in the 2004 time trial.
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