Ferdinand Kübler
 Kübler at the 1954 Tour de France | |||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ferdinand Kübler | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Ferdi, The Cowboy, The Eagle of Adliswil, Mr 100,000 Volts[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
24 July 1919 Marthalen, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | ||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Allround | ||||||||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1945–1947 | Cilo | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1948–1957 | Tebag | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1948–1949 | Peugeot-Dunlop | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1949 | Bartali | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1949–1952 | Frejus | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1952–1955 | Fiorelli | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1953–1955 | La Perle-Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1956 | Carpano-Coppi | ||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
Infobox last updated on 16 April 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=icon}
.svg.png){kind=icon}
.svg.png){kind=icon}
Ferdinand "Ferdi" Kübler (pronounced [ˈfɛrdinand ˈkyːblər]; born 24 July 1919) is a retired Swiss cyclist with more than 400 professional victories, including the 1950 Tour de France and the 1951 World Road Race Championship.
Biography
Kubler was born in Marthalen. He began racing professionally in 1940 but his early career was limited to Switzerland by the Nazi occupation elsewhere. He was multiple Swiss national champion and a three time winner of the Tour de Suisse.
Kubler's most successful years in international racing were 1950–1952, when the classics had resumed after the Second World War. He won the La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, both in 1951 and 1952, in a time where these races were still contested in the same weekend.[2] He was also World Road Race Champion in 1951, having placed second in 1949 and third in 1950.
He rode the Giro d'Italia from 1950–1952, placing fourth once, and third twice. Kubler abandoned the 1947 and 1949 Tours de France, despite an early stage win in each. In the 1950 Tour, he benefited from the absence of Fausto Coppi, sidelined after a crash in the Giro. Overcoming Gino Bartali, Kubler became champion by over nine minutes, also winning three stages. In the 1954 Tour, Kubler won the points jersey and came second behind Louison Bobet.[3]
Kubler was a high-spirited and impulsive rider sometimes given to strategically unwise attacks, out of exuberance and competitive drive. He was known as "the cowboy" because of his penchant for Stetson hats. He retired from racing in 1957 at 38. He is the oldest living Tour de France winner.[4]
Career achievements
Major results
Source:[5]
- 1940
national pursuit champion- 1941
- national pursuit champion
- national mountain champion
- 1942
- national mountain champion
- Tour de Suisse
- 1943
- national pursuit champion
- 1945
- national cyclo-cross champion
- 1947
- Tour de France:
- Winner stages 1 and 5
- Wearing yellow jersey for one day
- Paris-Lille
- 1948
- national road race champion
- Tour de Suisse
- Tour de Romandie
- 1949
- Tour de France:
- Winner stage 5
- national road race champion
- 1950
- Challenge Desgrande-Colombo
- Trophée Edmond Gentil
- national road race champion
- Tour de France:
:Winner overall classification- Winner stages 6, 10 and 20
- 1951
- national road race champion
- World road champion
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- Tour de Romandie
- Flèche Wallonne
- Week-end Ardennais
- Tour de Suisse
- Rome-Naples-Rome
- 1952
- Challenge Desgrande-Colombo
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- Flèche Wallonne
- Week-end Ardennais
- 1953
- Bordeaux–Paris
- 1954
- national road race champion
- Challenge Desgrande-Colombo
- Tour de France:
- 2nd place overall classification
- Winner stages 5 and 14
Winner points classification
- 1956
- Milan-Turin
Grand Tour results timeline
| 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro | DNE | DNE | DNE | 4 | 3 | 3 | DNF | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Mountains classification | — | — | — | NR | NR | NR | NR | — | — |
| Points classification | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Tour | DNF-7 | DNE | DNF-18 | 1 | DNE | DNE | DNE | 2 | DNF-12 |
| Stages won | 2 | — | 1 | 3 | — | — | — | 2 | 0 |
| Mountains classification | NR | — | NR | 4 | — | — | — | 6 | 17 |
| Points classification | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | NR | 1 | NR |
| Vuelta | DNE | DNE | N/A | DNE | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Stages won | — | — | — | ||||||
| Mountains classification | — | — | — | ||||||
| Points classification | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1 | Winner |
| 2–3 | Top three-finish |
| 4–10 | Top ten-finish |
| 11– | Other finish |
| DNE | Did Not Enter |
| DNF-x | Did Not Finish (retired on stage x) |
| DNS-x | Did Not Start (no started on stage x) |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| N/A | Race/classification not held |
| NR | Not Ranked in this classification |
References
- ↑ Clarke, Stuart (5 November 2015). "13 of the strangest nicknames in cycling". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ↑ O'Rourke, Eddy (June 2013). "Six Degrees of Ferdi Kubler". Cycling revealed.
- ↑ "Rider Biographies – Ferdi Kubler". Cycling hall of fame.
- ↑ Boyce, Barry (2010). "Tour de France Champions Living and Dead". Cycling revealed. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ↑ Ferdinand Kübler profile at Cycling Archives
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ferdi Kübler. |
