1959, FROM THE CITY OF LIGHT TO THE ETERNAL CITY

February 27 ^th 2024 - 14:30

ALL TO PLAY FOR IN ITALY (III/IV)

 The Promenade des Anglais finish on 10 March acts as an invitation to July’s Tour de France, where riders will make their final sprint far from Paris for the first time, on Nice’s Place Masséna. A dig through the archives of the “Race to the Sun” reveals that it has something else in common with the Grand Boucle 2024: the 17th edition took the peloton from Paris to Rome via Nice and Florence. At the start of the 1959 season, the “Race of the Two Capitals” saw the aborted duel between Jacques Anquetil and Roger Rivière, the emergence of a new generation with the two winners (yes, two!) Jean Graczyk and Gérard Saint, and a few incredible missed opportunities such as Gastone Nencini's frustrating setback at home in the Tuscan capital. This is a four-part account of an eventful Franco-Italian adventure – and a unique one at that.

The young guard at the helm

The Race to the Sun crossed a border for the first time during the Menton-Ventimiglia stage, with Jean Graczyk wearing the leader’s White Jersey. At 25 years of age, he now carried the hopes of the Helyett-Leroux team on his shoulders. But “Popof” – as he was known in the peloton and in the press – was preparing to absorb the blows coming his way from two kids even younger than him in the Rapha-Géminiani team. Roger Rivière and Gérard Saint, both 23, were mounting a serious offensive on the climb up to La Turbie. Excellent climbers and probably the most in form when it came to the uphill stages, they managed to hold off Graczyk, who still had a decent lead at the finish after ceding a whole minute. Over this short (72 km), high-intensity stage, “the losers of Nice became the winners of Ventimiglia”, as Jacques Marchand of L'Equipe wrote in an article entitled “The revenge of the Saint”. That day, the Normandy native revived his chances of victory. The race between the young wolves was on.

Bobet still going strong

By this stage in his career, Louison Bobet had already acquired the status of French sporting legend. Though his first successes date back to 1951 – when he won both Milan-Sanremo and the Giro di Lombardia – his great masterstroke came in the summers of 1953, ‘54 and ‘55, when he became the first winner of three consecutive Tours de France. The Normandy-born rider was no stranger to the Race to the Sun, which he added to his list of victories in 1952 and where he celebrated wins across a total of 7 stages. But at nearly 34 years of age, he was no longer a clear favourite. Suspicions were confirmed in the first week, with Bobet slightly behind Anquetil, Rivière and Saint. But he went on the offensive from the start in the Ventimiglia stage, and kept up with the pace of Rivière and Saint during the La Turbie climb. He reached the first Italian finish alongside them, and although he was pipped to the post by Saint and Rivière, his third place made a big impression both on the peloton and on the L'Equipe journalists. The following day, Jacques Augendre headlined his article, “Louison Bobet looks 5 years younger...”.

Anglade enters the fray

Although he showed some good form on his first two Tours de France in 1957 and 1958, Henri Anglade was not a favourite going into Paris-Nice-Rome. But the rider from Lyon was still in the mix when the time came to attack the Chiavari stage. On the roads where fond memories of his recent honeymoon were fresh in his mind, he was one of the main architects of the day's breakaway, and more importantly, the best placed rider overall among the nine frontrunners. Behind them, the GC leaders were a constant thorn in White Jersey wearer Jean Graczyk’s side. The unrelenting struggle prevented the attackers from really getting away, but Anglade found himself in a position to take the overall lead... until the final kilometres. The finish line produced a bitter pill, with Anglade failing in his attempt to take the lead by nine seconds. Sitting in second, Anglade was clearly in good form, but he would find it difficult to repeat the feat over the three remaining stages.

Nencini denied home victory

Gastone Nencini was not yet the Yellow Jersey winner congratulated by General de Gaulle when the peloton stopped at Colombey-les-deux-Eglises as his 1960 Tour de France victory approached. But the 1957 Giro winner was already one of the favourites for the Race to the Sun when he lined up at the start. The Italian lagged slightly behind at the Vergèze stage, and his hopes were further diminished when he returned to his homeland. On the morning of the stage in Florence, he found himself nearly 6 minutes behind Graczyk, but he promised to make a big impact on home soil. Attacking throughout the day, he arrived at the finish in a favourable position as part of a group of nine riders who he had a decent chance of beating. Nencini even managed to break away, but around 100 metres from the entrance to the stadium where the finish was to be held, a policeman produced the blunder of the year by steering the Tuscan champion onto the wrong road. After this unfortunate twist of fate, he let Pierino Baffi ride solo down the track to victory. Having already won stages in the three major tours, the Lombard took advantage of his newfound success to secure a place on the provisional podium (3rd), with two days to go.