|
Stages:
|
17 |
|
Kms:
|
2.806 |
|
Riders:
|
90 |
|
Teams:
|
9 |
|
Kms/hour:
|
35,684 |
|
Retired:
|
42 |
Jacques Antequil was almost the one and only favorite
rider to achieve the victory in Vuelta a España 1962. Everything was set for
the French rider´s victory in San Mamés the 13th of May and no one had any
doubt about it; he was the top leader of world cycling at that time and one
of the best riders in time trial in the history of world cycling.
No other rider was qualified to overshadow him and his director, Raphael Geminiani,
had shielded him with the best team of the peloton. While his partners should
control the race, he would have to win the antepenultimate stage, a 82-kilometre-long
time trial between Bayona and San Sebastián. That is, a victory achieved with
the slightest effort. Nevertheless, the winner was the German rider Rudi Altig,
one of his partners.
The French champion fell ill, suffering from gastritis, during the stage which
ended in Vitoria. Among the shouts: "Anquetil est mort" of the French special
correspondents, things started to get complicated for him. The Spanish rider
Pérez Francés, second in the Overall Standings, tried very hard to breakaway
that day but Altig answered back all his attempts.
When they came to the time trial which would decide the result of the race,
Altig showed himself once again, achieving the victory ahead of his team head,
who was still suffering from his physical problems. When they asked him if
Anquetil would win the race, the German rider answered with a categorical
"I will be the winner". And yes indeed, Jacques had to abandon in the following
stage, Vitoria-Bilbao and Altig saw his way clear to the final triumph. He
achieved with this victory, both the satisfaction of reaching the top of the
podium and he also took his revenge on his director and on his team head,
who had ruled him out from Le Tour de France, considering him too young and
unexperienced. The director, at least, found confort in the twelve of the
seventeen stages of the race achieved by his riders.
What about the Spanish? Not many significant things to mention. Apart from
the second position achieved by Pérez Francés, we could highlight as well,
the leadership of Karmany in the Climbers Overall Standings for the third
consecutive time, feat which had never been achieved by any other rider before
.
