Official opening of new installations at Gisenyi
Tour de France winner active for Spanish brewery group
Federico Bahamontes, uphill specialist amongst the cyclists of the
1950s. Six times he won the King of the Mountains category in the
Tour de France. But Bahamontes had one odd habit: at the top of
each ascent he waited for the peloton to catch up before setting off
with all of them on the downhill stretch. After someone had
suggested that he ought not to stop at the summit but carry on
cycling, he promptly went on to become the first Spaniard in history
to win the Tour de France.
Racing handlebars
Serious
Idols
Then and now
Eagle meets Eagle
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 17
PAGE 3
Bralirwa, our participation (60%
Heineken-owned) is the African
state of Rwanda, celebrated the
high point in its history some time
ago. In the presence of the Presi
dent of Rwanda, Juvenal
Habyarimana, the new installations
of the Gisenyi brewery were
officially inaugurated. The
occasion also provided an oppor
tunity to honour several employees
for their great services to Bralirwa
in recent years.
Pictured (left) the traditional
ribbon-cutting ceremony performed
by President Habyarimana. He was
assissted by Mr. Boreel, Bralirwa's
administrateur délégué (managing
director, right) and by Rwanda's
Minister of Industry.
A traditional element at such
opening ceremonies is a perfor
mance by dance groups. Our photo
shows the group of dancers
sponsored by Bralirwa.
In the right foreground of the
photo are the employees who were
awarded medals for the extra
efforts they have made for Bralirwa
in recent years.
Eagle helps Eagle
For cycling fans Bahamontes is a
familiar name, for the Spaniards he
is still an idol. Through his
mountain climbing skills the Eagle
of Toledo won the respect of friend
and foe.
Federico Bahamontes was 17
years old when he entered his first
cycle race. As a country boy from a
poor family Federico couldn't
afford a real racing cycleAnd so he
turned up at the start with an
ordinary pushbike with no gears.
Federico finished second in that
first race and the experts soon
realised that Bahamontes had a
natural talent for the sport.
The young lad made very rapid
progress as a racing cyclist. He was
soon able to take home his first
prize: a set of racing handlebars and
fifty pesetas. Bahamontes' talents
as a climber did not remain
unnoticed. The ease with which the
man from Toledo conquered the
highest cols soon brought him the
nickname of the Eagle of Toledo
With the same effortless elegance
as an eagle in flight, Federico
soared easily on his pedals up the
tallest peaks.
In 1953 Bahamontes (today aged
sixty) made his debut in interna
tional competitive racing and
immediately won over the fans
thanks to his ability to whizz up the
mountainsides. Where do his
climbing talents come from? "As a
child I very often had to push a
wheelbarrow full of fruit to the
market. That was in the hilly
countryside around Toledo. I think
that must be how I developed very
strong leg muscles."
Federico Bahamontestalking to
namesake Federico Beukershead
of physical distribution. Pictured
centre: Mr. Pascual Robles, an El
Aguila sales representative.
One man who also remembers
Federico Bahamontes is Herman
Krott, Heineken's technical adviser
for the annual Amstel Gold Race
and former
chef d'equipe
of the Amstel
racing team.
"I didn't meet him
L often, but I know that
he was a very
serious lad, one
who took his
cycling very
seriously. In the
saddle he could
quite explosive,
but in private he
was a quiet, pleasant
chap." Talking about Bahamontes'
ability as a climber, Krott recalls:
"Honestly, that lad wasn't known
as the Eagle for nothing. He
clasped his hands round the hand
lebars and simply left the others
standing. Nobody could keep up
with him."
Krott confirms the anecdote that
Bahamontes used to wait at the top
of every mountain for the main
peloton to catch up: "Particularly at
the start of his career Bahamontes
was still not all that skilled on the
downhill passages, so he waited for
the main bunch."
Bahamontes took part in the
Tour de France a total of eleven
times. On six occasions he came
first in the mountains classification.
Often he finished high in the final
overall placings because of his fine
performances in the mountains.
The high spot in his cycling career
came in 1959 when he returned
home with both the spotted jersey
as the best climber and the yellow
jersey as leader of the general
classification.
But even an idol has his own
idols. "In my days I admired riders
like Fausto Coppi, Bartali, Kübler,
and Charley Gaul - my biggest rival
in the stage races. Nowadays the
cyclists I admire are Pedro
Delgado, Gert-Jan Theunisse and
Steven Rooks", says the Eagle. It is
not so surprising that these cyclists,
who played leading roles in
the 1988 Tour de France, are his
favourites. All three of them
clearly showed their strengths
in the mountain stages.
Performances which obviously
appeal to a pedigree climber like
Bahamontes.
Any talk with a great cyclist
from the past always ends
up with a comparison between
then and now. "The Tour de
France used to be a
lot more strenuous. Team tactics
were hardly involved then. You
simply had to pedal as fast as you
could! In the nineteen-fifties daily
stages of more than 300 kilometres
were no exception. You don't get
that any more today."
"Nowadays racing cyclists stick to
a balanced diet optimally attuned
to ensuring a top performance. I ate
hardly anything before a race: a few
cups of tea and some biscuits. That
was all! And I rarely ate much
during the race. But I always had a
full-scale meal after the finish. That
went down a treat!"
Bahamontes hasn't cycled for the
past 23 years. Since 1965 he's never
touched a bike again. It was good
while it lasted, is what the former
celebrity thought. With the money
he'd earned from cycling he opened
up a big shop for sporting and
related goods in his hometown of
Toledo. The Eagle also sold sports
trophies to El Aguila (Spanish for
'The Eagle') which used to organise
many cycle races in those days. The
contact between the Eagle of
Toledo and the Eagle of the Beer
have grown closer over the years.
Today, too, Bahamontes puts
100% effort into his work for El
Aguila. He organises cycling races
in which El Aguila is involved as a
sponsor. In view of the close
relationship 3iwith
Federico Baha
montes, it's not
surprising that
El Aguila has
captured the
prize of the
mountains.
Federico
Bahamontes:
close link with
El Aguila.
