Former cyclist Federico Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win a Tour de France in 1959, died on Tuesday at the age of 95, the mayor of the city of Toledo announced.
According to Carlos Velázquez, the former cyclist known as ‘The Eagle of Toledo’ died this Tuesday at the age of 95, leaving behind a legacy of 74 wins as a professional and a groundbreaking record in the sport in Spain, for which Toledo will take two days of observe official mourning.
“Toledo [cidade que o designou como ‘filho adotivo’] exclaims Bahamontes, a legend of the city and of Spanish sport”declared the mayor.
In 1959, he became the first Spaniard to win the Tour, in the midst of an 11-year active spell in which he stood out as one of the best climbers in the world, winning the King of the Mountains classification nine times in the ‘great Tours’. , between the Tour de France, the Tour of Italy and the Tour of Spain.
He won 11 stages of the three main races and added two more podiums in the ‘grande boucle’, in addition to his second place in the 1957 Vuelta a España.
He also ran a professional cycling club, a bicycle shop and was the director of the Volta a Toledo for 50 years, until 2015, when old age and illness took him away from work.
Source: DN
