Kuebler dies ‘with a smile on his face’

ZURICH: Ferdinand “Ferdy” Kuebler, the first Swiss cyclist to win the Tour de France, died on Thursday in a Zurich hospital at the age of 97 after a brief illness, the Swiss Cycling federation said on its website.

Kuebler was 31 in 1950 when he won that year’s 4 690km edition of the Tour de France.

A year later, he won the world championship race in Varese, Italy.

Although he claimed victory in the Tour of Switzerland three times, it took him a decade as a professional before he won the sport’s most prestigious race.

Kuebler, known by Swiss fans as “Ferdy National”, is one of only two Swiss Tour de France winners along with Hugo Koblet who claimed victory in 1951. Koblet died in 1964 in a car crash.

The Zurich native died in a hospital in his home town after suffering from a series of health problems.

Kuebler’s 1950 Tour win kicked off a mini-golden era in Swiss cycling, with his countryman Koblet claiming the sport’s top prize a year later. No Swiss national has won the Tour since.

Kuebler had voiced regret that European cycling was shut down during his peak athletic years (his twenties) because of World War Two.

Speaking to L’Equipe magazine in 2003 on the Tour’s 100-year anniversary, Kuebler said he was motivated to achieve cycling glory because of his hardscrabble childhood.

“I became a champion because I was poor,” he told L’Equipe. “I struggled to eat, to have a better life. I won the Tour de France because I dreamt, because I knew that after I would never be poor.”

Kuebler, who retired from cycling in 1957, remained a revered figure in the wealthy alpine nation.

His widow Christina said that Kuebler died “with a smile on his face”. – Reuters-SuperSport