Giro d’italia
9 June, 1951
Swiss Hugo Koblet forges on alone through the mountains on the way to the finish of stage 19 in St Moritz. Koblet, the defending Giro champion in 1951 and still very much in his pomp, would win the day’s stage and go on to take third in the general classification. He’d win the Tour de France a few months later.
However, this was the last year that the Swiss rider was at his best; his performances and power steadily declined in the following years until his retirement. The story goes the handsome and popular rider – he would comb his hair and wash his face immediately after the finish line so he looked his best – was distracted by the attentions that such a status can bring.
He died at just 39. Reportedly heavily in debt and recently separated from his wife, he crashed his car into a tree and died four days later.