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however Kubler was to win by almost four minutes from Coppi and Koblet,
with the others fairly well down.
The following year saw Coppi win by two minutes from Koblet, having caught
Hugo on the Sorengo hill at the start of the last 9.7mile lap: Kubler was
third, only nine seconds adrift. Coppi won again in October 1952 - the year
of his second Giro/Tour double - beating both his fellow
Giancarlo Astrua and his French “soul mate” Louison Bobet by almost four
minutes. By now had also become part of the celebrity social
scene; with World Formula One champion Juan Fangio appearing on film with
his lady, “Beba” Espinosa. Down on his luck in 1952, the famous Argentine
driver had broken his neck in a crash at Monza earlier that Summer.
Although there is no record of any conversation between Fangio and Coppi
at the Lugano event, perhaps they both
consulted the same osteopath?!
By 1953 the type of rider type preferred by the
“ selectors was pretty well set in stone.
Mature stage race winners, world class road and
pursuit champions, and those with enough
natural speed to ride solo in time-trials. Coppi -
now 34 - was well qualified in all of these
respects, both as the newly-crowned Lugano
World’s road race champion from August that
year and also as holder of the World 1-hour track
record since November 1942. For 1953 the scene
was set for an ambitious old-versus-new
generation showdown between Coppi and the
brilliant 19-year old time-trial newcomer Jacques
Anquetil Anquetil. By this stage “Maitre Jacques” had
won the 87-mile Grand Prix des Nations
convincingly in Paris at an average of 24.6mph.
This was only two weeks before the set date and the race entries
and appearance money had already been finalised by . In spite of
all the publicity groundwork, honour was not to be served by this predicted
“duel of the century”! Almost unbelievably Coppi had been suspended
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