Jean Stablinski
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Full name | Jean Stablewski | ||||||||||||||
Born | Thun-Saint-Amand,France | 21 May 1932||||||||||||||
Died | 22 July 2007 | (aged 75)||||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||||
Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
1952–1955 | Gitane–Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||
1956–1958 | Essor–Leroux | ||||||||||||||
1959–1961 | Helyett–Leroux–Fynsec–Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||
1962–1964 | Saint-Raphaël–Helyett–Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||
1965–1966 | Ford France–Gitane | ||||||||||||||
1967 | Bic–Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||
1968 | Mercier–BP–Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||
Major wins | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
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Medal record
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Jean Stablewski(21 May 1932 – 22 July 2007), known asJean Stablinski,was a French professional cyclist from a family of Polish immigrants. He rode from 1952 to 1968, winning 105 races as a professional. He won the national road championship four times - 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He was also world road champion in 1962, and won the Vuelta a España in 1958.
Biography
[edit]Jean Stablinski was born inThun-Saint-Amandin the mining area of theNorddepartment of France, the son of Polish immigrants. His father died in a work accident in 1946 and Jean, at 14, started working in the mine to provide income for his family. It was at this time that he won a bicycle in an accordion competition. Legend says that his mother was so displeased by her son's new hobby that she damaged his bike.
Jean, still known as Stablewski, became naturalised as French at 16 and rode his first races. It was while riding thePeace Racethat a journalist's error in writing his name 'Stablinski' created the surname by which he became known.
Professional career
[edit]Stablinski turned professional at 21. From 1958 until 1967 he rode in the same teams asJacques Anquetil,always as a support rider, or domestique. Stablinski won the national road championship four times and came second twice, all within six years, an achievement no rider has matched.
Stablinski stayed with Anquetil until his team-mate wrote a series of newspaper articles, one of which Stablinski believed criticised him even though he had devoted his career to Anquetil. The two rarely spoke after that and Stablinski joined the team headed by Anquetil's biggest rival,Raymond Poulidor.
Stablinski was recognised as a rider who made up for physical limitations by his tactical sense and his chance to profit from the moment. His knack, riders recognised, was to recognise which breakaway attempt would count and not to waste effort on the others.
Stablinski was twice suspended for doping.
Retirement
[edit]Stablinski retired from racing and was for six years manager of the Sonolor-Lejeune, signingLucien Van ImpeandBernard Hinaultas young unknowns. His son, Jacques Stablinski, born 1956, also became a professional cyclist and rode forGitane-Campagnolo.He became known as "Petit Stab" but never had his father's talent.
Jean Stablinski never stopped riding a bike until the illness that led to his death. He said he never put a drinks bottle on his bike when he rode for pleasure. He had spent too many years racing as a professional with no chance to stop and look around or to meet people, he told the historian Jean-Paul Ollivier on French television. If he had no water on his bike but a few euros in his pocket, he could stop and buy a drink at any bar he fancied and get into conversation with whomever he met.
He became a member ofLes Amis de Paris–Roubaix,enthusiasts and workers for the spring classic. It was Stablinski who suggested the cobbled path through the Arenberg forest. His qualifications were impeccable: as a miner he had worked beneath the road and as a cyclist he had ridden along it.
He died after a long illness. On 7 April 2008 he was remembered by a memorial beside theWallers-Arenbergroad he had introduced toParis–Roubaix.The memorial was made in blue limestone fromSoigniesby the sculptor Michel Karpovitch. TheVelodromeCouvert Regional Jean-StablinskiinRoubaixis named after him.
Major results
[edit]- 1954
- 1stParis–Bourges
- 1956
- 1stTour du Sud-Est
- 1957
- 1st Stage 12Tour de France
- 1958
- 1stOverallVuelta a España
- 1st Stages 5a (TTT) & 8
- 1960
- 1stRoad race,National Road Championships
- 1st Stage 13Giro d'Italia
- 1961
- 1st Stage 7Tour de France
- 1962
- 1stRoad race,UCI Road World Championships
- 1stRoad race,National Road Championships
- 1st Stage 14Tour de France
- 1st Stage 11Vuelta a España
- 1963
- 1stRoad race,National Road Championships
- 1stParis–Brussels
- 1st Stage 10Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 4Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- 1964
- 1stRoad race,National Road Championships
- 1st Stage 21Tour de France
- 1965
- 1stOverallTour of Belgium
- 1stRund um den Henninger-Turm
- 1stTrofeo Baracchi(withJacques Anquetil)
- 1st Stage 4Grand Prix du Midi Libre
- 1966
- 1stAmstel Gold Race
- 1967
- 1st Stage 19Tour de France
- 1st Stage 8Giro d'Italia
- 1968
- 1stGrand Prix de Denain
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Jean StablinskiatCycling Archives
- Official Tour de France results for Jean Stablinski
- 1932 births
- 2007 deaths
- French male cyclists
- French Tour de France stage winners
- French people of Polish descent
- Vuelta a España winners
- French Vuelta a España stage winners
- French Giro d'Italia stage winners
- UCI Road World Champions (elite men)
- Sportspeople from Valenciennes
- Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite
- Cyclists from Hauts-de-France
- 20th-century French sportsmen