[CR]Now: Coppi's height, Was: Rewriting history

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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 10:04:13 -0700
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Jan Heine" <heine93@earthlink.net>
Subject: [CR]Now: Coppi's height, Was: Rewriting history

According to Le Cycle (Aug. 4, 1951, quoted from VBQ vol. 2, No. 2), Koblet measured 186 cm. They don't say whether this is with socks or barefoot.

His frame was a 59, assuming c-c. That is small! Maybe the largest stock frame La Perle made?

(Toni Theilmeier reported that Koblet used a stock frame to win the Giro. That must have been the 1950 Giro, according to J-P Ollivier's book the only one he won, unless I overlooked something. So maybe he liked the stock bike, because one would assume that after a Giro win, he'd get a custom bike. Or maybe not. He was not the favorite for that Tour in 1951. Did racers have to buy their own frames back then, which they had relabeled as whatever they were supposed to ride, or did their sponsors pick up the tab? I suspect they had to pay themselves. Maybe some preferred to save their money and ride what they were given?)

How tall was Coppi, anyhow? I know he was tall - Steve Maaslands says Koblet and Coppi were the same height - but was he really THAT tall? -- Jan Heine, Seattle Editor/Publisher Vintage Bicycle Quarterly http://www.mindspring.com/~heine/bikesite/bikesite/