Trueba, from Torrelavega in the mountainous area of Spain known as Cantabria, was first called "Pulga de La Montana (mountain flea), by French journalists, and later simply the " the Flea from Torrelavega." Not mentioned in this brief note, is the fact that his 1933 King of the Mountains' Title came after numerous falls, punctures and even being hit by a car! Unknown today, Tueba was quite popular during his time. In fact, a story, most likely apocryphal, was that, during the Spanish Civil war, when invading troops were told they were in Torrelavega, they declared, "the home of the Flea!" George George Hollenberg MD
On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Aldo Ross <aldoross4@siscom.net> wrote:
> Pic of the Day
> Saturday, August 1, 2009
>
> Two Top Touriste-Routier at the 1933 Tour de France
>
> These two "touriste-routiers", Giuseppe Martano (Italy) and Vicente Trueba
> (Spain), had a big influence on the 1933 Tour de France. Martano (left) was
> a danger-man in the alps, threatening the yellow jersey of Georges
> Speicher,
> while petite climber Trueba (right) became the first "King of the
> Mountains". In Paris Speicher retained his overall victory, Martano was on
> the final podium in third place, and Trueba, a.k.a. "The Flea of
> Torrelavega" finished 6th.
>
> Note Martano's beautiful Frejus jersey, slices of rubber innertubes
> securing
> the water bottles, and what looks like hundreds of feet of cloth tape
> padding his drops, wrapping his brake lever hoods, and adding some grip to
> his brake levers.
>
> From "Match l'Intran" No.361, 8 August 1933.
>>
>
> Click on pic for much larger image.
>
>
>
> http://aldoblog2008.blogspot.com/
>
> Aldo Ross
> Middletown, Ohio, USA
> "can hardly wait for wooljersey.com to come back on-line!"
>
> _______________________________________________
>
-- George
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA