Jean de Gribaldy

Jean de Gribaldy (18 July 1922 – 2 January 1987) was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif. He rode in the 1947 and 1948 Tour de France.[1][2]

Jean de Gribaldy
Jean de Gribaldy, Besançon, September 1980
Personal information
Full nameJean de Gribaldy
NicknameLe Vicomte
Born18 July 1922
Besançon, France
Died2 January 1987(1987-01-02) (aged 64)
Voray-sur-l'Ognon, France
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider/Team leader
Rider typeClimber
Professional teams
1945–1949Peugeot - Dunlop
1950Mervil
1951–1954Terrot
Managerial teams
1964Grammont - de Gribaldy
1965Grammont - Motoconfort / Tigra - Meltina - de Gribaldy / Wolhauser Sirops Berger
1966Tigra - Meltina - de Gribaldy
1967Tigra - Grammont / Tigra - Enicar
1968Frimatic - Viva - de Gribaldy/Tigra - Enicar
1969Frimatic - Viva - de Gribaldy
1969Frimatic - Viva - de Gribaldy - Wolber (Tour de France)
1970Wolhauser - Ravis - de Gribaldy
1970Frimatic - de Gribaldy
1971Hoover - de Gribaldy
1972Van Cauter - Magniflex - de Gribaldy
1975Miko - de Gribaldy
1976Miko - de Gribaldy - Superia
1977Velda - Latina Assicurazioni - Flandria
1978Velda - Lano-Flandria
1979Flandria - CA VA SEUL
1980Puch - Sem - Campagnolo
1981Sem - France Loire - Campagnolo
1982Sem - France Loire - Campagnolo
1983Sem- France Loire - Mavic - Reydel
1984Skil - Sem - Mavic - Reydel
1985Skil - Reydel - Sem
1986Kas - Mavic - Tag Heuer

Biography

Born in Besançon, former professional racing cyclist from 1945 to 1954, Jean de Gribaldy began a successful career as a directeur sportif in the mid-1960s .

Nicknamed le Vicomte ("the Viscount") due to his aristocratic ancestry,[3] he discovered Sean Kelly, Joaquim Agostinho and Éric Caritoux. He gave a second chance to many riders dropped by other teams. Most saw their career take a new dimension under Jean de Gribaldy.

A street in Besançon, city in which he was a shopkeeper, has been named Montée Jean de Gribaldy since 1994. Each year, a Jean de Gribaldy cycling race is organized in Besançon, (Doubs département).

Sean Kelly about Jean de Gribaldy

When you broke into the pro ranks, Jean de Gribaldy signed you. Is it really true that he just turned up at your parents’ farm with a contract ?

Kelly : Yes, that’s true! I went to compete in France in 1976. I was there for maybe 6 months at a club in Metz, had a lot of good performances, won a lot of races. I competed in the Tour of Britain (in 1975) with the Irish national team. I got suspended from the Irish team after going to race in South Africa, so I would definitely have been in the team for the Olympics, so missed the 1976 Games. Then I decided to go to France.

Towards the end of that year in France I got offered a contract by de Gribaldy. He made contact with me through the club although I never actually met him but I said no, that I wanted to stay amateur as I was still quite young. So I came home to Ireland, and then he just arrived at my place in October with a contact.

He must have been an amazing guy, what was he like ?

Kelly : As a directeur, he was a long way ahead of his time. He had some great ideas. He was 10 years ahead of everyone else on diet. He was clear about what you could and couldn’t eat 10 years before the other teams started to think about it.

He was a big influence on my career. In terms of training, he was a long way ahead. In those times, riders did unbelievable miles on the bike. They’d go out and do 5 and 6 hour marathons every day.

In my time, he was the guy who’d make you do shorter rides of quality as well as a long mid-week ride. That was 10 years before specialised training programmes – I realised this because I’d been through it already, so he had some unbelievable qualities.

Bibliography
  • (in French) Pierre Diéterlé, Jean de Gribaldy, la légende du Vicomte, Editions du Sekoya, 2014 ISBN 978-2-84751-137-6

References
  1. "34ème Tour de France 1947" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  2. "35ème Tour de France 1948" (in French). Memoire du cyclisme. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  3. Ryan, Barry (12 October 2017). "Extract: The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the rise of Irish Cycling's Golden Generation". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
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