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Tag: 1985

  • history of cycling

The Stolen Vuelta a Espana / How Robert Millar Never Won A Grand Tour

  • by Lee Rodgers
  • Posted on August 14, 2022August 16, 2022

“They preferred to see me lose and a Spaniard win. I’m disgusted with it all. The crowds throw things at you and spit at you because they want a Spaniard to win…”

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  • history of cycling

Robert Millar & the Case of the Stolen Vuelta

  • by Lee Rodgers
  • Posted on November 9, 2012November 12, 2012

The year was 1985. The starring characters were Spain’s Pedro Delgado and Scotland’s Robert Millar.…

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9 responses to “Robert Millar & the Case of the Stolen Vuelta”

  1. hitting those nerves | crankpunk & company
    November 28, 2013

    […] how exhausting this sh*t is already? i’d LOVE to be writing stuff like this every day, or like this, but unfortunately i can’t, because there are far more pressing concerns right now in this […]

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  2. Matthieu from France Avatar
    Matthieu from France
    October 27, 2014

    Berland was really pissed off with the Spanish teams the Spanish fans and the race organizers at that point… There had been a lot of tension in that Vuelta right from the beginning… The French journalists from l’Equipe would tell stories of ” blatant Spanish unsportmanship” on an almost daily basis. Berland made the whole Peugeot team ride at the start of that ill-fated stage to try and win the team prize… He wanted Peugeot to win the team prize as the cherry on the cake… Of course the Peugeot guys were burnt and nowhere to be found when Robert needed them badly at the end of the stage save for Simon and Pensec who almost managed to rejoin the Millar group but found themselves stopped at a railway crossing… Of course they waited there a couple of miunutes for a train that never came.

    Millar might have not been the most genial character ever in the history of Peugeot but it’s a fallacy to write his French teammates let him down or didn’t want him to win. Millar’s was Pensec’s cycling hero and Pascal Simon’s brother in law… They were absolutely devastated when they realized Robert had lost the jersey and the way he had lost it… And L’Equipe journalist Philippe Brunel reported how Duclos-Lassalle riding in the “autobus”, was totally disgusted when having made it to the finish he learned about the race outcome… Berland refused to take responsibility and would rather whine endlessly about the Vuelta being such a “lousy race” -well since he knew all along the Vuelta was such a lousy race, maybe he should have been a little more cautious when dealing with team tactics… A little more cautius when it came to PR too: Millar and Kelly got on well, the Irishman would have probably agreed to help Robert stay out of trouble but a couple of days before a rather bumptious Berland had publicly scorned Kelly’s iconic boss Jean De Gribaldy in a hotel lobby “by the way why are you still in the race Jean??? Your Vuelta’s been over for quite some time…” Kelly wasn’t going to help Millar after this kind of sarcasm. When Berland says Robert was betrayed he’s blaming Kelly.
    Trouble is that Vuelta was hard and wild, real wild, and the Peugeot team were simply nowhere near strong enough to control such furious racing -Robert found himself on his own most of the time. In the end Millar lost the Vuelta because of a combination of bad luck, inane team management and, yes, gross “Spanish unsportsmanship”. And yes, there was genuine affection for Millar at Peugeot, he might have been seen as a bit of an outcast but everybody wanted him to win. Millar did fall out with some Peugeot guys but that happened later, during the Tour de France 1985, when the team fell apart and he had decided to Panasonic for the next season anyway. Obviously everybody eventually cooled down and patched things up at some point: when Millar signed back to Peugeot (or rather Z-Peugeot) in 1989 he said it felt like “going back home”.

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    1. crankpunk Avatar
      crankpunk
      October 28, 2014

      Great comment there Matthieu and very illuminating! As I wrote about the rumors about French jealousy, I did not know enough about that, so said ‘whether true or not.” Personally I liked Millar, I liked his quirkiness. Thanks for the insight, much appreciated.

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    2. MIKE HIGHTOWER Avatar
      MIKE HIGHTOWER
      August 25, 2019

      I write this in August 2019, and every time I read about this Vuelta, there are new details added. Until now, I had never read about the railway crossing. I think that when paranormal facts begin to appear, the story will become fascinating. About Team Peugeot, some relevant details are not mentioned: many French journalists (and not only those of L´Equipe) wanted the team victory because the team was “French”, not like Millar. And Roland Berland indeed felt pressured by that.

      On the other hand, in cycling, before the ear-piece radios, the lack of information was assumed as normal. And when there was a mountain stage, all the leaders rode at their maximum, without calculating anything about the times, because they ignored them. Many times they rode without knowing who was ahead and who was behind. The “pelotons” were quickly fragmented and the teammates of the leaders were usually far behind. To say that the teammates didn´t help is to have your mind in cycling as it is from the 90s onwards. The thing that both Millar and Berland knew for sure is that (1)there were contenders in some break(s), (2)that Kelly was one of them, and (3)that Delgado (the 3rd in the GC!!!) was not in their group. This would have been enough for Fignon, Hinault, Lemond or any other ambitious rider to chase this breaks, even without teammates, but not for Millar and Berland.

      Conclusion: you can only blame Millar for not even try to chase the break when he knew about it (he lost an additional 1:30 after knowing it). And to Berland, for allow it, for not establishing the usual alliances and, above all, for allowing Millar to relax while climbing in a foggy day without knowing where Delgado was.

      I can’t resist making my contribution to conspiracy theories: What if the one who betrayed Millar was Berland himself, to whom someone had offered a large amount of money so as not to warn his runner of the danger? His excuses are so weak…

      Of course, I do not think so. But if someone can believe that a railroad worker was perfectly informed of where Kelly’s teammates were and that Delgado could win the round, surely this theory can be believed.

      (This text has been written with the help of Google Translator and Grammarly. If there are errors, you should blame these applications. I have only been betrayed.)

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  3. David Avatar
    David
    February 10, 2015

    This entrance needs a second part. Dated one year later. When Alvaro Pino won Vuelta España 1986. Last stage (time trial in Jerez de la Frontera) had a lot of “external interferences” to help Pino such a helicopter helping him to speed up.
    80´s were “different” in Spain and Italy as well. Very bizarre.
    A Spaniard

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    1. sisachosudo Avatar
      sisachosudo
      January 4, 2018

      Hi David, didn’t know about that part of the cycling history. Where can I find more information regarding these “external interferences” which help Alvaro Pino winning the 1986 Vuelta España?
      Not being sarcastic or cynical here, I am interested an could not find any information using Google.

      Thank you and also Crankpunk for the great article.

      Cheers.

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    2. MIKE HIGHTOWER Avatar
      MIKE HIGHTOWER
      August 25, 2019

      Not so different! Hinault used “helicopter doping” in 2 stages in the 1986 Tour, when he broke his word to help Lemond. But that was not enough and in the second one, he lost his chances (Andy Hampsten: “You fucked up, Bernie”). Then, with all lost, he finally pretended he was keeping his word.
      (And remember who lied to Lemond about the distance Hinault was coming from. And so many other things …)

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      1. MIKE HIGHTOWER Avatar
        MIKE HIGHTOWER
        August 25, 2019

        *”When I wrote “(And remember who lied to Lemond about the distance Hinault was coming from…)” I meant in the 1985 TDF, as I suppose everyone knows.

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  4. Rafael Avatar
    Rafael
    April 2, 2016

    Thank you for every other wonderful article. The place else may anyone get that kind of information in such
    an ideal method of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I’m on the look for
    such information.

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