Charly Grosskost

Charly Grosskost

Personal information
Full name	Charly Grosskost
Born	March 5, 1944(1944-03-05) Eckbolsheim, German-occupied
Died	June 19, 2004(2004-06-19) (aged 60) Strasbourg, France
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Professional team(s)
1966-1967 1968-1972 1973 1974	Peugeot-BP-Michelin [1] Bic GAN-Mercier Jobo-Lejeune
Major wins
Tour de France: 2 stages Giro d'Italia: 1 stage
Infobox last updated on May 22, 2008

Charly Grosskost (5 March 1944, Eckbolsheim, Bas-Rhin - 19 June 2004, Strasbourg) was a French racing cyclist who in 1968 won the prologue time-trial of both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He won stages of the Tour de France and of the Giro d'Italia and on the track was French pursuit champion nine times.

Grosskost came to notice when he was 19, when he won a stage of the Route de France - amateur counterpart of the Tour de France - and then won Strasbourg-Campagne by nearly 10 minutes after riding ahead of the race for more than 50 km. In 1965, he won the Route de France and five of its seven stages and became favourite for the still bigger race, the Tour de l'Avenir. There, however, he dropped out in the Pyrenees. A drug test that followed his retirement - it has entered cycling legend that other riders pushed him off his bike for his own safety as he began foaming at the mouth and riding erratically - led to his being suspended for a year. To his death, Grosskost insisted that he had been drugged by a team helper.

Grosskost turned professional for Peugeot on May 1, 1966, alongside Eddy Merckx of Belgium, whom he beat to win his Giro prologue. He then moved to the Bic team alongside Jacques Anquetil.

In 1968 he won the prologue of the Giro d'Italia and became the third Frenchman to wear the leader's pink jersey after Louison Bobet and Raphaël Géminiani. That same year, Grosskost won the prologue time-trial of the Tour de France at Vittel and then the first conventional stage. He wore the leader's yellow jersey for three days and finished the Tour in 17th place.

In retirement he became a cycle dealer.

Grosskost died in 2004, after he was hit by a car while cycling with friends.^[2]

Major victories

1966

 France national pursuit champion (track)

1967

 France national omnium champion (track)^[3]

1968

 France national pursuit champion (track)

 France national omnium champion (track)^[3]

Prologue Paris–Nice

Giro d'Italia: Prologue ^[4]

Tour de France

overall classification: 17th^[5]

winner of prologue and stage 1

wore yellow jersey for 2 days^[6]

1969

 France national pursuit champion (track)

1970

 France national pursuit champion (track)

Prologue and stage 3B of Etoile des espoirs

1974

 France national pursuit champion (track)

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

References

1. ^ Teams of Charly Grosskost (Dutch)
2. ^ "Death of Charly Grosskost"
3. ^ ^{a b} French national omnium championship result (Dutch)
4. ^ Results of the 1968 Giro d'Italia
5. ^ Statistics from the official Tour site about Charly Grosskost
6. ^ Tour 1968 results

• Charly Grosskost profile at Cycling Archives
• Palmares

Persondata
Name	Grosskost, Charly
Alternative names
Short description	Road bicycle racer
Date of birth	1944-03-05
Place of birth	Eckbolsheim
Date of death	2004-06-19
Place of death	Strasbourg