Jean de Gribaldy

Jean de Gribaldy (July 18 1922 - January 2 1987) was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif.

Biography

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

Called "le Vicomte" ("the Viscount"), he is famous as team director for the discoveries of Seán Kelly, Joaquim Agostinho and Éric Caritoux. He was also recognized as capable to give a new chance to many runners forsaken by the other teams. Most of them saw their career take a new dimension under the impulse of Jean de Gribaldy.

Since 1994, one of the streets of Besançon, city in which he was also a shop keeper, is called "Montée Jean de Gribaldy". Each year in July "the Jean de Gribaldy" race is organized in France around Montbéliard (Doubs "département"), and has become an important "rendez vous" of the bicycle touring. (http://www.lajeandegribaldy.com/)

Sporting career

* Champion du Doubs 1944
* Montereau-Paris 1944
* Critérium du Ballon d'Alsace 1946
* 9 ème du Paris-Nice 1946
* 2ème du championnat de France 1947
* 4 ème du Circuit du Ventoux 1947
* Tour du Doubs 1948
* 2 ème de Paris Limoges 1948
* 2 ème de la course de côte de Lausanne 1948 et 1949
* 2e dans Nice - Mont Agel (FRA)1949
* 3e dans 5e étape Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré 1952
* 10 ème de Liège Bastogne Liège 1952

* Tour de France
** 1947 : 46e
** 1952 : 45e

Teams (professional cyclist)

* 1945 : Peugeot - Dunlop
* 1946: Peugeot - Dunlop
* 1947: Peugeot - Dunlop
* 1948: Peugeot - Dunlop
* 1949: Peugeot - Dunlop
* 1950: Mervil
* 1951: Terrot - Wolber / Tigra
* 1952: Terrot - Hutchinson
* 1953: Terrot - Hutchinson / Schlegel Cycles
* 1954: Terrot - Hutchinson

Teams (directeur sportif)

*1964 : Grammont - de Gribaldy
*1965 : Grammont - Motoconfort / Tigra-Meltina-de Gribaldy / Wolhauser Sirops Berger
*1966 : Tigra-Meltina-de Gribaldy
*1967 : Tigra-Grammont / Tigra-Enicar
*1968 : Frimatic - Viva- de Gribaldy/Tigra-Enicar
*1969 : Frimatic - Viva- de Gribaldy
*1969 : Frimatic - Viva- de Gribaldy- Wolber (Tour de France)
*1970 : Wolhauser - Ravis- de Gribaldy
*1970 : Frimatic - de Gribaldy
*1971 : Hoover-de Gribaldy
*1972 : Van Cauter - Magniflex - de Gribaldy
*1975 : Miko - de Gribaldy
*1976 : Miko - de Gribaldy - Superia
*1977 : Velda- Latina Assicurazioni - Flandria
*1978 : Velda-Lano-Flandria
*1979 : Flandria - CA VA SEUL
*1980 : Puch - Sem - Campagnolo
*1981 : Sem - France Loire-Campagnolo
*1982 : Sem - France Loire-Campagnolo
*1983 : Sem- France Loire-Mavic-Reydel
*1984 : Skil - Sem - Mavic -Reydel
*1985 : Skil - Reydel - Sem
*1986 : Kas -Mavic- Tag Heuer

eán 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 everyday.

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.

External links (in French)

* [http://www.jeandegribaldy.com/ Jean de Gribaldy.com : A complete site about Jean de Gribaldy]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jean+de+gribaldy Vidéos]
* http://cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=1963 /
* http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=1962
* http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=1964