Last Time in Montréal: Geneviève and Eddy
Today the world championships start in Montréal, Canada. For us at Rene Herse Cycles, it brings back memories to the last time the worlds took place in Montréal. Back in 1974, it was the first time the championships were held outside Europe. And the first title—in the women’s road race—went to Geneviève Gambillon, a day before Eddy Merckx won the men’s race.
Gambillon raced on the Rene Herse women’s team, and she rode her favorite René Herse bike in Montréal. It was an eventful race: A week before the race, ‘La Gambille,’ as she was affectionately called, crashed and broke her collarbone. She headed to Canada with her arm in a sling.
In the video above (French with English subtitles), Gambillon and Merckx recall the race. Eddy Merckx talks about how Bernard Thévenet was off the front, and how the Belgian team did a lot of work to bring him back, opening the path for Merckx to attack and claim his third world championship title.
The defining feature of the race was the climb up the Mount Royal. The photo shows the lead women climb the steep gradient, with Gambillon, wearing the French champion’s jersey, in the center.
Geneviève Gambillon recalled: “The selection was made on the hardest part of the course.” A finishing photo shows the five riders staying together to the finish, where Gambillon used her lightning speed to cross the line first, outsprinting Baiba Caune from the USSR (top photo).
This wasn’t the first world champion title for Gambillon: She had already won in 1972—on the same bike. What’s even more remarkable is that she, like all riders on the Herse team, was not a professional cyclist. Gambillon worked full-time as a nurse in Paris. The team trained with Lyli Herse at 5 in the morning, before everybody headed to work.
The bike Gambillon rode to victory that day has been preserved in unrestored, original condition. We featured it in our book The Competition Bicycle (now out of print), as well as in Bicycle Quarterly 80 (above, still a few copies available).
When I met Geneviève Gambillon during my research into the history of René Herse, she told me that she had two René Herse bikes. “A red one and a blue one. They were supposed to be identical,” she remembered. “But the red one seemed to work better for me. That’s the one I rode for all big races, including my championship titles.” Of which there were many: In addition to her two world championships, Gambillon was French road champion no fewer than seven times. (She also won 15 championships on the track—sprint and pursuit—but of course she rode a René Herse track bike for those.)
Eddy Merckx’ bike from the same race was also featured in The Competition Bicycle—and on the cover. Its beautifully crafted frame was built by Ugo De Rosa. This was long before Merckx became a bicycle manufacturer. The ‘Eddy Merckx’ logos were advertising budget bikes that I remember from my childhood in Germany, made by various manufacturers who had licensed the name from the great champion.
Cleaning and preparing these historic bikes for photography was truly special for me. As I spent hours going over these bikes in detail, it felt as if they were whispering their stories and experiences.
I was surprised by the weight of Merckx’ bike—significantly more than other bikes from the era with the same components. It appears that Merckx preferred a stiff frame made from relatively thickwall tubing (above, the German edition of the book).
Gambillon’s bike was a typical René Herse race bike, equipped with René Herse cranks and stem. However, it was also designed for ease of repair far from home. That’s probably why it lacked some of the special features found on Herse’s randonneur bikes, like the direct-mount brakes and the bottom bracket with pressed-in bearings. That way, if something went wrong in Canada, for example, during a crash, any mechanic could substitute whatever parts were available to make the bike raceworthy again.
For the racers, the bikes were tools for the job. What mattered was the race itself—not just the results, but also the feeling of being there, of giving it their best while the world was watching. In the video, both Gambillon and Merckx recall the enthusiasm of the local fans and the great atmosphere at the 1974 Worlds. Montréal was special… I’m sure that hasn’t changed in the half century since then—and I look forward to the races this year!
More Information:
- Bicycle Quarterly 80 with Gambillon’s René Herse
Photo credits: Historic stills are taken from the linked video.
