Julio Jiménez, one of Spain’s greatest climbers, dies in car crash

This article originally appeared on Velo News

Julio Jimenez, one of Spain’s greatest climbers, died Tuesday in a car crash. He was 87.

Spanish media reports say that Jimenez, whose pro career spanned a decade from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, died in a hospital in his native Avila from injuries.

Reports say Jimenez was traveling in a car Tuesday that struck a wall, injuring all three passengers in the car. The accident occurred after a car Jimenez was traveling in went the wrong way and stuck a wall. The car was leaving a carwash owned by another former pro Angel Arroyo.

Arroyo told the Spanish daily El Mundo that Jimenez was not driving the car, but died from the impact when the driver apparently put the automatic transmission into reverse by accident and struck a wall at a high rate of speed.

Jimenez was transported to Hospital de Avila and later died from injuries.

Also read: Spain’s greatest climber? VeloNews meets Julio Jimenez

Officials in his hometown of Avila have put flags at half-staff and ordained an official day of mourning for one of the city’s most famous citizens.

During his heyday in the mid- to late-1960s, Jimenez raced against the legends of the age, from Federico Bahamontes to Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor to the dawn of the Eddy Merckx era. He dropped and beat many of them.

Nicknamed the “watchmaker of Avila” because he worked in a watch shop during his teens and early 20s, Jimenez raced locally before finally earning a pro contract in 1959.

Though he was already in his mid-20s, he quickly emerged as one of Europe’s best pure climbers. He won five stages at the Tour de France, four in the Giro d’Italia, and three more at the Vuelta a Espana.

His climbing prowess also saw him win the best climber’s jersey at both the Tour and Vuelta.

VeloNews visited Jimenez last fall at his home in Avila, when he recounted many of his adventures during his racing career.

One of the pure climbers of his era, Jimenez never won a grand tour but was second in the 1967 Tour de France.

"I should have won that Tour," Jimenez said last year. "That year, the Tour was raced with national teams. The French ganged up on me so I wouldn't win, but I was the strongest in the race that year."

Despite racing and winning against the greats of his time, the 5-foot-5 Jimenez refused to put himself on the same pedestal as the likes of Anquetil and Merckx.

"I turned pro too late," he said last year. "It wasn't easy to turn pro out of Spain in those days, and I didn't go to my first Tour until I was 29. Within a few seasons, my best years were behind me. I squeezed out what I could."

One of his most memorable exploits came during his Tour debut in 1964, but his stage victory is often overshadowed by what happened behind him.

Also read: Raymond Poulidor, the last of the black-and-white heroes

That year, Jimenez won the now-famous stage up the Puy de Dome in 1964 where Poulidor and Anquetil battled elbow-to-elbow for the yellow jersey in one of the Tour's most storied rivalries.

The duo squared off for the yellow jersey throughout that Tour, and the Puy de Dome was a key stage, and Jimenez was up the road chasing glory.

"I didn't see it, because I was off the front," Jimenez said last year. "Anquetil was a true gentleman, class from top to bottom. He helped me get my first pro contract. I met him at criteriums and he told me I was too good not to have a team and helped me join Faema [in 1962]. I cannot say enough good things about the man; class on and off the bike."

Jimenez won the first of his three straight climber's jerseys at the Tour in 1965, the same season Bahamontes retired.

Jimenez, too, would be retired by 1969. A new generation was coming in, and Jimenez couldn't find a contract. His racing days were over, but cycling remained an integral part of his soul.

"Who impressed me most? Anquetil in the time trial was simply the best," Jimenez remembered. "Hinault was a brute who could win everything. Today's generation? Bernal is pure class, but this Pogacar kid, he's something special."

After retiring, he owned a hotel and bar, and always remained close to the cycling community around Avila that later produced such riders as Arroyo, Carlos Sastre, and Jose Maria Jimenez.

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