Photos of the Day: 1976 Montreal Olympics

Dave Boll (USA) on Mont Royal.

Last week's post on past Montreal races struck a chord with lots of Cafesupporters.

A good friend who was there at those '76 Olympic games was Ted Furtado.  The godfather of Rhode Island cycling, Ted was an outstanding amateur racer and coach during the '70's and '80's,  A pioneer in bringing the first US Junior teams to the Tour de L'Abitibi, Ted's riders went on to win many State and New England championships and dozens of races across the US.

Ted sent these photos he took at the Olympic road race - great shots recording the day when the Yanks proved they could match the Europeans in international road cycling.

But wait - there's more!  I even ferreted out that old ABC sports segment of the Olympic coverage.  Check it out here.   I'd forgotten that ol' Frank Gifford did a pretty good job explaining cycling for a football player!   And here's the Swedish version, with Johansson's own account of his ride (although it's in Swedish, there's more final lap action in this one)

Enjoy...

John Howard with eventual winner Bernd Johannson on his wheel.   According to Ted, Howard and Bernd Johansson were good friends as they'd raced together in Europe on the same team, and later as opponents in the Milk Race.


Mike Neel (USA).  He'd go on to turn pro and finish 9th in the World Pro Championships in Ostuni weeks later.
A Brit leads a massive Russian and a Pole.
The decisive break goes away... George Mount (USA) is in the move.
Field at the top of Mont Royal.  The Pole in red and white is Szurkowski.  Behind in blue is Jean Rene Bernadeau (france) who later was a Tour de France star, and today directs the B-Box pro team.   On his wheel is Klaus Peter Thaler (Germany)
Smilin' George Mount (USA) leads the break onto Mont Royal.
  
Finish sprint for Silver.  Thaler (West Germany) just before hooking Martinelli. 

Comments

  1. Another steller post, Rapid Ed. I remember thinking George Mount was sooo far in the pain cave, to make the break. We, my pals and I, were on the steepest part of the climb. never saw the winning move. Ted "toeclips" F was in the same spot, me thinks...IIRC.
    Hans

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Hans, George was in the zone that day, for sure. Wish we could see a similar video of his RedZinger Morgul Bismark break in '78...
    Stay fast! E.

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