Julio Jiménez ‘The Watchmaker of Ávila’ dies at 87

Julio, Julito, Uncle Julio, as you prefer, was much more than that cyclist who made his late debut in the Tour to win the mountain classification three times and come second in Paris back in 1967. Jimenez He was a master of runners, from the small province of Ávila, which also saw the birth of angel streamal ‘Chava’ Jimenez y Carlos Tailor2008 Tour winner.

Precisely, Jimenez I had gone with some friends to the car wash Arroyo in Ávila and when they left with the car, it is not known what happened, possibly an error with the pedal as it was an automatic car, the vehicle hit a wall. Julio He was in the back and it was the belt that caused the injuries that this morning caused his death.

He had witnessed the brilliant cycling era of the 1960s. He grew as a figure when Federico Martin Bahamontes He took his last pedal strokes. He sweated in the peloton with Jacques Anquetilthen his friend, Felice Gimondi, Raymond Poulidor and finally Eddy Merckx. Too bad that all the art that he exhibited on the mountain, from the best climbers in history, was diluted in the time trials, because surely, otherwise, he would have at least one Tour, the one in 1967, and one Giro, the 1966, where he spent 11 days in the ‘pink jersey’. “Let another team take the lead. Don’t wear yourself out so much,” he repeated. Anquetil. But Julio he ignored him and lost the race.

It was the same Julito who first passed through the Ventoux, in 1967, the day amphetamines killed Tom Simpsonand the one that won the Puy de Dôme stage in 1964, the day that France surrendered to the memorable duel between Anquetil y Poulidor.

And he was the cyclist who became a teacher of journalists, for so many years driving the Mercedes of the SER chain, in the Tour, in the Giro and in the Vuelta. “Where are you going?” he asked a rookie journalist who had just arrived in Lyon, who was wandering lost around the finish line after the first stage of the 1991 Tour, after peter slim y Miguel Indurain they will not enter the good cut and will arrive late.

The Mercedes of the SER

That Mercedes that this journalist got into became a hive of information because Jimenez also picked up Jose Miguel Echavarri and took him to his hotel while the then Banesto coach complained and lamented the confusion of his team leaders in what would later be the first of the five French rounds of Induráin.

And the one who never forgot to wear the famous Yemas de Santa Teresa, like when he came to Barcelona to attend the funeral of another contemporary and friend of his, Miquel Pobletdied in 2013.

He spent the winters in Alicante fleeing the cold of Ávila, but he had been going around, once retired, through half of Spain attending to his hotel business. Just a week ago he answered the call of peter slimwith whom they formed a great friendship, especially since they coincided as commentators on the SER network. Pedro Slim WhitePerico’s eldest son, was shooting a documentary about Julito, with his anecdotes and his years of glory in cycling.

And, for posterity, its incredible collection of ‘jerseys’ with the Faema, Ford, Bic and Kas brands, a living legend of a cycling Jimenez He practiced as a professional between 1959 and 1969 with five stage victories in the Tour, four in the Giro and three in the Vuelta. But the best, the best of the best, was listening to him decades later recalling the deeds of a watchmaker turned cycling legend.