koblet + kubler - cycling’s forgotten rivalry: the lives of hugo koblet and ferdy kubler

When Hugo Koblet won the 1950 edition of the Giro d’Italia, Ferdy Kübler’s world was turned upside down. Hugo was handsome, Ferdy was not. Hugo was elegant, Ferdy was not. Hugo had all the girls. Ferdy did not. A rivalry that had been simmering for years exploded into life. Every time Hugo won a race, Ferdy was inspired to go one further, until the day Hugo stopped winning and his life slowly started to unravel.

From Six-Day races around Europe to multiple Tours of France, Italy and Switzerland, the two K’s dominated both road and track cycling at the start of the 1950s. Riders complained about chasing white crosses all day, but as decline set in, both men had to learn how to cope with a peloton that was passing them by.

Koblet + Kübler is the story of two contrasting riders whose lives will forever be intertwined. How they won Grand Tours, World Championships and Classics, how rivalry turned to friendship, and how it all went tragically wrong.

Author Gareth Cartman weaves imagined first-person narrative into this double biography of Switzerland’s finest ever cyclists. Taking inspiration from his first book, We Rode All Day, the voices of Hugo Koblet and Ferdy Kubler are brought to life as the book charts their rise to prominence, their domination of the sport and their decline, resulting in tragedy for Hugo.