It sometimes happens that a rider is remembered for what he has experienced and not or less because of his performance. Just think of Laurent Fignon, who has built up a wonderful cycling career but is mainly remembered as the loser of the 1989 Tour de France by just 8 seconds from Greg Lemond.
That's how it went with the Dutch cyclist Wim van Est, once winner of the Tour of Flanders in 1953, three-time winner of Bordeaux Paris, two-time Dutch champion and winner of several stages in the Tour de France and the Giro d' Italy.
Fall into a ravine in the 1951 Tour de France
the memorial plaque to the place of the event
In 1951, as the yellow jersey wearer (the first Dutch ever), he fell no less than 70 meters deep into a ravine during the descent of the col d'Aubisque. Van Est survived the fall and kept his fame from it.
In 2001, two years before his death, Wim and some former teammates attended the place where everything happened 50 years earlier to inaugurate a memorial. Just like in 1951, van Est could not hold back his tears.
But how did that fall come about? van Est was in a breakaway the day before, during the 12th stage, in which the leading group had no less than 20 minutes ahead of the peloton. He won the stage with arrival in Dax and was therefore allowed to wear the yellow jersey.
The next day a pyrenees ride between Dax and Tarbes was on the program and it must be said that van Est had absolutely no experience with the mountains. He had never seen a mountain except in the photo, let alone driven up or down and it showed in the descent.
At the top of the col d'Aubisque, van Est was 4 minutes behind the leading group and wanted to make up as much time as possible in the descent. For this he chose the wheel of master descender Fiorenzo Magni but that turned out not to be a good idea.
van Est had all the trouble in the world to keep the wheel and when he punctured to make matters worse, his bike started to swing and he lost control in a bend causing him to fall over the railing, 70 meters deep into a ravine.
It was the Fleming Roger Decock who followed van Est from a distance and saw him plunge into the ravine. He immediately stopped all followers and riders not knowing if Wim was still alive. Fortunately, the crowd saw a yellow daisy amid the grass that made a sign of life.
van Est had had the shock of his life and could not hold back his tears. It took a long time before van Est was taken out of the ravine, before that the caretakers tied all the tubes and tires they had together and luckily for us everything was filmed and illustrated in the video below.
The yellow jersey that Van Est rode with has also been preserved. The torn jersey is in the possession of his grandson William Van Peer.
Pontiac uses the tragedy as slogan
The incident did not harm Wim van Est and for several years he was the face behind the advertising of Pontiac timepieces. During the fall, Wim kept his Pontiac ticking and that inspired the producer of his watch to the following slogan: 'I fell seventy meters deep, my heart stood still but my Pontiac ran'.
De reclame van Pontiac met de bekende slogan
After his fall, van Est opened 40 stores and every time he drove into Belgium he had to attack, after which a car with Pontiac advertising drove behind him with the tune Tic-tac-Pontiac. Eventually, van Est could no longer hear it, but of course it paid well.
The watch is also still in the possession of his grandson.
Wim van Est died in 2003 but will always be remembered as the rider who collapsed seventy meters deep into the ravine wearing the yellow jersey.
Wil je meer te weten komen over Wim van Est en over hoe dit voorval zijn leven heeft veranderd dan kun je het boek Het ijzeren uurwerk: het levensverhaal van Wim van Est lezen dat te krijgen is bij bol.com
