Born in Besançon, former professional racing cyclist from 1945 to 1954, Jean de Gribaldy began a successful career as a directeur sportif in the mid-1960s. Nicknamed le Vicomte due to his aristocratic ancestry, he discovered Sean Kelly, Joaquim Agostinho and Éric Caritoux. He gave a second chance to many riders dropped by other teams. Most saw their career take a new dimension under Jean de Gribaldy. A street in Besançon, city in which he was a shopkeeper, has been named Montée Jean de Gribaldy since 1994. Each year, a Jean de Gribaldy cycling race is organized in Besançon,.
Sean Kelly about Jean de Gribaldy
Kelly : Yes, that’s true! I went to compete in France in 1976. I was there for maybe 6 months at a club in Metz, had a lot of good performances, won a lot of races. I competed in the Tour of Britain with the Irish national team. I got suspended from the Irish team after going to race in South Africa, so I would definitely have been in the team for the Olympics, so missed the 1976 Games. Then I decided to go to France. Towards the end of that year in France I got offered a contract by de Gribaldy. He made contact with me through the club although I never actually met him but I said no, that I wanted to stay amateur as I was still quite young. So I came home to Ireland, and then he just arrived at my place in October with a contact. Kelly : As a directeur, he was a long way ahead of his time. He had some great ideas. He was 10 years ahead of everyone else on diet. He was clear about what you could and couldn’t eat 10 years before the other teams started to think about it. He was a big influence on my career. In terms of training, he was a long way ahead. In those times, riders did unbelievable miles on the bike. They’d go out and do 5 and 6 hour marathons every day. In my time, he was the guy who’d make you do shorter rides of quality as well as a long mid-week ride. That was 10 years before specialised training programmes – I realised this because I’d been through it already, so he had some unbelievable qualities.
