CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

of colour when everything else
seemed grey. His ears poking
out from under his helmet, the
broad back. On the bike he
looked even bigger. On the bike
he was almost perfect.
With his national team he won a
short but select list of honours.
Two Olympic medals, at the
Montreal and Munich games.
Team time trial. Both of them
silver, both times behind the
Soviet Union. More. Three gold
medals at the Worlds, one of
them for the main event. 1973,
the historic Barcelona circuit.
Yes, the year of Gimondi, and
Maertens, and Ocaña, and
Merckx, because Merckx is
always there. A double for the
Poles. First Ryszard, second
Stanisław Szozda. Partners
and friends. There were other
victories too. National champion
many times. Dominance behind
the Iron Curtain. Bulgaria, Turkey,
Algeria, Egypt. The Dookoła
Mazowsza back home. National
champion in cyclo-cross, which
is all the rage. He even stuck his
nose into the western bloc. Circuit
de la Sarthe, Grand Prix William
Tell, Tour of Britain, Scottish
Milk Race, the Vuelta al Táchira,
Tour del Porvenir. Stages, general
classifications. In those days,
in the seventies, years of fights
on the bike and men at the limits
of human endurance, Ryszard
Szurkowski was one of the best
cyclists in the world.
And, of course, he is an icon of
the Wyścig Pokoju. Four victories
(1970, 1971, 1973 and 1975)
and one other podium. Until
then no one had won the race as
many times. In fact, we can say
it’s still a record – at least in the
classic Peace Race. Uwe Ampler
also won four times, but his last
victory was in 1998, when the
race was not even a shadow
of its former self. And Steffen
Wesemann, five-time winner,
took all his victories immediately
after the collapse of the USSR.
So, quite a different thing. At
any rate, Ryszard’s palmarès is
extraordinary.
And they say the professionals
came knocking at his door.
Molteni, no less. Yes, to race
with Eddy. To race for Eddy,
because Eddy never left even
a crumb for others, but still . . .
He proved he would have been
equal to the task. In 1974 the
Polish team rode Paris-Nice and
Szurkowski made the podium on
three stages, taking two second
places and a third. On the first
stage, in Orléans, he was beaten
only by Eddy Merckx (which
happened to everyone). On the
fourth he was behind Eric Leman
and Rik van Linden. On the
seventh he finished behind only
the latter. On his wheel that day
were Jean-Paul Richard, Miguel
Mari Lasa and a certain Eddy.
He was also fifth in Saint-Étienne
(Guimard, Planckaert, van
Linden and Thévenet . . . what
names) and eighth in Draguignan.
Ten classifications, counting
the sectors, and the Pole was in
the top ten in half of them. He
finished twenty-eighth overall,
of course, because the climbs
were not meant for someone of
his size. It was worth it. But he
was never going to be a pioneer
– it was impossible. So, he was
left with accumulating laurels for
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