Hugo Koblet (pronounced [ˈhuːɡo ˈkoːblɛt]; 21 March 1925 – 6 November 1964[1]) was a Swiss champion cyclist.

He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track.

His brother baked bread and cakes and Hugo was restricted to sweeping the floor and making deliveries by bicycle.

[5][4] In 1951 he defeated Fausto Coppi to win the Grand Prix des Nations, an individual time trial with the status of unofficial world championship.

The time differences when the Tour ended at the Parc des Princes meant he had beaten Raphaël Géminiani by 12 km, Lucien Lazaridès by 18, Bartali by 18 and Coppi by 27.

The main riders were Louison Bobet for France, Fausto Coppi and an ageing Gino Bartali for Italy.

Hugo Koblet was a handsome man whose fame brought beautiful women and a lifestyle that affected his career.

His ready and kindly smile came from deep down inside, and one knows from the start that this was a man without rancour, a rare thing to say of anybody who has raced in top competition on the road where the intense physical struggle often leads to jealousy and dispute.

[10] The author Olivier Dazat said photographs showed not the handsome man he had been but a rider suddenly aged, worried and preoccupied.

[9] René de Latour wrote: "There is a question mark about Hugo Koblet's life, the mystery of why he was never as good again as in the 1951 Tour.

[12] He and Sonja parted and Koblet moved alone into a studio apartment alongside a garage he opened near the Oerlikon velodrome.

[14][15] Philippe Brunel wrote in L'Equipe that at the end of his long ride to Agen in 1951, "followers were astonished to see him sit up, blow kisses to girls and take out of his pocket a sponge soaked in water.

"[12] The music hall artist Jacques Grello nicknamed him the Pédaleur de Charme in Parisien Libéré in 1951.

It starred Manuel Löwensberg as Koblet, Sarah Bühlmann as his wife Sonja Buhl, Chantal Le Moign and Dominique Müller.