For a lot of cycling fans, Ocana seems to only feature because of how he
lost the 1971 Tour de France, and how his eventual victory in 1973 was
down to Merckx absence. Instead Fotheringham allows us to see there was
much more to this man who was one of the few to actually challenge the
dominance of The Cannibal. At one level he was complex, but at the basic
level he had two modes- full on or off. Even the question of his
nationality is open to debate-Spanish? French? a Spanish Frenchman or a
French Spaniard?
There is a lot more to Ocana than the famous
crash that robbed him of almost certain victory in 1971 at the Tour. His
disregard of cycling tactics and reliance on pure power may have
shortened his career, but if you are superstitious and believe in bad
luck then it is fair to say that Ocana had much more than his fair
share, although in some cases he did more to contribute to his own
downfalls than simple bad fortune.
This is well written and deals
with Ocana's death in a sensitive way, and while at times your heart
can't help but feel for the man, the recklessness that provides the book
with its central theme does give the impression that he was the
architect of a lot of his own issues, and leaves the reader thinking
that if Ocana could just have lifted the foot of the accelerator
occasionally (both figuratively and, in relation to his many car crashes
in reality) his career and life may have been happier. After all while
his personality provides cycling fans with exciting stories of panache,
we need to remember that this came with a personal cost to a real
individual.
