Today’s historic photo of the day is a very cute photo – eleven little supporters of Fausto Coppi, “il campionissimo” (two of them are actually Gino Bartali’s supporters – so the title should be 9 little supporters of Fausto Coppi and 2 little supporters of Gino Bartali). Anyway, the photo must be taken in 1958 because Coppi raced for the Bianchi-Pirelli team in 1958.
1958 was not a great year for Fausto Coppi. His prime years were long gone and his power was fading away. He finished only 7th in the Tre Valli Varesine and 9th in the Giro del Piemonte.
Coppi’s last win came in 1957, where he won the Trofeo Baracchi (with Ercole Baldini – born 26 January 1933). The Trofeo Baracchi was a major Italian cycling race that ran for 50 years between 1944 and 1991. Created by Mino Baracchi, in memory of his father Angelo who was a great cycle racing fan, it was (from 1941) an amateur individual time trial, from 1944 it was open to professionals and became a major event on the European calendar. Initially it took place every two years but from 1949 it became an annual event and adopted the two-person team time trial format. It continued with this formula until 1990. The last running of the event in 1991 reverted to a solo time trial.
Il Campionissimo’s last solo victory came in 1956, where he won the Gran Premio di Lugano.
Sources
- Fausto Coppi on Wikipedia
- Trofeo Baracchi on Wikipedia
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