Tag: Gino Bartali

Categories
Cyclists and Teams

Garmin-Sharp 2013 kit has been unveiled

Garmin-Sharp 2013 kit
The 2013 team jersey features an updated design with a more distinct argyle on the front and covering the entire back.

Team Garmin-Sharp 2013 kit has been unveiled today. The kit is produced by the team’s technical clothing supplier Castelli, which will be seen publicly for the first time at the Tour Down Under.

Continue reading “Garmin-Sharp 2013 kit has been unveiled”
Categories
History and Legends Giro d'Italia Races

Giro d’Italia History rated by a panel of 100 journalists

Fiorenzo Magni
Fiorenzo Magni

Giro d’Italia History rated by a panel of 100 journalists: RCS Sport, the organizer of Giro d’Italia, has put together 100 journalists to rate the greatest moments of the Italian Grand Tour’s long history. “To exorcise the World’s end, as predicted by the Mayan Prophecy”, journalists were questioned over the most memorable moments in the race’s history.

Continue reading “Giro d’Italia History rated by a panel of 100 journalists”
Categories
History and Legends Giro d'Italia Tour de France

Hugo Koblet: Pédaleur de charme

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

Pédaleur de charme, meaning “Pedaler of Charm“, was Hugo Koblet‘s nickname (He won Tour de France in 1951 and Giro d’Italia in 1950). He also won the Mountain Classification of Giro d’Italia in 1950.

Continue reading “Hugo Koblet: Pédaleur de charme”
Categories
History and Legends Tour de France

The Yellow Rosebud: Orson Welles and the 1950 Tour de France

The start of the 1950 Tour de France was given on 13 July by Orson Welles.
The start of the 1950 Tour de France was given on 13 July by Orson Welles.

Orson Welles, the famous American director was the official starter of the Tour de France in 1950. The best-known film directed by him is Citizen Kane.

The film was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories; it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman Mankiewicz and Welles. Citizen Kane was voted the greatest film of all time in five consecutive Sight & Sound’s polls of critics until it was displaced by Vertigo in the 2012 poll.

Continue reading “The Yellow Rosebud: Orson Welles and the 1950 Tour de France”
Categories
History and Legends

Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali as football players

"Il campionissimo" Fausto Coppi as a football (soccer) player.
"Il campionissimo" Fausto Coppi as a football (soccer) player.

Two great cycling rivals, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali were protagonists of an exceptional derby (a football match between local rivals. i.e. teams that are from the same city or the same part of the country) which took place on 14 January 1950 at the Milan Arena. Football (calcio) was the second popular sport after cycling, in post-war Italy.

Continue reading “Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali as football players”
Categories
History and Legends

Fiorenzo Magni dies aged 91

Fiorenzo Magni, Giro 1956
In the 1956 Giro d'Italia, Fiorenzo Magni crashed during stage 12 and broke his left clavicle. The Giro was only at the half-way point with a total of 23 stages. Magni refused hospital treatment and continued the race with his shoulder bound with an elastic bandage. The picture shows the Italian rider during stage 13 holding a piece of rubber inner tube (attached to his handlebar stem) between his teeth for extra leverage. Due to problems with handling the bike while injured, on stage 16, Magni fell again on a descent. He was unable to use his left arm, and he could only effectively brake and steer with his right hand. The unbelievable fact is: Magni finished the 1956 Giro in 2nd place only 3 minutes and 27 seconds behind Luxembourg's Charly Gaul.

Italian cycling legend, “Lion of Flanders” Fiorenzo Magni dies aged 91 today. Also known as the “third man” in Italy during the era of rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, reportedly passed away peacefully in his sleep at his home in Monza, to the north of Milan.

Born near Prato in 1920, Magni won the Giro d’Italia three times: in 1948, 1951 and 1955. The third of those victories was taken at the age of 34, making him the oldest winner of the race to this day.

Continue reading “Fiorenzo Magni dies aged 91”
Categories
Cyclists and Teams History and Legends

Nicknames of Cyclists – B

Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi behind
Gino Bartali with Fausto Coppi behind him. Unfortunately I couldn't find in which race the photo was taken. Some sources say it's from 1952 Tour de France, but I think it's unlikely, because Bartali was a gregario of Coppi at the 1952 Tour, and it seems Bartali is attacking Coppi here. But it must be 1950s though, since Bartali seems very old here. And what was going on behind Coppi? It seems like somebody is fighting. Gino Bartali (18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000) was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia three times (1936, 1937, 1946) with 17 individual stages and the Tour de France twice, in 1938 and 1948, with twelve individual stages. His second and last Tour de France victory in 1948 gave him the largest gap between victories in the race, which still remains. He also won Milan-Sanremo four times, Giro di Lombardia (today Il Lombardia) three times, became the Italian champion four times (first in 1935 and the last one was in 1952!), Giro d'Italia mountains classification seven times, Tour de France mountains classification twice, among with many other important stage races and one day classics. In September 2013, 13 years after his death, Bartali was recognised as a "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem for his efforts to aid Jews during World War II. Bartali has earned respect for his work in helping Jews who were being persecuted by the Nazis during the time of the Italian Social Republic (Mussolini's fascist Italy). It emerged in December 2010 that Bartali had hidden a Jewish family in his cellar and, according to one of the survivors, by doing so saved their lives. Bartali used his fame to carry messages and documents to the Italian Resistance. Bartali cycled from Florence through Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche, sometimes traveling as far afield as Rome, all the while wearing the racing jersey emblazoned with his name. Neither the Fascist police nor the German troops risked discontent by arresting him. Giorgio Nissim, a Jewish accountant from Pisa, was a member of DELASEM, founded by the Union of the Israelitic Communities to help Jewish Italians escape persecution. The network in Tuscany was discovered in autumn 1943 and all members except Nissim sent to concentration camps. He met Pope Pius XII and, with the help of the Archbishop of Genoa, the Franciscan Friars and others he reorganized DELASEM and helped 800 escape. Nissim died in 2000. His sons found from his diaries that Bartali had used his fame to help. Nissim and the Oblati Friars of Lucca forged documents and needed photographs of those they were helping. Bartali used to leave Florence in the morning, pretending to train, rode to a convent in which the Jews were hiding, collected their photographs and rode back to Nissim. Bartali used his position to learn about raids on safehouses. Bartali was eventually taken to Villa Triste in Florence. The SD and the Italian RSS office, Mario Carità questioned Bartali, threatening his life. Bartali simply answered "I do what I feel [in my heart]". Bartali continued with the Assisi Underground. In 1943, he led Jewish refugees towards the Swiss Alps himself. He cycled pulling a wagon with a secret compartment, telling patrols it was just part of his training. Bartali told his son Andrea only that "One does these things and then that's that". In June 2012 a book about Bartali's wartime activities, Road To Valor by Aili and Andres McConnon, was published. I strongly recommend this book, you can buy it from amazon. In 2013 Yad Vashem recognized Gino Bartali the title of Righteous Among the Nations. He is a central figure in the 2014 documentary My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes.

Early 20th journalists started creating nicknames for the cyclists. This effort popularized the cycling sport and make the racers interesting to the people who were not interested in cycling much. This tradition is still continuing today. Here the list of cyclists’ nicknames in alphabetical order (by surname, starting with B):

By Surname: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W

Continue reading “Nicknames of Cyclists – B”