Podium Cafe - Heroes of the Giro!You can check out, but you can never leavehttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/25744/podiumcafe_f.png2016-05-01T12:51:22-04:00http://www.podiumcafe.com/rss/stream/112969312016-05-01T12:51:22-04:002016-05-01T12:51:22-04:00Heroes of the Giro: Rosa Rumble...Merckx vs Binda!
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<figcaption>The Pope meets the Messiah | Keystone/Getty</figcaption>
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<p>You want numbers? We've got the best numbers! Huge ones!</p> <p>Thursday we celebrated Alfredo Binda as part of the spotlight on Giro stage winners, since he was one of the all-time greats, statistically speaking, and by any more thoughtful measure the runaway all-time best in stage success. But Binda has competition of a more direct type when it comes to the most precious statistical achievements in Giro d'Italia history -- wearing the <i>Maglia Rosa</i>.</p>
<p>Binda is one of three riders, along with Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx, to bring the maglia rosa home five times, and that is the most meaningful statistic of all. But there isn't a whole lot we can learn about such statistics that we don't already know. So here's a variation on the theme: number of days in pink.</p>
<h4>Anquetil/Bartali</h4>
<p>Tied for fifth, with <b>42</b> days in pink, are two of history's most celebrated riders, Maitre Jacques and Gino Il Pio. Bartali owns three Giro titles, to two for the Frenchman, and seven KOM classifications, which is a rather hefty number. Great riders, but for this review they are too far off the pace.</p>
<h4>Giuseppe Saronni</h4>
<p>Saronni owns <b>48</b> days in pink, a respectable number for a guy who specialized in one-day events and the Giro d'Italia. He started 13 Giri in the post-Merckx era of dispersed excellence... but only one Tour de France. I didn't see him race much but his mix of sprint wins (Milano-Sanremo, and the Goodwood Shot for the '82 Worlds) and Giri suggest he was a poor-man's Valverde type, on whom you wouldn't bet your life over three weeks, though sometimes it all worked out.</p>
<h4>Francesco Moser</h4>
<p>The Sheriff won three consecutive editions of Paris-Roubaix, a truly remarkable record in any era, and one completely at odds with this discussion, and yet he lies third in history with <b>50</b> days in the maglia rosa. He also owns a single Giro victory, albeit one that is widely considered to have been engineered by the organizers for him to win.</p>
<h4>Alfredo Binda</h4>
<p>Now we are getting serious. Binda spent <b>65</b> days in pink, clearly a cut above Moser's totals as well as the others. Let's come back to him in a moment.</p>
<h4>Eddy Merckx</h4>
<p>The all-time leader, in yet another of those "probably will never be broken"-type of Merckx records, is the Cannibal with a whopping <b>77</b> days in pink. Combined with his five overall titles, you'd probably just put him ahead of Binda and be done with it. But not so fast.</p>
<h4>Merckx vs. Binda</h4>
<p>Bindologists will jump in here and say aha! Binda raced in an era when the Giro consisted of as little as half as many stages! So doesn't his record mean more? Let's dive into the numbers, but with a few caveats. Each rider has a few additional complaints. Binda was paid to get lost in 1930 so someone else could have the spotlight. That's 15 days in pink that were taken off his plate, in his prime. He was less dominant in 1931, and things happen, so you can't just put, say, 12 more days on his total (which incidentally would put him level with Merckx), but you can't say he wouldn't have strengthened his case.</p>
<p>Merckx, meanwhile, skipped the 1971 Giro in his prime, by choice I believe, which arguably offsets Binda's choice (he could have said no to the money). And then there's the 1969 Giro, when he was tossed off the race after stage 16, while in the maglia rosa, for what is now considered a pretty suspicious doping charge that was later overturned. That's worthy of a whole separate post, but let's stick to the numbers and what they mean.</p>
<p>Binda's statistics: 142 stages raced, 65 days in pink, 46% of stages with lead</p>
<p>Merckx: 179 Giro stages raced, 77 days in pink, 43% of stages with lead</p>
<p>Nearly even. Slight edge to Binda. What about peak years? Both guys watered down those percentages with a few later efforts that weren't as successful. Let's look at their five best years (each with one race skipped in the middle, and also subtracting the Savona incident edition).</p>
<p>Binda 1927-33: 70 days of racing, 52 days in pink. 74% rate of greatness.</p>
<p>Merckx 1968-74: 109 days of racing, 71 days in pink. 65% rate of awesomeness.</p>
<p>Incidentally, Merckx led the '69 Giro for six stages of the 16 he raced in, a below-peak rate, though he was probably about to put the hammer down. He very well may have added 23 more days of racing and 13 more days in pink to his total, a 56% rate. So either way '69 brings the percentage down... but a sixth Giro win would have been the all-time record.</p>
<p>In both sets of data Binda is slightly above Merckx. So who is your all-time Giro great by pink jersey collections?</p>
<p><b>The case for Binda:</b> He raced in an era where there were fewer stages; had they run 23 stages in 1927, you can bet Binda would have been in pink for 23 days. In '28 and '29 you could add several more days had they run a modern course, since he took over in week 1 and never relented.</p>
<p><b>The case for Merckx:</b> 77>65. Pick any sport and two guys who have the same success rate. Would you rather have the guy who does it for four months a year or for six? Rates say how good they were but the win totals are what they are too. Ultimately it's nearly impossible to compare the 1920s to the modern era of cycling, but palmares are palmares.</p>
<p>I'm going with... Merckx. He was a foreigner who embraced the Giro like no foreign champion before or since. Yes, he raced for Molteni, Faema and Fiat, so that had something to do with it. But the Giro was a stepping stone to Tour de France success, not the main focus of his season, and yet he was still incredibly successful. Binda raced the Tour only once, and dropped out, which isn't directly on point but does emphasize that the Giro was his season. Also, the Savona thing robbed him of cracking 80 days in pink and a sixth title, which would have settled the matter decisively. Sure, it was a doping thing, and Merckx had a few positives in his career, but lord only knows how Binda prepared himself, and it doesn't seem worthwhile to get sucked into the vortex of old-timey doping speculation.</p>
<p>So yeah. It's Eddy for me. And ye?</p>
https://www.podiumcafe.com/2016/5/1/11539850/heroes-of-the-giro-maglia-rosa-rumble-merckx-vs-bindaChris Fontecchio2016-04-28T13:55:40-04:002016-04-28T13:55:40-04:00Heroes of the Giro: The Stage Winners
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<figcaption>Frank Fife, Getty</figcaption>
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<p>Getting back to a more conventional definition of heroes</p> <p>Most of our heroes are people who overcame odds or reached the highest heights of the Giro d'Italia, capturing the maglia rosa. But every day of the Giro, for three weeks, is a battle for temporary glory, for headlines and photos across Italy and maybe the world. The stage wars. And while the list of people to win stages is indeed long, a few names stand out.</p>
<h4>1. Mario Cipollini</h4>
<p>The Lion King, so named because he also won a lot of stages of the Tour de France and the stuffed lion that comes with that success, also stands now as the all-time champion in the category of Giro d'Italia stage victories, with 42. Which 42? Well, you can either pull up his wikipedia page, or read them on the skinsuit he wore at his last Giro appearance, the prologue of the 2004 race.</p>
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<img alt="Cipollini 2005 stage skinsuit" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qhp00uJ6kKG1kyyGckAjnVrcoFM=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6402515/GettyImages-52773572.0.jpg">
<cite>Franck Fife, Getty</cite>
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<p>Cipo's flamboyance is legend, but so too are his accomplishments. He began winning Giro stages in 1989 as part of the Del Tongo team, in his first pro season at age 22. He won stages of the Giro every year until 2003, except for 1993-94, when he didn't take the start. [Think maybe he was hurt in '94? And in '93 he focused on the spring classics, winning E3, Gent-Wevelgem and the Scheldeprijs.]</p>
<p>In his most dominant Giro d'Italia, he won six stages -- in 2002, at age 35. His five stage wins in 1997 included a wire-to-wire dominance of the points competition. He set the record in 2003 with two more stage victories, while wearing the world champion's arc-en-ciel. He didn't exactly compete in the golden era of sprint champions, but he did have a nice rivalry with Robbie McEwen for a while. And he made things fun, dressing like various animals, and Julius Caesar.</p>
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<img alt="Mario Cipollini 42" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9NoXMtThxHDfWuVIMy7pqapZ9d4=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6401351/GettyImages-1218035.0.jpg">
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<p><i>Lars Ronbog, Getty</i></p>
<p>When he set the record for stage victories, breaking that of Alfredo Binda, he practically apologized to the Campionissimo, saying he was just happy to polish Binda's shoes. One day after breaking the record, Cipollini crashed out of the Giro and never fully recovered to top racing form again.</p>
<h4>2. Alessandro Petacchi</h4>
<p>Petacchi was the immediate successor to Cipollini, and his career can scarcely be discussed without reference to the Lion King. Petacchi won his first Giro stage in 2003, with World Champion Cipollini on hand and stuck on 40 wins, needing one to tie and two to pass Binda for the record. But Petacchi beat Cipo in the opening stage, and by stage 6, Petacchi had three wins (and Robbie McEwen two), and it looked like the Lion King might fall short in his pursuit. The torch had been passed to another large-body, pure power, long range Italian sprinter who was allergic to the high mountains. Sure, Petacchi lent the torch back to Cipo for him to set the record, but when the dust settled Cipo had gone home injured and Petacchi had taken the first six Giro wins of his career. At age 29.</p>
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<img alt="Petacchi rampage" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sshm0OsRtSpt_xhI5WrCeecyQrI=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6401461/GettyImages-2024713.0.jpg">
<cite>Frank Fife</cite>
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<p>If Cipo's star burned longest, you could argue that Petacchi's burned brightest, at least among modern Giro stage hunters. A year later Petacchi won an unbelievable 9 stages of the 2004 Giro, one that would be remembered for its lack of high mountains (Damiano Cunego says hello), for there were still enough sprints for McEwen and Freddie Rodriguez to bag one each. By 2005 the Giro had fallen back in love with the tricky finish stage, limiting Petacchi's chances and leaving him with but four wins. It would be til 2009 before he'd win another Giro stage, and those would be his last two (22 total). But it was in 2006, where he didn't win a single stage, that he impressed me the most.</p>
<p>That year the Giro started in Belgium, in miserable weather, and Petacchi went down in a crash on stage 3 from Perwez to Namur. Given his star quality from the previous three years, all eyes were on him as he battled to finish the stage alone or with a teammate over the last 50km, which he did. Afterward doctors confirmed that he did so with a broken kneecap. Say what you will about cyclists who win sprints but bail out on the high mountains. Just don't assume they aren't tough guys.</p>
<h4>3. Alfredo Binda</h4>
<p>The second of three legit "campionissimi," Binda is a champion well beyond the likes of the other two guys listed here. His five overall Giro victories are a record matched only by Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx. But let's put that aside and just talk stages.</p>
<p>Two days ago I talked about the dominant fashion by which Costante Girardengo won his Giri, with eight stages in a 10-day race. Awesome, to be sure. Binda did him better. By 1927 Binda had won an overall ('25) and seven stages, including six the previous year when he came in second to Giovanni Brunero. Leaving nothing to chance, Binda started off the '27 race by winning the opening stage and seizing the maglia rosa. Then stages two and three. Then stages five through ten. And three more, to finish off an unbreakable record of twelve stage victories in his wire-to-wire overall title, in a 15-stage race. He won a modest six stages in his next Giro, and even lent the maglia rosa to Domenico Piemontesi for the first three days, before taking it back for good. In 1929 Gaetano Belloni grabbed the lead on day 1 and held it for three stages, until Binda had unleashed another record-setting eight consecutive stage victory fury on him and the peloton, for his third successive Giro title.</p>
<p>In 1930 Binda failed to win the Giro for the first time in four years... because the race paid him a substantial amount of money to skip the race and give someone else a chance for glory. That too is a record that will never be equaled (and it casts further shade on Cipollini's statistical glory as well). So when you want to talk greatest ever Giro stage winner, there can be no doubt: it's this guy.</p>
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<img alt="Alfredo Binda" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MLBtQ9dIgsupk8Y3MfXWRtr6B5U=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6402775/GettyImages-51954294.0.jpg">
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https://www.podiumcafe.com/2016/4/28/11526960/heroes-of-the-giro-the-stage-winnersChris Fontecchio2016-04-27T17:49:50-04:002016-04-27T17:49:50-04:00Heroes of the Giro: Yep, Today It's Roberto Visentini
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<p>You were expecting Alfredo Binda?</p> <p>Roberto Visentini has his name in the roll of honor of the Giro d'Italia, and was no one-off champion. Well, technically that's exactly what he was, but the circumstances of his career are something else entirely. Visentini, from Riva del Gardia east of Milan, between the hearts of Lombardia and Trento cycling paradise, was a junior world champion on the road and in time trials as an amateur. As a pro he quickly won two Vuelta stages and the Giro del Trentino. His ability to climb and time trial meant that he was ticketed for success.</p>
<p>In the '85 Giro, Visentini took his first maglia rosa on stage 4 when he joined a group of top climbers, including Marino Lejarreta, Bernard Hinault and the beautifully-named Gianbattista Baronchelli, on an escape in the Dolomites that left recent Giro stars Giuseppe Saronni and Francesco Moser on the defensive. It was an early dose of mountains, with later stages in the higher Appennines and French Alps, and with the La Vie Claire team loaded with stars (Hinault had LeMond working behind him) and watercarriers hammering away, it was a dangerous situation to be in the lead. Visentini hung on to the lead through stage 12, when Hinault wrested it from him in a time trial. It should be noted that Visentini kicked off (or maybe continued?) a pattern of saying things that could paint him in a bad light, saying that Hinault was not the Badger of old. Probably correct, but since he went on to win the Giro-Tour double that year, it's probably not worth debating just how good Hinault was compared to 1978. Anyway, Visentini eventually fell ill and didn't make it to the finish in Lucca, abandoning on a rather legendary stage over the Grand St Bernard. [Or should have been legendary. The Giro had a bad habit of lopping the tops off mountain stages during the era of Saronni and Moser.]</p>
<p>A year later, however, it was the Bresciano's turn to shine. Creeping up the standings in a Giro loaded with time trials (a total of four, including three ITTs), Visentini joined LeMond on an attack up the Passo San Marco, draped in snow, after LeMond threw a fit about the potential removal of the climb from stage 16 -- which would have benefited Saronni and Moser once again. LeMond not only won the argument but the stage as well, with Visentini just 20 seconds behind the America and Pedro Munoz, in time to take the maglia rosa. Moser screamed bloody murder that his teammate Baronchelli had helped Visentini (Baronchelli went home the next day with "stomach problems"), and while the Sheriff took back some time on the next day's ITT, Visentini easily defended his lead in the Dolomites to defeat Saronni and Moser by north of one and two minutes, respectively.</p>
<p>This was a dramatic victory. The race began with two legendary Italian champions, one of whom very much liked the idea of a parcours with four cronos, and a soon-to-be-great LeMond, and yet it was Visentini who prevailed, with a mix of strong time trialling and climbing. So at the start in 1987, with LeMond and Moser both injured, the conventional wisdom coalesced around the defending winner to take a second title. What unfolded, however, is pure legend. You know it well, I am sure -- the 1987 Giro was won by Stephen Roche despite the efforts of his Carrera team, giving the race its first Irish winner and launching Roche toward a treble of rarest quality: the Giro-Tour-Worlds triumph of triumphs. Roche comes from the English-speaking world, and his story is loaded with its own merit. But just this once, let's review Visentini's side of things.</p>
<p>As told by the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Giro-dItalia-Year---Year-ebook/dp/B007UKGG6K/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8&tag=sbnation-20" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">McGanns</a>, the pre-Giro atmosphere favored Roche's side of things. The two riders disliked each other to begin with, and the team prevaricated as to who the leader was, thanks to a poor spring campaign by Visentini and a strong one by Roche. Also, Visentini's pleas for Roche's help were couched as a bargain whereby the Italian would help Roche at the Tour -- but Roche knew that Visentini had already planned a vacation in July. So Visentini's assumption that as a returning Giro winner on an Italian team meant that he had full control was not without some legitimate caveats.</p>
<p>Still, Visentini <i>WAS</i> an Italian Giro winner defending his crown for an Italian team. Is there any history of Italian teams ditching a healthy defending native son Giro winner for a foreigner? Moreover, Visentini came good at the race: he won the prologue, ditched the race lead the next day (though eventually Roche took over), and then regained it in the 13th stage ITT up Monte Titano, with Roche on a terrible day and conceding 2.30.</p>
<p>At the start of stage 15, one of the most unforgettable days in Giro history, Visentini was leading Roche (then in second) by 2.42, and the team's closest threats were Tony Rominger at 3.12 and Erik Breukink at 3.30. Roche attacked on the descent off the first of three major climbs, got separation with Rominger and Breukink, among others, and while he didn't win the stage he did put six minutes into his teammate. By the end of it, recriminations and all, Roche led the Giro by five seconds over Rominger, while Visentini had fallen apart after his team melted away on the final climb to Sappada and the Maglia Rosa had to chase his teammate by himself. [For more read <a href="http://www.podiumcafe.com/2011/6/6/2209374/Stephen-Roche">this incredibly detailed article</a> by fmk from our archives.]</p>
<p>Davide Boifava, the Carrera team manager, pointed out the insanity of such a move, saying that the team had led Rominger by more than three minutes and now only led by five seconds. The team screamed at Roche to stop riding on the stage, because that's what any rational team director would have done. Had they worked to defend Visentini's advantage, it probably would have gone swimmingly, and if not, then Roche sitting in second was their next card to play, from a position of strength. But Roche's antics had <i>cost</i> him time to Rominger and Breukink, and had only damaged Visentini. To this day a bitter Visentini calls the move "indefensible" and he's right.</p>
<p>But there's a moment in <i>Shogun</i>, one of my favorite books, where the Samurai leader is explaining the warrior code to the English hero, in particular how rebellion against your master is an unforgivable sin, only for Blackthorne to interject "unless you win!" And fortunately for almost everyone involved, Roche did win, nursing a handful of seconds into a three minute advantage after the final ITT. He continued his rampage through the sport, earning more glory in a single season than Visentini accumulated in a lifetime of racing. If you believe the adage that all attention is good, well, the Giro got more attention than ever, in real time and ever since, something that surely would not have been the case with a ho-hum Visentini triumph. Even Carrera benefited; their jerseys still fetch a fair price online.</p>
<p>Visentini's demise was probably inevitable, and part of life. To be a champion you have to beat the other champions, and when those guys come at you with a ferocious desire and ambition to win, you can't melt away like Visentini did. He never won another meaningful race and retired to operate the family funeral home, in a twist of fate you couldn't make up.</p>
https://www.podiumcafe.com/2016/4/27/11519878/heroes-of-the-giro-yep-today-its-roberto-visentiniChris Fontecchio2016-04-26T14:48:09-04:002016-04-26T14:48:09-04:00Heroes of the Giro: Costante Girardengo
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<img alt="Directeur Sportif Costante Girardengo kisses his new protege, Gino Bartali" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6O3PnX8vEAi1U20HXb_XdFjGATA=/0x68:2500x1735/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49405565/GettyImages-160040230.0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Directeur Sportif Costante Girardengo kisses his new protege, Gino Bartali | AFP/Getty</figcaption>
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<p>The original Champion of Champions</p> <p>As you drive into Novi Ligure, in Piedmont, from Torino, before you reach town you can take a right turn off the 154 onto the Via dei Campionissimi for a stop at the Museo dei Campionissimi for a retelling of the Fausto Coppi story. It's a short pedal from Castellania, where Coppi was born, and an even shorter one to the Villa Carla, where Il Campionissimo shacked up with the Lady in White. Novi Ligure is Coppi Country.</p>
<p>But the Museo dei Campionissimi is in plural for a reason -- the town is home to another star. Had you turned left off the 154 you would have quickly arrived at the Stadio Costante Girardengo, named for a two-time Giro d'Italia champion and the original Campionissimo.</p>
<p>[A quick note: Giro history is littered with people whose name possesses the tricky -gn- sound, like "-ny-", like Giro d'Italia founders Tullo Morgagni and Emilio Costamagna. I've said/written Girardegno -- girardenyo -- a million times. But it's Girardengo -- rhymes with tango. I'm not expert on Italian but this spelling and this sound "en go" is not at all common. So if you get tripped up, don't feel bad. I don't.]</p>
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<img alt="Costante Girardengo" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kWCmOY7Zis-hiDk4we029QQ34Cc=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6392121/Girardengo.0.jpg">
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<p>Girardengo is a mere two-time Giro d'Italia winner, but in those two victories he did enough to assure himself of the title Campionissimo, one only lent out by the Italian media on three occasions in history. Indeed, there is a brief legend about the name, given to him by a journalist named Emilio Colombo. [Brief aside: these stories come in part from the 100% essential Story of the Giro d'Italia by Bill and Carol McGann, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Giro-dItalia-Year-Year/dp/0984311769/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JXWVYRFXA7E626DXEVD&tag=sbnation-20" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">which you can and should buy here</a>.] Girardengo was known as Gira to some, and "the Novi runt" to a few others, presumably taller riders who didn't like losing to him. Girardengo was sitting at the finish line of stage 8 of the 1919 Giro when Colombo asked him what he would like to be called. In my imagination his answer would be "um, I just rode 261 hilly kms, and don't really have much of an imagination right now." Anyway, he left it to Colombo, who responded "Ti chiamero Campionissimo," I will call you the champion of champions. And so he did.</p>
<p>As to why the nickname stuck, what Girardengo lacked in quantity of Giri titles he more than made up for in quality. In performances that can never be matched, he won his first Giro, the 1919 edition, wire-to-wire, by winning eight of the ten stages and finishing second in the other two -- losing sprints to Gaetano Belloni and the deliciously named Oscar Egg. He won the overall by 51 minutes over Belloni, followed by Marcel Buysse. This was 1919, the first Giro after the Great War. Which is a good place to say, Girardengo was an Italian national champion in 1913 -- the first of nine (!!!) such titles, and he won a Giro stage that year, at age 20. He was primed for instant success, only to see the Giro not raced from 1915-1918, robbing him of years of results.</p>
<p>Still, he was a mere 26 when the race resumed, and dominated accordingly. From there he had a string of withdrawals, including bad crashes in 1920 and 1921, when his rivals Belloni and Giovanni Brunero attacked while il Campionissimo tried to hammer his bike back together. [If you screamed "polemica!" at the TV in the 2010 Tour de France, I urge you to read more historical stuff.] [Also, the rules about having to fix your own bike were so deeply stupid.] The first one, Girardengo was wounded from the start and had no hope of winning, but in '21 he had won the first four stages before dismounting to fix his bike in stage 5 after a crash. When the situation became hopeless he drew a cross in the dirt (of course) and declared "Girardengo stops here."</p>
<p>In '22 he did another thing that seems unbelievable today, pulling out of the race when Brunero got help with his own bike repair, but was not punished. I call this a "petulance of the past," a type of fit you can't get away with anymore but which gave the sport so much of its color early on. But by '23, fate was back in his favor, and Gira delivered another now-unthinkable performance with eight more stage wins and the overall Giro title.</p>
<p>That was it for Giro titles, as he was among those who pulled out of the famous 1924 race (featuring Alfonsina Strada), and he finished second in 1925 to a young fellow, name of Binda. But by 1928 il Campionissimo established a record of six Milano-Sanremo wins, and three more titles at the Giro di Lombardia. His Giro d'Italia stage totals were a whopping 30. And his nine national road titles combined with the above to make him a true legend to the home fans. [He only rode one Tour de France, which he didn't finish.]</p>
<p>Upon retirement he became coach of the Italian national team, and guided Gino Bartali to his legendary 1938 Tour de France victory, among other successes. He lived to his 85th birthday in Novi Ligure.</p>
https://www.podiumcafe.com/2016/4/26/11510474/heroes-of-the-giro-costante-girardengoChris Fontecchio2016-04-25T01:46:14-04:002016-04-25T01:46:14-04:00Heroes of the Giro: Alfonsina Strada
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<p>A new series... starts with a bang.</p> <p><span>As we careen toward the start of the Giro d'Italia in less than two weeks, we will be looking at some of the less famous but amazing characters from this colorful race. Thus begins our Heroes of the Giro mini-series, and we start with one of the most remarkable of them all.</span></p>
<p>In the 1924 Giro d'Italia, some 90 participants set off from Milan for the twelfth edition of the race, a collection of 12 stages over 24 days covering just over 3600km. Thanks to a dispute between some of the top riders and the race organization, stars like Costante Girardegno -- the original Campionissimo -- and Ottavio Bottecchia were absent from the race. That left the startlist a little thin, so the Giro accepted some lesser characters, even offered to pay board for anyone else who wanted to ride. So some rather random characters signed up to ride, including a person listed as Alfonsin Strada.</p>
<p>Except this was a pseudonym for a woman named Alfonsina Strada -- the "strada" meaning street being her actual married name, having wedded a cyclist named Luigi Strada. But yeah, a woman. Started and raced a grand tour. Strada was given number 72, and only managed to conceal her gender until the day before stage 1, but upon discovery of her secret the race decided to allow her to proceed.</p>
<p>Backing up, this was no random trespasser on the race. Alfonsina Morini, a peasant girl from Emilia, had been racing since the age of 13, including against boys -- successfully. And at age 20 she set the hour record -- which one is uncertain, because she was disqualified for riding in an unladylike manner, suggesting it was the men's record she broke. Anyway, her distance was reported as 37.192km. She twice rode the Giro di Lombardia, then open to men and women, and finished 21st in her second attempt. She rode a pretty long list of races on the road and track. This was not someone who didn't belong in a bike race.</p>
<p>However, in 1924 Alfonsina was in her early 30s. All the more remarkable, then, that she would start off her Giro d'Italia placing 74th on the opening stage, and 50th and 64th on two more stages, well ahead of several men. By now, much of Italy -- deprived of seeing il Campionissimo -- were excited to read about a woman in the Giro.</p>
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<p>On stage 7, however, her luck ran out, as she crashed in horrific weather, suffering minor bruises and a swollen knee. On either this stage or the next one (internet details are sketchy), to Perugia, Strada finished outside the time limit, thanks to more bad luck in the form of broken handlebars, which had to be replaced with a broom handle. The race referee applied the rules and excluded her from taking the start the next day.</p>
<p>This was devastating to the race organization, whose owners La Gazzetta dello Sport were selling a lot of newspapers like the one above thanks to Alfonsina. So the race accepted her official disqualification, but invited Strada to continue riding anyway. Following stage 10 to Fiume, when she again finished outside the limit by 25 minutes, thanks to her bruised condition and who knows why else, the tifosi nonetheless waited for her to arrive and carried her off her bike in triumph. This propelled her to try to make it all the way to Milan, time limits be damned, which she did. Her final time was 28 hours behind the winner, Giuseppe Enrici. But it was 20 hours faster than the official <i>maglia nera</i>, Telesforo Benaglia. However much she suffered, Alfonsina rode a very respectable race.</p>
<p>Strada remains the only woman to take part in one of cycling's three grand tours. She died at age 69, remarried and owning a bike shop in Milan, when a parked moto fell on her and sent her into cardiac arrest. (Damn motos...) She has a bicycle hanging in the Madonna del Ghisallo shrine to cycling. Hopefully with a broomstick for handlebars.</p>
https://www.podiumcafe.com/2016/4/25/11500348/heroes-of-the-giro-alfonsina-stradaChris Fontecchio