Gino the Pious

One of the greatest wins and comebacks in Tour history and quite possibly even stopped a civil war. not many cyclist can claim that in their palmares but desperate times called for desperate measures. He would win a total of seven stages in the 1948 Tour and win it by a commanding margin. Gino the Pious indeed.

"But et Club" No.127, 1 July 1948

Note the tape on the brake levers and on top of the toe clips, internally routed rear brake cable, single water bottle cage, 1-piece thorn catchers, single chainring, Campagnolo shifter and quick releases, and large tubulars.

Info and photo from Wool Jersey

Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport

Bobet flying

Lousion Bobet won the first of his three Tour de France titles from 1953, 50th Anniversary, and would also be the first to do so consecutively. This was despite the fact that infighting worked against the young Frenchman in the beginning. Interesting fact was that this was the last of Gino Bartali's eight attempts to win the Tour de France. It must be remembered that the war separated these attempts so imagine what he could have achieved.

via ddsiple

The photo below is from the Douglas Siple collection showing the winning race move as it happened. Stage 18 from Gap to Briançon that included the Col d'Izoard. With a Deledda, his team mate in the break, Bobet attacked with Jesus Lorono on the Col de Vars. His decending abilities left Lorono behind where at the bottom Deledda waited for him to drag him to the base of the d'Izoard. The tactics of getting a member in the break to help out worked a charm and he ended up 12 minutes ahead of Malléjac and took the yellow jersey.

References:

• Wiki
• Cycling Revealed

Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport

Cigars

From the set of "Toto al Giro d'Italia" - an impressive gathering of cycling stars. From left to right; Alberic "Briek" Schotte, Gino Bartali, Fiorenzo Magni, Giordano Cottur, Toto ( in the forground, with his stunt double [I think] in the background), Louison Bobet, Fausto Coppi, and Ferdi Kubler. The joke here is that the cyclists had seen Toto the evening before smoking a cigar, and thought it was perhaps the source of his cycling success, so next day they were all seen at the stage start with various cigars. Coppi gets the biggest cigar, and the biggest laughs.

Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport

Bartali climbing

This is the last of the 1948 photo's for now. When I find some more I will go back to this great race by Bartali but I'd like to go back to pre-war Bartali to see what this champion could have given us were there not a war, even though he single-handedly stopped a civil war in his hom country of Italy. Here he can be seen ridng with his Italian teammates although I'm not quite sure who they are, if anyone knows I'd really appreciate it if you posted a comment, I take the guess based on the fact that they all seem to have the same jersey.

From Wool Jersey
Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport

Bartali on the Croix-de-Fer

From "Miroir Sprint" 17th July 1948

Cold, wet day on the Croix-de-Fer, heading for the stage finish at Aix-les-Bains during the 1948 Tour de France. Here Louison Bobet leads Gino Bartali (striped cap) and André Brulé (not sure who forth rider is in light cap). Bartali won this stage, the previous stage to Briançon, three other mountain stages, two of the longest flat stages, and the Yellow Jersey..

Reference from the Wool Jersey

Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport

Bartali's 1948 TdF Legnano

So what did the great Bartali ride. Well he had a single gear in the chainring and was using the latest technology with rear shifters. How we take things for granted these days. You can see the Campie Shifters of old and also the quick release skewers on the wheels. So what exactly was he riding?

The Legnano legend from its birth was associated with glory and the first bit of news of the company arrived with Lignon wins an Italian road race called the Val di Taro Cup. Emilio Bozzi is the in the founder of a company bearing his name and would build a bicycle empire starting from 1908. He later teamed up with Franco Tosi who had some patents from an English firm and wanted to build complete bicycles. They build the Legnano brand with the warrior badge and their own warrior is in the from of Alfredo Binda who receives a lifetime contract with the company.

These outstanding bikes are ridden by outstanding riders and the team is led by Edoardo Pavesi, the "avucatt" (the lawyer) who makes a clean sweep of victories. Legnano would really build up a respectable palmares:

• 6 world titles (Binda alone wins 3 of them), 1
• 5 editions of the Giro d'Italia, 
• 2 editions of the Tour de France

Pavesi is probably the greatest team manager of all time. As he followed this by another brilliant rider named Gino Bartali from Tuscany. Gino arrives at Legnano in 1936 and immediately wins the Giro. It seems as if the sweet is getting sweeter. But the best naturally comes last as a bag of bones arrives on the team in 1939, Fausto Coppi. Amazingly some of the greatest riders would ride under Pavesi and on Legnano.

Reference:

• Classic Rendezvous
• Wool Jersey

Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport

Bartali returns

Probably the rider most effected by the war in terms of cycling, Bartali, lost a big chunk of his cycling career, but then again the same can be said for Coppi who won the last Giro before the War. Imagine how different history would have been if these two had been able to go head to head all those years?

Gino Bartali, Biarritz - Lourdes

Well 1948 saw the return of both the Italian team and the great Bartali. He was licking his wounds still after a poor showing at the Giro. He came out with guns blazing and took the first stage but would relinquish the jersey on the next stage. He looked out of sorts trailing by 20 minutes and it was Italy on the brink of civil war that ignited him to set up the stage for a great comeback. He would win the following stage and slash the lead to just over a minute. The following day he put on the yellow jersey again and would not relinquish it all the way to Paris. He may also have stopped a civil war which to me was the greatest victory of the  1948 Tour.

Photo from L'Equipe and info from wiki

Any information on this post or any stories you would like to share can be sent to me. Don't be shy, lets share the history of our great sport