The Tour of Italy has its own story, very different from the Tour de France, which is told in the recently published book Giro, the poorest race in the world in the most beautiful country in the world. Radio-Canada Sports spoke with its author.
It is the monk’s job to narrate this mythical racetells us from the beginning the Frenchman Pierre Carrey, journalist for the day Free.
This breed was born from people who are not fond of cycling or even connoisseurs. It is instead of playwrights, writers, poets who tell themselves at the time that Italy is in need of entertainment, of shows. They will only offer bicycle racing in the style of an opera or a nascent cinema, and all this should be surrounded by a winter job.
So we immediately think of the Casino of Sanremo, which will also be one of the first sponsors. There was also the political dimension, because Italy at that time needed unity. There are researchers who believe that the Giro d’Italia was the last stone laid for Italian unity.
The enthusiasm for this cycle race will be such that politicians will use it for their propaganda.
Later, Mussolini will use the Tour of Italy and take over it even if he is not an avid cyclist, Pierre Carrey said. He is not enthusiastic, even if one of his children is a novice runner.
” But Benito Mussolini will immediately understand the importance of this race, because as its name suggests, all of Italy we will show. Especially the south, such as Calabria or Sicily, which until then have been neglected by political powers. It would be clear to him that the Giro had to go through all the sacred places of the fascist regime. “
Great dividing duels
In this country where soccer is king, there is no war between calcio and cycling. You have to understand that by the time Giro was born, calcio was also evolving.
In northern Italy, the number one sport is clearly cycling, says Pierre Carrey. And little by little, big rivalries pushed this race to the front of the stage, powered by radio, which would be the first free show to enter Italian homes, and everyone could get to know it.
Coppi and Bartali, just to name these two great names in Giro history, will speak on one of the two sides of Italy. North or south, progressive or conservative, atheist or catholic. This is going to be big against the tough. So every time we have something to get acquainted with these new modern heroes.
” It’s also a career that writers will prioritize, beyond the Tour de France. From the post-war period, the writers considered that it was necessary to give a new story, to breathe new life into Italy and that it had to go through the Tour of Italy. “
Doping
We can’t talk about cycling without talking about doping and the Tour of Italy is no exception. Even in the beginning, we weren’t talking about doping, but about performance support.
Doping was born in conjunction with cycling, in conjunction with sport, Pierre Carrey said. But in the beginning, it’s not a doping that’s destined to win, it’s a doping that’s deliberately destined to stay, cling, to go all the way. Why? Due to the Tour of Italy area, we were on dirt, gravel roads. Runners are literally drunk on all this raised sand, to the point that some will die early, like miners.
So at that time, they shoot with alcohol, chloroform. And, little by little, we’ll find amphetamines entering the 1940s. And these new drugs will clearly allow for faster flying, less time-consuming cycling. And some runners at the time, including the great Fausto Coppi, would admit that they used this doping without tainting the myth in any way.
The history of the Giro is also the dramas that cross over here. One in particular where Italy never really recovered, was the exception of Marco Pantani in 1999.
” He won the race for the second time, he was also the outgoing winner of the Tour de France. In fact, he is at the top of his game. Then he was examined one morning. A blood test will reveal that her red blood cell count is beyond the authorized limit. Marco Pantani will sink into a depression that will eventually lead to suicide. And there, even the tifosi, Italian supporters will go into depression, as the race lost to the last superb champion in Italy. Moreover, Pantani’s double death, sporting and physical, will mark the decline of Italian cycling. “
A woman in Giro
Although it seems incredible at this time, a woman will be invited to this legendary race in 1924. It is Alfonsina Strada. There is no doubt that she will pave the way for women’s cycling.
He already has a fixed name, because Strada means “road” in Italian, the author explains. And the way, he will trace it. He will take advantage of a hole in the regulations so we are obligated to register him. At the same time, the organizers said to themselves: “Why not?” Of course, no one thinks he’s going to win, but there he is, usually in the back. He hung for a few days until, victim of some fall, he would arrive prematurely. The organizers, under the regulations, must inform him that he is no longer in the race.
But Alfonsina Strada has become so popular with the public that she will be allowed to continue the career. And he was fully acclaimed. This is a pretty fascinating story at a time when the status of women is quite complex.
” We must remember that we are in the very beginning of the fascist regime. And at this time when Alfonsina Strada is participating in the Giro, Italian cycling authorities are reluctant to develop women’s cycling. “
He would therefore be an exception, but there are some clauses where he has to respect massive codes. In particular, he will need to wear some type of pants. He also said that he is a fan of motorcycling, which will make him the darling of some great champions who will take him under their wing. Unfortunately he will have a tragic end, because when he retired, he wanted to go on a bicycle race and he would be crushed by the weight of his motorcycle.
She will be the way for us to see in the 90s, the arrival of a Women’s Tour of Italy with the birth of a great champion, whom we will name “Pantanina”, the female counterpart from Pantani, her name is Fabiana. Luperini.
When we talk about the Tour of Italy, we can’t help but compare it to the Tour de France. For Pierre Carrey, the student succeeded in surpassing the master.
We get to talk during brother and little sister time. A big brother who watched the Tour of Italy quite condescendingly from the start. Moreover, the special correspondent of the newspaper carthe ancestor of the newspaper The team who at that time was the organizer of the Tour de France, would describe rather derogatory terms from the first edition in 1909. A situation that will last over time. It is true that for a long time, there was a gap in fame, economic wealth and even in the level of sport between the two races. And then, everyone started to find their place, their identity, their personality.
The Tour de France is the biggest and the Tour of Italy the best, but above all the most impressive. Giro had to stand up and it succeeded. By change, like this time trial imagined on the streets of Venice. But there are also these dizzying routes, with trails as narrow as these that are dangerous, even if the Tour de France would never dare to pass through these mountains.
” The Giro d’Italia has gone to the most impossible places on the planet. Over the past 10 years, history has gradually returned to the point that in the hearts of cycling fans, the Italian race will be number one. So it forces French organizers to copy more attractive Italian innovations. “
The hardest race in the world
Pierre Carrey is proud of this statement in his book. He explained the reasons.
First of all the elevation. The Giro d’Italia is very mountainous. Some years, it is even disproportionate to the mountain range. He also started these white roads, no tar, with dust when hot and mud when it rained. Therefore, there is an overbidding between the two rounds. The Tour de France is locked into a classic, while the Tour of Italy is pleased with making its course more challenging. And since it was created, Giro’s organizers have stopped at nothing. You can see on the routes the roads blocked by trees, rivers to cross …
We can even say that there has always been a small part of sadism on the part of the organizers. We’re going to do another downhill time trial in 1987: the descent of Poggio on the edge of the gorge. We put rescuers in the ravines in case we needed to pick up the runners. In their madness, the Italians wanted to add a classification, the best climber, because, after all, there is already the best climber! The Italians, with no destination, were able to kick the French ass.
Source: Radio-Canada
