AR> Scene from the 1949 Giro d'Italia. Bianchi team riders AR> sorting out some flat tires behind the Fiorelli team car, but I AR> wonder why the guy in the dark sweater needs the shovel???
Maybe he had to bury the punctured tires so that the commissioners couldn't fine the racers for dropping material -wasn't there some rule that the riders had to carry their equipment including spares on their own, and weren't allowed to just throw away anything? I'm pretty sure i read this in Andre Reuze's book.
Of couse, he might be just a bystander, who's job it was to clean the road a bit for the race.
servus,
Martin Appel from -finally- sunny Munich, Germany