Re: [CR] I shall be riding my Bianchi Campionissimo tomorrow

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2007)

Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 19:19:11 -0800
From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@yahoo.com>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] I shall be riding my Bianchi Campionissimo tomorrow


Fred is correct about Gino Bartali's role in the resistance in WW2 Italy. Then again, we should remember that he, Coppi, Binda, Cinelli and the other greats of Italian cycling of the 1930s-50s were all the products of the Fascist regime's enormous support of cycling as a "working class" sport designed to rival football. The sudden dominance of Italians in cycle sport starting in the 1930s was not accidental. Most of these young would be racers, in their early teens, were nurtured from the beginning and many races, both road and track, were sponsored by the OND (Opera Nationazale Dopolavaro (literally "After Work") organisation which was a government run replacement for trade unions with sporting evenings, social affairs, sponsored cruises and holidays. Recreational cycling and cycle touring blossomed as a result. I suspect the first team cycling jerseys Coppi and Bartali wore were emblazoned OND.

Mussolini himself was a passonate cycling enthusiast and when he lifted the ban on Italian cyclists participating in the Tour de France (which was imposed after League of Nations sanctions against Italian imposed in 1936) in 1937, he personally selected Gino Bartalli to lead the Italian National team. Bartali's TdF win in 1938 was but one of many Italian sporting triumphs of the era including winning the FIFA World Cup in 1934 and 1938 and Primo Carnero's heavyweight boxing championship and ranking near the top in Olympic Medals in the 1932 and 1936 Games.

In the wake of the 1936 sanctions, Italians distained any foreign products or materials and the government encouraged the development and use of Italian cycling components at this time. Italian cycle racing continued throughout the war.

Somewhere on Youtube there are old "Luce" newsreels of cycling from this period and whatever ones views are of the Fascist Regime, its enormous and positve role in the development of Italian cycle sport and in nurturing that amazing generation of riders cannot be disputed.

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA