Gino Bartali

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Gino Bartali (July 18, 1914 - May 5, 2000) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. He was the most famous Italian cyclist prior to the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice (in 1936 and 1937) and the Tour de France in 1938. His second and last win in 1948 placed him in the record books for having the largest gap between victories in the French race.

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[edit] History and career

Gino Bartali was born in Ponte a Ema near Florence.

He was a promising amateur racing cyclist and turned professional in 1935, winning a stage of that year's Giro and taking the overall King of the Mountains title - the first of an eventual seven mountains wins in the Giro. In 1936, he took overall victory in the Giro and won the Giro di Lombardia Classic, but his season was marred by the death of his brother, Giulio, in a racing accident, and Gino almost gave up the sport.

However, he was persuaded to return and in 1937 took a second Giro victory but, despite winning a stage and wearing the leader's maillot jaune, Bartali was forced to abandon the 1937 Tour de France following injuries sustained in a crash. He was determined to win the French race, and after being forced to drop the 1938 Giro from his schedule by the fascist dictatorship, he had to concentrate on the race to victory in Paris. However the animosity among European countries on the eve of World War II meant that Italy would not send riders to the 1939 Tour de France, making it impossible for Bartali to defend his title.

Bartali was famous as a climber and pioneered the use of the Campagnolo shifting system. Previously the two available gears were mounted on opposite sides of the rear wheel hub, and switching between the two meant stopping the bicycle and switching the orientation of the rear wheel. The new system allowed a rider to simply (by comparison) backpedal, engage a rod to switch the chain to the other gear, and start pedaling anew. This sequence of motion often struck fear into the hearts of his opponents, as it was a sure sign that Bartali was ready to attack.

Bartali won three editions of the Giro d'Italia before (1936, 1937) and after (1946) the World War, and several editions of classics such as Milan-Sanremo, the Giro di Lombardia and the Züri-Metzgete. His most famous victory was that of the 1948 Tour de France, during which he made a strong comeback in the mountains to win the race.

[edit] Rivalry with Fausto Coppi

Bartali grew up in the deeply religious Tuscany, and his strong religious belief earned him the nickname of "Gino the Pious". He was said to resent it when his team-mates swore, and insisted on praying before each and every meal. In contrast, Fausto Coppi who was many years his junior grew up in the more liberal north of Italy, and was not religious at all.

Bartali's rivalry with Coppi is said to have divided Italy.[citation needed] Bartali, conservative and deeply religious, was venerated in the rural, agrarian south, while Coppi, more worldly, secular, and innovative in his ideas of diet and training, was the hero of the urban, industrial north.

Nevertheless, Bartali was instrumental in getting Coppi a contract in his team at the end of the 1939 season, and - after an early crash had ruined Bartali's chances - Bartali also helped Coppi win the 1940 Giro d'Italia. A famous photo shows them sharing a drink while in competition, and their supposed rivalry was the subject of intense coverage and resulted in many epic races.

When professional cycle racing resumed in 1946 after World War II, Bartali narrowly beat Coppi in that year's Giro, while Coppi won Milan-Sanremo. Bartali won the Tour de Suisse twice, another Milan-Sanremo, and the 1948 Tour de France - a full ten years after his last victory. Coppi took victories in the 1947 Giro, the Giro di Lombardia and the Grand Prix des Nations.

Despite the rivalry, perhaps heightened by Coppi's victory in the 1949 Giro, Bartali supported Coppi's bid in the 1949 Tour de France. The two Italian team-mates destroyed the race as a contest in a mountainous Alpine stage over the Col de Vars and Col d'Izoard. When Coppi punctured on the Izoard, Bartali waited for him, then Bartali did the same and Coppi waited. On the final climb to Briançon, Coppi allowed Bartali to win (on his 35th birthday) and take the yellow jersey. But Coppi assumed the maillot jaune the following day after Bartali punctured with 40 km of the stage still to race. Coppi retained the leadership to Paris, while Bartali took second place on the podium.

The 1950 Tour de France saw him lead the Italian team again, with Coppi electing not to contest the race, but having been threatened by frenzied fans the entire Italian team resigned from the race.

[edit] Bartali outside of cycling

Bartali was recently discovered to have used his fame as a cyclist to carry messages and documents to members of the Italian Resistance, whose efforts included transporting Jewish Italians to safer locations. His fame meant that neither the Fascist police or the German troops were willing to risk discontent by arresting him.

Giorgio Nissim, an Italian Jew, was a member of DelAsEm (Delegation for the Assistenceto Emigrants) the organization founded by the Union of the Israelitic Communities to help Jewish Italians escape the nazi-fascist persecutions; in autumn 1943 the entire network in the Tuscany region was discovered and all member except Nissim were arrested and sent to concentration camps. He had many contacts within the Roman Catholic Church and, as he told in an interview in 1969, he also met the pope Pius XII, so with the help of the Archbishop of Genua, the Franciscan Friars and other he re-organized DelAsEm ad helped at least 800 people escape the persecutions.

After his death in 2000 his sons found his diaries and started trascribing them to publish a book and with great surprise found that Bartali, a fervent Catholic and member of Azione Cattolica since 1935, used his fame to help the network. Nissim and the Oblati Friars of Lucca had set up a clandestine typography to falsify the documents necessary to expatriate, but they needed actual photographs of the persons and they were in other convents in the region.

To solve the problem Bartali would leave Florence early in the morning with a t-shirt bearing his name pretending to train, reach the convent where the Jews were hiding, take their photographs previously hidden in the charity box, hide them in his bike and bring them to Nissim in another convent. Later he would take a different route go first to the convent where Nissim already had falsified the documents and hid them in the charity box, take and hide them in his bike, go to the other convent where he deposited again the documents in the charity box.

Bartali used his position to gain valuable information about Fascist raids upon Partisan safehouses and would warn the Partisians of upcoming raids, so they would not be caught smuggling Jewish Refugees. But the Fascists could do nothing to stop him, as arresting Bartali would have caused an uprising.

However, once the Nazis invaded the country, pressure was put on the Fascists to solve the problems of their missing Jews. Bartali was taken to Villa Triste in Florence. A place occupied by the German SD and the sadist Italian RSS officer, Mario Carità. It was a place where hundreds of political opponents were tortured and executed. Here they questioned Bartali about the charity he was doing and told him to avoid his catholic frequentations, threatening his life if he did not obey them. Bartali simply answered "I do what I feel [in my heart]".

Even after the interrogation, Bartali continued his activities with what would eventually be known as the Assisi Underground. In 1943, after several Catholic guides were forced into hiding, Bartali began leading the Jewish refugees out of Italy and towards the Swiss Alps himself; all under the nose of the Nazi patrols. Eventually he fabricated a wagon with a secret compartment for hiding those in need safe passage. When stopped and questioned by patrols, Bartali would simply tell them that towing the wagon was just part of his training regimen.

Bartali never spoke about these episodes and only told his son Andrea that "One does these things and then that's that".

[edit] Victories

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Roger Lapébie		 Winner of the Tour de France
1938		 Succeeded by
Sylvère Maes
Preceded by
Jean Robic		 Winner of the Tour de France
1948		 Succeeded by
Fausto Coppi
Preceded by
Vasco Bergamaschi		 Winner of the Giro d'Italia
1936-37		 Succeeded by
Giovanni Valetti
Preceded by
Fausto Coppi		 Winner of the Giro d'Italia
1946		 Succeeded by
Fausto Coppi
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