Gino Bartali

Gino Bartali ( born July 18, 1914 in Ponte a Ema ( Bagno a Ripoli ) in Florence, † May 5, 2000 ibid ) was one of the most successful and popular cyclists of Italy. He twice won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia three times. For his involvement in the rescue of persecuted Jews during the Second World War, he posthumously received the award in 2013 of a Righteous Among the Nations.

Cycling career

Gino Bartali, professional cyclist from 1935 to 1953, was considered the best climber of his time. He won a total of seven times the mountain stage of the Giro d' Italia. Three times (1936, 1937 and 1946 ), he also triumphed in the overall classification of the Giro. 1938 Bartali won the Tour de France for the first time. The best racers age he had to interrupt his career because of the Second World War for several years. In 1948 he came back to the Tour and won the " Great Loop " after ten years for a second time in an impressive manner with almost half an hour ahead of the second placed Briek Scot.

Bartalis career was marked by the competition with five years younger " Campionissimo " Fausto Coppi: This famous rivalry of the Italian cycling history divided the huge fan base in the irreconcilable camp of " Barta lists " and the " Coppisten ". 1946 Bartali won the Giro before Coppi. 1949 had the now 35 -year-old Bartali at the Tour de France the superiority Coppis recognize and reached the second place in his last great result in the Tour.

Although Bartali could never win the Road World Championship, but he dominated the two major Italian one-day classics: Four times he won at Milan - Sanremo, three times he won the Tour of Lombardy.

Honor

" ... Gli è tutto sbagliato, tutto rifare there ... " ( Gino Bartali )

In the movie " The Assisi Underground" from 1985 Bartali was a monument. He worked as a bike messenger for the underground movement during the reign of Italian Fascism, which campaigned for the rescue of Jews. In the credits of the film his future sports career is mentioned. At the beginning of 2012, advised the International Cycling Union UCI that Yad Vashem, the Israeli " memorial of the martyrs and heroes of the State of Israel in the Holocaust ", check if Bartali will be awarded for these merits the title of Righteous among the Nations. In September 2013, he posthumously received this award. It is reported that as a courier Bartali worked for the anti-fascist resistance and members of the Goldberg family hid from persecution by German and Italian fascists. Overall, his actions should have preserved 800 of persecuted Jews from deportation. For this purpose, the golden medal of honor ( Medaglia d' oro al Merito Civile ), he was awarded in 2005 already by the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi posthumously. Parts of its former equipment are exhibited at the shrine of the cyclist, the church of the Madonna del Ghisallo and the Museo del Ciclismo in Magreglio. In Magreglio a street Via Gino Bartali was named.

Achievements

• 2 × Tour de France (1938, 1948)
• 3 × Giro d' Italia (1936, 1937, 1946)
• 4 × Milan - Sanremo (1939, 1940, 1947, 1950)
• 3 × Giro di Lombardia (1936, 1939, 1940)
• 2 × Tour de Suisse (1946, 1947)
• 4 × Italian road champion (1935, 1937, 1940, 1952)
• 5 × Giro della Toscana (1939, 1940, 1948, 1950, 1953)
• 3 × Giro del Piemonte (1937, 1939, 1951)
• 2 × Championship of Zurich (1946, 1948)
• 2 × Giro dell'Emilia (1952, 1953)
• 2 × Giro della Campania (1940, 1945)
• 1 × Coppa Bernocchi (1935 )
• 1 × Tre Valli Varesine (1938 )
• 1 × Tour de Romandie (1949 )

Writings

• Gino Bartali, Pino Ricci: Tutto sbagliato, tutto rifare since: 33 illustrazioni fuori con testi, Mondadori, Milan 1979.