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Gino Bartali, mentioned in the article, has the most amazing back story. He used his bike training to smuggle secret documents for the Italian Resistance and w
by Lio 5y ago
Gino Bartali, mentioned in the article, has the most amazing back story.
He used his bike training to smuggle secret documents for the Italian Resistance and was awarded Righteous Among the Nations for helping Jews escape the Nazis.
Like many he stayed quite about his wartime exploits and was only recognised for them after his death.
A quite remarkable man.
- gpderetta 5y agoThanks for the pointer, I did not know about that. From his wiki page: "The good is done, but it is not said. And certain medals hang on the soul, not on the jacket".
- ubermonkey 5y agoMy two favorite largely unknown cycling stories from history are (1) this one and (b) the story of Major Taylor.
- 1-more 5y agoI'm in the middle of The Fastest Man in the World about Taylor right now. It's a gripping read, and it does a lot to tie in the politics of the era, what the bicycle boom meant for New York before the advent of the personal car, and the wider ripple effects of the bicycle boom such as on the Free State of the Congo. My fun fact about Taylor is this: In November 1898 he set a world record 1/4 mile time at 22.2s averaging 40.5 mph. The earliest land speed record by a car that I could find (on wikipedia so I'm not that thorough) was set by an electric car(!) on Dec 18 1898 at 39.245 mph. So he threw down a gauntlet and a month later cars failed to pick it up. A hero in the war on cars.
- usrusr 5y ago> and was only recognised for them after his death. Yeah, that was a painful day when you considered yourself a Coppist ;) "damn, turns out the other guy was even more awesome!"
- Lio 5y agoI always thought of myself as a big Coppi fan too. When you look at riders like Bartali, Coppi or Monsieur Jacques the only thing I can conclude is that these guys led more “interesting” lives back then.