2020 (EN)
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01 January 2020
Tutte le Attività (EN) -
Anno 2020
The second of the anniversaries is dedicated to the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Fausto Coppi.
Many visitors and sportsmen intervened in the multimedia rooms of the Museum where - in the section "The great protagonists of history" - videos, images and documents of the great runner are available.
60 years have passed since January 2, 1960, when following a malaria contracted in Africa during a race, Fausto Coppi died. Yet his myth has not only remained intact, but is constantly growing. A life spanning 40 years, of which 20 years spent winning and becoming one of the greatest and most popular cyclists of all time.
Coppi has become the inspiration of songs ("It comes from fatigue and dirt roads .... here with us five times then twice in France for the world four times against the wind two mild eyes and a nose that divides the wind", so sings Gino Paoli), countless books, films, radio commentaries that are part of the collective imagination ("One man is in command; his shirt is white-blue; his name is Fausto Coppi" by Mario Ferretti) all material which has entered by law into the knowledge and awareness of sports lovers, but not only. In short, a timeless myth.
Legendary was his rivalry with Gino Bartali, who divided Italy in the immediate post-war period: the photo depicting the two champions was celebrated while passing a bottle during the Col du Galibier climb to the 1952 Tour. Over 150 races were won. Thirty-one days in pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia, 19 in yellow of the Tour de France. In the Giro he won twenty-two stages, in the Tour nine.
Fausto Coppi has won everywhere and in all fields. Five times the Giro (1940, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953), twice the Tour de France (1949 and 1952), also becoming the first cyclist to conquer the two competitions in the same year. Extraordinary also in the one-day races: 5 Giri di Lombardia (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1954), 3 Milano-Sanremo (1946, 1948 and 1949), and then the successes at Paris-Roubaix and Freccia Vallone in 1950 Became professional world champion in 1953, he also excelled in track cycling becoming also world champion in pursuit in 1947 and 1949 and record holder of the hour (with 45.798 km) from 1942 to 1956.
He was also probably the first sportsman to inflame the scandal chronicles of a Puritan Italy. Already married and father of Marina, he fell in love with the famous White Lady who was also married and from whose relationship his son Faustino was born, in a time when separations were even a crime. Even in this, albeit unwittingly, he made a contribution of growth and discussion by becoming a social and customs protagonist of Italy that was re-emerging after the Second World War.
