Gino Bartali, 20 years after his death, the memory of the most beautiful feat: the ’48 tour, “the French who got mad” and the avoided civil war

On May 5, 2000, Gino Bartali died in Florence. Exactly 20 years after that day, ‘Ginettaccio’ relives its most beautiful effort: the 1948 Tour de France, a history between history and pedals. The President of the Republic thus recalled the Tuscan cyclist: “The name of Gino Bartali, champion and legend of Italian cycling, is inscribed in large characters, underlines the Head of State, in the history of national sport and represents one of the symbols of Italy. after the war. Twenty years after his disappearance, the Republic remembers him as an athlete of extraordinary value, but also as a witness to that spirit of solidarity, sacrifice and dedication that has relaunched the country in the eyes of the world. Bartali’s achievements in the Giro d’Italia, in the Tour de France, in the great international classics, have sparked enthusiasm among Italians and strengthened their hopes even in very difficult times. ”

Three years have passed since the end of WWII. The Italian Constitution entered into force on January 1. ButItaly It is still a divided country, both politically and socially. supporters against The Republicans, but also Christian democracy against Democratic Popular Front, the political body that consists of socialists and communists. The first choice of the history republican. DC gets 48.5% of the votes. The Popular Democratic Front reaches only 31%. Alcide De Gasperi He is appointed Prime Minister.

It is in this context that the Tour de France 1948. Directed by Alfredo Binda, the Italian delegation appears without Fiorenzo Magni and Fausto Coppi. He is alone Gino Bartali, who nevertheless is thirty-four years old and the last triumph in France he got it ten years earlier. Few consider him capable of competing for victory. No one at his age has won the great boucle. Also, it is not easy for Italians to appear on France. The war left a deep groove in the soul of the gods. French. Italian runners are often subject to insults, including Bartali.

The race begins on June 30 with a surprise. the Trouville Bartali wins the Belgian sprint Schotte and in french Teisseire. The first yellow jersey is yours. But the joy doesn’t last long. The next day, the leadership passed to the Belgian. Jan Engels. In the following stages the house favorite emerges. Louison Bobet, referred to by many as the number one favorite of that edition. At the end of the sixth stage, he finished in Biarritz, the Breton conquers the yellow jersey. Bartali, for his part, succeeds so much in Lourdes that a Toulouse, but Bobet clearly defends himself better in Pyrenees and accumulate minutes. Halfway through the Tour, his advantage over Bartali is twenty one minutes. For now it seems all finished. Some Italian journalists who follow the race fall into Italy. Then comes July 14.

The race respects the third day of rest in calendar. In Rome Antonio Pallas, a young Sicilian from the extreme right, shoots Palmiro Togliatti in the piazza montecitorio. It’s 11.30. Riots break out in different areas of Italy and unrest, omission of radio communications, the CGIL proclaims the general strike. Italy is on the brink of war civil. The interior minister Scelba orders to suppress unauthorized demonstrations. From his hospital bed, as soon as he recovered from the surgery that saved his life, the PCI chief invites him to keep calm, refusing to ride the wave of protest. On the night of July 14, De Gasperi’s phones Bartali: “It is important that you win”. The next day in France the hours begin. Alps.

The caravan moves from Cannes to Briançon, one step away from the border with Italy. Two hundred and seventy-four kilometers and a path almost all uphill. the With the Izoard It is an ascent from 16 km to 6.9%, which drops to 2361 meters. It comes after the Allos and Vars climbs, when legs begins to get heavy. In the tight turns of the Col d’Izoard, Bartali takes everyone out and enters lonely. No one can keep up. Alberic Schotte, second of the day, comes more than six minutes later. Stop Camellini even after nine. Bobet, on the other hand, has entered a crisis. He is nineteen minutes late. His lead over Bartali is now just over a minute. It is only the beginning. July 16 is in Program other mountain stage: 263 km Briançon in Aix-les-Bains. In the middle are the Galibier, the Croix de Fer, the Grand Coucheron and the Granier. It is the day of the conquest of the yellow shirt. Bartali reaches the goal with a six-minute advantage over Stan Ocker. But the desire to win and deny who had abandoned him does not end. the Lausanne puts on the third consecutive stage. Before the end there is room for one last victory. feudalthe seventh

On July 25 Bartali parades his Champs Elysees dI Paris. He has twenty-six minutes for Alberic Schotte and twenty-eight for French Guy Laperbie. Bobet, the darling of the French, is only the fourth. Its delay is more than half an hour. For Bartali there is also victory in the classification special of the mountain grand prix. Is his firm bigger At the same time in Italy the situation is slowly returning to normal. And here the story is intertwined with the legend. In addition to the position taken by Togliatti, the civil war in Italy has been avoided by the victory of Bartali? Probably not. There are no historical certainties. Even if it makes you want to wonder why ruining a good story with him true. “Between the French they piss off, “he sings in 1979 Paul tell inspired by that company in Tour de France. This, on the other hand, is a certainty.