The Story of the Giro d'Italia: A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy (1909-1970)

Author:McGann, Bill & McGann, Carol [McGann, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGann Publishing
Published: 2011-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Two days later, stage ten took the riders to Milan, and on the way Bartali said he got quite a surprise. He discovered that after interceding on their behalf to get them reinstated into the race, the now leaderless Bianchi riders were in Koblet’s pocket, working for the Swiss rider. Bartali accused them of being in Koblet’s pay for the rest of the Giro, calling their behavior shameless. While Bartali’s outrage is understandable, I’m sure that after their expected prize winnings were ambulanced off to Trent, the Bianchi gregari took the first paycheck that came their way. Given Bartali’s reputation for reneging on deals, I’ll bet getting the Bianchi riders to race for him rather than Koblet was an unlikely possibility. I’m just guessing here.

Koblet was riding in a state of grace, impervious to Bartali’s constant attempts to dislodge him from the lead. Stage thirteen had two major climbs on the way to Arezzo and Koblet was first over both of them, allowing him to pocket more bonus time and extend his lead to over seven minutes.

Bartali fought back and was able to reduce Koblet’s advantage to just over five minutes by the time the race finished in Rome.

Il Vecchio (now 36 years old) was furious at the outcome of the race. It wasn’t only that he felt that the Bianchi riders betrayed his kindness. Bartali accused the Giro organizers of being too imitative of the Tour when they gave time bonuses for winning stages and being first to the top of some mountains. The result was that by racing intelligently, the canny Koblet accumulated about ten minutes in time bonuses. Yet their final General Classification time difference was only about five minutes. In real time Bartali had completed the Giro with a shorter elapsed time. But the rules were the rules and everyone had to ride accordingly. There is no asterisk beside’s Koblet’s name in the Giro records noting that Gino actually rode faster.

Hugo Koblet became the Giro d’Italia’s first foreign winner.

Speaking of the Bianchi riders, Bartali grumped, “We see that Swiss gold was worth more than love of country.” Koblet taught Bartali (as if he hadn’t already known) that professional bicycle racing is a business.

Final 1950 Giro d’Italia General Classification:

1. Hugo Koblet (Guerra) 117 hours 28 minutes 3 seconds

2. Gino Bartali (Bartali) @ 5 minutes 12 seconds

3. Alfredo Martini (Taurea) @ 8 minutes 41 seconds

4. Ferdy Kübler (Frejus) @ 8 minutes 45 seconds

5. Luciano Maggini (Taurea) @ 10 minutes 49 seconds

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