FlavioZappi’s Blog

Il bandito e il campione (The bandit and the champion)

This is the title of a song, a very well know song in Italy. Sang by songwriter Francesco De Gregori he imbrace in this story the love for cycling in 1920s and the love for the hero/bandit who live is life as kind of Italian style Robin Hood.

Tear-jerking clips in theme with the tradition of Italian fiction, an interpreter of great effect as Beppe Fiorello, a story carried the memories of the old protagonist with the always excellent technique of flashback. “The legend of the bandit and the champion”, aired Monday and Tuesday on Raiuno directed by Lodovico Gasparini, from the novel by Marco Ventura, is undoubtedly a good product for television where all the leitmotif of the friendship between two boys and then divided by life holds until the end. On the one hand constant Girardengo (Simone Gandolfo) to become the first “Campionissimo” of Italian cycling, on the other Pollastri Sante (the aforementioned Beppe Fiorello) that promise of cycling instead becomes one of the most famous band of the ’20s, with a band capable of bold strokes between Italy and France, wanted by police in both countries. The drama is enriched by the love story of Sante and the Beautiful Apple (Raffaella Rea), loved in his youth also constant, a factor that threatens to undermine the friendship between the bandit and the sample. Some historical event actually happened but then a lot of imagination.

Beppe Fiorello and Simone Gandolfo in the fiction of Raiuno
The rest of this story, taken a few years ago by Francesco De Gregori in his beautiful ballad “The Bandit and the sample is always surrounded by myth and reality. On the true story of Sante Pollastri few examples remain today, the record fascist era intended to explain to citizens the perfect face of an Italy gives little space to the criminal deeds of the bandit in his parable of the bicycle and over the years has collected many fragments, some authentic and others probably legendary, as the title says just fiction.

That the two childhood friends who at some point take different paths is almost certainly a fantasy, a poetic touch to the real story. Both were born in Novi Ligure, in 1893 and Sante Girardengo six years later, it is still a teenager in 1913 when the first part in her first Tour of Italy. In any case, if not best friends but at least acquaintances, and neighbors with a mutual friend, the trainer Biagio Cavanna, one of the most fascinating in the history of Italian cycling, the blind masseur which is enough to recognize a palpated muscles and tendons champion. At his skilled hands after Girardengo will in fact be given the greatest of all time, Fausto Coppi.

Constant Girardengo
The incident that perhaps helped create the legend has really happened in Paris in 1926, the city where he had fled from Sante Pollastri time. In the midst of a spell in Italy, when during a firefight near the French border the death of one of the lieutenants of the bandit Novi was mistaken for death of the same Pollastri. The recovered body was disfigured beyond recognition and therefore, the Italian newspapers gave the news of the death of Sante Poultry episode reported inter alia in the fiction of Raiuno.

Pollastro was instead returned to the French capital where among other things on that day was also Girardengo for the dispute of “six days” on the road.

Amid all the races, Biagio Cavanna sitting on the track of Sante recognized the whistle, a whistle was particularly known as Novi Ligure “cifulò. Novi only one to be recognized by a fellow countryman in a foreign land would have run to perfection and Cavanna did not take long to figure out who was the Novi area of Paris. The master of cycling and his former student then met again in France and shortly after the same Girardengo Cavanna and met the bandit. Sante made an appointment to the two neighbors in Novi, but never arrived there. It was in fact arrested again in Paris in 1927 by men of the Commissioner Guillaume, betrayed by an informer tipped off the police. Following constant Girardengo was called to testify at the trial of Pollastri where there was talk of that famous encounter took place during the “Six Days.”

Sante Pollastri
He was sentenced to life imprisonment but was pardoned in 1959 by then President Giovanni Gronchi. He spent the last twenty years of his life in Novi Ligure, where he was the business of street vendor, where he died in 1979, a year after the disappearance of Girardengo.

“It was old suffered an injustice or poverty, to make the boy a fierce bandit, De Gregori sings in its composition. Sante Pollastri has taken on because his criminal career have been floated several versions. Among these, to justify the hatred of the young bandit against police there is the killing of a relative on their part or that of a brother taken to present the call to arms, although seriously ill and died at the barracks. Another story, taken from the key rather than imaginative fiction and romance with other side dishes, about Sante’s sister, Carmelina, who was raped by a military weapon. Sante, then 19 years old, killed the policeman and then you would be given to the bush. In the television miniseries was Carmela’s future instead of the bandit lover, usurer raped the country and then ran away and found to be constant in a luxury brothel in Turin. None of this hypothesis is still supported by documentation and are mostly born of legends around the figure of Sante Pollastri the war. Famous in France in fact, was almost unknown in Italy, except in the north where his criminal exploits were prominently. The complaint that severely limit the fascist crime. In fact Sante Pollastri embodied the figure of the rebel authority in a time when it was formalizing an authoritarian turn and the move from democracy to fascism. In this sense became a heroic figure for the world and the nascent anarchist anti-fascist movements.

October 15, 2010 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | 2 Comments

Sticky bottles

Have you heard about sticky bottles ?

Well during long stages at the Giro or even at one day events, basically any time were a domestique rider needs to go back to the car and get drinks for himself or for the team is always take advantage of using the bottle as a little pull from the car to save some energies or to get to the peloton quick and easy.

Next video you will have a perfect example, is Cesare Benedetti former leader of Giro Bio for under 27 this year during a stage of the Giro Val D’Aosta:

September 8, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment

Climbing training for Alfredo Binda

Training back in the 80s was pretty simple, we use to meet in Gallarate near Malpensa airport at 9am all the pro in Varese area and strong amateur (dilettanti) normally about 15/20people and off on the road on row of 2 at very good pace…..

View from Passo del Cuvignone

One of our favourite ride was to go around the lake Maggiore climb up from Cittiglio (Alfredo Binda’s born village) up to Cuvignone 12km between 8/12% radiant and then down to the valley to climb again 2 more passes and back home by 2/3ish.

Passo del Cuvignone

But the interesting story is about Binda’s style of climbing training and obviously the Cuvignone. He use to tied behind his bike a big bunch of thin branches for burning on fireplace and pull it all the way to up the top of the mountain which was at the time small passage with gravel and stones.

Alfredo Binda

I guess the training suits him as he become probably the the strongest rider of his time and for a long period of time.

June 20, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment

Power to body weight of a champion

You probably think I’m a fan of Marco……well yes I am,  because beside all the doping issue around his story the table below easy explain why was such a great performer when was time to conquer a climb and this with or without doping aid:

Pantani

Indurain

Berzin

Armstrong

Jalabert

June 10, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment

Brothers in cycling

I was always interested in cyclist brothers, don’t ask me why but this are some of the one that I remember. By the way looks like the younger one are the stronger!

If you know of any please post me details and i will add to the list. In alphabetical order:

Algeri Vittorio e Pietro

Baronchelli Gianbattista e Gaetano

Bevilacqua Antonio e Leonardo

Cipollini Mario e Cesare

Coppi Fausto e Serse

De Vlaeminck Roger and Eric

Downing Dean and Russel

Madiot Marc and Yvon

Moser Enzo, Aldo and Francesco

Schlech Frank and Andy

June 5, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | 1 Comment

Fausto Coppi’s blind massaggiatore (physio) Biagio Cavanna

Many people know Fausto Coppi story, the greatest Italian champion in many people point of view the greatest ever together with Merckx and Armstrong.

But not many people knows that is blind physio was probably also one of the greatest in his field.

Not a great rider himself during the period of Girardengo, he then develop his massage skills techniques and become a great masseur, but he become blind at 40. He never gave up and he actually  started a cycling school were young rider would live with him and with his very hard trainings, diets and massages develop and giving a chance at young riders to turn pro and start a cycling carrier.

Story of old pro are saying that he could with the feel of his hands and by listening to the noise of their heart whether they could become great rider or not.

Once become Fausto’s massaggiatore the two were inseparable and Biagio would follow the “Airone” (heron) every were in the world give him also advice on trainings and race tactics, to then develop Fausto even further in his carrier.

May 30, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment

Eddy Merckx

THE CANNIBAL!

He could win anything and wanted to. If you got time to spend to see his palmares, you will see he won almost anything possible, from 1 day racing to stage racing, crits, and 6 days.

But one thing I was told, he was so competitive that even when he was playing cards in the evening he had to win, and he was very very upset when he was loosing.

This is maybe a little fantastic, but I like to believe that is true maybe to add even more to his competitive personality.

May 27, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment

Rest day at “Giro d’Italia”

Do you train or do you relax at the rest day?
Well Most of the “girini” (riders) are training between3 to 4 hours at steady pace, this is to do with keeping the routine of exercise, massage and sleeping. Many people feel that if do not your body the next day feels very bloated and therefore very hard at the start of the stage.

One of the myth is that very often riders that are up to the rest day doing very well they get worse after the rest day, (this are the one who need to train more), and the one which are not been doing great are improving considerably, body or mind?

May 18, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment

Giuseppe Saronni

Do you know that Giuseppe Saronni used to train in the summer most of the time with a woollen top, he use to say : Hey ragazzi (guys) I need to sweat. But most of the time before he would sweat he made us sweat so much

May 16, 2009 Posted by flaviozappi | Do you know? | Leave a Comment