TRANSCONTINENTAL PROJECT

During stage 12 of the 1956 Giro d'Italia, Fiorenzo Magni crashed on a descent, breaking his collarbone. Rather than withdraw from what would be his last grand tour (he was 36) he finished the stage and then went to hospital. At hospital, he refused to have a cast put on as the next day was a rest day followed by a mountain Individual time trial and, because he’s an ultra hard bastard, wasn’t going to let a broken bone stop him.

On the ITT, the broken collarbone was making it difficult to steer so his mechanic (Masi) attached a length of inner tube to the bars so that Magni could pull on them with his mouth. He wasn’t fast but he finished.

Although able to race, his problems with bike control continued - on stage 16 he crashed after losing control on a descent, hitting a ditch, and fell onto his already injured left side. He passed out from the pain and when he awoke to find himself in an ambulance, forced it to stop, climbed out and carried on racing. He caught up to the peloton, which had waited for him, and finished the stage. He refused x-rays or medical treatment that evening but later found out that he’d also broken his elbow….

Undeterred, like some mad bulldog, he fought through the pain and into the high mountain stages, climbing well but still struggling and skidding on the descents. As if this wasn’t bad enough, stage 20 was raced through some of the worst blizzards the Giro had ever seen. The riders were frozen and the conditions so brutal that 60 abandoned including Pasquale Fornara who was in pink and with a good lead. This put Charly Gaul into pink and Magni into third place.

Magni, now pushing into second place and within reach of winning his fourth Giro tried attacking Gaul in the stages that followed but Gaul was too strong and he couldn’t overcome him and he still finished second.  Cycling is a sport where the victors aren’t always decided by podium place.