Giro d'Italia Alfredo Martini Jersey

Description

Tuscan doc and great friend of Bartali. From a young age he cultivated a passio-ne for cycling. He would not win much in his career , but he would be a great domestique contended by all the bigs . He had an incredible tenacity that can be easily understood by thinking back to the Florence-Bologna Apennine stage of the 1948 Giro, when after being run over by a flagship he got up and blood from his face, bike and body bruised, Martini resumed the race because that is how a domestique had to behave. Also thanks to Alfredo's sacrifice, that 1948 Giro was won by his captain Fiorenzo Magni, a champion who had political ideas antithetical to his own. But during the race, amid the dust of the dirt roads on the climbs and the hairpin bends taken in dives on the descents, only the ideal of the gregario's loyalty to his captain was in force, only the universal language of cycling and fatigue. A winning runner as an amateur, as a professional he won few but significant races: a Giro dell'Appennino and a Giro del Piemonte, a stage of the 1950 Giro d'Italia, during which he wore the pink jersey at the finish line in Brescia for one unforgettable day only, the one shown here ! He was at the service of Bartali, Coppi, Magni who contended to have him at their side, having well understood the strength and tactical sagacity of that boy. He was decisive in backing the Campionissimo in the victories of the two Tours de France 1948 and 1952. Some 20 years after the end of his career, Martini's second life in cycling he played it in the role of sports director, winning the 1971 Giro d'Italia with Swede Gosta Pettersson. In 1975 he was appointed technical commissioner of the Italian national team, a position he held until 1997. Remember the victories with Saronni , Moser, Bugno , Fondriest and Arentin .