Racing bike myth in Italy: In the promised land of racing – travel

In the hills south of Lake Maggiore, a special shrine nestles in the curve of the road. A bicycle crank with two chainrings is set into the roughly hewn sandstone in a wall. Certainly, even if this is not guaranteed, it is a crank from the Italian manufacturer Campagnolo. Anything else would be sacrilege, blasphemy, sacrilege! The judgmental racing bike inquisition threatens to be burned at the stake if someone comes up with the idea of ​​screwing parts from Japan onto their Pinarello, Bianchi, Colnago, Wilier or another racing bike from Italy.

The curve is on the SP62 Via Gugliemo Marconi, near Brinzio in northern Italy. To the left and right of the crank, metal plaques are attached to the stone wall, bearing the names of racing drivers, cyclists of course. They are the names of deserved asphalt pilgrims. A chapel was built right next to it, and a sign explains that you have arrived at the “Madonnina dei Ciclisti”, the little Madonna of the cyclists.

Italy may be the home of Catholicism, but there is at least one other religion in the country: the racing bike and its riders are revered with a shine that is second to none.

If a small chapel on the edge of a country road is not enough evidence for such a big claim, you can travel (by bike, of course) exactly 67.4 kilometers to the east, to Lake Como, and ask for admission to St. Peter’s Basilica in Magreglio Cycling: the sanctuary dedicated to Madonna del Ghisallo. In 1948 this Madonna was made by Pope Pius XII. officially named the patron saint of cyclists. The place Magreglio, often the destination of stages of the Giro d’Italia, has since developed into a place of pilgrimage for cycling enthusiasts. Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali, Francesco Moser, Marco Pantani, Mario Cipollini and other saints of the Italian racing bike industry donated bikes, jerseys, trophies, trophies and other devotional items that make the church and the attached museum a symbolic epicenter of the Italian racing bike myth .

The names of the manufacturers have a melody, the frames have a special look

The Church, the Pope, heroes from decades past, great victories, beautiful bikes, these are the ingredients that make road cycling in Italy so glamorous. “The special aura of Italian bikes is fed by the history and the tradition behind them,” says Horst Watzl, who organizes “In Velo Veritas” in the Austrian Weinviertel – a cycling event to which only classic steel frames are allowed, preferably those from Italy.

“Of course, other countries also have a great cycling tradition,” says Oliver Schwarzäugl, who runs the “Eddy would attack” cycling café in Nuremberg, where he also sells classic racing bikes, new Wilier models and Campagnolo components. Sure, France has the Tour de France and once had many well-known manufacturers. Many decades ago, Great Britain was something of the center of the international bicycle industry. There is hardly a country where there are more fanatical cycling fans than in Belgium. There is also a long tradition of cycling in Germany, where the forerunner was finally invented. “But there is nothing like it in other countries,” says Horst Watzl. Italy is different, the Giro, the bikes, the figures, the hobby riders.

“It’s purely a matter of feeling,” says Oliver Schwarzäugl, “it starts with the names that trigger something in you.” Cinelli has more melody than, let’s say for example: Kalkhoff. “It also has a lot to do with aesthetics,” says Robert Wolf, who actually works in the real estate sector in Vienna, but has a special passion for racing bikes with an Italian aura. The frames and all the bikes, classic as well as modern, have a special look that, for almost incomprehensible reasons, looks even more beautiful than with bikes from other sources. Why? Hard to say. A men’s suit from Milan doesn’t look fundamentally different either, but it often exudes a special elegance.

Open detailed view

Brands like Bianchi are already known for their own colors: the Bianchi green alone, it’s called Celeste, delights drivers and makes them talk to each other with legends about the origin of this paintwork. If you are out and about on a Bianchi, this old shine rubs off a little. “You can buy a bit of grace with a bike like this,” says Schwarzäugl. Perhaps it can be compared with cars: Ferrari, Maserati or Alfa-Romeo delight four-wheel fans. And here, too, it can be argued that cars from other countries are certainly not worse, and possibly even the opposite. But they don’t have that special shine, that Ferrari red, that special style; something is missing, a little soul, a little glamor – it is, as I said, a purely emotional matter.

“But you have to say that the Italian bicycle manufacturers have long been the absolute leaders in terms of technology,” says Robert Wolf. It was Tullio Campagnolo who invented the quick release after he couldn’t loosen the wing nuts on his rear wheel with clammy fingers in a snowstorm during a race in 1927. He gave up competitive sport in favor of high-performance tinkering, founded the company named after him and drove forward progress on two-wheelers. The company developed gears, brakes and other components that were often groundbreaking and with which by far the largest number of Tour de France victories have been achieved to this day. Campagnolo fans often live a fanatical brand loyalty that remains unsurpassed even in the notoriously material and brand-fixated racing bike world.

Do these perfectly dressed cyclists really want a pass?

Then there are the Italian drivers themselves, including the hobby drivers. “The old warhorses, who are always perfectly styled, their hair gelled, their shaved legs oiled, the bike immaculately cleaned,” says Robert Wolf. It often seems as if these perfectly dressed cyclists are taking them to a social event rather than just a pass. It’s a cliché, but clichés often apply: Italian racing cyclists exude style and grace, even when they wear exactly the same functional underwear and sit on the same bike as cyclists who otherwise do their laps north of the Alps. “I’ve never seen a dirty hub on a racing bike in Italy,” says Wolf. There are believers everywhere, but in some places masses are celebrated with more pomp, glamor and glory.

And yet the cycling community may lose a little of its charisma in the promised land of cycling. Most of the major Italian manufacturers have long had their frames made in Asia. Shimano components are currently installed on the Pinarellos with which the professionals drive the Giro or the Tour. The younger hobby riders, says Robert Wolf, are buying more and more American brands like Specialized or Trek. Campagnolo missed the technical development a little and only surpasses other companies in terms of price. And the racing bike fashion trends, away from the brightly colored advertising pillar jerseys, towards the muted plain-colored camisole, have been driven by brands such as Rapha from Great Britain.

But that’s probably how it is in an ever smaller, because globalized world. The Yamaha Scooter competes with the Vespa and there are good espresso in other countries too. Translated to the racing bike: Dignified cyclists now also ride through other countries, and their bikes also find a place in the hearts of Italians. But maybe these are all the more reasons to let history live and celebrate the myth on a road bike tour through Italy. The racing bike saints will protectively hold their clean-shaven legs over the pilgrims. Because their aura is still unmatched.