Today, the 15th September 2019 would have been the 100th Birthday of one of the greatest Road Cyclists of the 20th Century.
Angelo Fausto Coppi was the dominant road racing cyclist just after the Second World War. He was an all-round cyclist, excelling at all levels, whether he was climbing, time-trialling or sprinting.
He won the Giro d ’Italia 5 times (1940, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953); the Tour de France twice (1949 and 1952); and the World Championships in 1953. In 1942 he also set a “World Hour Record” of 45.798kms.
Coppi (15 Sept 1919 – 2 Jan 1960) was born in Castellania to Dominic Coppi & Angelina Boveri. He was the fourth of five children. Often poorly as a child, he was known to skip school to go riding on an old bike he had found in the cellar.
He left school at 13 to work in the local butchers. Cycling to and from work and doing the days deliveries interested him in cycling and in racing.
His Uncle and Father gave him some money to buy himself a frame and he managed to build the bike from his shop salary.
Coppi road his first race aged 15 and won his first prize – 20lire and a salami sandwich.
By the time he was 19 (1938) he had taken out a Professional Road Racing Licence and won his first race as a professional, this time with the prize of an alarm clock.
His first major success was the 1940 Giro d ‘Italia which he won aged 20, one of the youngest ever winners. After his Hour Record (1942), his cycling career was interrupted by the Second World War, when he was conscripted in to the Italian Army.
He returned to competitive cycling after the War in 1946. In 1949 he rode the Tour de France for the first time, winning with a healthy margin over his team mate Gino Bartelli.
He won again in 1952, after having a couple of difficult years. It was to be his last Tour, having started three and winning two.
By 1956, Coppi’s career was declining; he was put on trial in Italy for adultery (then illegal in Italy) and found the death of his younger brother difficult to del with. (He was killed in a crash in a bike race.)
By 1959, he was only just ‘hanging on’ and was no longer racing.
Overall Coppi had a record that was hard to beat, however, his personal live was “complicated” and his death was always a bit of a mystery.
He caught malaria while on a riding holiday in Burkina Faso (West Africa), however, it has been suggested that he died of an overdose of cocaine. This has never been proven.
Coppi took quite large quantities of amphetamines, “almost all the time”. These were not illegal or against the rules at the time.
He was, and still is, one of the greatest riders of the 20th Century.