They’re the people who pay for the sport we love to watch. So let’s hear it for laminate flooring, face cream and satellite television
Italian rider Fiorenzo Magni was a seriously hard man, who shook off accusations of being a Nazi sympathiser to win both the Giro and Tour of Flanders three times. He was also known for rubbing a well-known brand of women’s face cream into the chamois pad of his shorts, and in 1954 this would lead to an event that changed the face of professional cycling forever.
Until that point, the sponsorship of professional teams had been restricted to cycling brands only (with the notable exception of a British team that in 1947 operated under the rules of the breakaway British League of Racing Cyclists rather than the UCI and was sponsored by pools company ITP). But bike sales had suffered during the period of post-war prosperity that saw more people buying cars and mopeds. Brands such as Ganna, which supplied the bikes for Magni’s team, had less money to spend on sponsorship.
So Magni contacted the German producers of the face cream he had applied so diligently to the opposite end of his anatomy and convinced them to give him 20 million Italian lire (£200,000 today). The next year, Magni won his third Giro with the name Nivea emblazoned across his jersey.
‘Nivea always thanked me for my idea, even years later. This was the beginning of the salvation of cycling,’ Magni told Bill McGann, author of the two-volume The Story Of The Giro d’Italia in 2006.
Bu hikaye Cyclist Middle East dergisinin September 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Cyclist Middle East dergisinin September 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Dear UCI
With Brian Cookson out and David Lappartient in, Felix Lowe writes an open letter to the new president of the UCI
Canyon Ultimate WMN CF SLX
Canyon has finally decided that, yes, women do need their own race bike
Craig Calfee
From bamboo e-bikes to full suspension racers, frame building pioneer Craig Calfee talks carbon fibre, Greg LeMond and the future of bikes as we know it
Track In The USSR
Not only did Don Walker found the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, he also shows some pretty mean bicycles himself
Rotor Uno Hydraulic Road Groupset
£2,400, saddleback.co.uk
Frank Schleck
The ex-pro and former yellow jersey wearer tells Cyclist about the unique pleasures and pains of riding at the Tour de France
The Worlds Are Your Oyster
Designing a course so a local rider wins the rainbow jersey? Felix Lowe asks just what are the Worlds coming to…
Pick 'N' Mix
If we had to pick five…
Q&A : Thomas Voeckler
The French fans’ favourite on his last ever appearance in the Tour de France, his old Miguel Indurain poster and the glorious art of the attack.
In Praise Of... Memorials
Plaques, statues and shrines to cycling’s fallen heroes are scattered all over the mountain roads of Europe, turning any ride into a pilgrimage.