“Human Locomotive” set record for most wins in one season
The racing cyclist Learco Guerra, who won the Giro d'Italia in 1934 and was world champion in 1931, was born on this day in 1902 in San Nicolò Po, a hamlet on the banks of the Po river in Lombardy, about 15km (9 miles) south of Mantua.
Learco Guerra's speed in races led to him
being nicknamed the "Human Locomotive"
He gained the nickname of "Human Locomotive" by the editor of Gazzetta dello Sport, organisers of the Giro d’Italia, for his ability to maintain high speeds over long periods.
Guerra’s single Giro d’Italia victory came in a year when he won 18 races, including 10 stages of the Giro d’Italia, the Giro di Lombardia and four rounds of the national championships. It was a record by an individual rider in a single season that would stand until the 1970s.
His fame was exploited by the Fascist government, which profited from his heroic status. Benito Mussolini praised his 'manly Italian virtues' of strength, stamina and determination.
Guerra himself became a member of the National Fascist Party, which prompted conspiracy theories among some of his rival cyclists, who noted that the route chosen for the 1934 Giro d’Italia, with notably few hill stages, suited Guerra’s qualities perfectly.
Until the age of 25, Guerra worked as a bricklayer with his father, who was a master builder in a construction company in Mantua.
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| Guerra's rival, the five-times Giro d'Italia winner Alfredo Binda |
In the event all the real members of the Maino team retired, while Guerra finished 17th, even though his bike was not only old but was designed for track competition rather than road racing.
The significance of that performance did not escape the notice of team boss Giovanni Maino, who saw Guerra as someone who might take on the great Alfredo Binda, the five-times Giro winner from the Legnano team. Guerra thus turned professional at the age of 27.
In 1930, Guerra won the first of what would be five consecutive Italian National Road Race Championships, finishing second in the Tour de France the same year, ahead of Binda, who proved in poor form.
In the 1931 Giro, in which he won four stages, his victory in the opening Milan-Mantua stage gave him the honour of being the first rider to wear the pink jersey, which was being awarded for the first time as a symbol of primacy in the standings. Pink was chosen as the colour because the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper was printed on pink paper.
In the same year, Guerra also won the Road World Championships in Copenhagen. In what were the best years of his career, he also triumphed in the Milan-Sanremo in 1933 and was again second in the 1933 Tour de France.
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| Guerra set a record for the most road race victories in a single season |
Guerra retired from racing in 1945 but stayed in cycling as a successful team boss. His Faema and Emi teams provided many champions in the 1950s, including the four-times Giro d’Italia winner Charly Gaul, a native of Luxembourg.
Sadly, Guerra died in 1963 at the age of just 60, having undergone two operations in the hope of overcoming Parkinson’s disease. Binda was one of the pallbearers at his funeral, which was preceded by a procession through streets lined with fans. He was laid to rest in the family tomb in the Monumental Cemetery of Mantua.
In 1994 a museum dedicated to Learco Guerra was opened in Piazza Broletto in Mantua, thanks to his cousin Otello Giovanni Pozzi. Among the memorabilia on display are that first pink jersey from the Giro and his world champion jersey 1931. A museum dedicated to his friend and fellow Mantuan sportsman, the racing driver Tazio Nuvolari, is in the same building.
Travel tip:
The Po river close to where Learco Guerra was
born. It is the widest and longest river in Italy
The Po, which flows past the hamlet where Learco Guerra was born, is the longest river in Italy, rising in Cottian Alps in the far west of the country and reaching the Adriatic Sea in the east over a meandering course of 652km (405 miles). Its 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq ml) drainage basin forms Italy’s widest and most fertile plain, but one that has suffered a number of devastating floods, the majority in the 20th and 21st centuries. The Po’s principal tributaries include the Sesia, Ticino, Adda, Oglio, and Mincio rivers. The Po is navigable from its mouth to Pavia. The Venetian Republic built dikes to control floods and canals to divert silt, and in the area between Ferrara and the Adriatic numerous undertakings have reclaimed thousands of acres during the past three centuries. The Po valley produces a variety of crops, including rice, corn, wheat, and grapes for wine production. It is home to the industrial cities of Milan, Turin, and Bologna but also the historical cities of Verona and Mantua. The valley’s cuisine is renowned for its delicious pasta dishes, cured meats, and cheeses.
Travel tip:
The Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, which was for
four centuries the seat of the Gonzaga family
Mantua is an atmospheric old city in Lombardy, to the southeast of Milan, famous for its Renaissance Palazzo Ducale, the seat of the Gonzaga family between 1328 and 1707. The Camera degli Sposi is decorated with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, depicting the life of Ludovico III Gonzaga and his family, who ruled Mantua for 34 years in the 15th century. The nearby 15th century Basilica of Sant’Andrea was originally built to accommodate the large number of pilgrims who came to Mantua to see a precious relic, an ampoule containing what were believed to be drops of Christ’s blood mixed with earth, while the Palazzo Te is a fine example of the Mannerist school of architecture, the masterpiece of the architect Giulio Romano. The name for the palace came about because the location chosen had been the site of the Gonzaga family stables at Isola del Te on the edge of the marshes just outside Mantua’s city walls.
Also on this day:
1425: The birth of painter Alesso Baldovinetti
1628: The death of painter Palma Giovane
1963: The birth of singer Alessandro Safina