Learco Guerra - racing cyclist

“Human Locomotive” set record for most wins in one season

Learco Guerra's speed in races led to him
being nicknamed the "Human Locomotive"

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.

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.

Guerra's rival, the five-times Giro
d'Italia winner Alfredo Binda

His dreams of becoming a cycle racer came true thanks to a friend, who obtained a bicycle for him and helped him enter the historic Milan-Sanremo race. He competed in a jersey belonging to the powerful Maino racing team, although he was not a member.

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. 

Guerra set a record for the most road
race victories in a single season

His stupendous form of 1934 carried over into 1935, when he numbered another five stages of the Giro d’Italia among eight race victories. Overall, in the course of his career he numbered 31 stage wins in the Giro, a tally bettered only by Binda (41) and Mario Cipollini (42). 

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.

The Po river close to where Learco Guerra was 
born. It is the widest and longest river in Italy

Travel tip:

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.

The Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, which was for
four centuries the seat of the Gonzaga family

Travel tip:

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

Home

Giuseppe Olmo - cycling champion and businessman

Olympic gold medallist set up prestige cycle brand

Giuseppe Olmo showed great
talent from an early age

The road cyclist Giuseppe Olmo, who won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles and later launched his own cycle-manufacturing business, was born on this day in 1911 in Celle Ligure, a fishing village about 40km (25 miles) southwest of Genoa on the Italian Riviera.

Olmo missed out on an individual medal in Los Angeles, finishing fourth behind compatriot Attilio Pavesi in the road race, but won gold as part of the winning Italy trio in the team event, alongside Pavesi and Guglielmo Segato.

He turned professional after the Olympics and, though his career was truncated somewhat by the cessation of the sport during World War Two, enjoyed some success.

Racing for the Fréjus team, he won the Milan-Turin race at the age of just 21 in 1932. After moving to the colours of Bianchi, Olmo won the prestigious Milan-San Remo race three years later and in 1938, the Giro dell’Emilia in 1936 and the Giro di Campania in 1938.

Olmo was somewhat unlucky in the Giro d’Italia. He finished third behind Vasco Bergamaschi in 1935 after winning four stages and wearing the leader’s pink jersey for seven days, and runner-up the following year despite winning 10 stages - the same number Learco Guerra took as champion two years previously - as the overall classification went to Gino Bartali.

Olmo Biciclette was launched in 1939 and has supplied bikes for many professionals, as well producing them for the commercial market.

A youthful Olmo pictured with his mentor,
the Ligurian cyclist Giusppe Olivieri

Known often by his nickname Gepin, Olmo was the second of six brothers in his family. He first caught the eye in 1924 as a 13-year-old, when he impressed the Ligurian champion Giuseppe Olivieri, who asked Olmo’s father if he could become his coach.

Under Olivieri’s guidance, his talent came to the surface. He preceded his excellent performance at the 1932 Olympics by winning the Italian road championship in 1931 and finishing runner-up in the amateurs’ road race at the World championships in Copenhagen the same year.

As well as his race success, Olmo entered the record books in 1935 for  the longest distance covered in one hour on the track.

Riding an 8.5kg Bianchi bike at an almost deserted Vigorelli Velodrome on 31 October in Milan, having decided on his record attempt only 24 hours before it took place, Olmo became the first in history to break the 45km mark, recording a distance of 45.090km.

He held the record for less than a year, however. On 16 October in 1936, the Frenchman Maurice Richard, whose record Olmo took, reclaimed it, bettering his mark with 45.32km.

Olmo was planning for his life after retirement while he was still competing, opening the first Olmo Biciclette factory in partnership with his brothers, Franco, Giovanni and Michele, in Celle Ligure, in 1939.

The Olmo brand became
synonymous with quality

The company built its reputation on quality, value and cutting-edge technology, using the most advanced materials available to produce responsive bikes that proved to be both competitive and easy to handle.

Pierino Gavazzi, whose career wins included Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Brussels, the Vuelta a España winner Marino Lejarreta and three-times World champion Óscar Freire were among the professionals who enjoyed great success riding Olmo bikes.

Olmo, who was married with three daughters, died in Milan in 1992 but the company survived him, moving into the production of polyurethane flexible foams from a factory at Comun Nuovo, a municipality about 9km (six miles) south of Bergamo in Lombardy.

Bicycles carrying the Olmo brand, including the latest incarnation of the flagship Gepin model, are now produced and distributed by Montana Srl from their factory at Magliano Alpi in Piemonte, about 80km (50 miles) northwest of Celle Ligure.

Celle Ligure's sandy beach has helped make it a
popular destination for visitors to Liguria

Travel tip:

A lesser known gem of the Italian Riviera, Celle Ligure has grown around a picturesque former fishing village with a small sandy beach lined with pastel-coloured houses, behind which is a small, historic old town of narrow lanes. Founded in the 11th century near the Saint Beningo monastery, Celle Ligure came under the control of Genoa in the 13th century and enjoyed prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries through trade with France, Spain and America. That ended, however, with the French occupation of Genoa in 1805. The arrival of a railway line in 1868 was the beginning of Celle Ligure’s evolution as a tourist destination, which underpins its economy today. As well as the attractions of the beach, Celle Ligure has a 17th century church, the Oratorio of San Michele, which features a polyptych by Perino del Vaga, a late Renaissance painter from Florence. As well as Giuseppe Olmo, the village is the birthplace of Francesco della Rovere, who as Pope Sixtus IV commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. 

Sanremo is known for its fine Stile Liberty
buildings, such as its striking 1905 Casino

Travel tip: 

The Milan-Sanremo cycle race, won twice by Giuseppe Olmo, is one of the  sport’s oldest and most prestigious single-day contests, one of the five so-called Monuments in the European cycling calendar, the toughest and most demanding of the one-day events. First contested in 1907 and covering a distance of 286km (177 miles), the race followed a course said to have begun at the Conca Fallata Inn, next to a navigation basin on the Naviglio Pavese canal in Milan and ended on Corso Cavallotti on the outskirts of Sanremo, the seaside town on the coast of Liguria famed for its temperate Mediterranean climate.  Sanremo - 110km (68 miles) further west along the Ligurian coast from Celle Ligure, expanded rapidly in the mid-18th century, when the phenomenon of tourism began to take hold. It is characterised by many fine examples of Stile Liberty, the Italian variant of the Art Nouveau design and architectural style.

Also on this day:

1533: The birth of Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara

1710: The death of Baroque composer Bernardo Pasquini

1902: The birth of Mafia boss Joe Adonis

1947: The birth of football coach Nevio Scala

1949: The birth of entrepreneur Rocco Commisso

1954: The birth of politician Paolo Gentiloni

Home