Their jerseys are unforgettable, and their captains left their mark on the great races: TOUR looks back at the most dazzling teams in cycling history. In this episode: the Legnano team, featuring Italian superstars Alfredo Binda, Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi
When discussing the most successful Italian teams of all time, Legnano cannot be overlooked. The team won the Giro d’Italia 14 times and dominated Italian cycling for three decades between 1920 and 1950. However, following those golden years, the team also experienced a gradual decline.
The History of Its Origins
Behind the cycling team was the bicycle manufacturer of the same name, Legnano. Its origins lay with the British Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, which founded an Italian subsidiary called Wolsit in 1907. The focus of production was on bicycles. One of the first models was named after the town where it was manufactured: Legnano. By that time, cycling had already established itself as a lucrative advertising medium for building brand awareness quickly. Consequently, Wolsit also invested in riders who competed in races on Legnano bikes.
Legnano was already on the starting line for the first Giro d’Italia in 1909. The brand also took part in the Tour de France at an early stage: in 1910, the Frenchman Émile Georget and the Italian Ernesto Azzini each won a stage riding Legnano bikes. The number of Legnano riders grew over the years, leading to the formation of team structures comprising winning riders and support riders who were paid to provide a slipstream. In the years that followed, however, Wolsit ran into financial difficulties. The businessman Emilio Bozzi eventually saved the factory from bankruptcy in 1915. In 1924, he renamed it Legnano.
The most significant victory
Legnano’s legacy is shaped above all by Alfredo Binda and Gino Bartali. However, no account of Italian cycling history would be complete without mentioning the 1940 Giro d’Italia, when a young rider named Fausto Coppi took to the big stage. Today, the Italian is primarily associated with the Bianchi brand, but he began his career wearing the Legnano jersey.
Particularly in the post-war years from 1946 onwards, the Italian press fuelled the rivalry between Bartali and Coppi. Italy was divided into ‘Bartaliani’ and ‘Coppiani’ – as the supporters of the two riders called themselves. In 1940, however, the two were team-mates: Coppi competed in the Giro as a domestique for the already highly decorated Bartali.
Mentor for Coppi
On the second stage, however, Bartali collided with a dog and fell hopelessly behind, whilst Coppi kept in touch with the race leaders day after day. Before the 11th stage, team manager Eberardo Pavesi made the decision to give Coppi free rein. On the stage through the Apennines, which was completely drenched in rain, Coppi attacked tirelessly and claimed the pink jersey for the first time at the finish. By this point, Bartali had long since wanted to give up. However, Pavesi is said to have convinced him to act as Coppi’s mentor and guide him to victory – a move that would earn him enormous popularity amongst the Italian people. Bartali stayed in the race and helped Coppi when the latter was already sitting by the roadside on the 16th stage due to stomach problems. Bartali encouraged him to carry on and led Coppi back to the front of the race in a comeback. A few days later, at the age of 20, Coppi celebrated overall victory. To this day, he remains the youngest winner in the history of the Giro.
In the long run, however, Pavesi opted for Bartali and allowed Coppi to move to Bianchi. A mistake, as Pavesi later admitted. Coppi, five years younger than Bartali, increasingly proved to be the stronger rider, even though Bartali won the first Giro d’Italia after the Second World War for Legnano in 1946.
The Boss
In 1921, Pavesi took over as sporting director of the team and remained in this role until the team’s closure in 1966. His trademarks: a pipe, knickerbockers and a felt hat. Pavesi was eloquent and was regarded as one of the most respected figures in Italian cycling. He earned his nickname ‘the lawyer’ whilst still an active rider, as he campaigned for better prize money for the riders at races. Pavesi made a name for himself above all as a tactician – and as someone with a knack for race-day strategies. As a rider, he won the 1912 Giro d’Italia, which at that time was contested as a one-off team classification.
As team manager, he masterminded the illustrious careers of Binda and Bartali, but also guided other Italian riders to success. He often brought them into the team at an early stage and supported them for several years. Pavesi placed great importance on team spirit and liked to speak of ‘a team of friends’. When Legnano’s glory years under Bartali came to an end, Pavesi focused his efforts within the team on training young Italian cyclists. He died in 1974 at the age of 91.
The most influential riders
Gino Bartali
When, in 1935, an unknown Italian rider, without any support from a team, was on course to win Milan–San Remo, panic broke out at the organisers, the daily newspaper *Gazzetta dello Sport*. An anonymous winner was not going to boost the paper’s circulation. So editor-in-chief Emilio Colombo drove up to the front-runner in his car, struck up a conversation with the young rider and imperceptibly slowed his pace. Shortly afterwards, the competition caught up with the rider. His name: Gino Bartali. A year later, Bartali was already a constant presence in the Italian press. Legnano team manager Pavesi had brought him into the team, and in 1936 Bartali secured the first of his three victories in the Giro d’Italia. In 1938 and 1948, he also won the Tour de France for the Italian national team. Unlike Coppi, Bartali did not lead an ascetic lifestyle: he smoked and his water bottles did not always contain just water. He was hugely popular with the Italian people. Bartali was also a devout Catholic. During the Second World War, he transported forged identity documents on his bicycle for a Catholic resistance group, enabling around 800 Jews in Italy to escape. It was not until after his death in 2000 that his actions became public knowledge.
Alfredo Binda
Italian cycling almost had to do without Binda. At the age of 16, he left Italy with his brother to move to Nice in France to live with his uncle. Binda worked as a plasterer, but soon earned considerably more money as a local cycling champion and was on the verge of taking French citizenship. The turning point came at the 1924 Tour of Lombardy: Binda entered as an individual rider because there was a 500-lire bonus to be won on the climb to Ghisallo. Although he only finished second, he impressed Legnano team manager Pavesi. Pavesi offered Binda a contract – on condition that he renounced his French citizenship. The rest is history: Binda dominated Italian cycling for years and set records that still stand today. These include his five overall victories in the Giro – a record he shares with Coppi and Eddy Merckx. Binda died in 1986 at the age of 83.
Giorgio Albani
Whilst there were certainly more successful riders at Legnano, hardly anyone remained as loyal to the team as Albani, who spent almost his entire career, from 1949 to 1958, with the works team. As a rider, he was characterised by his sprinting ability and a certain shrewdness. In his first Giro d’Italia in 1952, he won the opening stage ahead of Fiorenzo Magni and Coppi. However, he wore the pink jersey for just one day in his entire career. Instead, he secured at least one stage victory in the Giro every year until 1956. Not unusual for that era: the Giro always took precedence; Albani never competed in the Tour de France. The reason his name remains unforgettable in cycling is down to his second career: as Molteni’s long-serving team manager, he played a key role in shaping the golden years of Eddy Merckx between 1970 and 1975.
The great controversy
Cycling at the time was not prepared for a serial winner like Binda. In 1925, the Italian won his first Giro d’Italia at the first attempt and went on to secure three further overall victories between 1927 and 1929. A testament to his dominance: in 1927 he won 12 of the 15 stages, and in 1929 he won eight stages in a row. Binda was the first cyclist to achieve fame in Italy that extended beyond the sport itself. His achievements, however, were respected rather than revered. Binda was simply too superior to his rivals: gifted in the mountains, outstanding in the sprints, and blessed with a strength on the flat that no other rider could match. He lacked rivals of his own calibre – the sort that Coppi and Binda would later have – to achieve greater popularity.
For the race organisers, mostly newspapers, Binda’s dominance proved to be a problem. There was a lack of drama and excitement – with Binda, cycling had become predictable, which was bad for sales figures. In desperation, the Giro organisers even offered Binda money in 1930 to stay away from the race. A unique occurrence in cycling: Binda pocketed the full winner’s prize of 22,500 lire without having to ride himself.
The End
At the end of 1949, Gino Bartali left the team to set up his own team using bikes of his own brand. However, this proved to be an ill-fated move – both from a business and a sporting perspective. Legnano also lost its figurehead as a result. In 1958, the team celebrated another victory in the Giro d’Italia thanks to Ercole Baldini. After that, however, its successes steadily declined. More and more financially powerful sponsors entered the world of cycling, causing Legnano to fall further and further behind in sporting terms. At the end of the 1966 season, the manufacturer disbanded its cycling team. In 1987, the Legnano brand was acquired by Bianchi. The brand rights are now owned by the Italian manufacturer Cicli Esperia.
The trophy cabinet
- Giro d’Italia 1921, 1922 and 1926 (Giovanni Brunero), 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1933 (Alfredo Binda), 1930 (Luigi Marchisio), 1936, 1937 and 1946 (Gino Bartali), 1940 (Fausto Coppi), 1958 (Ercole Baldini)
- Milan–San Remo 1922 (Brunero), 1924 (Pietro Linari), 1929 and 1931 (Binda), 1939, 1940 and 1947 (Bartali), 1941 (Pierino Favalli)
- Tour of Lombardy 1923 and 1924 (Brunero), 1925, 1926, 1927 and 1931 (Binda), 1936, 1939 and 1940 (Bartali), 1941 and 1945 (Mario Ricci), 1950 (Renzo Soldani) and 1952 (Giuseppe Minardi)
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