Fiorenzo Magni: 1920 – 2012

Italian cyclist Fiorenzo Magni died early last Friday morning; he would have been 92 in less than two months.

Often referred to as the “Third Man,” because he raced in the late 1940s, early 1950s with the other two Italian greats, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali.

Sometimes on the same national team, sometime rivals, Magni was capable, and often did, beat the other two.

In a period when the sport was less globalized, he won the Tour of Flanders three consecutive years in 1949, 50, and 51. At that time the second non- Belgian to do so.

The press named him, "The Lion of Flanders." He won the Giro d’Italia three times, the last time in 1955 at the age of 35, which to this day stands as a record for the oldest person to win the Giro.

This era is sometimes called the “Golden Age of Cycling.” In the decade following the end of WWII, cycling was the main sport on the European Continent with Italy, France, Belgium and Switzerland being the main players.

Italy had been on the other side during the war, so there was little love lost between Italy and the other countries. But all these nations had suffered a terrible beating, and the exploits of these great riders once again instilled national pride.

I started racing in 1952 so Fiorenzo Magni was one of my heroes, Just as today’s teen racing cyclists would follow the likes of Phillip Gilbert, Tom Boonan, Bradley Wiggins, and Taylor Phinney.

On rare occasions I got a glimpse of my heroes in action in black and white news reel footage, but mostly I just read about them, and studied photographs.

Surely one of the most famous photos of Magni is the one at the top of this piece; he had fallen in the 1956 Giro d’Italia and broken his collar bone. He refused to quit the race, reason being, this was to be his last Giro a race he had won in 1948, 1951, and 1955.

He would rather suffer the immense pain of a broken bone, that to give up on the last opportunity he would have to finish a race that was obviously dear to his heart. The photo shows Fiorenzo with a piece of inner tube around his stem which he held in his teeth because he could no pull on the handlebars due to his broken clavicle.

The amazing end to this story is that Magni not only finished he placed second in the General Classification, beaten only by a younger Charly Gaul, incidentally one of the greatest climbers of all time. How could such courage not go unnoticed by a young cyclist like myself? Fiorenzo Magni taught me a valuable lesson in life; push on, never give up.

Later in more recent years, while researching to write about him here on this blog, he taught me another lesson. This time one of humility.

Let one’s achievements speak for themselves, while accepting life’s disappointments, and realizing that this is the way it was meant to be.

I speak of the 1950 Tour de France. Magni won the Giro three times but the TDF eluded him. Magni was wearing the yellow jersey when the Italian team pulled out en masse after Gino Bartali was threatened by French supporters on the Col d’Aspin.

In an era of national teams, and with Fausto Coppi in his prime, Magni would never again have such an opportunity. (Magni leads Coppi, picture below.)

In recent years he spoke of the 1950 Tour in an interview:

Of course I felt bad about that but I believe that there are bigger things than a technical result, even one as important as winning the Tour de France.

Team manager Alfredo Binda and the Italian Federation made the decision, on Bartali's suggestion. I stuck to the rules and accepted their decision. In my life, I have never pretended to have a role that was not mine.

When asked did he feel he could have won the Tour? His reply was:

That's another story. Hindsight is easier than foresight! I think I had a good chance of winning. But saying now that I would have won would not be very smart.

Rest in peace, Fiorenzo Magni; you will be remembered by me and many others I’m sure.

                       

Doping then and now

I have written here before how doping has possibly been prevalent in professional cycling probably as long as there has been professional cycle racing.

Possibly as far back as the late 1800s soon after the invention of the bicycle as we know it today.

The picture on the left is from a French magazine article from the 1930s.

I have also mentioned before that when I started racing in the early 1950s it was an open secret that professional cyclists in races like the Tour de France took amphetamines. This is a stimulant that wards off fatigue and keeps you awake and alert.

Amphetamine was discovered by a Romanian chemist named Lazar Edeleano at the University of Berlin in 1887, but was not used clinically until Gordon A. Alles re-synthesized the drug in the 1920s for use in medical settings to treat asthma, hay fever, and colds.

In 1932, Smith-Kline, marketed the first amphetamine product in the US; an amphetamine-based inhaler to treat nasal congestion.

During the remaining 1930s, amphetamines were promoted by U.S. pharmaceutical companies as treatments for a range of ailments, such as alcohol hangover, narcolepsy, depression, weight reduction, hyperactivity in children, and vomiting associated with pregnancy.

Methamphetamine (MA), a variant of amphetamine, was first synthesized in Japan in 1893 by Nagayoshi Nagai from the precursor chemical ephedrine. MA was not widely used until World War II (1940s), at which time German, English, American, and Japanese governments began giving their military personnel the drug to enhance endurance and alertness and ward off fatigue.

Even today, amphetamines are sometimes used by the U.S. military. In 2002, U.S. pilots in Afghanistan killed and wounded Canadian soldiers in “friendly fire.” The defending lawyers argued that the pilots’ use of amphetamines, which is sanctioned by the Air Force, may have affected the pilots’ judgment.

Amphetamine was available in France under the trade name Maxiton. It was still available there over the counter at any pharmacy well into the 1950s; so it was hardly a banned substance. There was no rule banning its use by athletes, certainly not in professional cycling anyway.

It was counter-productive for a Tour de France rider to take too much, as one of its side affects is that it delays recovery, and of course keeps you awake. Something you definitely don’t want in a major stage race where you have to get up and race every day.

So was this cheating? I didn’t see it that way. It was not prohibited by the UCI or any other body; it was looked on at the time as something necessary to compete in an event like the Tour de France. It probably did a better job than coffee, is the way I still look at it.

As far as I remember the main brands used were Benzadrine (US. and UK.) or Maxiton (France.) which were amphetamines, not the more potent and highly addictive Methamphetamines.

Everything changed with the death of Tom Simpson in 1967. Simpson died of heat exhaustion on Mont Vontoux during the Tour de France; his autopsy showed that he had taken amphetamines mixed with alcohol. Whether the amphetamines contributed to his death is open for debate; after all athletes can die of heat exhaustion with or without amphetamines.

However, alcohol mixed with a stimulant is not a good cocktail; especially on an extremely hot day that this was. The amphetamine would mask the effect of the alcohol and alcohol would cause dehydration. Add to that a Tour regulation at that time restricting the riders to two liters of water each.  (Four bidons.) The effects of dehydration not being fully understood back then.

In the end lack of water killed Tom Simpson, amphetamines and alcohol mixed contributed. However, the point was by 1967 amphetamines were now a controlled substance and therefore it was used illegally. The world’s press and media had a field day.

The UCI at some point banned the use of any form of stimulant and instituted drug testing. From this point on it has now gone from the use of amphetamines, a simple stimulant, to the use of Blood Doping, EPO, Testosterone along with Steroids and Clenbuterol that can actually alter an athlete’s lean muscle mass.

Today it definitely is cheating, because the cyclist or the team who has the most money can buy the best doctors and scientists to produce the best possible drugs that not only give that rider or team a definite advantage over other less financed riders, they are always one step ahead of the drug testers.

Those who claim that through the 1990s for example, that everyone was doping therefore the playing field level should consider this: Back in the 1950s and before that when everyone took the same amphetamine tablets, the playing field was level, but in more recent times who knows what “Super Dope” one rider or team might have, when quite often it can’t even be detected.

Because winning at this level is such a huge financial enterprise; money available leads to bribery and corruption so that which does get detected is covered up. The sport will never rid itself of this problem until the top officials at the UCI are held accountable.

The UCI created this problem by allowing amphetamine use to continue into the 1960s, long after governments had placed controls on the drug’s use. Then they followed up by doing a half assed job of controlling doping through the 1970s until the present day. They have let loose a monster that will be difficult to get back in the cage.

                       

Six Day Racing

The above video is a brief look at a Six Day Bicycle Race held in Tilburg, in The Netherlands. If you click on this Vimeo link you can watch it in full screen mode.

Six Day racing started in America in the late 1800s and the reason it was six days was to avoid riding on a Sunday and offending the religious element.

Originally riders rode continually for six days on a tiny indoor track, but in 1898 the states of New York and Illinois, alarmed for the health and well being of the competitors, ruled that no cyclist could ride more than 12 hours a day.

The promoters, not willing to open the event half a day, realized if they made it a relay race with teams of two riders, each would only be riding the required 12 hours. Speeds rose, distances grew, crowds increased, money poured in.

This type of relay race became known as a Madison, after Madison Square Garden in New York where these races were held. In France it is known as the "American race" (course à l'américaine) and in Italian and Spanish as Americana.

Six Day races are no longer held in America unfortunately, but they are in Europe during the winter months when it is the off season for professional riders. I went to quite a few held at London’s Wembly Arena in the 1950s through the 1970s.

A small ten laps to the mile wooden track is constructed in an indoor stadium. Racing is no longer continuous, but is a series of different events with the same riders competing, and held every evening for six days.

The last main event of each evening is usually a one hour Madison. Because the track is only a tenth of a mile around, it is possible for a rider to break away from the pack, and by riding flat out for several laps will catch the tail end of the pack, thereby gaining a lap.

The number of laps ridden are added up for the complete six days, and a clear winner comes out. Both riders of a team are on the track at the same time. One is racing; the other is circling slowly high on the banked track, resting and conserving his energy.

At any time the riders choose they may change off by touching the other rider. This usually takes the form of a hand sling. The rider in the race, as he approaches his team mate, grabs his hand. This has the effect of slowing him down. He then slings the fresh rider into the race.

Other races throughout the evening might be:

A Scratch Race: All the riders start in a pack and race over a predetermined number of laps. This is not a relay, but team members may block a chasing group, if the other team member is in a break. Or one team member may lead to other out in the finishing sprint.

The Devil Take the Hindmost: A race where the last rider over the finish line each lap is eliminated until you only have two riders left who sprint it out for the finish.

A One Lap Time Trial: This is shown in the video where one rider gives his team mate a hand sling for a flying start for timed lap.

Derney Paced: A Derney is a specialist built motorcycle for pacing in these type of events. The Derney has pedals so its driver can accelerate smoothly by pedaling. It is a highly tactical event, the rider with the inside track has less distance to travel than someone overtaking on the banking. The Derney driver has time his attack precisely; if he accelerates too fast he will drop his rider.

More on Six Day Racing and its history on Wikipedia.

                       

Impossible Dreams

I’ve spent the last couple of days reflecting on Bradley Wiggins win in the Tour de France, with another British rider, Chris Froome (Albeit born in Kenya.) in second place. Considering there has never been another British rider on the podium before, this is a huge deal.

I thought back to over 60 years ago when I started racing in 1952. I had got my first lightweight bike two years previously when I was 14 years old. I could ride a hundred miles easily, but couldn’t race until I was 16.

So soon after my 16^th birthday early in February 1952 I was as fit as a butcher’s dog, and chomping at the bit to go. I won my first club event, a 25 mile time trial. The older more seasoned riders had barely been training for a month at that time, whereas I had ridden right through the winter months.

People started telling me I was good and had great potential; something I had never experienced before in my entire life, no one had ever said I was good at anything. I loved it, I lapped it up, and cycling was my whole world.

The Tour de France was the big event of the year for me even back then. There was no live broadcast on television at that time; even if we had owned a TV. I did get to see a black and white film of highlights from the 1952 Tour when Fausto Coppi won. This was pretty wonderful, I saw it at the annual Bike Show at Earls Court in London.

I would order the French cycling publications, But et Club (Above.) and L’Equipe; these would arrive in the mail about a week after they were published, and through the magic of these often full page photos, sometimes a double page spread; I got to know all the giants of cycling.

In the naivety of my youth I began to dream of one day riding the Tour de France and even winning stages with a long solo break-away. I think this fantasy lasted about a year, when reality set in. In 1953 England’s top time-trialist was Ken Joy, who held competition record for 100 miles in 4 hours, 6 minutes was invited to ride in the Grand Prix des Nations.  

This event took place in France, and was considered the unofficial world time-trial championship. There was no World TT Championship at that time. There was much speculation as to how well Ken Joy would do; the event was 142 km, just over 88 miles. We knew Joy could do a 4h, 6m. hundred, so he must be in with a chance.

The event was won by a then unknown 19 year old French rider named Jacques Anquetil. Not only did he beat Ken Joy, he started 16 minutes behind the British rider and caught and passed him. A nineteen year old kid, just two years older than me, had trounced the best that Britain had to offer.

Britain was in its own little world back then when it came to cycle racing. France and the rest of Europe was only a short boat trip across the English Channel, but it might have been half a world away, when it came to the class of racing and the level of competition.

Britain is at a disadvantage anyway when you consider there are no big mountains like the ones in central Europe. But if the only racing available to British cyclists are time-trials held on the flattest courses you can find; avoiding what hills you do have. It is hardly conducive to producing world class riders.

Plus there was no road racing on the open roads in the early 1950s; with the exception of those run by the British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC) a small group of “Rebels” who had broken away from the National Cyclist Union (NCU) the then British governing body for cycling in the UK.

Road racing was not banned by any law or government decree; but was upheld by the amateur officials of the NCU along with the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC), because the status quo, and their piddling little time-trials suited them. It took a lot of balls for a small group of cyclists, lead by Percy Stallard, in 1942 to say fuck you, we’ll hold our own road races.

The BLRC drug British cycling out of the dark ages, and is the main reason the UK finally has a winner of the Tour de France. From 1948 on, the BLRC entered a team in the Warsaw, Berlin, Prague stage race. This was held behind “The Iron Curtain” and was known as the Peace Race.

In 1952 Scottish rider Ian Steel, who had won the BLRC’s first Tour of Britain race a year earlier, won the Peach Race. This lead to partial recognition of the BLRC by the UCI. The NCU tried to block the vote and walked out of the UCI meeting in protest.

What Percy Stallard and the BLRC did was to alert the UCI that there was a problem within British cycling; the NCU (In cahoots with the RTTC.) was acting in its own self interest and not that of the sport. The UCI had told the NCU to settle its differences with the BLRC or the UCI would recognize the BLRC as the British governing body.

Thus the NCU was forced to amalgamate with the BLRC in 1959 to become the British Cycling Federation (BCF) now British Cycling. The ban on road racing was also lifted at that time, and not a moment too soon. Had it waited until the late 1960s or 1970s it probably wouldn’t have happened because of the interests of the motoring public.

So does it surprise me that it is 60 years since my own “Impossible Dreams” of Tour de France participation, that we finally have a British winner? Not really when I think of all that went before. Percy Stallard died in 2001 a bitter man, and rightly so. He was shafted by the BCF, unrecognized and not asked to manage any international teams; even though he had proved himself as a manager in the Peace Race.

I do hope those early BLRC pioneers will now get the recognition they deserve. Because with all the hard work put in by Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, and the whole Sky Team. With all the money put in and the efforts of British Cycling; it still would have not happened, because there would still be no road racing in the UK, had it not been for Percy Stallard and the BLRC.

                       

Stan Ockers

Belgian cyclist Constantin “Stan” Ockers (Right.) was another hero of my youth.

He was around in the era of riders like Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartelli, Louison Bobet, and other great riders of the 1950s.

Born in 1920, Stan Ockers began his professional career in 1941 in occupied Europe at the height of WWII.

He was a sprinter and won many of his races that way; He won the Green Points Jersey in the Tour de France in 1955, and 1956.

However, he was a good climber too, which was unusual then and would be even more unusual today when the sprinters are usually the first ones dropped when the TDF reaches the mountain stages.

Ockers was 2^nd in the 1950 tour de France behind Swiss rider Ferdi Kubler; and proof of his climbing ability he was also 2^nd in the King of the Mountains category.

A young French cyclist Louison Bobet won the King of the Mountains Jersey that year, and was overall 3^rdin the General Classification behind Ockers.

Bobet would go on to become the first rider to win three consecutive Tour de France titles in 1953, 1954 and 1955.

The picture above is from the 1952 Tour de France, the riders are seen climbing Mont Ventoux; one of the toughest climbs of the Tour. Gino Bartali leads Stan Ockers, followed by Jean Dotto, Raphaël Géminiani, Fausto Coppi, Antonio Gelabert and Wout Wagtmans.

To hold one’s own in the company of some of the world’s best climbers of that era, is the mark of a great all-round athlete. Stan Ockers was once again 2^nd in the 1952 TDF behind one of the all time greats, Fausto Coppi.

(Above left to right.) Bernardo Ruiz, Gino Bartali, Stan Ockers and Fausto Coppi

(Above.) Federico Bahamontes leads Stan Ockers (In his World Champions Jersey.) and Roger Walkowiak in the 1956 TDF. Notice the condition of the roads on these mountain climbs during that era.

Stan Ockers actually improved as he aged; 1955 and 1956 when Stan was 35 and 36 years old, were in terms of wins, his best seasons. He won the World Road Championship in 1955 and was 4^th the following year.

In 1955 his wins in the Classics included, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège, Weekend Ardennais. The following year 1956, Ockers was 1st overall Roma-Napoli-Roma, won the 19th stage tour de France, Saint-Etienne, and was again Points Winner in the TDF.

Like many great road sprinters, Stan Ockers rode the track during the winter season.

He often partnered the other great Belgian road sprinter Rik Van Steenbergen in Six Day events.

He won the Antwerp Six Day in 1956, and that same year set a new Derny Paced Hour Record. (Derny Paced pictured above right.)

Sadly 1956 was Stan Ockers last season. On September 29^th 1956 he crashed during a race on the Antwerp track. He died from head injuries two days later.

Other riders, Nest Sterckx, Rik Van Looy and Gerrit Voorting, who along with Stan were involved in the seemingly ordinary fall, remained unhurt; a tragic end nobody had expected.

Crowds of people numbering in the tens of thousands paid their last respects as the funeral procession passed.(Picture left.)

There is a permanent monument built to honor Stan Ockers on the slope of Les Forges in the Belgian Ardennes. (Picture above.) He is placed number 58 in the Cycling Hall of Fame Top 100

Addendum 2/18/16

(Above picture.) Stan Ockers bike a Girardengo, hangs in a pub in his home town of Borgerhout, Antwerp.