Fausto Coppi

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Fausto Coppi

Personal information
Full name	Angelo Fausto Coppi
Nickname	Il Campionissimo
Date of birth	15 September 1919(1919-09-15)
Date of death	January 2, 1960 (aged 40)
Country	Italy
Team information
Discipline	Classics
Role	Rider
Infobox last updated on:

Angelo Fausto Coppi (September 15, 1919 – January 2, 1960) was an Italian racing cyclist. Nicknamed Il Campionissimo ("the greatest champion") or "The Champion of the Champions", he was one of the most successful and most popular cyclists of all time. He twice won the Tour de France (1949 and 1952), and five times the Giro d'Italia (1940, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953).

Contents 1 Career 2 Legacy 2.1 The Coppi-Merckx debate 3 Major results 4 Notes and references 5 External links

[edit] Career

Coppi was born in Castellania, province of Alessandria (Piedmont).

His first large success was in 1940, winning the Giro d'Italia at the age of 20. In 1942 he set a world hour record (45.798 km at the Velodromo Vigorelli in Milan) which stood for 14 years until it was broken by Jacques Anquetil in 1956. His career was then interrupted by the Second World War. In 1946 he resumed racing and achieved remarkable successes which would be exceeded only by Eddy Merckx.

Twice, 1949 and 1952, Coppi won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, the first to do so. He won the Giro five times, a record held with Alfredo Binda and Eddy Merckx. His achievements include ten Classic victories: he won the Giro di Lombardia a record five times (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1954), Milan-Sanremo three times (1946, 1948 and 1949) and Paris-Roubaix and La Flèche Wallonne once (1950). He was also 1953 World Road Champion.

Coppi's racing days are generally referred to as the beginning of the Golden Years of the Cycle Racing. An important factor is the competition Coppi had with Gino Bartali (who helped win Coppi an appointment as a domestique in his team at the end of the 1939 season, and supported Coppi's 1940 Giro victory after an early crash robbed Bartali of overall victory). When Bartali and Coppi, the greatest Italian cyclists of all time, met it was the most famous rivalry of cycle racing history and Italian fans (tifosi) divided into e coppiani and bartaliani.

Coppi's late career was shaped by fate: in 1951 his teammate and younger brother, Serse Coppi, fell in a sprint in the Giro del Piemonte. After returning to his hotel, Serse had a cerebral hemorrhage and died (a parallel with Bartali, who also lost a brother, Giulio, in a 1936 racing accident). Fausto broke several bones in his career. In 1953 Coppi left his wife to live with Giulia Occhini, la Dama Bianca ("the lady in white"). In the Italy of the 1950s this was a scandal. Their love was portrayed in the 1993 film Il Grande Fausto. Coppi and his companion were condemned legally and morally. Coppi continued his career but could never match his old successes.

At the end of 1959, on a cycling and game-hunting trip in the African Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Coppi caught malaria. When the illness broke out after his return to Italy, it was not recognized in time for effective treatment. Coppi died at 40 in the hospital of Tortona.

Medal record
Competitor for  Italy
Road bicycle racing
World Championships
Gold	1953 Lugano	Elite Men's Road Race
Bronze	1949 Copenhagen	Elite Men's Road Race

[edit] Legacy

Although the success list of Merckx is without a doubt longer than Coppi's, many experts call Coppi the greatest cyclist of all time (see next section). To this day, the Giro remembers Coppi as it goes through the mountain stages. A mountain bonus, called the Cima Coppi, is awarded to the first rider who reaches the Giro's highest summit. In 1999, Coppi placed second in balloting for greatest Italian athlete of the 20th century.

[edit] The Coppi-Merckx debate

Despite the impressive wins of Eddy Merckx, some believe that the best cyclist of all-time is Coppi. This conviction is founded on three points:

1. Coppi raced in a period when travelling (particularly across international borders) was far more difficult than twenty years later. Like Gino Bartali, Coppi lost five years of his career due to World War II during which he was taken prisoner by the British.
2. While Eddy Merckx won his first Giro d’Italia when he was 23 (in 1968), and arrived second in a major stage race when he was 30 (1975 Tour de France, behind Bernard Thévenet), Coppi won his first Giro (his first professional race) in 1940, when he was 20, and lost a Giro d’Italia by only 11” when he was 35 (in 1955, behind Fiorenzo Magni).
3. Eddy Merckx created his devastating victories beating many truly great racers—his Italian archrival Felice Gimondi; the Belgians Roger de Vlaeminck (great one-day racer), Herman van Springel, Lucien van Impe; French Bernard Thevenet; Dutch Joop Zoetemelk; and Spaniards Luis Ocaña and José Manuel Fuente. This was probably the greatest concentration of cycling talent since 1950: Anquetil, Hinault, Indurain and Armstrong all defeated foes undeniably inferior. But Fausto Coppi won all that he won in arguably the greatest stretch of all time. First, in a century of cycling, only in 1940 did two champions like Coppi and Bartali race simultaneously—in Italy it was impossible to not choose between the two men. At that time there were other cyclists who would have dominated other periods: the Italian Third Man Fiorenzo Magni, all-time Swiss greats Ferdinand Kubler and Hugo Koblet, Belgians Rik Van Steenbergen and Stan Ockers, French Jean Robic and Louison Bobet.

All that does not mean that Merckx is inferior with respect to Coppi, but rebalances the situation. An Italian cycling historian, Gian Paolo Ormezzano, says that the Italian has been the Greatest of all time, while the Belgian has been the strongest.

[edit] Major results

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Find-A-Grave profile for Fausto Coppi

Sporting positions
Preceded by Heinz Müller	World Road Racing Champion 1953	Succeeded by Louison Bobet
Preceded by Gino Bartali	Winner of the Tour de France 1949	Succeeded by Ferdinand Kubler
Preceded by Hugo Koblet	Winner of the Tour de France 1952	Succeeded by Louison Bobet
Preceded by Giovanni Valetti	Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1940	Succeeded by Gino Bartali
Preceded by Gino Bartali	Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1947	Succeeded by Fiorenzo Magni
Preceded by Fiorenzo Magni	Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1949	Succeeded by Hugo Koblet
Preceded by Fiorenzo Magni	Winner of the Giro d'Italia 1952-53	Succeeded by Carlo Clerici
Records
Preceded by Maurice Archambaud	UCI hour record (45.798 km) 7 November 1942-29 June 1956	Succeeded by Jacques Anquetil

v • d • e Tour de France Yellow jersey winners 1903 Maurice Garin · 1904 Henri Cornet · 1905 Louis Trousselier · 1906 René Pottier · 1907-1908 Lucien Petit-Breton · 1909 François Faber · 1910 Octave Lapize · 1911 Gustave Garrigou · 1912 Odile Defraye · 1913-1914 Philippe Thys · 1915-1918 World War I · 1919 Firmin Lambot · 1920 Philippe Thys · 1921 Léon Scieur · 1922 Firmin Lambot · 1923 Henri Pélissier · 1924-1925 Ottavio Bottecchia · 1926 Lucien Buysse · 1927-1928 Nicolas Frantz · 1929 Maurice De Waele · 1930 André Leducq · 1931 Antonin Magne · 1932 André Leducq · 1933 Georges Speicher · 1934 Antonin Magne · 1935 Romain Maes · 1936 Sylvère Maes · 1937 Roger Lapébie · 1938 Gino Bartali · 1939 Sylvère Maes · 1940-1946 World War II · 1947 Jean Robic · 1948 Gino Bartali · 1949 Fausto Coppi · 1950 Ferdinand Kübler · 1951 Hugo Koblet · 1952 Fausto Coppi · 1953-1955 Louison Bobet · 1956 Roger Walkowiak · 1957 Jacques Anquetil · 1958 Charly Gaul · 1959 Federico Bahamontes · 1960 Gastone Nencini · 1961-1964 Jacques Anquetil · 1965 Felice Gimondi · 1966 Lucien Aimar · 1967 Roger Pingeon · 1968 Jan Janssen · 1969-1972 Eddy Merckx · 1973 Luis Ocaña · 1974 Eddy Merckx · 1975 Bernard Thévenet · 1976 Lucien Van Impe · 1977 Bernard Thévenet · 1978-1979 Bernard Hinault · 1980 Joop Zoetemelk · 1981-1982 Bernard Hinault · 1983-1984 Laurent Fignon · 1985 Bernard Hinault · 1986 Greg LeMond · 1987 Stephen Roche · 1988 Pedro Delgado · 1989-1990 Greg LeMond · 1991-1995 Miguel Indurain · 1996 Bjarne Riis · 1997 Jan Ullrich · 1998 Marco Pantani · 1999-2005 Lance Armstrong · 2006 Óscar Pereiro · 2007 Alberto Contador

v • d • e Tour de France Maillot Grimpeur (Polka dot jersey) winners 1933 Trueba · 1934 Vietto · 1935 Vervaecke · 1936 Berrendero · 1937 Vervaecke · 1938 Bartali · 1939 Maes · 1947 Brambilla · 1948 Bartali · 1949 Coppi · 1950 Bobet · 1951 Géminiani · 1952 Coppi · 1953 Loroño · 1954 Bahamontes · 1955 Gaul · 1956 Gaul · 1957 Nencini · 1958 Bahamontes · 1959 Bahamontes · 1960 Massignan · 1961 Massignan · 1962 Bahamontes · 1963 Bahamontes · 1964 Bahamontes · 1965 Jiménez · 1966 Jiménez · 1967 Jiménez · 1968 González · 1969 Merckx · 1970 Merckx · 1971 Van Impe · 1972 Van Impe · 1973 Torres · 1974 Perurena · 1975 Van Impe · 1976 Bellini · 1977 Van Impe · 1978 Martínez · 1979 Battaglin · 1980 Martin · 1981 Van Impe · 1982 Vallet · 1983 Van Impe · 1984 Millar · 1985 Herrera · 1986 Hinault · 1987 Herrera · 1988 Rooks · 1989 Theunisse · 1990 Claveyrolat · 1991 Chiappucci · 1992 Chiappucci · 1993 Rominger · 1994 Virenque · 1995 Virenque · 1996 Virenque · 1997 Virenque · 1998 Rinero · 1999 Virenque · 2000 Botero · 2001 Jalabert · 2002 Jalabert · 2003 Virenque · 2004 Virenque · 2005 Rasmussen · 2006 Rasmussen · 2007 Soler

Persondata
NAME	Coppi, Fausto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Cycling legend
DATE OF BIRTH	1919-09-15
PLACE OF BIRTH	Castellania
DATE OF DEATH	1960-01-02
PLACE OF DEATH	Tortona