On Sep 15, 2006, at 5:50 AM, aldoross4 wrote:
> It's Fausto Coppi's birthday. He would have been 87 today.
>
> Cycling Hall Of Fame:
> http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/
>
> Wikipedia:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/
>
> Pic of the Day:
> http://www.wooljersey.com/
> Serse_and_Fausto.jpg.html
>
> Aldo Ross
> Middletown, Ohio
Interesting point on the Wikipedia site: Legacy
Although the success list of Eddy Merckx is without a doubt longer than Coppi's, many experts call Fausto Coppi the greatest cyclist of all times (see next section). To this day, the Giro remembers Coppi as it goes through the mountain stages. A special mountain bonus, called the Cima Coppi, is awarded to the first rider who reaches the Giro's highest summit. In 1999, Fausto Coppi placed second in balloting for greatest Italian athlete of the 20th century.
The Coppi-Merckx debate
Despite the impressive wins of Eddy Merckx, some (mostly in Italy) believe that the best cyclist of all-times is Fausto Coppi. This conviction is founded on three points:
Fausto Coppi raced in a period when traveling (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. While Eddy Merckx won his first Giro d\u2019Italia 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) when he was 20 (1940 Giro d'Italia) and
lost a Giro d\u2019Italia by only 11\u201d when he was 35 (1955 Giro d'Italia,
behind Fiorenzo Magni). Eddy Merckx created his devastating victories beating many truly great racers\u2014his 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, Induráin 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\u2014in 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 Rick van Steenbergen and Stan Ockers, French Jean Robic and Louison Bobet. All that does not mean that Eddy Merckx is inferior with respect to Fausto Coppi, but rebalances the situation. An Italian cycling historian, Gian Paolo Ormezzano, says that the Italian has been the Greatest of all times, while the Belgian has been the strongest.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, Southern California
.