According to "Cycling Hall of Fame", today is Freddy Maerten's 54th birthday:
http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/
One of my favorite pieces of cycling film is from "La Course en Tete", showing Maertens as he leads-out Merckx, Gimondi, and Ocana in the final sprint of the 1973 World Championships in Barcelona. The camera is right there with the riders for the final few hundred meters - Extraordinary!
But cyclinghalloffame says that Maertens had chased-down Merckx in the final stages... anyone know more of the story? At the finish he was clearly leading-out for Merckx.
Aldo Ross Middletown, Ohio
----- Original Message Follows -----
From: "Brandi Matteo" <cheroketz@libero.it>
To: "classicrendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]messengers
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:21:30 +0100
> Joel
>
> I believe that also Bartali did some sort of local
> "bike-transport"Few da ys ago i was reading(on a rush
> actually) about Bartali being awarded pos t-mortem for
> his "smugglin" of paperwork (inside the pipes of the
> frame) for jewish refugees that were hidin around Florence
> and local hills,proba bly there i ssomething about it on
> the web, Matteo Brandi Firenze Italy