Monday, April 23, 2012

2012 Il Lombardia, Honoring Felice Gimondi in Bergamo

The 2012 Il Lombardia (formerly Giro di Lombardia) will be starting this year in Bergamo to honor the the 70th birthday of  bergamasco Felice Gimondi, his birthday coinciding with the race date of September 29th. The 106th edition of the race will finish again in Lecco.

The race, one of the five "monuments" of the one day classics, is also known as the "Race of the Falling Leaves" ("classica delle foglie morte") as it is normally held in October. However, this year the race has been brought forward to the weekend following the UCI Road World Championships to allow riders to directly benefit from their World Championship form.

Gimondi won all three of the grand tours: Tour de France (1965, his first year as a pro), Giro d'Italia (1967, 1969 and 1976), and Vuelta a España (1968). He remains one of only five cyclists to have done so. He also won the World Championship in 1973, Paris-Roubaix (1966), Milan-Sanremo (1974) and the Giro di Lombardia, among other races, in  1966 and 1973.

Photo: www.bikeraceinfo.com

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1 comment:

  1. What the? The race of the falling leaves moves to a time when the leaves are NOT falling? AGHHHH! Great for Gimondi's (we've met the living legend quite a few times) birthday but other than that...moving a monument so it will not "conflict" with a race in CHINA? Why not move the silly race in China to another date and leave the monument of cycling alone? These morons are out to destroy cycling as we know it, says Larry.

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