Marino Vigna, Rome 1960 Gold Medalist

Marino Vigna with Felice Gimondi

So many of the older Italian racers still look so good. Take for example Marino Vigna a member of the Rome 1960 Olympic gold medal pursuit team. Vigna was recently honored in an initiative by the Milan municipal government to name train stops in their metro system (“Fermate della  gloria”, Stops of Glory) after Olympic gold medalists from the region of Lombardia. Lombardia leads all regions in gold medals won, in all disciplines, with 82.

Vigna, born in 1935 in Milan, has worked for Bianchi since 1990 when Bianchi was looking for a representative for England. Today, Vigna suports the equipment needs of amateur and youth clubs that compete on Bianchi bicycles. In his long relationship with Bianchi, Vigna says he only has one regret, that of not having ridden a Bianchi during his racing career. "I never had this opportunity during my career, strange but true. I only had indirect contact with Bianchi, that through Coppi's mechanic Pinella De Grandi who was was our mechanic at the Olympics."

Gimondi, Vigna, Bob Ippolito (Binachi CEO) celebrate

Follow on Twitter: ITALIANCYCJOURN


Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, touring, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 2,500 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.