Cycling Monuments, Memorials, Plaques, etc., Part II

Jac Zwart from Holland recently wrote to say that he had discovered the Italian Cycling Journal and was particularly interested in the under-construction entry entitled "Cycling Monuments, Memorials, Plaques, etc."

During the past 2 years Jac has been passionately looking for memorials of great riders and events from, in most cases, the past. When he had a collection of approximately 150 monuments from all over Europe he was able to find a publisher for his book, "Wielermonumenten - Reisgids door de geschiedenis van de wielersport". The English translation of the title is "Cycling Monuments - Travel Guide through the History of the Sport of Cycling"; the book is only available in Dutch.

His book includes 33 cycling monuments in Italy although his collection now includes 70 monuments now.

The criteria Jac uses to define a cycling monument are: 1) artistic value 2) related to sport and 3) for a person or an event. Plates of street names are outside those criteria.

Jac hopes to provide us with an occasional story and photos of the Italian memorials he has discovered.

The book's ISBN number is : 9789029565899

Photo: book cover with photos of the statue for Fausto Coppi in Agliana; Jac (in blue shirt) at a book signing

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,000 stories in this blog; the search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog.

Cycling Monuments, Memorials, Plaques, etc.

This entry will be the collection point for information on cycling monuments, memorials, plaques, etc., which are dedicated to Italian riders and others in, and outside, of Italy. There are probably more of these than I can imagine. I am aware of quite a few already but please contact me with information that you may have. The information about cycling museums in Italy is contained here.

Tullio Campagnolo Memorial, unveiled 1995
Location: Passo Croce D'Aune (Belluno province)
It was during one of Campagnolo's races as an amateur that he confronted a problem which often faced cyclists of that period, removing a wheel in order to change gears (wheels had one gear on each side, one a climbing gear; the wheel would be removed and flipped). On November 11th, 1927, with snow covering the roads of the Croce D'Aune Campagnolo needed to remove his rear wheel to change gears. Because the large wingnuts that held his wheel on had frozen and his hands were too cold to budge them, he was unable to remove his wheel to change gears, and lost his chance at victory that day. As he struggled to free his wheel, he muttered five words to himself that changed the history of cycling: "Bisogno cambiá qualcossa de drio!" Those words ("Something must change in the rear!") and that simple event -- a wheel that couldn't be removed -- started Campagnolo thinking. He went back to his workshop, and emerged with the invention of the quick-release lever (in 1930) and, soon after, an early bicycle derailleur (1933).

The Marco Pantani memorial on Colle della Fauniera, also later named Colle Pantani, a climb first used in the Giro d'Italia of 1999 and on which where Pantani retook the leader's jersey.

Stories, including cycling trip stories, for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact veronaman@gmail.com