The cycling cap was part of any kit: nearly black shorts, team jersey and cap. It would be matching, it would be cotton. In the day before the required helmet, the cycling cap was it. Unrestrained by helmet or hairnet, the cap was the crown upon the head. It would sit high on the head, not pulled down like a baseball cap. It sat no higher upon the head than upon Giuseppi Beppe Saronni’s fine Italian head.
Beppe wore the cap with an unrivaled sense of italian style. The cap perched up there, as if it just landed, light as a feather. How it stayed there in the breeze, we don’t know. Perhaps the Saronni skull had just the perfect shape to hold a cap. We will leave that for the Phrenological scientists and the pathologist.
Rule #22 states the wearing of a cap may be for a brief interval before and after a ride, otherwise it has to be hidden under your helmet. That is a sad state of affairs. Maybe we need a national day of helmet-free cap riding. What is the worst that could happen? Do we have to ride the old timey Strade Bianche if we long to spend a long time in the saddle wearing a V-cap? If we can only wear it for a brief time or while using toe clips, is it an anachronism? Is it time to take it back: wear it in the bathtub, in the car, gasp, while walking in public? This idea has been discussed before here; the cap is ours, we should own it. When and where would Eddy wear it?
Behold the Beppe.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/j.andrews3@comcast.net/Beppe/”/]
This video has been posted on the site before too but it deserves a wider audience.
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Beppe fan on the course of Giro di Lombardia 2012 (Muro di Sormano).
@ped
That's what I call dedicated following of Rule #7 !
@the Engine That 'Joe Pesci' aka il Duraccio*, was second at the 1980 Giro behind Hinault...
*Rugged
Nice one Gianni. I agree, we should own the cap. Like a lot of clothing or kit, certain people can wear pretty much anything and look fabulous. Others try very hard but will always look like they are trying too hard/crap/cheap or just plain ugly.
Me, apart from wearing a cap whilst cycling, like to do the housework wearing nothing but a cap and a smile.....and I own it!
@Pedale.Forchetta
I wouldn't fuck with either of them....
Strong work, Gianni!
Growing up I played a bunch of sports and was always intrigued and mystified by the coolness of the PROs. I wanted to play and dress and look like they did. First it was futbol and the rare glimpse of a European footballer magazine would send my mind into orbit. Shortly thereafter it was lacrosse, another sport that was unimportant enough in the U.S. that game tapes or magazines were like contraband. Both of them were just far enough out of grasp that I craved more. In my teenage years it was snowboard and wow, the stack of mid-80s Burton catalogues my brother had accrued were a treasure.
While I'm now no longer a kid, a hidden beauty of cycling is that now I can pursue the aesthetic footnotes (top cap?) of this sport, being just as eager to learn more about the history, to look the part, to be my own humble Beppe.
This connection to the simple joys and pursuits of one's youth are what keeps a lad young, I feel.
@Pedale.Forchetta
And therein lies a story. With three stages to go in the 1980 Giro, Panizza was in pink. The only issue was, the three stages were a ride over the Stelvio, a TT and the final procession into Milan. On the Stelvio stage, the wily Cyrille Guimard sent Jean-Rene Bernaudeau up the road. Behind was Panizza, Battaglin, Prim, Beccia and Hinault. On the Stelvio, which till had snow on it, the Frenchman accelerated. One by one the others dropped off the hurttful pace of the Badger. All but one. Panizza fought like a dying dog to save his last maglia rosa. Hinault accelerated again and again, still the wee Italian hung on. Finally, Hinault gave it full, unleashed fury to crest the Stelvio alone and catch his teammate on the descent. The two Renault teammates then time trialled to the finish in Bormio. Bernaudeau was given the stage win by an ecstatic Hinault who had just secured his first Giro win with masterful performance of riding his rivals off his wheels.
Panizza would finish the Giro in second place, over 5 minutes behind Hinault, but rarely has a rider fought so hard to win his home grand tour in the face of a master excelling at his craft.
wiscot - Nice! Thanks for that great story, loved reading it.
@wiscot Yes, that was 'Miro' Panizza.
@VeloVita
After reading the article I immediately checked in "The Gear" and just skipped over the comments. Which for me is unheard of. Alas I was disappointed.