Maglia Nera
On our trip to Paris, my wife and I, in need of culture, rode the Vélib bikes to Cycles Laurent. This was our first French bike shop visit and excitement was high as we navigated our helmetless headed way through the city traffic.
The shop is a classic; it’s crammed with bikes and clothes. There is no room to move. My wife immediately dove into the sales bin and came up smiling with a Pinarello maglia nera jersey in her size. What is the maglia nera jersey? It’s the lantern rouge of the Giro. For a brief period it was an officially awarded jersey, which led to riders hiding in bars and behind hedges to finish last. Giovanni Pinarello was awarded it in 1951 and here it was reissued. Maybe Giovanni was hiding in bars or maybe he was just hanging on like grim death on every stage and barely made it to Milan. Giovanni Pinarello was the last official owner of the jersey. Riders and fans alike disapproved of a contest for last place and 1951 was the final year of the maglia nera. Since then, riders don’t try to finish last but they do try to finish.
When asked by Cycle Sport magazine what he would like his epitaph to be, he said “Here lies Eros Poli, famous for being tall and coming last in the Giro d’Italia”. -wikipedia
This is a man who won an Olympic gold medal, a most incredible climber’s stage in the Tour de France, and an amateur TTT world championship.
Unless one is actively hiding in bars and riding with a calculator to always finish within thirty seconds of each days time limit, finishing last means one is barely finishing each mountain stage, tailed off the grupetto, fighting to beat the time limit, on more than a few days.
When is finishing the Giro last not an embarrassment? I would say every time. There is a select subset of humans that could ride the Giro at the speeds it is ridden and finish it. Nearly every day a rider climbs into the team car, most likely in tears, exhausted, ruined, crushed. Their number comes off their jersey, it is reported to the commissar and that rider cannot start the next day. But there also must always be a rider who just barely makes it to the finish during those mountain stages, in tears, exhausted, crushed and is back out there the next day. To finish in Milan, even in last place must be infinitely better than not finishing.
Finishing any event last is always better than not finishing.
If I was awarded that jersey, I’d wear that into every bar and restaurant for the rest of my natural life. That’s right fools, I finished the Giro, d’Italia, we covered 3500 km at an average of 37 km per hour. I’ll take my free vino rosso right over there, grazie.
Thanks for the history lesson and the recommendation for Cycles Laurent. I’m heading to Paris in a couple of weeks and was going to ask if there was a shop I should check out.
My wife and I did the same thing 3 weeks ago. We rode 180 miles around Paris on Vélib bikes and made the trip to Cycles Laurent. Great guy!! I bought 3 jerseys and spent about an hour speaking with him. I emailed him a picture of me on a ride here in Kentucky, and he was trilled to see his colors so far from home! Anyone making a trip to Paris needs to visit Cycles Laurent!!
Awesome piece Gianni, I seem to remember reading in Rouleur that the payment Pinarello got from his team to no ride the Giro the next year is what he started the bike company with.
Not sure if you’ll be able to see this outside of Aus, but skip to 12:30 to see your big man tackling some of the climbs from this year’s Giro.
helps if I actually paste in the video code…
Very timely Gianni – have you seen this book which has just come out.
Inrng has a good review of it. I’m halfway through and enjoying it – quite well done. It isn’t the usual collection of anecdotes, he’s got quite a few first-person accounts and has focused on some specific stories illustrating different angles of being the lanterne rouge.
The Pinarello story by the way Mikael was that he was paid the money for NOT riding the following year and giving his place to another rider his team wanted in the Giro. The rest, as they say, is history.
LOVED the Cycles Laurent shop. I bought my gilet for Paris-Roubaix there and still have it. Wonderful shop but I was bummed that I could not buy a Belgian hairnet there. I asked if they had one and they looked at me like every French person does when I try to speak French to them in France: Down there very long noses, and then said, “You must be an American.”
Uhhhhg. The ultimate insult in France!
By the way: Great FUCK’IN article, Gianni.
I actually read it all, which must be a first for me.
Awesome. Important to be your part of the race.
SC RR Championship CAT4 a few years ago I approached the officials to see that my name and number was recorded even though I assumed I was the last finisher. I had watched several racers pull themselves out of contention. This fueled me to go harder — finishing 10 minutes back. Online results showed that there was one other that came in behind me. Chapeau whoever you were!
@unversio
I’m sure you weren’t half as bummed as you would have been finishing one out of the money spots, which I’m convinced in the absolute worst placing position.
@Ccos You’re right. Riding off the back is tough especially when you realize “you are still in a race!”
Gianni, first great read about minutiae that I never get tired of hearing. Second, just curious, did the little woman, sorry, the statuesque VMH know the jersey or just like it? Knowing her, the former I’m betting. But it is striking and would be good for cold days. But that raises a possible Rule #16 infraction, since one would not have “earned” it? But then the wording only refers to – “Championship and race leader jerseys …” Oh shit now I’m confused – help please.
@ChrisO
Sorry but a book about the lantern rouge is just wrong.
Of course I will happily read it when I can as reading anything about La Grande Boucle is good but the Rule nazi in me thinks that you shouldn’t celebrate any place past 10 – possibly 20 because that is where I usually ended up?
@all
Warning, this article runs the risk of opening up a slew of stories that, I’m sorry, should not be recorded here. Maybe in a triathlete news letter or the RAGBRI yearly recap?
@Rob
There can be a whole lot of Rule V involved in finishing last, as Gianni points out above. From an 0verall Lanterne Rouge going on to win a mountain-top Giro stage, to David Millar finishing a TdF stage last haunted all the time by the time he’d once got off the bike, to Michael Matthews losing the pink one day, only to crash on the next but still haul himself painfully over the line last along with a vomiting team-mate, all the time thinking of a rest day and just one more shot at repaying his team.
I don’t think we celebrate the place. We celebrate the effort, the overcoming of adversity, the perseverance, and the reality of day-in, day-out life in the peloton. These are stories worth recounting.
@andrew
Well said and good examples of tough stuff.
What I said was partly tongue in cheek and partly drawing on my memories of back of the pack antics. The thought was that unless I crossed the finish line throwing up in first place following Rule #70 then I should retreat to a dark corner and follow the masturbation principle.
I had a friend I raced with who’s only motivation was if he was droped, then he would chase for massive kilometers just to stay in contention. We always thought he would have been awesome if he had done exactly the same effort off the front. I only mention this to illustrate that many Maglia Nero/Lantern Rouge stories are just that, stories of survival not of championship riding. One last point there is a huge difference between finishing last one day to ride the next and finishing last for the whole stage race as my friend often did…
@andrew
For me, Aldo Bini (who “won” it in 1948) really exemplifies the spirit of the Maglia Nera. He finished the Giro with a broken hand after a crash in an early stage. He had to walk up some of the climbs as it was too painful to ride. He finished 4 hours back, but only 10 minutes behind the previous finisher.
Great work, Gianni! I like to hide in the hedges when the VMH needs gardening help. She’ll likely want man-power, and if I do any hauling, the upper guns could get Too Big To Climb.
Feel like with all the crashing so far, there is going to be a lot of abandonment in the Giro this year. Just look at Michael Matthews. A few days in pink…now he’s gone home. Talk about highs and lows.
@Rob The lanterne rouge & maglia nera are stories of survival and triumph over suffering — rather than conquest. They resonate because us mere mortals can actually relate to them.
@Nate
Yes to that and if I sounded un mortal then you don’t know me. I fight my mortality by hiding it as much as possible and kick myself for the weakness I succumb to all to often, thus the repetition of my favorite lexicon phrase above…
@Rob
That’s a question the book tackles actually. Different views are given on whether it should be recognised or celebrated and he uses some of the stories to illustrate both sides. As he points out, sometimes the lanterne rouge is there because he is a faithful domestique who has spent everything in support of the leader, but at others it is someone who is playing for it. Some have revelled in the fame or notoriety, some have been embarrassed and some have barely cared.
There have been Lanternes Rouge (if that’s the plural) who have won stages, most notably Pierre Matignon who beat Merckx up Puy de Dome in his miracle year of 1969. Jacky Durand was Lanterne Rouge and also won the Combativity prize in the same year.
In the past when riders counted on the post-tour appearances to basically double or triple their salaries the Lanterne Rouge was a much better option than being in the middle of the bunch.
Read it. Like I said, it is much more than a collection of anecdotes about losers.
@Rob
Not at all.
@ChrisO The truth is that we, or I am, mixing amateur and pro. Finishing last in a grand tour is not the same as in an amateur one day or even stage race. Jacky Durand’s story in that race must be epic, we can all imagine what he did to gain both titles. The fall from the top to the bottom is as good a story as the opposite. Also to be so close to being out but hanging on by a hair, again I expect we can all get behind that story from personal experience.
If I remember the cash for the tour lantern rouge could actually be quite respectable so that in the days of shit pay it might make your season.
@Nate Cheers!
@Rob Leave it to me to take a post too seriously. I’m probably also preparing myself mentally for my likely back-of-the-pack finishes in upcoming events.
@Nate
A-Merckx. There are many examples of celebrating the last place finish for that very reason. The last place graduate at West Point is known as the “goat” and collects $1 from each of his fellow graduating cadets. Two notable examples – George Pickett and George Custer – well, they ended up last in a couple of ways, I guess! In any event, if it is worth entering, it is worth finishing regardless of the time, energy, effort or ranking. Just do your best and make sure it is good enough. My early departure from the SF ride was a fail……………..
@HMBSteve Does West Point really like having these two brought up? @Buck Rogers a little help here?? It’s not Gianni’s fault but this is where I was afraid this post would go… I think he was just talking about a cool looking jersey that signified that the wearer finished and could have free beers for life, not that he was last.*
@andrew I am usually too cute trying to be funny posting here. Also I tend to think that all this chit chat is just that and if we ALL were out riding as a group there would not be any need for it.*
but your second sentence worries me… You are already preparing for defeat? If bike racing was sword fighting you have already lost (Miayamato Musashi). If you need to train harder, do, if you go in a race expect to win and try as hard as you are able then the result will be a win no matter what.*
* having fun! don’t take me too seriously alert
@Rob
This I like, fun or no.
@Buck Rogers
I am indeed flattered.
@Rob
One, it is a bad ass jersey and retro looking and I informed her as to what it meant, I think. I believe it is her #1 jersey, after the V-kit, of course. I was bummed there was nothing in my size.
The Eros Poli quote is what made me want to write about this; that he would mention finishing last in the Giro despite his palmares. I assumed he was embarrassed.
Here is what the Pinarello reissue looks like.
Good timing as well! I just mailed a buddy two jerseys I don’t wear much any longer. He’s a commuter, but doing more and more long riding on the weekends in the Seaddle area. One of the jerseys was…a colorful Pinarello jersey!
And, I was watching the Giro today and ruing that I didn’t find cycling when I was younger, or live in a place with teams/clubs readily available. I think I would have rode myself into a pretty darn good domestique! Played a lot of team sports and never the most naturally talented, but I did a lot of dirty work in practice and games to get the job done.
@Ron
Yes, especially gardening work, too easy to injure oneself. Better to help after a ride when the mind is dull. Then gardening is almost interesting.
@andrew
“Rejoice in thy suffering, knowing that tribulation builds patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.”
@seemunkee
There must be other great shops but this one is pretty great, old school, not a giant showroom, lots of bike stuff, everywhere.
@Nate
I would relate. I’d be in the grupetto everyday, fighting for the time cut. And cursing those wee climbers for making the time cut so early.
@Rob – oh no; a Velominati thread off point! Squirrel!!!! No worries – I agree, the jersey find is a beaut and beers all around is even better.
@Gianni
Talking of which see http://www.tinkoffsaxo.com/news/sorensen-completed-giro-stage-concussion/
@unversio I’m with ya 100% on this… I was popped off the line on an endurance mtn bike race I had no business going forward with last year and knew immediately the only person I was racing was myself. Despite riding alone for a long time and certain I was last, DNF was not an option. The handful of folks still there when I finished, my buddy who’d podium’d (obviously waited a long time for me), a couple other racers (turned out were waiting for their bud) and the race organizers taking everything down noted that yep, one last racer still to come in. And he did. One cool SOB from my perspective. DNF for no good reason? No way. In a strange way these are personal victories for which a cyclist can ride. Of course, in the pro’s getting to the finish of a grand tour, even if last, probably means $$$ for completing. But for those of us that pay to race ?? BTW: The last place finisher in The Skyway Epic (AL’s Leadville) last week was rewarded w/ a two night stay at a sweet Carolina Mtn Bike resort. My buddy came in penultimate. Rats, BUT, he enjoyed the post race cold one as much as anyone else that day. Cheers
There is one fate almost as bad as the painful DNF:
Toiling for three hours risking life and limb in a Masters race, finishing top 6, and finding out when you get home and look at the online results that the transponder didn’t work (you know, the one they charge you $10 for). No “official result”, my friend. This happened 3 weeks in a row last season.
Did I never really race? Did I not really suffer? If DNF is hell, transponder failure must be purgatory.
@fignons barber Fuck!
@Buck Rogers
Hey Buck – it’s an insult everywhere.
@ChrisO yup, that’s what I tried to say but left the “t” off the end of “not”
@Gianni
I’ve looked around as I have to be there a lot for work and surprisingly not much in the first place, and Laurent’s seems the best, at least by the road cycling cool factor. There’s a Giant showroom shop on Blvd Henri V toward the river from Bastille but doubt that’s what you’d be looking for. Not saying there aren’t others but they aren’t obvious (to an American).
In this years Giro, Svein Tuft (the first Pink Jersey holder of the race) is currently in last, and I believe he finished last years TdF in last too.
In-fact, Orica-Greenedge have had a lot of their team pull out from illness & injury. I guess all that effort of riding at the front to keep the Pink jersey really takes a toll.
@xyxax
Ahhh, the elusive “3rd place” .
http://www.ridemedia.com.au/ride-features/the-bike-shop-a-valuable-space-in-society/
A piece from the above article :-
”
Meanwhile our salesman bolts a new bike rack onto a Prius and thinks about his commission while a dentist holds a colour-matched comfort bike with a foot-and-a-half of head tube and a stem pointing skywards. He’s opted for the compact crank and the bundle deal with a helmet, shoes and a pump. All from a company which, despite what its name suggests, makes a killing selling bikes with a surprisingly generalised “comfort endurance” label.
Meanwhile across town there’s The Shop, the place where bike riders go. There’s not a big car park or a window with a picture of a triathlete. The rack is full, not of bikes for sale, but of customers’ bikes resting while their riders do the same. This is the shop where they don’t sell bikes that come in a box. It’s where people can get what they need but the staff won’t try to talk you into buying something you don’t want. It’s where the espresso machine sees more action than the cash register. It’s where a quick glance behind the workshop – and, often, at the seats in front of it – reveals the bikes and bodies which appear in the chain stores only through the magazines and posters.
It’s here that those riders, the ones from the magazines and posters, sip coffee and talk prize money. They watch as an allen key turns in hand; in these circles it carries the same reputation as the donated jerseys on the wall. Next to them sit riders who once gazed at their pictures in awe, but here the workbench is the great leveller. Once they get on the road they’d never be able to talk without being dropped but in front of the bike stand, watching a master at work, they can share their passion. ”
A good read and an article that sums up the “3rd Place”
@Mikael Liddy Ah, sorry, I wasn’t trying to be pedantic – I actually didn’t register the ‘no’ at all, otherwise it would have been clear it was just a typo, or an Italianesque version.
I sometimes find myself speaking mangled English to our team manager from Portugal. I get used to the odd constructions he uses and adopt them when I’m trying to explain or reply to him – I don’t know if it makes things clearer to say We not gone ride Friday, Saturday better, but it certainly saves on prepositions.
@andrew
And then riding the day after the rest day and getting is sore and broken arse onto the podium!!! That was his last hurrah though. He had to retire after that effort. Chapeau in deed.
Great stuff! Anyone who finisdes a Grand Tour deserves respect. No other sport comes close to making the physical and mental demands a three week tour does.
That being said, as I read Gianni’s piece and saw that the maglia nera was retired in 1951 got me wondering if this was true. Off to my trusty library and it seems that as late as 1979 it was still being awarded and worn if not officially, but riders still wore it every day and the “winner” was in the final day line up of jersey winners.
That 1979 Giro was a classic in many ways. As is their wont, the organizers tailor-made the course for Francesco Moser: mountains were limited and there were four time trials. This cunning plan got off to a rocky start as throughout much of the early 79 season conjunctivitis was rampant in the peloton and Moser was not immune, arriving at the start in Firenze suffering from the eye condition. As the race wore on the condition persisted and two main challengers emerged: the diminutive Guiseppe Saronni and the powerful Norwegian Knut Knudsen. On stage 16 Knudsen was going well, Saronni not so much as the maglia rosa looked like it was going onto the Norwegian’s shoulders. Then something weird happened: the Magniflex-Famcucine team car drove into Knudsen’s rear wheel bringing him down heavily. In the ensuing chaos, he remounted and was making his way through the cars in pursuit of Saronni who had attacked. Then another weird thing happened: the team cars were stopped leaving Knudsen to chase unaided. He missed the jersey and lost the race, retiring two stages later because of severe injuries sustained in the “accident.”. (Contrast Saronni’s behavior to that of Evans the other day: Evans was riding smart and hard at the front, his rivals were involved in a run-of-the-mill crash behind, albeit a large one. Saronni took clear advantage of a suspicious event of extreme rarity.
At the other end of the race, it was a battle between Angelo Tosoni ((CBM Fast-Gaggia) and his teammate Bruno Zanoni for the maglia nera. Tosoni wore it on the early stages but the eventual “winner” was Zanoni who finished 11′ 9″ behind his teammate. On the early part of the last stage, Zanoni was in the line up of jersey winners: Moser (cyclamen jersey/points), Contini (white jersey/young rider), Zanoni (maglia nera), Saronni (pink jersey/winner overall), Bortolotto (green jersey/mountains) and Rosola (blue jersey/regions).
Another final weird thing about the 79 Giro was the Epilogue stage. Intended as a “reward” for the domestiques and gregari, it was a 670km (yes, at the end of the Giro, the organizers sent 48 riders on a six-hundred-and seventy-fucking-kilometers stage that counted for nothing but pride) from Milan to Rome. Sergio Santamaria won it. None of the top 10 riders contested this crazy event and few spectators turned out to watch it.
So there you have it, Italians doing things their way in their own race. Frankly, Torriani the race director, should have been blackballed for such a crazy Giro, but he was the Felix Levitan/Christian Proudhomme of his day. You didn’t mess with Signor Torriani.
“Finishing any event last is always better than not finishing.” And even more commendable is finishing In spite of mishaps!
Great one Gianni.
@wiscot love it! Great read and grape shot for future trivia contests.
@Rob
LOVE those stripes, Rob! Get a screen shot of them just in case they happen to pass on to someone else (which I am sure will not happen!)
@Buck Rogers thanks Buck, I haven’t looked this good since ’82!
And no I don’t think I will be wearing them when we get to Trieste… I am not optimistic for the old Roo – he has a lot of work left to do and there are too many young pretty boys who can dance on the pedals.
@Rob
We”ll know A LOT more about his chances in about 2 hours. Gooooo Cuddles!
@Barracuda
Cool article, thanks for posting it.