Young riders rise through the ranks with such promise. We all know the story; the rider who borrows a bicycle and enters a local race and wins. He decides he might be good at going batshit fast on a bike. Mom and Dad buy him a klunker for his birthday and he takes out a license. He starts winning most races he enters locally and rises to the regional level, then the national.
He has learned to deal with pain in a way most people could never imagine, and has come to understand that this – not his ability to smoothly turn the pedals – is his true talent in Cycling. To reach the next level, it’s time for sacrifice. He first stops eating cakes, then stops eating most things as he comes to the conclusion that every Cyclist comes to at one point or another: being heavy makes this sport even harder than it already is.
Then it’s off to the international level where he gains the attention of a Pro team and lands a contract. He takes well to Pro life and rises through the demanding ranks quite quickly. At a young age, he learns to look into the cold, deadly eyes of Bernard Hinault and stare back. He learns to hold the wheel of the most ruthless competitors in the world; he learns to drop them. He suffers like he’s never suffered before and thrives on it.
Then, in a flash, he finds himself on the world stage, in the limelight of one of the biggest races in the world. The public adores him for it. Then they predict his future success, and as quickly as it came, his greatness is crushed under the weight of expectation and he disappears first into the bunch and then into retirement.
Such was the case for poor Franco Chioccioli, cursed the moment his adoring fans named him Coppino, Little Coppi, after winning the 1991 Giro d’Italia.
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Where does it say he is leading the stage? There may have been several gruppetto through before him. There is a least one up the road and plenty of spectators who may have ridden up.
I think what universio is referring to are the obvious photoshop artifacts where another rider or two were erased from the image using the clone tool. To the right of Coppino, and at the bottom right of the photo, there are duplicated areas, repeating patterns of what should be random.
for instance:
Wow, yet another cyclist I hadn't yet heard of. Thanks, Frank! Wonderful lead photo too.
It would be interesting to talk to a person who has hit such highs (If I win a Grand Tour, I'm calling it a career) and yet is probably mostly remembered as not living up to his talents & potential. Or, had he in fact already punched beyond them and should be remembered for doing as much as he could with what he had? I wonder if he feels proud or has regrets?
Probably like all of us, some of each. My college sporting career didn't go to plans, through what I think were external forces, and I think I'll always wonder how I could have done more to reach my own potential.
@pistard no entirely sure how that 'ruins' the photo...granted it may not be the original version but it still looks pretty awesome. Quick google image search does indeed show he could easily have been Coppi's doppelganger.
@Mikael Liddy It's not that something like that ruins a photo but it changes your perception.
I don't know where this one came from or who altered it and why - but when I look at it in the context of this article I see a man alone, chasing another, maybe catching him, maybe losing him, dealing with his own demons and angels, facing the mist of uncertainty.
Put other rides in the photo and the context is very different - he is one of a number, maybe he only gets there by riding on their wheels, perhaps it calls his success into question or maybe he still stands out as the patron in the maglia rosa and we think of what might have been.
It's more a matter of knowing and understanding why something like that has been done. What if that photo of Merckx and de Vlaeminck on The Rules was photoshopped to add the dirt and cobbles. Would it be the same if they were riding on tarmac ?
This photo may have been used unknowingly and innocently here but certainly when it comes to professional/commercial magazines and websites personally I think they should make alterations clear, otherwise they are deceiving the reader.
@Mikael Liddy I wasn't suggesting that it ruined that photo. I didn't even think much of it until @universio pointed it out. Same photo is on Cyclingnews.com, so perhaps that's when/where it was photoshopped. May not have been to remove another rider, maybe just hamfisted cleanup... Here's another shot from what looks like the same climb.
@ChrisO agree, having the other riders, surely someone has the original shot, in the picture changes everything, why the hell you'd remove 'em? WTF? I wanna know who was there? Was it a Sky Train helping him along, or a posse of challengers forcing a selection?
Broke my heart when National Geographic was caught out photo shopping...
Right from the very beginning of photography we have altered the images I wonder why?
@piwakawaka
It might just have been the head of the moto driver that was removed...
I think the photo is from '88 on the Gavia, just before things got really bad, so maybe that's Hampsten in front of Chioccioli?
Remember, a hero is always just an upgrade away from a zero.