24 “Little Goat” Pierre Bourrillon, “Jean Robic vainqueur du Tour de France 1947 retenu pour le ‘Tour,’ ” L’Équipe, April 9, 1948: 1. In French, Biquet can be translated as both “little goat” or kid, or used as a term of endearment like “sweetheart” or “darling.”
25 “a very normal, second-class rider” Journalist Wilhelm Van Wijnendaele as quoted in Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 42.
26 le jump Jean Leuillot, “Bobet fait honneur a son maillot jaune,” L’Intransigeant, July 9, 1948: 4.
27 could pass for Gino’s nephew “Avant les Alpes, Robic leader du ‘Meilleur Grimpeur,’ ” L’Équipe, July 13, 1948: 2. 189 “Le Pin-Up Boy” “Bobet, nouveau ‘pin-up boy,’ ” L’Intransigeant, July 5, 1948: 3.
28 Bobet’s background Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 42.
29 “We doubt that Bobet can” Jacques Goddet, “Mi Temps,” L’Équipe, July 13, 1948: 2.
30 Race on July 13 and attack on Col de Turini Claude Tillet, “Miracle! Louison Bobet ressucité double vainqueur de la montagne et du sprint,” L’Équipe, July 14, 1948: 1; Jacques Goddet, “La glorification du beau maillot de Bobet,” July 14, 1948: 2; Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 160–61.
31 “On that stage” Bartali, Tutto sbagliato, 141.
32 “Everyone would say” Gino Bartali with Mario Pancera, La mia storia (Milano: Stampa Sportiva, 1958), 82.
33 “I thought he was a wild card” Gino Bartali with Romano Beghelli and Marcello Lazzerini, La leggenda di Bartali (Firenze: Ponte Alle Grazie Editori, 1992), 190.
34 “Bobet didn’t have anything” Bartali, La mia storia, 82.
35 “I was in a black mood” Ibid., 83.
36 “Of course, if I had known” Bartali, La leggenda, 191.
37 Bobet spotted by train conductor Paul Guitard, “Quand le train bleu fait des galipettes,” L’Équipe, July 14, 1948: 4.
38 “Uncontested Hero” Pierre le Marrec of L’Humanité as quoted in Roger Dutilh, “Petit Bonhomme vit encore,” L’Équipe, July 15, 1948: 4.
39 “For those who rode beside the racer” Jacques Goddet, “Dans les Alpes, les grimpeurs resteront-ils des auxiliaires?” L’Équipe, July 15, 1948: 2.
CHAPTER 12. FOUR BULLETS
There is an expansive trove of primary source information about Bartali’s progress at the 1948 Tour de France between Gino’s accounts of the 1948 Tour de France in his autobiographies and other interviews, and our own interviews with the men who competed at the 1948 Tour with him, including Giovanni Corrieri (his roommate, gregario, and confidant), Vittorio Seghezzi, and Aldo Ronconi. The breadth of secondary sources was equally impressive. We reviewed French and Italian newsreel footage, and listened to French radio recordings from different stages at the National Library in Paris. In an era before television, the newspaper coverage of the Tour was all-encompassing. Sports photographers captured stirring images of every race’s multitude of moments, and journalists wrote expansive profiles not just of the stars, but also of their supporting riders. Each stage race became the subject of countless broadsheets of coverage, interviews, and analysis. Taken together, they form a body of work that offers an exciting vision of the Tour of 1948 in all its minute detail, and a lasting tribute to a race that so fully captured the popular imagination.
For coverage of the Tour, including its rest days, we drew on several newspapers, with a particular focus on L’Équipe, Le Parisien Libéré, L’Intransigeant, La Nazione, and Il Nuovo Corriere di Firenze. Antonio Pallante, Togliatti’s attempted assassination, and all the details of the unrest that followed were widely covered in the press. We focused most on accounts from the New York Times, Time, Le Monde, Ce Soir, Il Corriere della Sera, La Nazione, Il Tirreno, and the transcripts of the BBC radio broadcasts (the BBC collected and translated radio broadcasts from a variety of sources, including the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata [Italian National Associated Press Agency]). Antonio Pallante answered a series of our questions in writing, with his son kindly facilitating the logistics of the interview. Alberto Custadero’s article in La Reppublica on the occasion of Pallante’s trial documents being made public was also very helpful, since it included details from various testimonies given to the police and also Pallante’s personal letters that were seized by the state censor.
1 Debate of proposed law to round up firearms “A Madman’s Act,” New York Times, July 15, 1948: 22.
2 Togliatti goes for ice cream “Italy: Blood on the Cobblestones,” Time, July 26, 1948.
3 Togliatti’s interest in Bartali and cycling “Togliatti giubilante per le vittorie di Bartali,” Il Tirreno, July 20, 1948: 1; “Blood on the Cobblestones,” July 26, 1948.
4 “warm-eyed,” “full-bosomed” “Blood on the Cobblestones,” July 26, 1948.
5 “Jotti! The bag!” “Ritorno al lavoro dopo due giornate di sciopero e di sanguinosi episodi in molte città d’Italia,” Il Tirreno, July 16, 1948: 1.
6 Togliatti’s question about whether gunman had been stopped Ibid.
7 “Arrest him! Arrest him!” Jotti quoted in Alberto Custodero, “Attentato a Togliatti—Le lettere segrete,” La Repubblica, April 29, 2007: 38–39.
8 “incite riots” “A Madman’s Act,” New York Times, July 15, 1948: 22.
9 a charge Pallante would vehemently reject Custodero, “Attentato a Togliatti,” 38–39.
10 Mein Kampf “Il Pallante leggeva Hitler,” Il Tirreno, July 17, 1948: 1.
11 “dreamy” “Chi è l’attentatore,” Il Tirreno, July 16, 1948: 1.
12 Pallante’s background Custodero, “Attentato a Togliatti,” 38–39.
13 Pallante discussion about the Tour de France “Il Procuratore della Repubblica al Policlinico: ‘Non vido nulla’ ha dichiarato Togliatti,” La Nazione, July 23, 1948: 1. In his written responses to the authors’ questions, Pallante revealed why he enjoyed cycling so much: “I always told my son that the sport of cycling is the sport that best embodies the concept of sacrifice to achieve personal satisfaction and ambitious goals, and I would focus in particular on the tenacious Bartali.”
14 “I have always thought” Custodero, “Attentato a Togliatti,” 38–39.
15 “Maharajahs and the blondes” H. W. Heinsheimer, “Le Tour de France,” Holiday, July 1949: 83.
16 Italians staying in Carlton hotel Luigi Chierci, Bartali: Disastrosa partenza e avventuroso viaggio del vincitore del Tour de France 1948 (Roma: Compagnia Editoriale, 1977), 68–71.
17 Inspiration for Carlton hotel’s cupolas Stephen Gundle, Glamour: A History (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2009), 108.
18 Room 112 Albert De Wetter, “Le dernier espoir de Bartali: Cannes-Briançon,” L’Équipe, July 15, 1948: 1.
19 Telegrams from Monsignor Montini and Prime Minister De Gasperi Benjo Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter: Die berühmte Tour de France von 1948 (Bielefeld: Covadonga Verlag, 2006),167; “De Gasperi avait incité Bartali à bien faire,” Le Parisien Libéré, July 17, 1948: 6. The text of De Gasperi’s telegram read: “I received today the greetings that you were kind enough to send me from Lourdes. I want my heartfelt thanks to reach you the day before the first stage of the Alps and that they inspire you to shine brilliantly there.”
20 “Always the same questions!” and ensuing dialogue De Wetter, “Le dernier espoir de Bartali: Cannes-Briançon,” 1.
21 “While I felt really good” Gino Bartali, Tutto sbagliato, tutto da rifare (Milano: Mondadori, 1979), 142.
22 “Bartali is embraced” Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 166. 200 Adriana and son spend night with Gino Gianni Granzotto, L’Europeo, August 2–8, 1948: 3.
23 Criticism for spending time with Adriana Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 166.
24 “Bartali, the old king of the mountains” Giardini, “Bartali et Ronconi battus dans le Turrini espèrent encore,” L’Équipe, July 15, 1948: 4. Giardini’s Gazzetta Dello Sport were often reprinted in L’Équipe.
25 three major reasons for his poor performance De Wetter, “Le dernier espoir de Bartali: Cannes
-Briançon,” 1, 4.
26 “race with international impact” Ibid.
27 “Bartali has found his master” Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 121.
28 female fishmongers J. J. Povech, “Robic a été porté en triomphe par les poissonières toulossaines,” L’Équipe, July 10, 1948: 4.
29 “overtiring, too much eating, and perhaps abuse of performance-enhancing substances” Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 155.
30 Bobet getting nervous Jean Leuillot, “L’équipe de France adopte enfin Louison Bobet comme leader,” L’Intransigeant, July 15, 1948: 4.
31 “worst possible thing” De Gasperi as quoted in “Italy: Blood on the Cobblestones,” July 26, 1948.
32 news of Togliatti’s attack swept across the country Jean D’Hospital, “Après l’attentat contre M. Togliatti,” Le Monde, July 16, 1948: 1.
33 Work in factories and many offices stopped BBC Radio ANSA (Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata: Italian National Associated Press Agency) dispatches in Italian (Morse), translated and broadcast by BBC, July 14, 1948: 17, 20.
34 “A wind of panic”; “the city wore the livid mask of fear” Jean D’Hospital, “Après l’attentat contre M. Togliatti,” Le Monde, July 16, 1948: 1.
35 country teetered closer to the brink of revolution In over two hundred hours of interviews, we discovered that an overwhelming number of common Italian citizens present during the protests and riots remembered being very fearful of a prolonged insurrection or revolution. Surviving Italian politicians of the era tended to have a more nuanced view, informed as much by information they had gathered in official and political meetings that wasn’t shared publicly at first, as well as their own political biases. Our epilogue discusses historians’ varying perspectives on this moment.
36 Loud demonstrations in Ponte a Ema and Tullia Grifoni remarks Author interview with Cesare and Tullia Grifoni, July 31, 2009.
37 Stalin “outraged” United Press, “Stalin is ‘Outraged’ by Togliatti Attack,” New York Times, July 15, 1948.
38 “I am a Communist” “Bomb Threat Brings Police to Cathedral,” New York Times, July 15, 1948.
39 “Go! Go home!” and exchange with reporters Gino Bartali with Romano Beghelli and Marcello Lazzerini, La leggenda di Bartali (Firenze: Ponte Alle Grazie Editori, 1992), 194–95.
40 Gino and other cyclists’ fear of country heading toward violent chaos Bartali, La leggenda, 195; author interviews with Giovanni Corrieri (July 15, 2009) and Vittorio Seghezzi (August 13, 2009).
41 “Bartali is no longer young enough” “L’échec de Bartali n’a pas surpris Binda,” L’Équipe, July 14, 1948: 4; “Bartali a mal couru,” Le Parisien Libéré, July 14, 1948; Paul Guitard, “Leçon des Hommes et L’Ecole des Femmes,” L’Équipe, July 18, 1948: 4.
42 Gino beginning to feel old A year after the Tour, Gino said that he first started really feeling his age on July 8, 1948, when he discovered that Bobet was a decade younger than he. Gino Bartali and André Costes, “Mes Memoires,” Bibliotheque France-Soir (Paris: Serie Sport, 1949), 36.
43 Announcement of general strike Arnaldo Cortesi, “Riots Sweep Italy After an Assassin Wounds Togliatti,” New York Times, July 15, 1948. Not all sources agree that the telegraphs were shut down by the strike. Il Tirreno suggests that the telegraphs, along with the radios and telephone lines, continued to function after the shooting and the strike that followed it. “L’attentato,” Il Tirreno, July 16, 1948: 1.
44 Leading Communist deputies were dispatched Author interview with Giulio Spallone, Communist deputy in 1948, August 10, 2009.
45 “Indeed it is an ironic twist” “A Madman’s Act,” New York Times, July 15, 1948.
46 chaotic flurry of meetings “Due ansiose giornate,” La Nazione, July 16, 1948: 1.
47 De Gasperi discussed the possibility of sending a telegram Jean D’Hospital, “En Italie Bartali e Coppi font figure de heros nationaux,” Le Monde, July 29, 1948: 5. According to D’Hospital, the Italian foreign minister told his French counterpart that De Gasperi was considering sending a telegram to Gino encouraging him to win. It appears that this telegram was never sent, likely because De Gasperi had already contacted Gino by phone in the intervening period since he had spoken with his foreign minister.
48 Phone conversation between Gino and De Gasperi The dialogue of the exchange between Gino and De Gasperi is from one of Gino’s autobiographies (Bartali, La leggenda, 197). In separate interviews, Giovanni Corrieri (July 15, 2009) and Vittorio Seghezzi (August 13, 2009), the surviving members of the 1948 Italian Tour team, who were there when the prime minister called, have confirmed that the conversation with De Gasperi took place. Adriana and Andrea Bartali also said that Gino spoke about the call. Dr. Benjo Maso, a former sociology professor and cycling historian, interviewed Giovanni Corrieri, Giordano Cottur, Aldo Ronconi, Vittorio Seghezzi, and Vittorio Magni, all teammates of Bartali from the 1948 Tour (Cottur is deceased at our time of writing), while researching his book about the 1948 Tour, Wij waren allemaal goden, De Tour van 1948. They all also confirmed that the phone call took place.
Elsewhere, the conversation has been written about widely in the Italian press. Outside of Italy, Ian Buruma, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New York Times, and a professor of democracy, human rights, and journalism, wrote about the phone call in an article that explored the relationship between nationalism and sport (Ian Buruma, “Clash of symbols,” Financial Times Weekend Magazine, September 24, 2005: 22). In the cycling world, various books in Italian, French, and English have cited it, too.
Some have expressed skepticism about the call, either because it seems singularly dramatic or it appears foreign to a modern perspective in which the worlds of politics and sport are more strictly separated. In the final analysis, however, it must be considered within the wider background of the moment. Gino and De Gasperi were two of the most prominent Catholics in Italy in 1948, and they had been on friendly terms for years. As the 1948 Tour progressed, the two men exchanged telegrams. When Gino won, it is telling that he wasn’t visited by fashion icons or movie stars, but by De Gasperi’s Christian Democrat secretary, a future prime minister of Italy. In this context, the phone call between Gino and De Gapseri would have been much less unusual than it might now seem.
CHAPTER 13. A FROZEN HELL
1 A Frozen Hell photo caption from L’Équipe, July 16, 1948: 1.
2 loudspeakers at four o’clock; 311 members of media H. W. Heinsheimer, “Le Tour de France,” Holiday, July 1949: 85 (although this article was published in 1949, it is exclusively about the author’s experience attending the 1948 Tour).
3 “the Dreadnought” “Renault sur le Tour,” L’Équipe, July 28, 1948: 2.
4 “the Broom Wagon” Bill and Carol McGann, The Story of the Tour de France (Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing, 2006), 28.
5 “Car Number 1” Heinsheimer, “Le Tour de France,” 85.
6 “Cannes has never awoken this early” Henri Chapuis, “Les coureurs s’attaquent aux trois cols d’Allos, de Vars et d’Izoard,” L’Équipe, July 16, 1948: 1.
7 “Pushing: It’s cheating”; “Those racers who struggle” “Le Tour … à l’envers,” L’Équipe, June 22, 1948: 3.
8 “How is Togliatti?” exchange Gino Bartali with Romano Beghelli and Marcello Lazzerini, La leggenda di Bartali (Firenze: Ponte Alle Grazie Editori, 1992), 200.
9 “Bartali fights the final battle of his career” Jacques Goddet, “Dans les Alpes, les grimpeurs resteront-ils des auxiliaires?” L’Équipe, July 15, 1948: 1.
10 “Let’s think about the race” Bartali, La leggenda, 200.
11 Bobet’s decision to use hollow axle Benjo Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter: Die berühmte Tour de France von 1948 (Bielefeld: Covadonga Verlag, 2006), 187.
12 Belgian racer had died “Le Tour … a l’envers,” L’Équipe, June 18, 1948: 4.
13 Gino’s teammate injured by car Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 113.
1
4 Press car accident and fatality Ibid.
15 “With the hope that the hours spent here” J. Vidal-Lablache, “Vive Robic,” L’Équipe, July 16, 1948.
16 “The weather is unstable” “Prévisions Meteorologiques” (July 14–15 forecast), Le Monde, July 14, 1948: 6.
17 freak summer weather patterns “Été 1948: Quel temps fera-t-il?” Le Monde, July 13, 1948: 6.
18 over 100-degrees Fahrenheit Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 118.
19 “menacing waves and white foam” Jean Marchand, “A la Croisette des Chemins,” Ce Soir, July 15, 1948: 4.
20 “smiling eyes” Chapuis, “Les coureurs s’attaquent aux trois cols d’Allos, de Vars et d’Izoard,” 1.
21 first over the Izoard mountain pass Maso, Wir Alle Waren Götter, 178.
22 “The three cols today” Robic as quoted in ibid.
23 “Gone were the gay crowds” Heinsheimer, “Le Tour de France,” 87.
24 heart squeeze Dante Gianello, “Bartali m’a dit: ‘Je croyais mourir de faim,’ ” L’Équipe, July 16, 1948: 4.
25 “I could hear the shouts of the Italians” Gino Bartali, Tutto sbagliato, tutto da rifare (Milano: Mondadori, 1979), 144.
26 Newspaper car sliding into ravine “La Voiture de ‘L’Intran’ Verse Dans Un Ravin,” L’Équipe, July 16, 1948: 4; J. Vidal-Lablache, “Le Tour de France est au lit,” L’Intransigeant, July 18, 1948: 1.
27 wet snow L’Équipe, July 16, 1948: 1.
28 noontime radio updates “Le ‘Tour’ sur l’antenne,” L’Équipe, July 15, 1948: 4.
29 “My heart was going boom-boom” Roger Dutilh, “Cueilli pour vous dans la presse épique et lyrique du Tour de France,” L’Intransigeant, July 17, 1948: 4.
30 Louis Bobet’s axle breaking Ibid.
31 “Heavens” Gianello, “Bartali m’a dit,”4.
32 Gino felt his legs surge beneath him Gino Bartali with Mario Pancera, La mia storia (Milano: Stampa Sportiva, 1958), 84.
Road to Valour Page 33
