CONTENTS

Part One – The Origin of the SpeciesThe Forgotten Man 3Strange Meetings 8‘I Wanted to be a Cyclist’ 15The Shoulders of Giants 18The New Cycling 23The Young Eagle of the Canavese 25A Cycling Visionary 33‘The Kid’ 37A Giro for Climbers 41Part Two – The 1962 Giro d’ItaliaStage 1 53Gregario 55Stage 2 58Stage 3 61Stage 4 63The Man who Fell to Earth 65Stage 5 70Stage 6 73Stage 7 75Stage 8 77The Man who Discovered Hot Water 79Stage 9 90The Unstoppable Walter Martin 93Stage 10 102Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 105

Stage 11 113Stage 12 115Would the Real Champion Please Stand Up? 117Stage 13 121Stage 14 122Stage 15 129Stage 16 130Franco and Nino 134Stage 17 139The Spider of the Dolomites 144Stage 18 150Stage 19 153Stage 20 155Human Resources 159Stage 21 161Part Three – The Silent ChampionA Pound of Flesh 168Saints, Sinners, Money Spinners 173Would Have, Could Have, Should Have 182The Silent Champion 187Franco Balmamion’s

Palmarès

193

124

STAGE FOURTEEN

On Friday 1st June, 110 anxious, distracted riders took a rest day at Nevegal in the shadow of the giant Marmolada, the highest peak in thegreat mountain range. Ahead lay the most percussive of all stages, a198-kilometre climbing marathon to incorporate no fewer than seven big Dolomite passes. First the Passo Duran, 10 kilometres of ascent ona dirt road to an altitude of 1,600m, followed by another unpaved 10-kilometre grind to the Forcella Staulanza at 1,773 metres. Next, acrossthe valley to the Forcella Aurine for a further 12 kilometres of climbing before a short, dangerous descent to the Passo di Cereda, essentiallya track, just about passable with favourable weather and good tyres.

The legendary Rolle (amongst the rst great Dolomite passes to be

included in the Giro, back in 1937), a torturous 20-kilometre ramp to1,970 metres, would precede the awful Valles, at 2,033 metres the high

point of the Giro, and nally the Passo San Pellegrino, a viciously steep

6-kilometre brute of a climb, again on ‘beaten earth’.The blond, close-cropped West Flandrian all-rounder, ArmandDesmet, runner up at the 1960 Tour of Spain, held the

maglia rosa

.At 31, Desmet, a tough-as-teak rider in the best Flemish tradition, had

arrived at the Giro in the best form of his life. In March he’d nished

a creditable third in his home race, the prestigious mid-week cobbledclassic Ghent–Wevelgem, before cementing his form in riding to