SCRIPTA MANENT. THE HISTORIC NAPOLI-POTENZA

TUTTOBICI | 30/12/2024 | 08:20
di Gian Paolo Porreca
We are still here, uncertain at the December pass, we who already in October were peeking at the indiscretions, master in this regard Paolo Viberti - and we do not resort to the silly terminology of "spoilers", so beautifully indeed "indiscretions" or "previews" - on the official route of the upcoming Giro d'Italia. We are still here, with Tour and Vuelta more or less spotted, without a 2025 Giro route on which we can formally swear.
But among the absolutely certain racing days, for what is closest to sentiment and fantasy, we can undoubtedly circle in fuchsia pink the stage that will bring the caravan on Thursday, May 15th from Potenza to Naples.
Naples, yet another arrival, in the sign of a feeling between the city and cycling that we would like to be assured not only by the economic aspect, but by a rekindled passion.
And it will curiously be a first time, in the history of the Giro. Yes, because never in the Giro, had one arrived in Naples from Potenza. In Campania differently and certainly yes. In Teano in 1961, first Pietro Chiodini. In Salerno in '67, first Rudy Altig. In Benevento in 1971, first Ercole Gualazzini. In Sorrento in 1975, first Marcello Osler. In Baia Domizia in 1986, first Guido Bontempi. In Caserta in '94, first Marco Saligari. In Montevergine di Mercogliano in 2001, first Danilo Di Luca... Beautiful variety of geography and captivating kaleidoscope of winners, if we don't miss anything, for the stages that from Potenza arrived in Campania, but in Naples the Giro from Potenza will arrive - or for an excess of caution, "should arrive" - in 2025 only for the first time. And it will be, for the relatively short history of cycling, a milestone.
But if this is a good clarification for the present and future, quite another weight continues to have in our memory that inverse route between the two cities, the Naples - Potenza. And what a singular specific weight, to remind the younger ones, lived therefore the Naples - Potenza, disputed on two occasions, in 1963 and 1969. Naples was indeed a theater - but differently - in both events. In 1963, with the official start of the race with its first stage, Naples gave the incipit to Vittorio Adorni's great escape, who first attacked with Brugnami, then with Zancanaro, finally in splendid heraldic solitude, would win that stage, wearing the pink jersey. His "first" pink jersey, with a Cynar jersey number, the "21'" that beyond the Giro - on the shoulders of Eddy Merckx, his captain in Faema in 1968, at the first Giro he won - would mark the debut of an even more epic journey. But that Naples - Potenza of '63 would also be the theater of a virulent controversy between League and Federation, with two tricolor jerseys at the start, the Venetian Marino Fontana, recognized by the League, and the Tuscan Bruno Mealli, recognized by the Federation... History and intrigue of other times, with threat of race suspension and withdrawal of race judges, and risk of invalidating the results. With the clamorous withdrawal, perhaps too cautious, due to the doubt of a disqualification hinted by the UCI, of the customary foreign favorite Rik Van Looy and his GBC, with Edgar Sorgeloos, second in Potenza, Hubertus Zilverberg and all the loyalists.
That Giro would thus become an autarchic Giro, even more war among Italians, the second Giro won by Balmamion, but at least fought on the road, with the decisive intervention of CONI to heal the controversies, attributing on one side the unique title to Bruno Mealli, and conversely committing to promote the autonomy of the professional sector.
Even if the San Pellegrino of Marino Fontana would no longer be in the race, which withdrew its sponsorship in protest, but a formation with the same athletes, from Marzaioli to Zancanaro, but dressed in an anonymously and polemically black jersey...
Still theatrical, but this time totally unrelated to the values and disputes of sport, was the dramatic departure from Naples of the Naples-Potenza of 1969. That time, in fact, the race was literally forced to escape, but in a compact group, from Municipio Square, due to a violent protest by port workers who attacked the organizers and the caravan.
"Never again in Naples, the Giro", sentenced a vilified and humiliated Torriani, it is said. With Raschi who would express his bitterness on the page. "Cyclists are also workers. They should not be attacked. They are the most workers, or perhaps the only such, of sports characters". In Potenza, Michele Dancelli won, on May 24th, in a sprint.
And how things have changed, or at least here and everywhere only apparently, from that "never again in Naples, the Giro", by Vincenzo Torriani in 1969. And now with the stage that for the first time vice versa from Potenza will bring the race to Naples, and for the fourth consecutive year as a finish location as if by a theological precept, it would be fair for the city's enthusiasts - or at least the elderly witnesses of that time - to emblematically applaud the Giro, also for those remote and out of place stadium insults.
from tuttoBICI of December

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