BOOKS | 10/01/2025 | 08:18 di Marco Pastonesi Few in the world know cycling like him. Because he lived it as a rider, as a sports director, as a team manager, as a league president. Because he experienced it as if he were a lawyer, or a journalist, or an advertiser, or a talent scout. Because he worked in it before people even talked about marketing and merchandising, targets and missions, feedback and audience. He did it for passion and for money. Because he always understood cycling as a profession, a passionate and passionate profession, but still a profession, not a pastime, and teams as companies, not clubs, essentially doing "a job that is my passion" but according to the principle that "when there are families to support you must also think about earning", even though he confides that "I would have paid to do this job". The Uncle. Bruno Reverberi. Sixty years of cycling, sixty-seven if you consider that he rode his first race at fifteen years old, and now he is over eighty-two. And not to celebrate them, but to remember them - premise: "For the satisfaction that sport has given me, I am very happy with what I have achieved"; clarification: "I also made my stupid mistakes, but that's okay: to not repeat them, you would need to live twice, maybe three times" - he wrote "My First 80 Years" (Kriss, 224 pages, 15 euros, preface by Davide Cassani), with the masterful help of Angelo Costa. The result is a book written in the first person, in which the Uncle says, declares, reveals, explains his life and his cycling with his words, his tones, his volumes. The birth: in Bibbiano, province of Reggio Emilia, capital of Parmigiano Reggiano, meant as Grana. Childhood: "The word misery is an understatement: actually, there was nothing", "In the evening we would go to the stables", "To live, we would manage". School: "Finished elementary school". Work: apprentice, mechanic, at 19 he decided to open his own workshop. Sports: first football, then athletics, long jump, then cycling. The bike: the first, a Torpado with a rod gear, modified with a wheel gear, a Simplex with five speeds. The races: the first without a license, then with Coop Manfredi and Bagnolese Vittadello. The victories: the first, in Nonantola, on a circuit, a two-person breakaway, initially skipping some gears, then feeling better and doing his part, an uncontested sprint, the reproach from the sports director who was convinced he had been clever, to which he replied in his own way: "If I were someone who had already won twenty races, I would have left this one: but it was the first!" Then the technical career: from 1964 to today, tomorrow, who knows when, assisted by his son Roberto, leading a Professional team and moreover with an overwhelming majority of Italian riders. The teams Termolan, Santini, Selca, Italbonifica, Navigare, Scrigno, Panaria, Csf Inox Group, Colnago, Bardiani... The bikes: Alan, Conti, Moser, Viner, Battaglin, Colnago, Cipollini, De Rosa... And the riders: from Caroli to Moro, from Allocchio to Zanini, from Cassani to Petacchi, from Pagnin to Fontanelli, from Podenzana to Guerini, from Mazzanti to Perez Cuapio, from Guidi to Casagrande, from Colbrelli to Belletti, from Battaglin to Modolo, from Pirazzi to Pozzovivo, from Frapporti to Canola, from Pasqualon to Coledan, from Ciccone to Maestri, from Zana to Pellizzari... The Uncle tells of moments of glory and dark days, selects the races won and lost, the rules and protests, even some doping episodes. He tells of when he fired the Dutchman René Koppert because he had taken the team car without asking permission, waited for him until 11 PM in front of the hotel to satisfy himself by announcing that "tomorrow morning you pack your bags and go home", and the man started crying. He also tells of Marco Pantani at the 2000 Giro d'Italia, when the Uncle swore "if he wins, I'll tear up my card and you won't see me at races anymore", when he prophesied to him "you'll be lucky if you finish on the rise, then go to the Tour: there you can have your say", when at the San Pellegrino in Alpe stage he anticipated that he would take between seven and eight minutes and it was seven twenty. He also tells of Madonna di Campiglio in 1999, when he told the Giro patron, Carmine Castellano: "I wouldn't have put him out: he's the number one of the race, two stages from the end and you know well that everyone uses certain substances because they can't be found". Without fear of transgressing regulations. The Uncle won't be a saint, and he himself confesses to having a "pretty tough and not easy" character. He gets angry easily, but doesn't hold a grudge. He wants to always be right, but even if with difficulty, admits when he is wrong. He can be, perhaps involuntarily, even self-ironic (or not?), like when to that saint (Giuliana) of his wife he repeats that, since he is always right, it's useless to waste time in discussions. And his way of expressing himself: "I go slow on my own, if you invite me to slow down, what am I running for?" to his mom who recommended caution; "Today we separate the males from the females" before a tough race; "We've been at the Giro for two weeks and your name hasn't been heard yet: at least throw yourself to the ground, so the radio will say you fell and we'll hear your name" to his Colombian Felipe Laverde. Today's cycling is from another planet. Not even in the last sentence of the book does the Uncle hide: "If there will still be cycling, what will it be?". It will be a cycling, sooner or later we'll have to surrender to the idea, without him. A cycling less Parmigiano Reggiano.
E alla fine l'uomo Del Monte ha detto sì... Parafrasando uno slogan pubblicitario di qualche anno fa, ecco l'annuncio della Alpecin Premier Tech: «Sorpresa, sorpresa: Mathieu Van der Poel alla fine domani si schiererà al via della prova di Coppa...
Alessia Vigilia ha chiuso la stagione 2025 sfiorando l'impresa alla Chrono des Nations, battuta per un solo secondo da Ellen Van Dijk, e ha iniziato la nuova stagione sfiorando nuovamente la vittoria nella prima tappa del Santos Tour DOwn Under,...
Il ciclismo come cavia, nel senso che per anni è stato - fin dagli anni Sessanta quando i controlli antidoping sono nati - studiato e indagato, inseguito e perseguito, alla fine anche dilaniato, spesso ingiustamente, se non altro perché non...
In occasione della sesta edizione dell'AlUla Tour, che si svolgerà dal 27 al 31 gennaio in Arabia Saudita, la regione di AlUla si prepara ancora una volta a diventare il palcoscenico di uno spettacolo sportivo e naturale eccezionale. Distribuita su...
Victor Campenaerts non è mai stato un corridore noioso, né in bici né nel tempo libero da dividere con i compagni della Visma-Lease a Bike. Belga, 34 anni, già primatista dell'ora, è stato un formidabile cronoman (due volte campione europeo)...
Contrariamente a quanto avviene nella maggior parte dei casi in queste circostanze, la Decathlon CMA CGM ha approfittato del suo media day per rivelare non solo le prime corse dei principali uomini del suo roster ma anche quelle di...
Non solo una grande classica del ciclismo femminile internazionale ma un progetto educativo, sociale e culturale che attraversa un intero territorio e coinvolge centinaia di giovani. Nel 2026, infatti, la Cycling Sport Promotion affianca al 27° Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Comune...
Roberto Avogadri, una vita di passione e amore indelebile per il ciclismo, ci ha lasciati martedì 13 gennaio. Aveva da poco tagliato il traguardo dei 70 anni e aveva già dovuto affrontare (e vincere) la battaglia con il male incurabile....
Possiamo confessare di aver provato un pizzico di invidia nel leggere che un nuovo velodromo è ormai pronto ad aprire i battenti nel Canton Ticino? Circa 80 ragazzi e ragazze tra gli 11 e i 18 anni, tesserati nei vari...
Mercoledì 4 marzo 2026 si disputerà la 63ª edizione del Trofeo Laigueglia, classica del ciclismo professionistico italiano che dagli anni Sessanta porta in Liguria alcuni dei migliori interpreti delle due ruote a livello internazionale. Si prevede fin da ora una...
10
10
Ritratti
Oscar
Albi d'Oro
Se sei giá nostro utente esegui il login altrimenti registrati.