BICIFIGURINE. ALFONSO CALZOLARI, THE IRON MAN

HISTORY | 13/12/2024 | 08:15
di Stefano Fiori
How many of you, cyclists, cycling enthusiasts and professionals, know who Alfonso Calzolari was? I believe few know the story of this fellow townsman – born in Vergato in the Bologna Apennines like myself – who still holds absolutely unbeatable records in the Giro d'Italia that I will list later.
A small, extroverted, funny man, differently... tall, all muscles and calves, strength and grit, born on April 30, 1887 in this town of 7,000 inhabitants and soon emigrated to the much richer Bologna, just 38 kilometers away. "Fonso" finds a job in a bed factory but, at the end of his work hours, his passion is to go to Montagnola Park, near the railway station, to follow the daring cyclists who have created a circuit around Montagnola for their races. Various Mazzoni, Messori and Gardenghi are his idols and so, with his meager savings, our hero buys a rickety bike, with which he begins to participate in some endurance races.
Despite the dilapidated vehicle, the boy immediately shows he has talent and grit, earning him the nickname "El Mort" for his audacity on descents. In the summer of 1909, he joins Velo Club Reno and immediately wins a circuit at Montagnola (2nd Ezio Corlaita who will become his inseparable friend in the years to come) and the Cesaroni Venanzi Cup in Tuscany, in the town of Castiglion Forentino that "some" years later will be the birthplace of Daniele Bennati, current CT of the Italian professional national team.
Calzolari's category is the "Free" category, meaning cyclists who must manage everything on their own and consequently, in 1910, "Fonso" is forced to carry out an almost non-existent activity due to his scarce means, read: bike in pitiful condition, zero mechanical assistance and very meager earnings.
The situation improves significantly in 1911, with the arrival of sponsor Goricke: beautiful victories arrive in Bologna in the Emilian Championship and in the Peugeot GP elimination race, in always propitious Tuscany, in Poggio a Caiano and Empoli and in Macerata. Moreover, Fonso collects 12 second places in road races and, paired with his friend and teammate Cesare Zini, wins another 11 track competitions.
1912 is an important year, as the UVI deliberates Calzolari's transition to Junior Professionals with "L'Italiana", but a wealthy sponsor is still lacking and the Vergato ace is forced to limit his activity again, participating only in Emilian and Romagnol races. However, he can debut in the Giro d'Italia, but is forced to withdraw in the fourth stage.
In 1913, a big sponsor finally arrives for Fonso, Stucchi, and he immediately places 4th in Milan-Sanremo, but a fall during training in Massalombarda with his trusted Corlaita causes him a clavicle fracture. Despite the injury, he manages to start the Giro d'Italia, but his athletic condition is necessarily precarious and therefore he must withdraw during the first stage. He then reappears in the Lombardy race but falls again while in the leading group.
1914 is pure legend, with the Giro d'Italia dominated by him after his solo ride in the second stage, from Cuneo to Lucca (340 km), won with 33'40" over Giuseppe Azzini. The Giro is contested in terrifying weather conditions, from start to finish (Sestriere is climbed under a dense snowstorm) and the kilometers are grueling, with cyclists receiving the start around midnight and crossing the finish line around 8 pm. Azzini turns out to be Calzolari's only opponent and in the 5th stage from Avellino to Bari, he takes the lead in the standings with just 6 seconds over the Vergato native, but in the next stage, Bari-L'Aquila, here comes the plot twist: Calzolari becomes leader because Giuseppe Azzini does not... cross the finish line! They find him the next day in a farmhouse's hay barn, about twenty kilometers from the finish, with a high fever, delirious but, some say, with a couple of wine bottles nearby... No matter, Fonso wins the 1914 Giro establishing a series of records that we list below and consequently this will forever remain the "Giro of Records".
1) Lowest number of final general classification riders: 8. Highest percentage of withdrawals, 90% (73 withdrawals out of 91 starters).
2) Largest gap from the 2nd place: 1h57'26".
3) Lowest final hourly average ever: 23.247 km/hour.
4) Highest average stage length, km. 396.250.
5) First Giro d'Italia with final classification based on time and not points.
6) Longest stage in Giro history, from Lucca to Rome, on May 28th: 430.300 km won by Girardengo, at his first Giro victory.
7) Highest travel time ever for a Giro stage, Bari L'Aquila of 428 km, covered in 19h, 20' and 47" won by Luigi Lucotti.
8) Stage victory with the largest margin over second place: 1 hour, 3 minutes and 22" by Ernesto Azzini in Avellino Bari.
9) Longest solo breakaway in Giro history, 368 km by Lauro Bordin in Lucca-Rome.
10) Lowest stage average speed, 22.123 km/hour for Bari-L'Aquila.
Data that fully illustrates the titanic feat accomplished by Calzolari, in eight stages heavily challenged by bad weather. And certainly, he did not lack illustrious opponents, almost all forced to withdraw. At the start was Lucien Mazan/Petit Breton, Tour de France winner, and there were the winners of the first Giri d'Italia held until 1914, namely Luigi Ganna, Carlo Galetti, Eberardo Pavesi and Carlo Oriani, along with the young Costante Girardengo and the mythical "Red Devil" Giovanni Gerbi, recently celebrated in a beautiful song, with exceptional rhythm, by Paolo Conte.
The Giro d'Italia victory earned Calzolari a considerable sum of money that, it is said, allowed him to profitably invest in real estate. Moreover, chronicles tell that he was carried in triumph by his numerous supporters in the central Via Indipendenza, in Bologna. But World War I was unfortunately on the horizon and Fonso was enlisted in 1915 in the Infantry, in the Subsistence service.
Only in 1919 could he return to racing with some continuity, but a bad case of boils almost nullified his comeback and subsequently negatively influenced his future as an athlete. However, in 1919, 1920 and 1921 he tried again to be a protagonist in the Giro, but accumulated only a few placements and three withdrawals. After a two-year stop, Calzolari made a late restart in 1924, but despite some placements, the "Iron Little Man" of Vergato understood that it was time to hang up his bike, at 37 years old.
Subsequently, he dedicated himself to organizing cycling and sports events, together with his great friend Ezio Corlaita. An impossible-to-miss couple, with Calzolari rather short, stocky and Corlaita lanky and of imposing stature. After this chapter of his life ended, Fonso dedicated himself to his family and in July 1975, by decree of the President of the Italian Republic signed by Giovanni Leone, he was named Knight of the Order of the Italian Republic, for sports and civil merits. Finally, on February 3, 1983, at the Villa Serena Retirement Home in Ceriale (SV), Alfonso Calzolari left us at the venerable age of 96.
To conclude, the withdrawal of Giuseppe Azzini, which paved the way and victory for Calzolari in the sixth stage of the 1914 Giro, following the sensational defaillance of the Lombard cyclist, sparked numerous comments from the sports press of that period, around the year 1914. I therefore report a comment (which was published!!) by an unscrupulous journalist of the time, to show how much times have changed (??): "There are those who have resorted to stimulants. Some have the habit of doping themselves, but do not know how to dope with measure, hence their irregular action, brief brilliant periods, sudden defaillances, inevitable withdrawals. Consequently, our cycling must undergo a scientific and continuous cure. Then athletes of the type of an Azzini or a Girardengo will prove wonderful until the end".
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the year 1914.....just 110 years ago....