There isn't a fan who doesn't know, hasn't heard of, doesn't remember, or hasn't been curious about: Miro Panizza is in the hearts of many, in the hearts of everyone. He passed away in 2002, but the impression is that he has always been here, by our side, watching cycling and cyclists.

Now Miro's story - Champion among Champions - is told in a book written by Paolo Costa, a journalist from Varese who doesn't live from cycling but has cycling in his heart and has written biographies of Gino Bartali, Alfredo Binda, and Silvano Contini.

And today, Miro Panizza. We'll leave it to Marco Pastonesi - noblesse oblige - to provide the book review and his lyrical thoughts about Miro's story in the coming weeks. We'll simply introduce it with the words the author himself has written. Not before remembering that the book has a preface by Ivan Basso, who grew up with Panizza, and an afterword by Beppe Saronni, who pedaled (and won, and battled) with Miro.

The beauty of cycling doesn't point to perfection. In the beauty of cycling, there are tension, chasing limits, suffering, rivalry and friendship, good and evil. The beauty of cycling is that you race, win, and lose alone (sometimes together) and on the road you encounter complicity and traps. Just like in life. The beauty of cycling is that even losers fascinate, knock on the soul and find a place there forever.

Panizza Vladimiro, aka Miro, whom I knew as a rider and ex-rider, won (not excessively), but above all he knew how to put his heart into it, all of his heart. So much so that he often ended up in tears. He was tough, the best representative of a working class destined for Paradise (the pink jersey). Thus, after the biographies of Binda, Bartali, and Contini, I decided to dedicate myself to him, to Miro Panizza from Fagnano Olona, discovering with wonder the world he traversed, the people he met. I reported everything, including some arguments.

The beauty of cycling, for me a non-sports journalist (I've almost always worked in public communication), is that I can allow myself to cover races and cyclists for pleasure. Trying, if possible, to do some charity as well. This time, thinking of Miro, an animator of many solidarity initiatives, the invitation is to lend a hand to Casa di Miro (which hosts disabled people) and the Franciscan works in the Holy Land.

Miro Panizza - Champion among Champions
by Paolo Costa
Preface by Ivan Basso
Afterword by Beppe Saronni

232 pages - Price €20.00

www.macchionepietroeditore.it