Five days until the Giro d'Italia 2025. While waiting for Roglic and Ayuso, Bernal and Carapaz, Ciccone and Tiberi, Van Aert and Pidcock, we live the countdown through the stories of ancient protagonists. Today, -2 to the starting line, it's Ennio Vanotti's turn.
Zandegù is born. Dino was born on May 31, 1940, in Rubano, just a few kilometers from Padua, on a Giro d'Italia day, right in those parts the thirteenth stage was being raced, the Ferrara-Treviso, and perhaps he was infected by the route, short and flat, to become a fast passer, the stage was won by Olimpio Bizzi and the pink jersey maintained by Fausto Coppi. Zandegù owes much to the Giro: six stages won plus a team time trial, a points cyclamen jersey and even a pink jersey, albeit not recognized by official statistics.
Zandegù, the first time?
"In 1964, excited like at a debutantes' ball, it's true that I could boast a world champion title, that of the hundred kilometers quartet in 1962 as an amateur, but it's even more true - some things are more or less true - that I knew little or nothing about a race like the Giro, more nothing than little. I was racing for Cynar. At Roccaraso-Caserta, I was already cooked in Roccaraso, I arrived in Caserta exhausted and desperate, a hair's breadth from the time limit, the team had given me up for lost and revoked my hotel room, I slept in the ironing room as I was, with bananas in my back pockets that during the night squashed all over me".
The first victory?
"Two years later, at the 1966 Giro d'Italia, the stage from Campobasso to Giulianova. I was racing for Bianchi, a team without captains, and on a Bianchi, lighter than Coppi's, we were all lieutenants, I was considered the sprinter, so if the group was still compact a few kilometers from the finish, my teammates would try to help me. The sports director was Pinella De Grandi, nicknamed Golden Wrench, he had been Coppi's mechanic and this was worth an ad honorem degree from the Milan Polytechnic. Compact group, world championship-like sprint, too bad it wasn't, first me, second Basso, third Taccone, fourth Motta, fifth Bitossi... At the finish line, Luciana Turina's embrace, the singer, I was doing the Giro, she was doing the Cantagiro, the impact was strong, I miraculously managed to break free before she suffocated me and receive the bouquet".
Two days later he scored a double.
"Absolutely true. We were racing Cesenatico-Reggio Emilia, this time a dozen riders broke away, we managed to maintain a decisive advantage until the finish, I won almost by detachment, another world championship-like finish order, too bad it wasn't, first me, second Dancelli, third Da Dalt, a quick and fast Venetian from Alto Friuli who often placed among the top ten, fourth Basso... That Giro d'Italia I had made a vow not to drink even a glass of wine, I was going strong even uphill, when I was dropped I wouldn't give up but would hold on spitting my soul out of my lungs, I tried to get back at the cost of being in hot water, I fought to get into the top ten, I didn't make it, but I finished eleventh. It was a special vintage, like some wines: I had met Lalla, I wanted to prove to her that I wasn't a failure and that, despite appearances and rumors, she could trust me".
What was that Bianchi between Coppi and Gimondi's times?
"The two Massignan brothers, Imerio, the man of Gavia, and Enrico, younger in age and talent. Two more Vicentines, Albano Negro, lanky, unfortunately passed away while still young, and Mario Maino, world champion in that famous hundred kilometers quartet. Two Tuscans, Bruno Mealli, who had also been Italian champion, and Roberto Poggiali, who even now, if you ask him about a race, can recite protagonists, plot and credits as if it were a movie. Carmine Preziosi, Italian from Sant'Angelo all'Esca near Avellino but Belgian by adoption, with the misfortune that Italians considered him Belgian and Belgians considered him Italian and so instead of having two homelands he had none. Another Campanian, Francesco Miele, and a Lombard, Toni Bailetti, my roommate, my companion in the Six Days and my training partner".
Wasn't Venturelli there too?
"In the team yes, at the Giro no. Meo was crazy. When he felt like it, he was capable of beating climbers uphill, sprinters in the sprint and time trialists in the time trial. Too bad he almost never felt like it".
Zandegù, will you be at the Giro?
"I'll do a little homecoming, I have two or three stages in my sights, I've been invited to Vicenza for the presentation of the book about Marino Basso, but I would like to be invited for a presentation of the one about me. I take the opportunity to mention the title and invite you to buy it, I promise you won't regret it, it's called 'If Everyone Falls, I Win', an event that never happened to me but - no offense to my colleagues - I often hoped for".
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