Panizza whose father Angelo would have wanted to name Vladimiro Ilic Ulianov in homage to Lenin, but Don Antonio, the parish priest, opposed: "He couldn't baptize a little Bolshevik". And father Angelo settled for just Valdimiro, later simply Miro.

Panizza who was a delivery boy, today one would say "driver": "Round trips from home to shop every day, plus delivery routes. The boy pedaled, with his usual enthusiasm. And if he crossed a cyclist on the road, he would overtake them with a burst of energy".

Panizza who received from his older brother Ermes a olive green Legnano bicycle that cost 40,000 lire. "Then the first team gave me a bike too big. When I managed to change it, late in the season, my victories increased".

Panizza who did his military service in the Bersaglieri Athletes Company in Milan, training from 9 to 3, "the problem was in the evening, because the grandparents forced us to make their bed and I didn't want to. I'm stubborn and proud, you know. I didn't want to submit. So every time I found the bunk unmade and they wouldn't let me sleep".

Panizza who made his professional debut at 21, it was 1967, the team - Vittadello, captains Michele Dancelli and Aldo Moser, technical director Gino Bartali - provided him with "a mini-sized bicycle, almost a toy, and an oversized black and white jersey, in which he could fit one and a half times".

Panizza who, Giro d'Italia 1967, on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo stage, attacked 8 km from the finish, alone, in a breakaway, until 400 meters from the target he was caught and sucked in by riders pushed by force of arms, and then burst into tears. "They tricked me! I climbed with my own legs".

Panizza who shortly after that Giro saw Mariarosa for the first time, it was she who took the initiative, "Good evening, are you the famous Panizza?", who a few days later saw her for the second time, she asked him for an autograph, "Finally I can see you up close", that the third time he finally gathered the courage and wrote her a note to invite her to Varese station, and the fourth time, walking in the Estensi Gardens, he declared himself.

Panizza who was surprised by the Carabinieri while, climbing a tree, he was stealing fruit, and at the command "Get down from there, rascal. Why are you doing this?", he simply replied "Because we are hungry", and got away with an ear pull.

Panizza who on July 25, 1967, in the Gran Premio Montelupo, went on a breakaway with Gianni Motta, 70 kilometers without pulling a meter, but waiting for Motta when he punctured, then in the sprint he didn't hesitate to jump and win his first professional race.

Panizza who, Giro d'Italia 1973, proudly reported that "Eddy told me I was bothering him", yet Eddy Merckx was in the pink jersey from the first to the last day, second Felice Gimondi at 7'42", sixth Panizza at 19'45".

Panizza who, Giro d'Italia 1980, Foggia-Roccaraso stage, went on a breakaway with Bernard Hinault, Hinault was pulling, this time Panizza avoided jumping and winning, "these are things you don't do - he would explain - when you're two, one takes the jersey and the other the stage", and he, at 35, finally took the pink jersey, then cried.

Panizza who, in that 1980 Giro pink jersey but domestique for Beppe Saronni, "in the evening at the hotel the usual scene repeated itself, Miro would go to Saronni's room and inform him 'Giusep, I saw bad...', but the words were not enough to beat the Breton".

"Miro Panizza - Champion among Champions" (Macchione, 232 pages, 20 euros), a beautiful book by Paolo Costa about a little great rider