Wake-up call at dawn, gathering at seven ten at the Sanctuary of Bonaria, departure at eight. The first stage of the 1965 Tour of Sardinia, Tuesday March 2nd, the Cagliari-La Caletta stage of 280.8 km.

On the list of starters, fifty-four in total, five or six riders from eight teams (Salvarani with Adorni, Pambianco and Taccone, Ford-Gitane with Anquetil and Stablinski, Solo-Superia with Van Looy and Sels, Maino with Mugnaini and Aldo Moser, Bianchi-Mobylette with Baffi and Zandegù, Legnano with Sambi and Schiavon, Cynar with Hoevenaers and Maurer, Ignis with Cribiori, Poggiali and Vigna), there was also a team of "unattached" riders, unemployed professionals, isolated riders and outcasts organized by Enrico Uccellini with the light blue and white jersey of Libertas Lazio. Bib number 43: Romeo Venturelli, known as Meo, from Modena, from Sassostorno di Lama Mocogno. Bib number 44: Roberto Nencioli, from Tuscany in the Mugello region, Borgo San Lorenzo, just a stone's throw from the Nencini home. Bib number 45: Livio Trapè, the Heron of Montefiascone, in the Viterbo area along the Cassia, also homeland of Sante Ranucci. Bib number 46: Danilo Ferrari, from Venice, from Chioggia. Bib number 47: Gilberto Vendemiati, from Ferrara. Bib number 48: Giovanni Garau, from Cagliari, from Santa Giusta.

Uccellini was a sports director who had another job: he collected advertising for the entertainment pages (cinema, theater, concerts...) of Roman newspapers (Messaggero, Tempo, Paese Sera...). His passion for cycling had gripped him since his youth: in the 1930s, wearing the Concordia of Rome jersey, he was part of a quartet – with Elio Rimedio, later coach of the Italian amateur team, Pirandello and Colantoni – almost unbeatable in team time trials. And cycling had remained at the center of his heart and also his mind: he dreamed big, and in his own small way he worked tirelessly, discovering riders and dedicating himself to them. They called him "Commendator Uccellini".

"For me – recounts Eraldo Bocci – he was like a father. He followed me, accompanied me, comforted me, he even came to my wedding. Few riders, but good ones. He applied his training and preparation theories, schedules for rides and rules for nutrition, I remember a drink against cramps, half baking soda and half mineral salts, quite innovative. I remember he followed us with his car, a Citroën or perhaps a Peugeot. He first worked with Faema Preneste, which had its headquarters in Rome in a bar on via Fanfulla da Lodi 68 on the Prenestina, where Vittorio Adorni had also raced, then with Libertas Lazio, linked to the Christian Democracy party, and thus in some way to Giulio Andreotti. His objective was to help us become professional cyclists".

"Uccellini was called commendatore – explains Gigi Sgarbozza – not because he was one, but because he seemed like one. He knew how to speak, move, behave, carry himself. A type straight out of Federico Fellini". Rascals and... Uccellini. Again Sgarbozza: "Commendator Uccellini was ahead of his time, he had unusual methods, it was said that he studied them, copied them, adapted them. He made his riders train at maximum intensity, all out, flat out, heads down. Along the training routes he would set flying goals or mountain prizes with cash rewards to stimulate competition, rivalry, speed. Sometimes the training sessions were so hard and intense that his riders would arrive at the race already exhausted".

"I came from Arlena di Castro, from the province of Viterbo, I had a used bike three sizes too big – Bocci recalls –. But in a race in Pomezia I beat everyone in the sprint. Uccellini approached me and signed me up. And he immediately got me a bike my size".

(end of first installment – to be continued)