The black jerseys: the last-place riders in the general classification, the first in the sentimental one. Because the black jerseys belong to domestiques, in perpetual struggle with the time limit and minimal energy reserves. The most human and the most humble. The most like us. This is the first installment.

He earned it at the 1957 Giro d'Italia: he was 24 years old. Now that he's 93, he is the oldest – by now ancient – living black jersey wearer. Because the black jersey is first worn, then it becomes part of you. Angiolino Piscaglia, from Romagna's Novafeltria, from San Marino's Borgo Maggiore, eternally in love with the bicycle.

Piscaglia, that distant love affair?

"Father was a miner, mother a housewife, then eight children. Father was a Carnera, that's what they called him, big and strong, also a hard worker. He looked like a boxer, would have wanted to be a cyclist, but sport was a superfluous activity, for the rich, and he couldn't afford it. I inherited his passion. In 1956 I came close to the Melbourne Olympics, in 1957 I turned professional with San Pellegrino, the sports director was Gino Bartali. And I would remain a professional until the end of 1961 with Ghigi".

Are you also "everything wrong, everything to redo"?

"We had the same resting heart rate, Bartali and I: 32 beats. But we didn't have the same heart rate under effort. It's clear, he had something more than me, indeed, much more than something. But Bartali thought that, with the same resting heart rate sitting in an armchair at home, we should also have the same performance on the bike while racing. And since I didn't, he called me lazy".

Fausto Coppi?

"He was a gentleman. A gentleman on foot and on the bike. At a Tour of Tuscany, on a climb, I was losing contact with the group. Climbing wasn't my strength. Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, magically, I felt lighter, stronger, as if pushed by a favorable wind, an ally, a conspirator. I turned around. It was him pushing me. Coppi pushing Piscaglia. An infinite gift".

That 1957 Giro?

"With the San Pellegrino jersey, a team that selected the best amateurs and introduced them to professionalism. The first stage and the first pink jersey to Rik Van Steenbergen, a Belgian giant and world champion. Then a time trial of almost 60 km, where I consolidated my last place, the excursion into Switzerland, the Bondone after the Apocalypse of the year before, in that stage I broke away and stayed away until the beginning of the last climb... So, after 20 stages and two half-stages, and after almost 4,000 km, of the 120 who started I was the 79th to finish, more than three and a half hours behind Gastone Nencini".

The black jersey?

"It didn't exist – it had existed before and would exist after – and I wasn't looking for it, it didn't bother me, I wasn't particularly interested. Only at the end did I discover there was a prize for the last-place finisher: two weeks of vacation for me and my family, given by a hotel owner from Forte dei Marmi. I went with two cousins. Eating and sleeping, all expenses paid: pure happiness".

And the less happy moments?

"Cycling is exhausting. But I tried to exert myself as little as possible. And when the effort was too much, I would drop back and continue at my own pace, slower, more reasonable. Once, on the Block Haus, in Abruzzo, I got off the bike and pushed it by hand. But that time many others put their feet on the ground too".

What kind of cycling was it?

"A different cycling. Steel bicycles were heavy, wool jerseys were heavy, training was kilometers and distances, not intervals and repeats, the bicycle meant fatigue and cold but also freedom. Today's cycling, so different, doesn't excite me much, perhaps because the riders go so fast it seems they don't even exert themselves that much".

Do you still ride a bicycle?

"From spring to autumn, but not in winter. I still have the Ganna from the 1958 Giro, beautiful, like new, people court me relentlessly to buy it. But I ride a mountain bike, lighter and less precious. I leave home, in Rimini I reach my brother, we pedal a bit together, then I head back, 40-50 km in total. Considering my age, that's quite a satisfaction".