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

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Black jersey for a day. June 8, 1971, eighteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia, the Lienz-Falcade route of 195 km with four Dolomite passes: Tre Croci, Falzarego, Pordoi and Valles. Seventy-eighth and last at 22'49" from the leader, Felice Gimondi. Black jersey but also black luck. Because if everything had gone as it should have, he would have won, Selvino Poloni, then almost 27 years old, now almost 85, from Zoppè di San Vendemiano in the Veneto region.

Poloni, what happened?

"Since I wasn't fast, I was forced to start from far back. So, ready, go, I attacked alone. Maybe they thought I was crazy. Maybe even my teammates at Cosatto thought so, because Diego Ronchini, on the first team car, stayed with my companions, and sent Gino Bartali behind me instead, hired as the image man for the company specializing in baby carriages and strollers. Bartali was driving a convertible, encouraging me and keeping me informed, giving me drinks and food, in short, he was acting as my... domestique. I passed first over Tre Croci and first over Falzarego and I would have passed first over Pordoi and Valles too if Claudio Michelotto, the pink jersey, hadn't hit a crisis. So, behind, the battle erupted. I was caught halfway up Pordoi. Then four riders went away. I stayed in the group, almost fifty of us, there were also big names like Aldo Moser, who was second in the classification, Motta, Bitossi and Zilioli, right up to the finish line. The victory would have changed my life".

Your life?

"My father was a farmer, my mother ran the house and helped my father, two sons, me and Pietro, both of us in love with cycling, I would turn out to be more of a climber and time trialist, he more of a sprinter. I went to fifth grade, then evening school. Meanwhile I worked in a bicycle factory, the Stella Veneta. And on a Stella Veneta I did my first race as a rookie. My first victory as an amateur. The best as an amateur. In 1969, as an Italian national team member, in the blue jersey, I won the Tour of Bulgaria, about fifteen stages, I won the time trial stage. Without the Giro d'Italia for amateurs, the Tour of Bulgaria was, along with the Tour de l'Avenir, the most important international stage race. Our masseur was Pinella De Grandi, the same one who worked with Fausto Coppi. He would massage me and give me advice. And he would recommend always being careful. Careful of which rivals?, I asked him. Of your teammates, he warned me, but Angelo Argentero, Stefano Benvenuti, Donato Giuliani and Vincenzo Suriani were loyal. On the last day, the finish at the Sofia stadium, there must have been thirty thousand people. They awarded me with flowers, not a bouquet, but a crown, one of those big ones, like at funerals".

This year the Giro d'Italia started from Bulgaria...

"Watched it on TV, a different world, not even comparable. The roads were asphalt, dirt or paved. We slept in barracks dormitories, in rooms provided by host families, sometimes even in state hotels. For race support there were no motorcycles or cars, but military trucks. However, to award us there were beauty queens. To earn money we didn't earn even a lira. But at least expenses were covered. Then I also won the Alpe Adria, a week-long stage race between Yugoslavia, Italy and Austria. And also the Tour of Hungary".

As a professional?

"I signed a two-year contract with Cosatto. The first year, 1971, after the Giro d'Italia, then 65th at 2:10'04" behind the Swede Gosta Pettersson, I was at a circuit race in Trento when Gimondi asked me if I wanted to move from him to Salvarani. I asked for permission and those at Cosatto explained to me that they would grant a release to everyone, but not to me, because in 1972 the team would be built with me, on me, for me. Instead the team closed and I found myself without a job. What a rip-off. I found a contract with Gbc, but meanwhile I had gotten married and started working again and founded a brush manufacturing company. Out of gratitude to cycling, I named it Due Ruote".

The beauty of cycling?

"I was neither a Bartali fan nor a Coppi fan, I admired whoever went strong. Now I admire Pogacar. I don't know what he has, but he's out of the ordinary, a champion, a phenomenon, a spectacle. And at 40, 50, 60 km from the finish, he waves and takes off. Like me, that day in the Dolomites".