Time is a tyrant, but so is space. In fact, the two are accomplices: time saturates space. And with Covid or summer, comes the moment of spring cleaning. You start by trying to clear the attic, you settle for clearing a box. And among bags, folders and files, indispensable clippings emerge. Like this article of mine about Vittorio Magni: "La Gazzetta dello Sport" of February 11, 1999.

With a surname like that. "I couldn't do anything but become a cyclist – admits Vittorio Magni -. Fiorenzo was born in Vajano di Prato, nothing to do with me and my brother Secondo, from Massarella, near Florence. Because Secondo was second to no one. In his racing career he won 140 races. In the first race he entered, he dropped everyone. In the second he won the Tuscan championship. He was six years older than me: tall, handsome and 140 victories in his career, while I was small and at best I could have given him a hand".

With a past like that. "I started racing in 1938, I was 20 years old, on a bicycle inherited from my brother – recalls Vittorio Magni, who has lived in Milan for 50 years -. In the first race I came second out of five, in a sprint. On April 1st, 1939 I received my military draft notice, ahead of schedule because of the war: first training in Sicily, then Russia. A one-way trip, and if I came back, I owe it only to an officer who was a fan of my brother".

With a memory like that. "Bartali, Coppi and even my brother Secondo were in a different category – swears Vittorio Magni, who is lively because he has a passion for dancing -. They were champions. I was just a domestique: I could hold my own on climbs, I knew how to grit my teeth, I knew how to stop at fountains, fill the water bottles and carry water. The only time I was right there with Coppi was during the Viareggio stage at the 1948 Giro d'Italia. At Pistoia a downpour broke loose, it was raining so hard and so much that you couldn't even see the road, I stayed only at his wheel, then they caught up with us and Casola won. But feeling like the only one behind Coppi was like a victory".

With a heart like that. "In the minor categories I won about forty races, of which 12 in my last year as an amateur, in 1946 – warns Vittorio Magni, who still has a passion for cycling -. Then I was a professional from 1947 to 1951, with Welter and Bottecchia. As a professional I never won, but at the end of the 1948 Tour de France, the one won by Gino Bartali, I had my moment of glory. The Parc des Princes was packed with people, just being there was an emotion. Imagine when the announcer called me and had me do a lap of honor as the youngest rider of the Tour. But it wasn't even true. They had gotten my birth date wrong: 1928 instead of 1918. They gave me the prize because I was only 20 years old, when I was actually 30. But I didn't say anything. It was too beautiful".