Giovanni Pettinati, a good professional cyclist from 1951 to 1962, who for six days wore the pink jersey at the 1958 Giro d'Italia after having won a stage at the Giro in 1954. He triumphed in stage number 8, the Rome-Chianciano Terme stage of 195 kilometers, after a long solo breakaway, beating the strong Dutch rider Wout Wagtmans and the Brescia native Walter Serena. The pink jersey had already been worn for some days by Swiss rider Carlo Clerici, a domestique for Ugo Koblet.

It was a Giro rich, very rich, in controversies and conflicts among the expected leading protagonists, which greatly favored the success of the Swiss rider born in Zurich but of clear Italian origins, who that very year obtained Swiss citizenship. It is the edition that went down in history with a negative connotation, remembered for the riders' strike on the climb of Passo Bernina. Clerici was the winner of the Naples-L'Aquila stage when, in the sixth fraction, he accumulated an advantage of 34 minutes, prevailing over his breakaway companion, the Romagna native Nino Assirelli. A stage with the "fake breakaway," among the most famous in cycling, but very profitable for Clerici.

The premise is to represent insights and reasons that even then conditioned the relationships, not always idyllic, between organizers and riders, with even the big names being loudly booed at the conclusion by the Vigorelli crowd.

Let's return to Giovanni Pettinati, born in Cartosio, a mainly agricultural municipality in the province of Alessandria, bordering that of Asti, on March 6, 1926 and died here on April 25, 1994.

He was a professional road cyclist from 1951 to 1962, moving that year to the Piedmontese Benotto after his last season as an amateur, raced with Pedale Acquese. The biennium 1954-1955 follows where he wears the jersey of the Padua-based Torpado, a team of good standing. It is precisely with Torpado that, after a long breakaway, he wins a stage of the Giro d'Italia as already indicated.

In 1956 he moves to the prestigious Bianchi-Pirelli while the following year he races for the Turin-based Asborno-Frèjus and, in the biennium 1958-1959 for Atala-Pirelli. He wears the symbol of leadership, the pink jersey, for 6 days after finishing third in the sixth stage, the Mondovì-Chiavari won by the fast Pistoia native Silvano Ciampi, and he kept it until the 11th stage, the Rome-Scanno when he ceded it to his fellow regional rider from Pino Torinese, Agostino Coletto.

Pettinati's palmares also includes a stage won at the Tour of Catalonia, podium finishes at the always selective Giro dell'Appennino, at the Tour of Tuscany and at the Tour of Piedmont, and the victory with the Torpado team in the team time trial in the 6th stage of the 1955 Giro held at Lido di Albaro in Genoa.

In 1960 he is with Gazzola, a formation almost from home, and concludes his career with Torpado for which he races in 1961-1962. And then the end of his cycling career, a long career as a rider and reliable team helper in the most varied terrains and circumstances.

After concluding his cycling activity, he moves to Acqui Terme, a well-known thermal center in the province of Alessandria with various historical significance, with his wife and daughter, starting work as an insurance agent. A discreet presence both in the group of riders and later in the life of his new, quieter working role.

A heart attack was the cause of his death at age 68. His was an honored career punctuated by notable satisfactions in the world of cycling, especially if referred to that typology of riders definable as team men, going beyond the definition, sometimes quite reductive, of domestique.