Professional Career
Bartali won a stage of that same year's Giro d'Italia and was King of the Mountains, the first of seven times he won the title in the Giro. He was 20. In 1936, before he turned 22, he won the Giro and the Giro di Lombardia, although his season was marred when his brother, Giulio, died in a racing accident on 14 June. Bartali came close to giving up cycling.
He was persuaded to return and in 1937 won the Giro victory again. His reputation outside Italy was that he was yet another Italian who couldn't ride well beyond his country. There was some truth in the claim. The writer Tim Hilton said: "Bartali was essentially an Italian cyclist, a champion who rode within sight of his own people, and was uneasy when the Tour de France travelled north of Paris. He never disputed the northern classics." Stung by the claim, he rode the Tour de France in 1937. He got off to a bad start, losing more than eight minutes by the third stage and more than ten by the Ballon d'Alsace, a mountain in the Vosges. There he came back to life and led by 1m 14s over the rest and by enough over the leaders that he took the leader's jersey that night in Grenoble. But that was the end of his race. He and two helpers, Jules Rossi and Francesco Camusso, were riding a wooden bridge over the river Colau when Rossi skidded. Bartali rode into a parapet and fell into the river.
Roger Lapébie wrote: "In the valley that leads to Briançon, I saw the accident to the maillot jaune, Bartali. The narrow and bumpy road ran along the foot of a rock. Suddenly Rossi, who was leading, took a bend badly, braked and his back wheel hit the parapet of a bridge. Bartali, who was beside Rossi, couldn't get clear and I saw him fall over the bridge and into the little river three metres below." Camusso pulled him out. Bartali was cut to his arm and knee and had trouble breathing because of a blow to the chest. He rode on to the end of the day, often pushed by his helpers. He finished 10 minutes behind the rest but kept his lead.
He got through the Alps, by then having lost his jersey, and retired in Marseille. Before he dropped out, he warned the organiser, Henri Desgrange, who said: "You are the first rider to come to see me before dropping out. You're a good man, Gino. We'll see each other again next year and you'll win."
He did return in 1938 and overcame the teamwork of the Belgians, the cold and rain and a puncture on the Col de l'Iseran. He won the hardest stage, from Digne to Briançon by more than five minutes. The radio commentator Georges Briquet, after he had seen the crowds of Italians greeting Bartali with green-white-red flags said: "These people had found a superman. Outside Bartali's hotel at Aix-les-Bains, an Italian general was shouting 'Don't touch him - he's a god.'" A public subscription started in his name in Italy and Benito Mussolini was among the contributors.
The approaching war led Italy not to send a team in 1939.
Bartali won the Giro d'Italia twice before the war - 1936 and 1937 - and once after it (1946). He won classics such as Milan – San Remo, the Giro di Lombardia and the Züri-Metzgete. His most famous victory was the 1948 Tour de France.
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