In Praise Of...The Tifosi
Cyclist|June 2017

Italy’s cycling fans have a passion and pride that makes them stand out from the crowd.

- Trevor Ward
In Praise Of...The Tifosi

Stephen Roche’s experience of the tifosi was wildly different from my own. Around the same time as he was being punched, abused and spat at by fans as he raced to victory in the 1987 Giro, I was being blown kisses by a bikini-clad beauty riding pillion on a Vespa as it overtook me on a coast road near La Spezia.

Roche’s crime was to take the pink jersey from his Carrera teammate, national hero and defending champion Roberto Visentini. I’d been merely riding my pannier-laden touring bike at a sedate pace in the direction of Sicily. A few weeks later, as I toiled up a climb in the Apennines in the heat of the midday sun, a clapped-out Fiat pulled up alongside me and the grubby-vested farm labourer in the passenger seat handed me a brick-sized sandwich through the window. With cheery shouts of ‘Ciao, Coppi!’ the van lurched forwards, leaving me at the roadside to enjoy the best salami panini of my life.

The tifosi mirror everything that is scary and wonderful about Italy, from the chaos and clamour of its politics to the peace and serenity of its landscapes via the pomp and ceremony of its Catholicism. They reflect the traits of a nation that only became unified in 1861 and that has been ruled by a succession of monarchs, dictators, socialists, liberals and dysfunctional coalitions ever since.

この蚘事は Cyclist の June 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Cyclist の June 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

CYCLISTのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
Best of both worlds
Cyclist UK

Best of both worlds

The new Trek Madone blends the speed of the brand's quickest superbike with the lightness of its mountain-crushing Émonda to become the ultimate race bike

time-read
3 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Eddy Merckx PévÚle Carbon
Cyclist UK

Eddy Merckx PévÚle Carbon

A versatile design that shows the pros and cons of flexible build options

time-read
5 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Gravel ride: Girona Welcome to Cycling Central
Cyclist UK

Gravel ride: Girona Welcome to Cycling Central

Girona in Catalonia has become one of Europe's most popular cycling venues thanks to its weather, roads and culture. But it's still possible to leave the hordes behind by going off-tarmac

time-read
6 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Revolutions and evolutions
Cyclist UK

Revolutions and evolutions

The wheel may be a 5,000-year-old invention but designers are still finding ways to make it lighter, faster, safer and more stable.

time-read
6 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
KitzbÃŒheler Horn
Cyclist UK

KitzbÃŒheler Horn

The Austrian climb that dishes out pain

time-read
5 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Cycling history in six items
Cyclist UK

Cycling history in six items

In the first of a series on cyling's historical artefacts, Cyclist visits the KOERS Museum in Belgium to discover the pick of the exhibits.

time-read
10+ 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Different times
Cyclist UK

Different times

What was the cycling world like 75 years ago? Now in his midnineties, Scottish former champion Ramsay Mackay remembers those times like they were yesterday

time-read
7 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Big Ride: Alpe d'Huez - Climb and a half
Cyclist UK

Big Ride: Alpe d'Huez - Climb and a half

No climb is as emblematic of the Tour de France as Alpe d'Huez. Ahead of its first appearance at the women's Tour, Cyclist takes a ride around it and up it. And then up it again

time-read
7 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
This Olympic Road Race might actually be worth watching
Cyclist UK

This Olympic Road Race might actually be worth watching

A punchy finale around Paris's Butte de Montmartre will bring the excitement usually missing from the Olympic Road Race, says Felix Lowe

time-read
3 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155
Beryl Burton wins her first road Worlds
Cyclist UK

Beryl Burton wins her first road Worlds

Beryl Burton claimed the first of two World Championships Road Race titles in 1960, becoming the first rider to win pursuit and road world titles in the same year

time-read
4 分  |
September 2024 - Issue 155