The Italian National Road Race Championships are held annually. They are a cycling race which decides the Italian cycling champion in the road racing discipline, across several categories of rider. The event was first held in 1906 and was won by Giovanni Cuniolo. At the beginning there were often back-to-back wins from many riders. Costante Girardengo made the remarkable achievement of 9 wins between 1913 and 1925. Perhaps if it were not for the First World War, which blocked the running of the championship for four years, from 1915 until 1918, Constante would have gained additional victories. Despite this, he also holds the record for most consecutive wins, with 7. After his winning streak ended, another Italian cycling legend, Alfredo Binda, won 4 races in a row. Learco Guerra succeeded him with 5 consecutive wins. Since then the event has not been dominated to the same extent, although Fausto Coppi claimed 4 victories. Recent multiple victors have included Giovanni Visconti, Paolo Bettini, Salvatore Commesso, Massimo Podenzana and Gianni Bugno. The current champion is Franco Pellizotti. None of the road champions have also managed to win the time trial race.
Read more about Italian National Road Race Championships: Women
Famous quotes containing the words italian, national, road and/or race:
“Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O’er all the Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“Maybe it’s understandable what a history of failures America’s foreign policy has been. We are, after all, a country full of people who came to America to get away from foreigners. Any prolonged examination of the U.S. government reveals foreign policy to be America’s miniature schnauzer—a noisy but small and useless part of the national household.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Let the torpid Monk seek heaven comfortless and alone—GOD speed him! For my own part, I fear, I should never so find the way: let me be wise and religious—but let me be MAN: wherever thy Providence places me, or whatever be the road I take to get to thee—give me some companion in my journey, be it only to remark to, How our shadows lengthen as the sun goes down.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“But for the national welfare, it is urgent to realize that the minorities do think, and think about something other than the race problem.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)