One of the greats of Italian cycle racing and pioneer of external sponsorship Fiorenzo Magni, who has died of an aneurysm aged 91, was a pioneer of modern professional cycling and one of the sport’s last links with the golden era of the post-second world war years. Known as the “Lion of Flanders” or “Colossus of Monza”, he was a winner of the Giro d’Italia three times, and the “third man” in Italian bike racing in the late 1940s and early 50s alongside the two leading lights of that epoch, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali . Magni never quite attained the national treasure status of either, partly because lingering controversy over his wartime past meant he was an ambiguous symbol of Italy’s rebirth

Read the Rest