Understandably, the death of Serse Coppi after a crash during a race in Turin (Italy) had a huge impact onhis brother, the great Fausto Coppi’s life.
Serse Coppi, like his more famous brother, was a professional cyclist too. He was three and a half years younger than Fausto, and started his career only after World War II as the most trusted domestic of his sibling in the Bianchi team.
Nevertheless, he had his own success too, when he won Paris-Roubaix in 1949. Although it was a bit controversal edition. Originally André Mahé crossed the finish line first, Serse Coppi only won the sprint among the next group of cyclists. Soon it turned out, that Mahé was navigated ba a policman to enter the velodorme at the wrong gate. Technically he violated the rules, but he was not aware of it.
Fausto, who was also competing the race but without a result worth mentioning, protested against the result. He insisted that Mahé should be disqualified amd Serse names as the winner of the race.
After months of legal battles, a final decision was made. Both André Mahé and Serse Coppi were declared as winners.
The tragic death of Serse Coppi
On the 29th of June in 1951, a week before Tour de France, both Serse and Fausto competed Giro del Piemonte. With only one km to go, three rider crashed inside Turin. His wheelHis wheel was caught in the tracks of the tramway. After he went down, he couldn’t finish the race, but was able to ride on his bike to the hotel.
Later he had to be taken to the hospital, where he died before he could have been operated.
Obviously, the death of his brother had a huge impact on the performance of Fausto Coppi at the Tour de France in 1951. One of the reasons of his (relatively) poor performance (10th place in the GC), was that he was burried deep in his grieving. On the other hand, his teribble day in the saddle in the 14th stage happened rather due a food poisoning.(More about Fausto Coppi’s appearances at Tour de France)