Luigi Malabrocca

Faces from the peloton: Luigi Malabrocca (1920-2006)

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Italian cyclist Luigi Malabrocca arriving in the finish at a cycling race.

Although nowadays Luigi Malabrocca is remembered by the unheroic fight for the maglia nera, the last place of the Giro d’Italia, he also managed to earn some real victories during his professional career between 1945 and 1958. Malabrocca, usually one of the domestiques for Fausto Coppi during road cycling races, was a two-time Italian cyclocross … Read more

The story of the Maglia Nera (Giro d’Italia 1946-1951)

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Italian cyclist Luigi Malabrocca wearing the so-called maglia nera jersey awarded to the last rider of the general classification, at the Giro d'Italia 1947.

Between 1946 and 1951 a special jersey was awarded to the last cyclist in the general classification of the Giro d ‘Italia, called Maglia Nera. The idea came from a story in the 1920s. A football player, called Giuseppe Ticozzelli was such a cycling enthusiast, that he attended the race as an individual rider in … Read more