Where the Legend of the Red Devil Began.
The first historic edition of the Giro del Piemonte took place on 13 May 1906. Starting and finishing in Alessandria, the race covered 320 kilometres and lasted more than 11 hours. Giovanni Gerbi claimed victory, before repeating the feat in the following two editions, and in doing so gave birth to the legend of the “Red Devil“. Dressed in an unprecedented scarlet jersey, the local rider hero (originally from the town of Asti) was leading the race when he took a wrong turn and found himself riding straight into a religious procession. The priest, spotting him, warned the faithful not to go near him: “That’s the Devil!” Gerbi’s record of three victories was later matched by Costante Girardengo, Aldo Bini, Gino Bartali and Fiorenzo Magni, who remain the most successful riders in the history of the race. For two editions, in 1933 and 1934, the Giro del Piemonte even adopted a stage-race format, being contested over four stages in the first year and six in the second.
hall of fame
The post-war cycling scene was dominated by one man: a Piedmont native and the sport’s very first Campionissimo, Costante Girardengo. A phenomenal champion, he won the Giro d’Italia twice (1919 and 1923), Milano-Sanremo six times (1918, 1921, 1923, 1925, 1926 and 1928), Il Lombardia three times and Milano-Torino on five occasions, to name just a few of his remarkable achievements. His palmarès ultimately included 131 road victories and 965 wins on the track, while his record of nine consecutive Italian national road titles still stands as one of the greatest feats in the sport’s history. Girardengo also won his home race, the Giro del Piemonte, three times – in 1919, 1920 and again in 1924 – on roads that never strayed far from his beloved Novi Ligure. It was during these years that his legend was forged, with La Gazzetta dello Sport editor Emilio Colombo beginning to call him il Campionissimo, a title that would later become synonymous with Fausto Coppi some 30 years later.
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