Lombardia and the HUGE Start List!!!
The 5th edition of Giro di Lombardia was held on November 7, 1909. The race started in Milan and finished in the Township of Sesto San Giovanni (a suburb of Milan). The race departure Milan at 7:14 am with 355 riders (an absolute record!)
Race Status:
The race started at a fast pace but in Varese (52 km into the race / 193 km), the leading group still had a hundred riders.
The climb of the Binago (62 km / 193 km), Carlo Galetti’s (Atala) aggressively split the peloton. Thirty riders came together over the summit. The group included Francois Faber (Lux-Peugeot), who returned to the leaders after the difficult ascent.
In Bergamo (152 km / 193 km), fifty were still in the lead of the race but Faber continued to struggle. There are no more demanding climbs, and Eberardo Pavesi (Atala) with Carlo Galetti (Rudge Whitworth) were in the first positions to keep the pace high and keep Faber from returning. Subsequently the defending champion relented to the pace and abandoned the race.
The closing kilometers featured a lead group of twenty-six riders. The leaders flew over the last five km in two strung out lines. Dangerously, an unruly crowd invaded the road. Numerous cars enter the roadway so that they see the race directly.
The group approached the finish line quickly and the confusion increased. A bitter fight for the sprint position with pushing, bumping, and skidding was underway as the pack went past the 2 km to go banner. In the sprint-action Giuseppe Contesini (Isolati) fell when Cesare Brambilla (Isolati) was hit by an unruly pirate car. Contesini recovered and continued, an injured Brambilla abandoned.
The French team, Omer Beaugendre (Alcyon), Louis Trousselier (Alcyon), and Octave Lapize (Biguet), headed up the group that launched the long sprint. Giovanni Cuniolo (Rudge Whitworth), an astute sprinter, managed to hold the wheels and jumped into the lead. To the surprise of the French lead-out team Cuniolo could not be caught. The Italian cruised to the Giro di Lombardia victory.
SPECIAL NOTE: The race results had 293 riders finishing the Giro di Lombardia in Milan (Sesto San Giovanni).
GdL November 7, 1909 |
193 Km, Milan-Milan (Sesto San Giovanni) |
1.
Giovanni CUNIOLO (Ita) 6h13'21" |
2.
Omer Beaugendre (Fra) |
3.
Louis Trousselier (Fra) |
Starters: 355 !!! / Finishers: 293 Average Speed: 31.016 km/h |
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Lomb 1908
Lomb 1910
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