E
VEN THE LOOMING THREAT OF WAR DURING THE SUMMER OF 1939 COULD NOT PREVENT THE GRAND TOUR OF ITALY, ONE OF INTERNATIONAL CYCLE RACING’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS AND GRUELLING EVENTS, FROM TAKING PLACE. BY WINNING THE LAST BUT ONE STAGE BRITISH RIDER BEN RADLEY PULLED INTO THE OVERALL LEAD, JUST AHEAD OF HIS GERMAN AND ITALIAN RIVALS. GERMAN CHAMPION GERHARD KOHL DID NOT LIKE BEING PIPPED AT THE POST ONE LITTLE BIT.
ENGLANDER SCHWEIN.
DONE IT.
STORY ALAN HEBDEN ART MORAHIN COVER IAN KENNEDY
4
CONSCIOUS OF THE WATCHING CAMERAS, KOHL OFFERED BEN A CORDIAL HANDSHAKE OF CONGRATULATION BUT HIS QUIETLY-SPOKEN WORDS WERE FAR FROM WARM. IF I HAD A BICYCLE LIKE YOURS I WOULD NEVER LOSE.
I’D OFFER TO BUY YOU ONE, EXCEPT I COULDN’T AFFORD IT!
AS KOHL WALKED AWAY BEN WAS JOINED BY HIS TEAM MATE, HUGO CARLYLE, WHO HAD CROSSED THE FINISH LINE HALF A MINUTE LATER. HE HAD ARRIVED IN TIME TO HEAR THE EXCHANGE. AS USUAL, HE MADE A PITHY REMARK. WAS THAT THE SOUND OF TEUTONIC SOUR GRAPES I HEARD WAFTING ON THE BREEZE?
LET’S JUST SAY THAT HE DOESN’T LIKE LOSING, BUT THEN NOR DO I. IT’S ONLY THANKS TO YOU THAT I’M WHERE I AM TODAY.
5
IN TRUTH THE PAIR WERE UNLIKELY FRIENDS WHO’D MET A FEW YEARS EARLIER AT CAMBRIDGE. BEN, FROM A MIDDLE CLASS BACKGROUND, HAD WON A SCHOLARSHIP. HUGO, BY CONTRAST, CAME FROM ONE OF ENGLAND’S WEALTHIEST FAMILIES. IT WAS A SHARED PASSION FOR CYCLE RACING THAT BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER, ALONG WITH HUGO’S REALISATION THAT, GOOD AS HE WAS, BEN WAS BETTER.
IT’S INCREDIBLE. EVEN ON THAT CHEAP OLD RACER HE STILL BEATS ME HANDS DOWN. I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE WITH SUCH FINISHING STRENGTH.
HUGO KNEW THAT BEN WAS A POTENTIAL CHAMPION. ALL HE LACKED WAS THE WHEREWITHAL TO AFFORD THE TOP QUALITY RACERS HE WOULD NEED. OVERRIDING BEN’S OBJECTIONS, HUGO SET ABOUT RECTIFYING MATTERS. HECK, EVEN THE CHEAPEST RACER HERE COSTS A FORTUNE. I CAN’T ACCEPT YOUR OFFER, HUGO.
NONSENSE, OLD SON. WHEN YOU’VE GOT A TRUST FUND AS GIGANTIC AS MINE IT’S A PLEASURE TO SPEND SOME OF IT IN A GOOD CAUSE. DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE GUINEAS. THE OLD CHEQUE BOOK’LL COVER IT.
6
HUGO’S SUPPORT WASN’T JUST FINANCIAL. DURING RACES HE ACTED AS BEN’S PACESETTER UNTIL THE TIME CAME FOR THE ULTIMATELY STRONGER RIDER TO TAKE THE LEAD. TIME TO BREAK, BEN! GO FOR IT!
MUCH OBLIGED, HUGO.
EVEN AS BEN BECAME AN INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNISED RACER HUGO KEPT LOOKING FOR THE BEST RACING BIKES MONEY COULD BUY. EARLY 1939 SAW THEM ON BOARD AN INTERNATIONAL EXPRESS TO ITALY EN ROUTE TO THE CYCLE WORKSHOP OF GIOVANNI SAMPRINI, A NAME FAMILIAR TO ALL RACING CYCLISTS. HE WAS FIVE TIMES WORLD CHAMPION, WASN’T HE, BEFORE AN ACCIDENT ENDED HIS CAREER?
IT WAS CERTAINLY A TERRIBLE CRASH AND IT COST HIM HIS LEFT LEG. NOW HE’S STARTED BUILDING CUSTOM-MADE RACERS AT HIS WORKSHOP NEAR FLORENCE AND RUMOUR HAS IT THEY’RE THE FINEST IN THE WORLD.
7
THE WORKSHOP WAS OUTSIDE A VILLAGE IN THE TUSCAN HILLS AN HOUR’S DRIVE FROM FLORENCE. HUGO HIRED A CAR AND DRIVER TO TAKE THEM THERE, WHERE THEY WERE MET BY THE ONE-LEGGED FORMER CHAMPION. WELCOME TO MY HUMBLE WORKSHOP, SIGNORS. YOU MUST BE BEN RADLEY, THE NEW ENGLISH CHAMPION. I SHOULD BE HONOURED TO BUILD YOU A RACING BIKE THAT HELPS YOU CONQUER THE WORLD.
THANK YOU, SIGNOR SAMPRINI. I’M FLATTERED.
THERE WAS A REMARKABLE DUMMY “BICYCLE” IN THE WORKSHOP WHICH COULD BE ADJUSTED TO EXACTLY FIT THE POTENTIAL RIDER’S MEASUREMENTS. NOTHING WAS TOO SMALL TO BE OVERLOOKED.
HUGO WAS ALSO MEASURED UP FOR A BIKE OF HIS OWN, THOUGH WHEN HE HEARD WHAT THE PRICE OF EACH ONE WAS GOING TO BE, BEN WAS LEFT STAGGERED. YOU COULD BUY A NEW CAR FOR THAT, AN EXPENSIVE ONE!
WE’RE NOT HERE TO BUY CARS, OLD SON. WE’LL TAKE TWO EACH, SIGNOR SAMPRINI!
INCREDIBLE. HE EVEN SPACES THE BRAKE HANDLES TO MATCH THE LENGTH OF MY FINGERS.
EVERY LITTLE BIT ADDS UP. THAT’S WHY THE FINISHED BIKE WILL SUIT YOU TO PERFECTION.
EXCELLENT! THEY WILL BE READY AT THE END OF THE MONTH.
8
WHEN THEY RETURNED A FORTNIGHT LATER THE BIKES WERE READY AND WAITING. SAMPRINI INSISTED THEY TOOK THEM ON A TEST RUN, AND ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BEN KNEW HE WAS RIDING SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL.
IT FEELS LIKE AN EXTENSION OF MY OWN BODY. I’VE NEVER RIDDEN ANYTHING LIKE IT. IT’S ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!
GLAD TO HEAR IT, NOW YOU WON’T HAVE ANY EXCUSES FOR NOT WINNING RACES!
NOW, SEVERAL MONTHS LATER, BEN AND HUGO WERE JOINED BY THE THIRD PLACE RIDER, ITALY’S GIACOMO CARAVAGLIA, OR “JACKO” AS HE WAS USUALLY KNOWN. HE ALSO HAPPENED TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO SOMETHING WHICH WAS PUZZLING BEN. I THOUGHT THE GERMAN CYCLING FEDERATION WAS GOVERNMENT-FUNDED. HOW COME THEY HAVEN’T STUMPED UP THE MONEY TO GIVE THEIR TOP RIDER A SAMPRINI?
BECAUSE SAMPRINI REFUSES TO BUILD ONE FOR HIM! IT WAS NEVER PROVED, BUT HE ALWAYS CLAIMED THAT KOHL DELIBERATELY BARGED HIM OFF THE ROAD THAT DAY TO PREVENT HIM WINNING.
FROM THE WAY KOHL’S CONFERRING WITH HIS TEAM MATE IT ALMOST LOOKS AS IF THEY’RE PLOTTING TO PUT US OUT OF THIS RACE!
HUGO HADN’T MEANT IT SERIOUSLY, BUT THE TRUTH WAS THAT KOHL AND HIS TEAM MATE AND PACE SETTER ERNST MULLER WERE PLOTTING EXACTLY THAT. WE HAVE TO PUT RADLEY OUT OF THE RACE TOMORROW, JUST AS WE DEALT WITH SAMPRINI A FEW YEARS AGO, BUT THAT ARISTOCRATIC TEAM MATE OF HIS WILL HAVE TO BE DEALT WITH FIRST.
I HAVE A CONTACT IN THE CYCLING FEDERATION. HE WILL BE ABLE TO HELP US WITH CARLYLE!
9
AS THE RIDERS ASSEMBLED THE FOLLOWING MORNING FOR THE LAST STAGE OF THE RACE THROUGH THE ALBAN HILLS AND INTO ROME, BEN AND HUGO WERE DELIGHTED TO SEE SAMPRINI. I HAVE COME TO TAKE PICTURES OF MY BICYCLES WINNING THE TOUR.
THEY HAVEN’T WON IT YET, SIGNOR SAMPRINI.
INDEED, THERE’S A CERTAIN GERMAN RIDER WHO MIGHT STILL BE FANCYING HIS CHANCES.
THERE WAS NO MISTAKING THE DARK SCOWL THAT CROSSED THE FORMER CHAMPION’S FETURES AS HE LAID EYES ON KOHL AND MULLER. WE’VE BEEN HEARING CERTAIN RUMOURS ABOUT YOU AND THEM.
OFFICIALLY IT WAS A RACING ACCIDENT, BUT THE TRUTH IS THEY DELIBERATELY FORCED ME OFF THE ROAD. BE CAREFUL TODAY, MY FRIENDS. KOHL WILL DO ANYTHING TO WIN THE TOUR…ANYTHING!
10
BOTH BRITISH AND GERMAN PAIRS ADOPTED THEY USUAL STRATEGY, THEIR RESPECTIVE PACE SETTERS TAKING THE LEAD AS THE PACK STRUNG OUT BEHIND THEM. AFTER SEVERAL MILES THEY APPROACHED A SHARP BEND. HERE THEY COME.
HAVE TO MAKE SURE CARLYLE STAYS ON THE INSIDE AS WE GO INTO THE BEND.
AT THE LAST MOMENT ONE OF THE SPECTATORS WAITING AT THE BEND WHIPPED OUT A SMALL SPRAYER TO LAY DOWN A FILM OF OIL ON THE ROAD SURFACE. MOMENTS LATER HUGO, TURNING INTO THE BEND, RODE OVER IT WITH PREDICTABLE RESULTS.
YUUURRH!
ONE DOWN…ONE TO GO.