Fiorenzo Magni

Fiorenzo Magni was born on December 7, 1920.
Magni was long known as the Third Man of Italian Cycling behind Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali.
The Italian rider won the Giro d’Italia three times.
Magni won the 1948 Giro d'Italia in front of Italians Ezio Cecchi and Giordano Cottur.
Magni also won the 1951 Giro d'Italia in front of Rik Van Steenbergen of Belgium and Ferdi Kubler of Switzerland.
In addition, Magni won the 1955 Giro d'Italia in front of Italians Fausto Coppi and Gastone Nencini.
Magni was also 2nd in 1952 Giro d'Italia behind Fausto Coppi.
Magni was also 2nd in the 1956 Giro d'Italia behind Charly Gaul of Luxembourg.
In addition, Magni won the Points Jersey in the 1955 Vuelta a Espana.
Magni was 2nd in the 1951 World Championship Road Race behind Ferdi Kubler of Switzerland.
Magni was also 4th in 1947 World Championship Road Race behind Theo Middelkamp of Holland, Albert Sercu of Belgium, and Jef Jansen of Holland.
In addition, Magni was 4th in 1952 World Championship Road Race behind Heinz Muller of Germany, Gottfried Weilemann of Switzerland, and Ludwig Hormann of Germany.
Magni won the Tour of Flanders Classic three times in a row, in 1949, 1950, and 1951.
Magni shares the record of three victories with Belgians Achiel Buysse, Eric Leman and Johan Museeuw.
Magni was also 3rd in the 1950 Paris-Roubaix Classic behind Fausto Coppi of Italy and Maurice Diot of France.

Magni might have won the Tour de France in 1950. He had just taken over the yellow jersey when an angry group of spectators accused Bartali of getting physical with Jean Robic, the 1947 winner from France, on one of the climbs. The crowd turned rather vicious and the next morning the whole Italian team withdrew from the race.
Magni was one tough individual. Note the picture of Magni from the 1956 Giro d'Italia where he held a rope in his teeth to help him get pedaling leverage because of a broken collarbone. He finished second overall in the race that year despite the broken collarbone.
One of Magni’s claims to fame was that he was the man who first introduced sponsorship from outside the cycling industry into trade teams. This rugged-looking man was sponsored by Nivea Cream.

Text courtesy of: www.cyclinghalloffame.com
Photos courtesy of: www.bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/magni.html