Ottavio Bottecchia
Encyclopedia
Ottavio Bottecchia is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 1 August 1894, died Gemona, Italy, 14 June 1927) was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
cyclist and the first Italian winner of the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
. He was found dead by the roadside; the reason remains a mystery.
Origins
Bottecchia was born to a poor family of nine children. He went to school for just a year and became a bricklayer. He married and had three children. In the first world warWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he joined the Bersaglieri corps of the Italian army. During the conflict he received a bronze medal.
With the end of hostilities he became an avid competitive cyclist. He won the Giro del Piave, the Coppa della Vittoria, and the Duca D'Aosta in 1920 and the Coppe Gallo a Osimo, the Circuito del Piave and the Giro del Friuli in 1921.
Professional racing
His 5th place finish in the 1923 Giro d'Italia1923 Giro d'Italia
The 1923 Giro d'Italia of cycling was the 11th edition to take place. It was held from 23 May to 10 June 1923, with 10 stages stretching over 3,202 km and was won by Costante Girardengo of Italy. Attrition reduced the 97 starters to just 38 finishers....
, the leading 'isolate' (rider without a team) attracted the leading French rider, Henri Pélissier
Henri Pélissier
Henri Pélissier was a French racing cyclist from Paris and champion of the 1923 Tour de France. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange and for protesting against the conditions endured by riders in the early years of the Tour...
, who asked him to join his professional team, Automoto-Hutchinson, in 1922. Pélissier had just left the J. B. Louvet team after an internal row and had taken another rider, Honoré Barthélemy
Honore Barthelemy
Honoré Barthélémy was a French road bicycle racer who took part and finished fifth overall and won four stages in the 1919 Tour de France. He was born in Paris, France....
, with him. Automoto was a French company that also sold in Italy. Automoto saw the chance not only of winning the Tour de France but of having a further Italian rider to stimulate foreign sales. Henri Pélissier said he had seen Bottecchia ride the Giro di Lombardia and Milan – San Remo and the team signed him. The new recruit arrived, said the writer Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, L'Équipe.- Biography :...
, with a skin tanned like an old leather saddle and creases to his face deep enough to be scars. His clothing was ragged and his shoes so old that they no longer had any shape. His ears stuck out so far that the Tour organiser, Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange
Henri Desgrange was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set 12 world track cycling records, including the hour record of 35.325 kilometres on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France.-Origins:Henri Desgrange was one of two brothers, twins...
referred to him as "butterfly".
It was as a professional that Bottecchia learned to read, taught by his friend and training partner, Alfonso Piccin. Together they read the Italian sports daily, Gazzetta dello Sport, and clandestine anti-fascist pamphlets protesting at the rule of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
.
In 1923, he came fifth in the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
. That same year, he won a stage in the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
and came second overall. He led the Tour from Cherbourg after the second stage and wore the yellow jersey
Yellow jersey
The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...
of leader as far as Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. There he passed it on to Pélissier, who won with the prediction: "Bottecchia will succeed me next year." Such was the reaction in Italy that the Gazetta dello Sport asked a lire
Lire
Lire is a French literary magazine covering both French and foreign literature. It was founded in 1975 by Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber and Bernard Pivot.-External links:*...
from each of its readers to reward him. Mussolini was first to subscribe.
In 1924 he won the first stage of the Tour and kept his lead to the end, the first Italian to win. But here is the first of the mysteries in his life. Bottecchia wore the yellow jersey throughout the race except for the stage closest to Italy, which went from Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
to Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. That day he wore his team jersey, one of several in the peloton
Peloton
The peloton , field, bunch or pack is the large main group of riders in a road bicycle race. Riders in a group save energy by riding close near other riders...
and therefore less obvious. The Tour's paperwork vanished when it was taken south from Paris in 1940 to escape the German invasion of the second world war and none of the newspaper reports of the period explains Bottecchia's decision.
- One theory is that he was afraid of being mobbed on the road by Italian fans, who would have delayed him or inadvertently knocked him off his bike.
- Another theory is that he wanted to avoid Mussolini's Black Shirts. Reading anti-fascist tracts to become literate suggests anti-fascist leanings. Bottecchia's tyres had been punctured before the start of some stages and fascist opponents could have been behind it.
- A further theory is that Bottecchia had made uncomplimentary remarks about an earlier Italian champion, Costante GirardengoCostante GirardengoCostante Girardengo was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, considered by many to be one of the finest riders in the history of the sport. He was the first rider to be declared a "Campionissimo" or "champion of champions" by the Italian media and fans...
, and that he worried fans would take revenge.
Bottecchia wore the yellow jersey again after Nice and all the way to the finish. Reports say that he sang as he rode:
He wore his yellow jersey all the way to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in the train - travelling third class to save money.
He won the Tour again in 1925 with the help of Lucien Buysse
Lucien Buysse
Lucien Buysse was a Belgian cyclist and a champion of the Tour de France.Born in Wontergem, Buysse began racing professionally in 1914, when he entered the Tour de France but did not finish. He resumed his career after World War I, entering but abandoning the Tour again in 1919 but placing third...
, who served as the first domestique
Cycling domestique
A domestique is a road bicycle racer who works for the benefit of his team and leader. The French domestique translates as "servant". In Italy and Spain, the term gregario is used, while in Belgium and the Netherlands the term knecht or helper are used...
in Tour history. Accused in 1924 of winning without trying, Bottecchia won the first, sixth, seventh and final stage.
He was never the same after that and dropped out, "weeping like a child", during a thunderstorm in 1926. Buysse emerged the winner. The writer Bernard Chambaz said:
The unpleasant hand of destiny fell on his shoulders. It was as though the misery of his origins had caught up with him. Dark thoughts and a presentiment of the future haunted him. He abandoned the Tour of 1926 on a stage which those who were there described as apocalytpic because of the cold and the violence of the win. He went home, unhappy. He no longer had the heart to train. He feared that he'd been 'cut down by a bad illness'. He coughed and he ached in his back and his bronchial tubes. The following winter, he lost his younger brother, knocked down by a car.
Death mystery
Bottecchia was carried to a bar and laid on a table. A priest gave him the last rites
Last Rites
The Last Rites are the very last prayers and ministrations given to many Christians before death. The last rites go by various names and include different practices in different Christian traditions...
. From there he was taken by cart to hospital in Gemona. He died there 12 days later without regaining consciousness. The verdict was sunstroke but was widely dismissed for Bottecchia was used to the heat and a veteran of the Tour de France. He had also been found in the morning, before the day became hot. Bernard Chambaz of L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
said:
Accident or assassination? The accident theory, favoured by justice, on the accounts of witnesses and a medical examination which also referred to several fractures, was based on an assumption of an illness, sunstroke and a fall. In fact, the inquiry was quickly closed. The theory suited everybody: the Mussolini régime, the presumed killer and even - it's sad to say - the family, now sure of a large insurance payout.
The only events which appear certain are that that morning, Bottecchia rose at dawn and asked for a hot bath to be ready for him when he returned after three hours. He rode to his friend Alfonso Piccini's house to go training together as on other days. Piccini decided not to go and Bottecchia went to see another friend, Riccardo Zille. He had other things to do, however, so Bottecchia set out alone. Theories abound from then on. The priest who gave him the last rites is said to have attributed the death to Fascists unhappy about Bottecchia's more liberal leanings. But Bottecchia was a barely literate racing cyclist at the end of his career, better known in France than in Italy, and not a politician or celebrity who could sway opinion. There's a theory that Fascists murdered him for speaking against Mussolini. An Italian dying from stab wounds on a New York waterfront even claimed he had been employed as a hit man. He named a supposed godfather, although nobody of the name was ever found. But Mussolini had been first to contribute to the Gazzetta dello Sport benefit fund.
Some suggested a fight. But a fight leaves cuts and bruises to both sides. Much later, a farmer in Pordenone said on his deathbed: "I saw a man eating my grapes. He'd pushed through the vines and damaged them. I threw a rock to scare him, but it hit him. I ran to him and realised who it was. I panicked and dragged him to the roadside and left him. God forgive me!"
The problem with the story is that to throw a rock large enough to break a man's skull demands being so close to the victim that literally throwing it isn't necessary. Bottecchia was a local hero, on his bike, easily recognised so close to home. The farmer would have known him. Also his body was found in Peonis, not Pordenone. The farmer said he dragged the body off the farm and onto the roadside. If that was true, how did the body end up 35 miles (55 km) away? The final riddle is what Bottecchia was doing in a vineyard in June. Grapes don't ripen until late summer.
Bottecchia bicycles
In 1926, BottecchiaBottecchia
Bottecchia Cicli S.r.l. is a bicycle manufacturing company headquartered in Cavarzere, Italy. They offer about 70 models that include road, mountain, trekking, city, BMX, folding, cyclo-cross, and electric. Some high-end frames are produced in Italy, the rest in Asia, and all the bikes are...
began working with frame-maker Teodoro Carnielli to manufacture racing bikes, taking advantage of his Tour de France knowledge. The business expanded under the Carnielli family after Bottecchia's death. In 2006 more than 50,000 Bottechia bikes were sold in Europe.
Palmarès
1923- Tour de France1923 Tour de FranceThe 1923 Tour de France was the 17th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 22, 1923. It consisted of 15 stages over 5386 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.233 km/h. The race was won by Henri Pélissier with a convincing half hour lead to his next opponent, Italian Ottavio...
:- Second place overall classification
- Winner stage 2
- Wearing yellow jerseyYellow jerseyThe general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...
for 6 non-consecutive days
1924
- Tour de France1924 Tour de FranceThe 1924 Tour de France was the 18th edition of the Tour de France and was won by Ottavio Bottecchia. He was the first Italian cyclist to win the Tour and the first rider to hold the yellow jersey the entire event. The race was held over 5,425 km with an average speed of 23.972 km/h...
:
Winner overall classification- Winner stages 1, 6, 7 and 15
- Wearing yellow jersey for 15 days (the entire race).
1925
- Giro della provincia Milano
- Tour de France1925 Tour de FranceThe 1925 Tour de France was the 19th edition and was held from June 21 to July 19, 1925 over 5430 kilometers in 18 stages. Italian cyclist Ottavio Bottecchia successfully defended his 1924 victory to win his second consecutive Tour de France...
:- Winner overall classification
- Winner stages 1, 6, 7 and 18
- Wearing yellow jersey for 13 non-consecutive days.
Grand Tour results timeline
| 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar... |
5 1923 Giro d'Italia The 1923 Giro d'Italia of cycling was the 11th edition to take place. It was held from 23 May to 10 June 1923, with 10 stages stretching over 3,202 km and was won by Costante Girardengo of Italy. Attrition reduced the 97 starters to just 38 finishers.... |
DNE | DNE | DNE |
| Stages won | 0 | — | — | — |
| Tour Tour de France The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The... |
2 1923 Tour de France The 1923 Tour de France was the 17th Tour de France, taking place June 24 to July 22, 1923. It consisted of 15 stages over 5386 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.233 km/h. The race was won by Henri Pélissier with a convincing half hour lead to his next opponent, Italian Ottavio... |
1 1924 Tour de France The 1924 Tour de France was the 18th edition of the Tour de France and was won by Ottavio Bottecchia. He was the first Italian cyclist to win the Tour and the first rider to hold the yellow jersey the entire event. The race was held over 5,425 km with an average speed of 23.972 km/h... |
1 1925 Tour de France The 1925 Tour de France was the 19th edition and was held from June 21 to July 19, 1925 over 5430 kilometers in 18 stages. Italian cyclist Ottavio Bottecchia successfully defended his 1924 victory to win his second consecutive Tour de France... |
DNF-10 1926 Tour de France The 1926 Tour de France was the 20th Tour de France, taking place June 20 to July 18, 1926. It consisted of 17 stages with a total distance of 5745 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.064 km/h.... |
| Stages won | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Vuelta Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages... |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Stages won |
Further reading
- Giuliana V Fantuz Ottavio Bottecchia - Botescià bicicletta e coraggio (Stories.fvg - 2004) (in Italian)