Cycling from Ciriè to Biella with period clothes on the streets of Giovanni Brunero

Stop in Ivrea. The cyclists welcomed by Paolo Ghiggio. In the group also Ettore Brunero, great-grandson of the champion

IVREA. One hundred and fifty kilometers, from Ciriè to Biella round trip, on the roads on which Giovanni Brunero, the glory of cycling in the 1920s, used to train. In 12, wearing uniforms of the time, they traveled the entire distance. The ride was organized by the Nova association of Italian speed cycling (Nuvi, asd) to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Brunero’s victory in the 1922 Giro d’Italia. Born with the aim of spreading, studying and interpreting heroic cycling relative to the years of the ‘900, Nuvi now has about fifty members scattered throughout the national territory. During the stop in Ivrea, the group was welcomed by Paolo Ghiggio, a cycling enthusiast and author of popular books on the history of this sport, who offered them a refreshing breakfast prepared by the wine shop Vino e dintorni. «In Ciriè, videos of the time were shown, followed by a conference on the companies of this champion – explained Ghiggio -. Brunero used to go as far as Ivrea to then pass the Serra and descend into the Biella area during his training and today his exploits are recalled ». Waiting for the riders in the enoteca’s terrace was Carlo Delfino, honorary president of Nuvi. «Our aim is to design and carry out re-evocative events – he underlined -. With this initiative, cyclists ride on roads that the champion knew well ».

Brunero was born in 1895 and started racing professionally in Legnano after the First World War. Winner of the Giro in 1921, he repeated himself in 1922, also winning, in the same year, the Milan – San Remo, to finally complete his palmarès with a third victory in the pink race in 1926. “There are absolutely incredible anecdotes of the Brunero man – Delfino recalled -. In the trenches, during the Great War, he accidentally met his brother, also a soldier, and upon returning from the conflict he saw a funeral that he discovered was that of his father. From a cycling point of view, we can define him as a modern rider, endowed with an intelligence and availability that allowed him to adapt to the team’s needs in years in which roads and vehicles made competition a truly heroic undertaking ». Among the cyclists also Ettore Brunero, great-grandson of the champion. «My grandfather was Giovanni’s brother. I am happy because the whole history of my family took shape thanks to the victories of my great uncle. His fame reached up to Senator Giovanni Agnelli, who offered him to open a resale of Fiat cars and this business, with appropriate diversifications, has been handed down through the generations to this day ».