Article by John Manenti
Without prejudice to the inaugural edition of Athens 1896, the Olympic Program returns to proposing road cycling competitions after the 1912 Stockholm Games in which the individual time trial is foreseen on the basis of whose Ranking the ranking for the assignment of the Podium to teams is also drawn up, a competition initially held over the most varied distances, from 196 miles (equal to over 315 km. !!) in the Swedish capital, to 175 kilometers of Antwerp 1920, to 188 of Paris 1924 and to 168 of Amsterdam 1928 up to the “standardized” 100 kilometers with which the test takes place at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics …
Only from the subsequent Berlin 1936 edition, however, does one return to the formula adopted only in Athens at the end of the 19th century, of a start all together by the almost 100 registered runners which also causes falls at the startwith the French training enjoying the underdogs even though four years earlier in Los Angeles to do “loot full” had it been the Azzurri, Gold both in the individual competition with Attilio Pavesi and in the team classificationseen the silver of Guglielmo Segato and the bronze of Giuseppe Olmo.
But this time it is different as it is not a race against time, but online and the 30s of the twentieth century represent a period of maximum splendor for transalpine cycling, certified by the presence of authentic Champions such as André Leducqwinner of the 1930 and 1932 editions of the Tour de France ed Antoninus Magne, in turn in the yellow jersey at the end of the “Big loop” 1931 and 1934, as well as ad a pair of brothers made up of Roger and Guy Lapébiewith the first to make the 1937 Tour his own after two consecutive successive (1935-’36) by the Belgians Romain and Sylvère Maes and having finished third in 1934 …
The youngest of the Lapébie brothers, born on November 28, 1916 in Saint-Geours de Maremne, a town of less than 3,000 souls located in New Aquitainehas therefore not yet turned 20 when he faces the away match in the German capital together with his teammates Robert Charpentier, Jean Goujon and Robert Dorgebraywith the latter being replaced by Roger Jean Le Nizhery for the Team Track Pursuit event taking place from 6 to 8 August 1936 on the track of theOlympic cycling stadiumof Berlin…
A track specially built for the Olympic appointment and which proves to be incredibly smooth, given that in the first round both the blue quartet – made up of Bianco Bianchi, Mario Gentili, Armando Latini and Saverio Rigoni – like the Danish and German ones, they improve the Olympic record, before everyone agrees on the French formation covering the four kilometers in a time of 4’41”8 immediately making it clear that she is the most serious contender for the Gold Medal …
Prediction that finds confirmation in the Quarters, which see the French win the challenge against the Hungarians with extreme ease, as well as, moreover, Italy on Great Britain unlike that between Germany and Switzerlandresolved (4’56″0 to 4’58″0) in favor of the first, even with a time largely higher than that of the other three semifinalists, among which Great Britain is present as having concluded its round with a time lower than that recorded by Belgium and Denmark in the third series …
With the pairings of the semi-finals therefore predicting a repeat of the match between the Azzurri and the British, the transalpine quartet has no difficulty regulating the hosts (4’42″4 to 4’54″6), while for Italy the resistance of Great Britain is greater this timesurrendering anyway (4’49″2 to 4’53″6) so as to send the representatives of the two neighboring countries to contend for the first step of the podium, match in which France confirms its superiority by imposing a time of 4’45″0 compared to 4’51″0 with which the Azzurri end the match.
Already, therefore, with a gold medal around his neck, Guy Lapébie, Charpentier and Goujon, together with the already mentioned Dorgebray, find themselves at 8:00 in the morning of 10 August 1936 at the Curva Nord of the AVUS racetrack, where the arrival is also expectedfor a race that lasts for over 2 and a half hours with many difficulties for the runners, many of whom (especially the South Americans …) fall into falls that do not favor their performance, so much so that a few kilometers from the end they are still in 40 to be able to play their chances for a medal …
And this is where it occurs the attack by the French pair made up of Charpentier and Lapébie, who takes a very slight margin of advantage, followed by the Swiss Ernst Nievergelt, when Guy Lapébie launches the decisive sprint which leads him to feel sure of victory except that he is yanked by the shirt so as to lose his rhythm and allow his teammate to overtake him and cross the finish line first…
Furious at the lack of success, Lapébie lashes out at the Swiss, who finished third, believing him to be guilty of what happened and passing from insults to facts in an instantand good for Nievergelt that many judges, assistants, journalists and even some spectators intervened to divide him from the wrath of the 20-year-old transalpine, who only after a few minutes managed to calm down and to shake hands with Charpentier, congratulating him on the victory which, in any case, contributes to a second Gold Medal for him and a third for his partnerwith France taking the Team Classification ahead of Switzerland and Belgium.
“Sure, that if it wasn’t for that damn Swiss man who tugged at my shirt…”, broods Lapébie with Charpentier, “I am sure that victory would not have eluded me …”, receiving from the companion a laconic: “it’s possible, sorry…”, accompanied by a smile whose meaning he will understand a few days later …
Returned with the Olympic Expedition to Paris, in fact, Lapébie, waiting to go home to Aquitaine, goes to the cinema where, to his surprise, some images of the Games are shown – we recall that the famous film “Olympia” directed by Leni Riefenstahl was shot at the Berlin Olympics – including the arrival of the race in which he was the protagonist, which allows him to focus attention on an important detail …
Eager to verify the impression received, he stands up in the room and loudly asks to be able to watch the video again, possibly slowed down, motivating this request to the other spectators and the cameramen by the fact that he was the protagonist, so as to be able to ascertain that the “convict hand” which had prevented him from hitting the “Tris d’Oro” had not been from Nievergelt, but from his “amico” Charpentier … !!
This leads Lapébie to apologize to his Swiss colleague on the first occasion in which the two meet, explaining what has happened, an apology that is accepted and from which a subsequent, sincere friendship is born, while with regard to Charpentier the decision was that of “delete it” from his own life, never speaking to him again …
And, in all honesty, we think it was nothing more than the bare minimum…