On our trip to Paris, my wife and I, in need of culture, rode the Vélib bikes to Cycles Laurent. This was our first French bike shop visit and excitement was high as we navigated our helmetless headed way through the city traffic.
The shop is a classic; it’s crammed with bikes and clothes. There is no room to move. My wife immediately dove into the sales bin and came up smiling with a Pinarello maglia nera jersey in her size. What is the maglia nera jersey? It’s the lantern rouge of the Giro. For a brief period it was an officially awarded jersey, which led to riders hiding in bars and behind hedges to finish last. Giovanni Pinarello was awarded it in 1951 and here it was reissued. Maybe Giovanni was hiding in bars or maybe he was just hanging on like grim death on every stage and barely made it to Milan. Giovanni Pinarello was the last official owner of the jersey. Riders and fans alike disapproved of a contest for last place and 1951 was the final year of the maglia nera. Since then, riders don’t try to finish last but they do try to finish.
When asked by Cycle Sport magazine what he would like his epitaph to be, he said “Here lies Eros Poli, famous for being tall and coming last in the Giro d’Italia”. -wikipedia
This is a man who won an Olympic gold medal, a most incredible climber’s stage in the Tour de France, and an amateur TTT world championship.
Unless one is actively hiding in bars and riding with a calculator to always finish within thirty seconds of each days time limit, finishing last means one is barely finishing each mountain stage, tailed off the grupetto, fighting to beat the time limit, on more than a few days.
When is finishing the Giro last not an embarrassment? I would say every time. There is a select subset of humans that could ride the Giro at the speeds it is ridden and finish it. Nearly every day a rider climbs into the team car, most likely in tears, exhausted, ruined, crushed. Their number comes off their jersey, it is reported to the commissar and that rider cannot start the next day. But there also must always be a rider who just barely makes it to the finish during those mountain stages, in tears, exhausted, crushed and is back out there the next day. To finish in Milan, even in last place must be infinitely better than not finishing.
Finishing any event last is always better than not finishing.
If I was awarded that jersey, I’d wear that into every bar and restaurant for the rest of my natural life. That’s right fools, I finished the Giro, d’Italia, we covered 3500 km at an average of 37 km per hour. I’ll take my free vino rosso right over there, grazie.
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@Ccos You're right. Riding off the back is tough especially when you realize "you are still in a race!"
Gianni, first great read about minutiae that I never get tired of hearing. Second, just curious, did the little woman, sorry, the statuesque VMH know the jersey or just like it? Knowing her, the former I'm betting. But it is striking and would be good for cold days. But that raises a possible Rule #16 infraction, since one would not have "earned" it? But then the wording only refers to - "Championship and race leader jerseys ..." Oh shit now I'm confused - help please.
@ChrisO
Sorry but a book about the lantern rouge is just wrong.
Of course I will happily read it when I can as reading anything about La Grande Boucle is good but the Rule nazi in me thinks that you shouldn't celebrate any place past 10 - possibly 20 because that is where I usually ended up?
@all
Warning, this article runs the risk of opening up a slew of stories that, I'm sorry, should not be recorded here. Maybe in a triathlete news letter or the RAGBRI yearly recap?
@Rob
There can be a whole lot of Rule V involved in finishing last, as Gianni points out above. From an 0verall Lanterne Rouge going on to win a mountain-top Giro stage, to David Millar finishing a TdF stage last haunted all the time by the time he'd once got off the bike, to Michael Matthews losing the pink one day, only to crash on the next but still haul himself painfully over the line last along with a vomiting team-mate, all the time thinking of a rest day and just one more shot at repaying his team.
I don't think we celebrate the place. We celebrate the effort, the overcoming of adversity, the perseverance, and the reality of day-in, day-out life in the peloton. These are stories worth recounting.
@andrew
Well said and good examples of tough stuff.
What I said was partly tongue in cheek and partly drawing on my memories of back of the pack antics. The thought was that unless I crossed the finish line throwing up in first place following Rule #70 then I should retreat to a dark corner and follow the masturbation principle.
I had a friend I raced with who's only motivation was if he was droped, then he would chase for massive kilometers just to stay in contention. We always thought he would have been awesome if he had done exactly the same effort off the front. I only mention this to illustrate that many Maglia Nero/Lantern Rouge stories are just that, stories of survival not of championship riding. One last point there is a huge difference between finishing last one day to ride the next and finishing last for the whole stage race as my friend often did...
@andrew
For me, Aldo Bini (who "won" it in 1948) really exemplifies the spirit of the Maglia Nera. He finished the Giro with a broken hand after a crash in an early stage. He had to walk up some of the climbs as it was too painful to ride. He finished 4 hours back, but only 10 minutes behind the previous finisher.
Great work, Gianni! I like to hide in the hedges when the VMH needs gardening help. She'll likely want man-power, and if I do any hauling, the upper guns could get Too Big To Climb.
Feel like with all the crashing so far, there is going to be a lot of abandonment in the Giro this year. Just look at Michael Matthews. A few days in pink...now he's gone home. Talk about highs and lows.
@Rob The lanterne rouge & maglia nera are stories of survival and triumph over suffering -- rather than conquest. They resonate because us mere mortals can actually relate to them.
@Nate
Yes to that and if I sounded un mortal then you don't know me. I fight my mortality by hiding it as much as possible and kick myself for the weakness I succumb to all to often, thus the repetition of my favorite lexicon phrase above...
@Rob
That's a question the book tackles actually. Different views are given on whether it should be recognised or celebrated and he uses some of the stories to illustrate both sides. As he points out, sometimes the lanterne rouge is there because he is a faithful domestique who has spent everything in support of the leader, but at others it is someone who is playing for it. Some have revelled in the fame or notoriety, some have been embarrassed and some have barely cared.
There have been Lanternes Rouge (if that's the plural) who have won stages, most notably Pierre Matignon who beat Merckx up Puy de Dome in his miracle year of 1969. Jacky Durand was Lanterne Rouge and also won the Combativity prize in the same year.
In the past when riders counted on the post-tour appearances to basically double or triple their salaries the Lanterne Rouge was a much better option than being in the middle of the bunch.
Read it. Like I said, it is much more than a collection of anecdotes about losers.
@Rob
Not at all.