Good morning, everbody!
Originally Posted by lotek
uhm the Italian Secretary of Communist party was shot, and a call was
made to Gino Bartali (from another politico?) asking him to win the next
stage to calm the country. Bartali said he would do better than that he
would win the Tour, He did.
lotek, you got it.
The Italian Prime Minister De Gasperi called 'Il Vecchio', back in
Le Tour after a ten-year (!) break, when riots had broken out following the assassination of Communist Party leader Togliatti. My version says the PM phoned asked Gino whether he could win the Tour, to calm the country indeed. Bartali did win that Tour, starting with the next day's--heroic--stage, Cannes-Briancon (274 km, a lot of climbing).