Fallen Angel The Passion of Fausto Coppi

by Fotheringham, William

• ISBN13: 9780224074506
• ISBN10: 0224074504
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-01
• Publisher: Yellow Jersey

Summary

Voted the most popular Italian sportsman of the 20th century, Fausto Angelo Coppi was the campionissimo - champion of cycling champions. The greatest cyclist of the immediate postwar years, Coppi's scandalous divorce and controversial death convulsed Italy in the 1950s and were still making headlines half a century later. In Fallen Angel, William Fotheringham, author of the definitive biography of Tom Simpson, tells Coppi's story for the first time for an English-speaking audience. Coppi was the first man to win cycling's great double, the Tour de France and Tour of Italy in the same year - and he did it twice. He achieved mythical status for his crushing solo victories, world titles and world records and universal public sympathy for his persistent ill-luck. His epic rivalry with Gino Bartali divided Italian opinion for a decade. But his significance extends far beyond his sport. Coppi's divorce remains a landmark case in Italy's shift away from the church. In the 1950s, adultery in Italy was still a criminal offence, punishable by up to a year in prison. Coppi and his lover, the 'White Lady' Giulia Occhini, both married with children, were dragged from their bed in the middle of the night and taken to jail. They were excommunicated, and a clamorous legal battle followed. The 'White Lady' was forced to emigrate to Argentina; Coppi himself died aged just forty, from malaria contracted during an insignificant race in Upper Volta. Fallen Angel tells the story of Coppi's tragic life and death, of how a man who became the symbol of a nation's rebirth after the disasters of war died reviled and heartbroken. It is a unique portrait of Italy and Italian sport at a time of tumultuous social change.

Author Biography

William Fotheringham writes for the Guardian and Observer on cycling and rugby. He is the author of A Century of Cycling, Cycle Racing, Put Me Back on My Bike, and Roule Britannia: A History of Britons in the Tour de France.