Dave Campbell's Race Trivia- Famous Italian Jerseys & The Men That Wore Them.

March 2013

With the Majority of the World’s Elite riders

Taking part in the Tirreno-Adriatico Italian Stage Race

This month to prepare for the Classics

This Months European Professional Cycling Trivia asks

"Famous Italian Jerseys & The Men

That Wore Them!”

Q1. Castelli has long supplied the leader’s jersey to the Giro d’Italia. Due to the late spring/early summer nature of this race, those jerseys were wool for many years, well beyond in fact the point that the other Grand Tours went to Synthetics. What year was the LAST year of the Maglia Rosa in Lana? And more importantly, who was the last Race Leader to rock the wool!

Q2. Who was the first American ever to wear a Leader’s Jersey in the Tour of Italy? Warning: This is a bit of a trick question due to the minor nature of the category he led!

Q3. Luxembourger Andy Schleck famously won the White Rookie Jersey in the 2008 Giro in his first ever Grand Tour en route to second overall. This marked the return of the Maglia Bianca after a prolonged absence. Who was the last wearer of this prestigious jersey and when?

Answers Below

A1. 1988 and of course, the man was American Andy Hampsten of 7-Eleven. That wool jersey was very practical with several stages raced in snow that epic year!

A2. Greg Saunders, of the Linea MD-Gianna Motta Team who wore the BLACK JERSEY in 1984 for most of the race as Last Man on GC. The Black Jersey was eliminated after this year and in 1985, Davis Phinney of 7-Eleven became the first American to wear a “major” Leader’s Jersey by donning the Ciclamino (Purple Points) Jersey after Stage 4. Despite a string of top 10 stage placings, Phinney’s lead was short-lived, only about an hour in fact, and after a re-calculation the jersey went to Swiss Urs Freuler. Nonetheless, Phinney wore it on the podium!

A3. Russian Evgeni Berzin back in 1994, when he also won the Overall.