Cycling, Courage, and Humanity: The Incredible Story of Gino Bartali
A Cyclist and a Legacy That Transcends Sport.
I have always liked stories about athletes. They seem to me a testament to the strength of the human being and the limits we are capable of surpassing. Two years ago, I was browsing Netflix and found the documentary series: Tour de France, In the Heart of the Peloton.
With that series, I fell in love with cycling. Watching athletes like Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mark Cavendish, among others, getting to know their stories, and seeing the physical and mental strength they possess, I found it very inspiring, so I wanted to learn more about the Tour from its beginnings, and that’s when I discovered the story of Gino Bartali.
Gino Bartali was an Italian cyclist who won the Giro d’Italia three times and the Tour de France twice between 1936 and 1948. But while his sporting achievements are impressive, it’s his story of heroism during World War II that I want to dedicate this entry to.
In 1943, Italy was in political chaos. Benito Mussolini had been ousted and arrested, and the new Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio was negotiating with the Allies. However, when the armistice was reached, northern Italy was invaded by the Germans, who freed and reinstated Mussolini.
This led to Italy being divided into two parts and resistance movements emerging. During the German occupation, there was terrible repression of Jews and other groups persecuted by the Nazis, increasing deportations to concentration camps.
In this context, the Catholic Cardinal Ellia Dalla Costa organized an underground network aimed at helping and saving as many people as possible. This network was made up of laypeople, nuns, and friars, who used convents and monasteries as operations centers and printing presses.
There, they printed false identification and other documents that allowed the persecuted to evade authorities.
The cardinal knew Gino Bartali, who was already a well-known athlete, since childhood, and even officiated his parents’ wedding. It is believed that at some point in the fall of 1943, he proposed to Bartali that he use his training as a cover to transport the false documents for the underground movement. Bartali agreed.
For a whole year, Bartali carried documents from Florence to Assisi, a route he knew well, and which required him to travel 175 kilometers in risky conditions. He faced not only weather issues but was also constantly stopped by German patrols. It was thanks to his fame and the pretext of his training that he was allowed to pass without arousing suspicion.
He also carried documents to other cities like Lucca, Genoa, and even the Vatican. He made trips of up to 400 kilometers a day. These efforts had the approval of Pope Pius XII, which gave him extra protection.
However, Gino was aware of the risk he was taking. He knew that if he were caught, it would mean certain death, but he had a strong sense of duty toward the people he was helping. His motivation wasn’t ideological; it was humanitarian.
Bartali never spoke of his missions to anyone, not even to his family. First, to protect them, and second, because he often said that some medals are worn in the soul, not on the chest. He kept this silence until his death in 2000.
Over time, testimonies about the resistance activities surfaced, revealing the extent of Gino Bartali’s actions during the war, which led Yad Vashem to award him the recognition of Righteous Among the Nations posthumously.
After the war, Gino Bartali resumed his sports career, winning his third Giro d’Italia in 1946 and his second Tour de France in 1948 when he was already 34 years old. Gino Bartali was not only an incredible athlete but also a brave and resilient man whose actions saved over 800 lives.
The story of Gino Bartali is not only that of a cycling champion but also that of a man who understood that sometimes the greatest challenge isn’t the mountains one has to climb, but the principles one chooses to defend and the courage with which one must face adversities, even when they are terrifying.