Luigi Ganna (1 December 1883 – 2 October 1957) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He was the overall winner of the first Giro d'Italia, held in 1909, as well as the first Italian winner of the classic Milan–San Remo earlier that year. Further highlights in his career were his fifth place in the 1908 Tour de France and several podium places in Italian classic races.[1] In 1908, he set a new Italian hour record, which he held for six years.

Luigi Ganna
Luigi Ganna, posing in a studio in Varese, Kingdom of Italy, 18 June 1914
Personal information
Full nameLuigi Ganna
Born(1883-12-01)1 December 1883
Induno Olona, Kingdom of Italy
Died2 October 1957(1957-10-02) (aged 73)
Varese, Italy
Team information
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Professional teams
1904Individual
1905Rudge Whitwort
1906Bianchi/Rudge Whitwort
1907Turkheimer
1908Alycon/Atala
1909–1911Atala
1912Atala/Ganna
1913–1915Ganna
Major wins
Grand Tours
Giro d'Italia
General classification (1909)
6 individual stages (1909, 1910)

One-day races and Classics

Milan–San Remo (1909)
Giro dell'Emilia (1910)

He was born in Induno Olona, near Varese, in Lombardy. Before becoming a professional cyclist, he worked as a bricklayer, commuting up to 100 km to work by bike.[1]

In 1912, he started a bike brand named Ganna which was still around in 2012.[2][3] In 1913, he started the Ganna Cycling team where he rode for the final three years of his career.[4] His company sponsored the team until 1953 when they could no longer meet obligations and Nivea–Fuchs took over.[5]

Major results

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Sources:[1][6][7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Luigi Ganna". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  2. ^ "The Nicolis Museum celebrates the 140th birthday of Luigi Ganna, the first winner of the Giro d'Italia. - Museo Nicolis". museonicolis.com. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Ganna - Choose your way". www.robertopizzato.com/. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  4. ^ "LUIGI GANNA - GRANDE SPORTIVO ED IMPRENDITORE LOMBARDO" [LUIGI GANNA - GREAT SPORTSMAN AND ENTREPRENEUR FROM LOMBARDY]. consiglio.regione.lombardia.it (in Italian). Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  5. ^ "list of cycling team sponsors, old and new". www.bikeraceinfo.com. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Luigi Ganna". FirstCycling.com. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Luigi Ganna". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 18 September 2023.

Bibliography

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  • Gregori, Claudio (2009). Luigi Ganna – Il romanzo del vincitore del primo Giro d'Italia del 1909 [Luigi Ganna – The romance of the winner of the first Giro d'Italia in 1909] (in Italian). Cassina de' Pecchi (Milan), Italy: Edizioni Roberto Vallardi. ISBN 978-88-95684-23-9.