Book description
Voted the most popular Italian sportsman of the twentieth century,
Fausto Angelo Coppi was the campionissimo - champion of
champions. The greatest cyclist of the immediate post-war years, he
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. But his significance extends far beyond his sport.
Coppi's scandalous divorce and controversial early death convulsed a
conservative, staunchly Roman Catholic Italy in the 1950s. At a time
when adultery was still illegal, Coppi and his lover were dragged from
their bed in the middle of the night, excommunicated and forced to
face a clamorous legal battle. The ramifications of this case are
still being felt today.
In Fallen Angel, acclaimed cycling biographer, William
Fotheringham, tells the tragic story of Coppi's 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. Told with insight and
intelligence, this is a unique portrait of Italy and Italian sport at
a time of tumultuous change.
William Fotheringham writes for the
Guardian
and
Observer
on cycling and rugby. He is the author of a biography of Tom Simpson,
Put Me Back on My Bike
and
Roule Britannia: A History of Britons in the Tour de France
.
