Luigi Ganna

Luigi Ganna (born December 1, 1883 in Induno Olona ( VA ), † October 2, 1957 in Varese ) was an Italian cyclist and the first overall winner of the Giro d'Italia .

Career

Luigi Ganna was a bricklayer by profession. Every day he cycled 60 kilometers from his home town to his place of work in Milan . Thanks to these daily trips, he was in excellent condition. He began his career as a professional cyclist in 1904. After winning smaller races, he started the Tour de France in 1908 and finished fifth. The following year he won today's classic Milan – Sanremo , before a few weeks later he was one of the 127 starters in the Giro d'Italia , which was held for the first time . With a total of three stage wins, he also confidently secured the overall victory. In 1910 he started again at the Giro, but despite again three stage wins, he was only third in the overall standings. In 1912 he again won the overall classification of the Tour of Italy, but this edition was only held as a team classification and Ganna was one of the four drivers of the victorious Atala team . In 1915 he ended his professional career.

Thanks to his success, Ganna was able to buy a house and a workshop where he built bicycles. On one of his bikes, he won the 600-kilometer Gran Fondo La Seicento in 1920 , which was a great advertisement for his company. In 1951, Fiorenzo Magni won the Giro d'Italia on a Ganna bike.

Ganna died in Varese on October 2, 1957 at the age of 73.

successes

1906

Milan-Piano dei Giovi-Milan

1907

Sanremo-Ventimiglia-Sanremo

1909

Giro d'Italia + 4th, 5th and 7th stage
Milan – Sanremo

1910

6th, 7th and 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia
Giro dell'Emilia
Milan Modena

1912

Giro d'Italia (together with Carlo Galetti , Giovanni Michelotto and Eberardo Pavesi ; only held as a team competition)

Web links

Commons : Luigi Ganna - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Luigi Ganna in the Radsportseiten.net database

Luigi Ganna in the Tour de France database(French / English )

Driver profile at museociclismo.it

Individual evidence

↑ Lidewey van Noord, Robert Jan van Noort: Pellegrina. An Italian cycling pilgrimage . Covadonga , Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-95726-013-0 , pp. 22 .
↑ Lidewey van Noord, Robert Jan van Noort: Pellegrina. An Italian cycling pilgrimage . Covadonga , Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-95726-013-0 , pp. 24 .

personal data
SURNAME	Ganna, Luigi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH	December 1, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH	Induno Olona , Italy
DATE OF DEATH	October 2, 1957
Place of death	Varese , Italy

[1] Lidewey van Noord, Robert Jan van Noort: Pellegrina. An Italian cycling pilgrimage . Covadonga , Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-95726-013-0 , pp. 22 .

[2] Lidewey van Noord, Robert Jan van Noort: Pellegrina. An Italian cycling pilgrimage . Covadonga , Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-95726-013-0 , pp. 24 .