Maria Cressari

Maria Cressari

To person
Date of birth	December 27, 1943
nation	Italy
discipline	Street
Most important successes
Hour record 1972 : 41.471 km
Last updated: September 13, 2017

Maria Cressari (born December 27, 1943 in Brescia ) is a former Italian cyclist.

Athletic career

Maria Cressari worked as a waitress in her family's trattoria , she could only train in her free time. Between 1964 and 1973 she was Italian road champion four times, in 1973 and 1975 in the single pursuit. She competed eight times at the UCI Road World Championships ; her best ranking was tenth place in 1973 .

On November 25, 1972, Cressari improved the 14-year-old hour record for women in the Velódromo Olímpico Agustín Melgar in Mexico City with 41.471 kilometers . Up to this point in time, Elsy Jacobs from Luxembourg had held it with 41.347 kilometers.

Maria Cressari had only arrived three days before the record attempt, with a Colnago bike specially made for the occasion and weighing 4.7 kilograms, but without any other company. On November 23, she broke the records for 10 and 20 kilometers, while attempting to record an hour missed 11.20 meters. The Italian consul present then rented the cycling track, which had been built for the 1968 Olympic Games , for another day so that Cressari could repeat her attempt. In the morning she first set a record over five kilometers before successfully tackling the hour record. After her return to Italy, the cyclists Fiorenzo Magni , Alfredo Binda and Gino Bartali congratulated her on her performance. For this she received no recognition money, only a medal, and the sponsor of her team, a manufacturer of baby equipment, furnished her six-year-old son with a new nursery.

On October 17, 1974, Cressari set a record over 100 kilometers on the Vigorelli Railway in Milan . It took 2 hours, 41 minutes and 32 seconds, which corresponds to a speed of 37.141 kilometers per hour .

A jersey and a bike by Maria Cressari are in the Museo del Ciclismo Madonna del Ghisallo .

successes

Street

1964

• Italian champion - road race

1968

• Italian champion - road race

1972

• Italian champion - road race
• Hour record : 41.471 km

1973

• Italian champion - road race

train

1973

• Italian champion - road race

1975

• Italian champion - road race

Teams

• 1971–1974 GS Baby Terraneo

Web links

• Maria Cressari in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Maria Cressari. In: CycleBase. Retrieved September 13, 2017 (English). 
• Maria Cressari. In: Italian Cycling Journal. October 31, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017 . 
• Adriano Franzoni: Maria Cressari. (PDF) In: Il Giornale del Gussago Calcio. 2015, pp. 28–29 , accessed on September 13, 2017 (Italian). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Adriano Franzoni: Maria Cressari. (PDF) In: Il Giornale del Gussago Calcio. 2015, p. 28 , accessed on September 13, 2017 (Italian). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Maria Cressari. In: Merényi Bicycles. November 25, 1972, archived from the original on September 13, 2017 ; accessed on September 13, 2017 (English). 
3. ↑ Raisport Vigorelli on YouTube , from February 15, 2014
4. ↑ Edizioni Brescia SpA: Cressari, 40 anni dopo nel "tempio" del record. In: bresciaoggi.it. Retrieved September 16, 2017 (Italian). 
5. ↑ Maria Cressari. In: GS Madonna del Ghisallo. Retrieved September 13, 2017 (English).