The Giro visits Forli:
Forli is a town that is used to seeing the Giro's
best. The first rider to take a stage there was the
great Constante Girardengo in 1925. It was his fifth
of six total that he would take that year. But he
would still finish 5 minutes behind Binda in Milan
as Binda took his first of five GC titles.
Binda was in Forli again in 1928, one of the seven
stages he won that year. The remaining five stages
were all won by Domenico Piemontesi. Not a lot of
variety in that edition.
Forli is a town that smiles on sprinters as Guerra
(1930), Van Looy (1960), and Maertens (1977) have
all won there.
May 12th in the Giro:
The May 12th stage in 1928 went to Piemontesi. It was
either him or Binda, remember?
In 1931 it was Binda that celebrated victory in Macerata.
In 1937 it was the Legnano team after the Giro's first
TTT in Marina di Massa.
The Dutch have reason to remember this date. Pioneer
Wim van Est, the first Dutchman to lead the Tour,
became the first Dutch rider to take a Giro stage in
1953 as he won the opening finish in Abano Terme. And
that made him the first Dutch rider to wear pink as
well.
If you want to read about Van Est you are better off
getting his story from Benjo. As usual he tells it much
better than I.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.racing/msg/f98b41181845a856?hl=en&