Valentino Gasparella

Valentino Gasparella took up cycling in 1952 and the following year won his first road race, but his real revelation as a road racer took place in the spring of 1954, when he won four important races. In 1954 he also started competing on the track and managed to qualify for the final of the Gardiol Trophy.

Gasparella finished fourth at the 1954 Italian Championships, which led to him being named a substitute for the World Championships. In mid-August he raced the triangular France-Italy-England meet that took place in Paris, stunning cycling experts by winning all five races in two days. Gasparella then attempted to break the amateur world record in the flying 500 meters time trial. The test took place at Milano on 29 August and he broke the world record on the outdoor track, recording 29.80, at an average of 60.402 km/hr.

At the Melbourne Olympics Gasparella won gold in the team pursuit with the Italian team. At the World Sprint Championships he finished third in 1957, while he triumphed in 1958 in Paris and in Amsterdam in 1959, defeating in both years a very young Sante Gaiardoni, but at the 1960 Olympics Gasparella won sprint bronze behind Gaiardoni’s gold. Subsequently Gasparella turned professional but in eight seasons never lived up to the potential of his amateur career.