Franco Giorgetti made his début in 1918 and was not even 18-years-old when he won a gold medal in the team pursuit. He turned professional in 1921, winning the Tour du Lac Léman that year, a rare foray into road racing. Giorgetti was mostly known as a six-day racer in the United States, winning 14 six-day races between 1926-35, where he was very popular. At the 1933 Track World Championships in Paris he was runner-up in the motor paced race with the famous Arthur Pasquier as his pacemaker. Giorgetti won five titles in the US in the motor paced (1927-1930, 1934), also winning two at home in Italy (1933, 1941). He returned to Italy for good just before World War II, retiring after his second Italian title. The “Italian Kid,” as he was called in America, was appointed Cavaliere della Corona d’Italia by King Vittorio Emanuele III in 1938. In 1998 Giorgetti’s statue was unveiled in Bovisio Masciago, where he had passed away in 1983.
Italy