The pious and the sinner

Photo borrowed from Lickbike.com

There was a good NYT piece today on the rivalry between 'Gino the Pious' Bartali and 'Fausto the Sinner' Coppi, a legendary debate which, while it still holds Italians in thrall, I'd never heard of before, and given that my love for the sport is twenty years old, I should have. I'll be checking out more cycling books discussing the pre-Hampsten/Hinault/LeMond/Indurain years.

The article mentions a photo (above) of the two sharing a water bottle that is claimed by each side as proof it was their man who was the better teammate; for my money, I'd say it's Coppi doing the hand-off.