A taste of heaven in Hell: Serse Coppi, 1949 (I/VI)
March 20 th 2018 - 09:55
Luck and fortune are sometimes a decisive factor in Paris–Roubaix. Twists of fate, false moves and strategic blunders can all make the favourites' best-laid plans go awry. Opportunists who fish in troubled waters can become heroes for a day and get a taste of glory in the Hell of the North. In 1949, Serse Coppi claimed the biggest win of his short career at the end of a race mired in controversy.
Fausto was the star of the family. By spring 1949, right before his first Tour de France, he had already won the Giro d'Italia and Milan–San Remo twice and the Giro di Lombardia three times. Il Campionissimo was already a legend, while his younger brother Serse, a hard-working rider a few notches below Fausto, was content with his role as a domestique in the prestigious Bianchi team. The Easter Race of that year was billed as a duel between Fausto Coppi and defending champion Rik Van Steenbergen. However, the two favourites were so fixated on each other that the winning move took off without them. A dramatic twist marred the finale when the leading trio was misdirected to a detour around the velodrome instead of being waved towards the entrance. Frenchman André Mahé only managed to outsprint Belgian Florent Mathieu after entering the track through a gateway for journalists!
Serse Coppi led the bunch home shortly thereafter. All hell broke loose as the Italians lodged a protest against the unorthodox finish. The judges sided with them and disqualified the first three riders. However, after several months of wrangling among the sports authorities and faced with Fausto Coppi's threat to boycott the race, the UCI finally declared André Mahé and Serse Coppi joint victors of the 47th Paris–Roubaix. Il Campionissimo returned to the race the following year and succeeded his brother as winner. Two years after this eventful day, Serse Coppi went down hard in the final sprint of the Giro del Piemonte. Despite managing to get back onto his bicycle and finish the race, he collapsed at his hotel and died shortly after being rushed to hospital. Serse's tragic end foreshadowed Fausto's own demise in 1959, when the Italian champion succumbed to malaria after travelling to the Upper Volta for a criterium race in Ouagadougou.
