Brunero Slips Away from Girardengo
The 15th edition Milano-San Remo Classicissima was held on April 2, 1922.
SPECIAL NOTE: "Campionissimo" Costante Girardengo moved from Stucchi-Pirelli to Bianchi-Salgato to join Italian superstar Gaetano Belloni. The powerful "biancocelesti" feared only Legnano-Pirelli challenger Giovanni Brunero.
The race started in Milan at 6:25 am on a pleasant Italian spring day. Seventy riders rolled out across the plains of Lombardia and contested the “village premes” (cash prize). The peloton arrived at the foot of the Passo Turchino together.
SPECIAL NOTE: The M-SR organizers, to discourage the new concept of "luxury domestique", instituted a rule forbidding riders from changing wheels with teammates.
SPECIAL NOTE: Because the new rule was too restrictive (?), foreigner riders did not come to the start in 1922. Only Frenchman Robert Asse, an Individual (Isolati), started the race.
Race Status:
On the Passo Turchino climb (131 km / 287 km), the peloton began to thin out. Girardengo split the pack and he led a small group up the climb. Belloni broke free approaching the summit and won the Grand Prix of the Mountains (KoM cash preme).
An elite group of ten riders formed on the descent.
In Varazze (191 km (131 km / 287 km),), 8 riders, Brunero, Girardengo, Giuseppe Azzini (Team Maino’s "luxury domestique"), M-SR winner in 1914 Ugo Agostoni (Legnano), Bartolomeo Aimo (Legnano) and the neo-professional Adriano Zanaga (Ganna), took control of the race.
At the control station in Noli (199 km (131 km / 287 km), the breakaway worked well together and increased their time gap to five minutes.
On the Miramare climb approaching Savona (203 km / 287 km), Azzini crashed heavily and abandoned the race.
Through the Savona check point the leading group remained a quartet.
In Arma di Taggia (278 km / 287 km), Brunero (Legnano), who remembered the previous year’s sprint, no longer wants to work and forced Girardengo (Bianchi) to assume the pace making.
On the outskirts of San Remo Brunero, who sensed Girardengo's fatigue, launched a long sprint. However, two hundred meters from the finish line, an incredible event disrupted the sprint!?!? A delusional security officer crossed the road just as the riders opened their final sprint. Brunero managed to avoid him but Girardengo with his head down collided with the intruder and ended up on the ground. He remounted and finished second.
Giovanni Brunero’s M-SR victory
Legnano-Pirelli’s Giovanni Brunero won the grand M-SR victory.
M-SR April 2, 1922 / 287 Km |
1. Giovanni BRUNERO (Ita) 10h14'31" |
2. Costante Girardengo (Ita) +22"
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3. Bartolomeo Aimo (Ita) +39"
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Starters: 67 / Finishers: 30  Average Speed : 27.973 km/h |
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M-SR 1921
M-SR 1923
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