Cittiglio - Binda, one hundred years later: the bricklayer from Cittiglio who became a legend - - Varese News

Cittiglio, May 1925. In an Italy still wrapped up in the rhetoric of marching and order, the thirteenth Giro d'Italia starts from Milan. Twelve stages, 3,520 kilometers. The riders face the journey with steel bicycles, pad brakes, fixed gears, aluminum water bottles. That morning on the grid there is also a young bricklayer from Varese. His name is Alfredo Binda, he is 22 years old, he comes from Cittiglio and he has not yet understood that he is changing history.

A family of work, music and silence . Binda was born on August 11, 1902 in Cittiglio, the tenth of fourteen children. His father Maffeo was a bricklayer, his mother Martina kept together a house where they worked hard and played more than they spoke. Alfredo learned to play the trumpet at a young age, which would accompany him throughout his life together with bicycles. Among his brothers, Albino would become a professional cyclist and would also win a stage of the Giro. But Alfredo was different. Silent, meticulous, stubborn. At sixteen he emigrated to Nice, France, with his brother Primo. He worked as a plasterer, pedaled out of necessity, then on a bet. And he began to win.

The 1925 Giro: the rose that bloomed in the dust . In 1925 he signed for Legnano and showed up at the start of the Giro d'Italia. The stages exceeded 300 km, you pedaled for twelve hours a day, without team cars or gears. When you had to climb, you got off, took off the rear wheel, turned the sprocket, got back on. And off you go. Binda won four stages and the general classification. He finished in 137 hours, 31 minutes and 13 seconds ahead of Costante Girardengo. He didn't raise his arms. He didn't speak. But from that day on, cycling had a new language: that of a job well done, of a clear gesture, of a coldness that cooked under the skin.

The champion who won too much . In 1930 they offered him a huge sum of money not to race the Giro: they feared that with him in the race no one would look at the rankings. He accepted. He won everything else. Five Tours of Italy, three World Championships, two Sanremos, four Tours of Lombardy. He was never a popular hero. But he was the first modern professional. Training, nutrition, tactics, recovery. He spoke little, but he pedaled in another era. In the 1920s, sports nutrition was far from the sophisticated strategies of today. Cyclists relied on simple, high-calorie foods to tackle the grueling stages of the races.

An emblematic anecdote concerns Binda. During the Giro di Lombardia in 1926, it is said that he consumed up to 28 raw eggs before and during the race, which was run in prohibitive weather conditions, and concluded with an advantage of almost half an hour over his pursuers.

The return to Cittiglio . Despite everything, Cittiglio never lost him. He returned often, and today the town is home to the Binda Museum, with his original bikes, jerseys, trumpet, and trophies. Every year, the Alfredo Binda Trophy starts here, an international women's race that recalls his legacy and opens a new one.

Pink jersey: from Binda to Ulissi . Exactly one hundred years later, on May 17, 2025, Diego Ulissi brings the pink jersey back to the shoulders of an Italian, for the first time since 2021. It's a sign. Cycling doesn't forget. Today, Diego Ulissi rides a carbon Colnago V3Rs, with a total weight of 6.8 kg, equipped with disc brakes, an electronic groupset, and aerodynamic racing wheels. The frame weighs just 790 grams, the fork about 340, and every detail is optimized for maximum performance. Where Binda loaded water bottles and raw eggs to survive, Ulissi feeds himself with energy gels and drinks calibrated to the milliliter. But deep down, between these two eras, the same breath on the climbs, the same sparkle in the eyes, the same desire to reach the top on your own two feet remains. And maybe, with a little pink on.

A memory that still pedals today. I am writing this piece from Varese, and I feel strongly how cycling is still our daily heritage. I live in a family on the move: three children born in three different places, one in Michigan, one in Switzerland, one right in Cittiglio, as if to say that roots are not planted, they are chased. Thanks to my writer friend Gianni Spartà who introduced me, since 2007 I have been part of the amateur group Sant'Ambrogio, a neighborhood of Varese that pedals for passion. At the beginning I had a bike that they called a gate, to make me feel at ease! With us is Vittorino, one of those silent volunteers that you always find on the route of the Trofeo Binda and the big races in the province. He doesn't ask for anything. He carries ribbons, he's a guard at the barriers.

It is civic conscience on two wheels. And I remember 2008 well, when Varese hosted the Cycling World Championships: closed roads, cheering hills, people from all over Europe. All organized by the Alfredo Binda Society, chaired, then as now, by Renzo Oldani. A man who dedicated his life to cycling, and who in 2024 received the Valcavi Award for his tireless passion. Among the main sponsors Whirlpool, 1 million euros. Other times, perhaps eras. I have the memories left, and a new bike then, which still gives me great satisfaction uphill to Campo dei Fiori or downhill towards Gavirate.

One hundred years, but only the first kilometer . Alfredo Binda was much more than a champion. He was the first architect of cycling modernity. A boy who left with a hammer in his hand and came back with a rose on his chest. And who for a hundred years has taught us that you can get far starting from places like Cittiglio, without making any noise.