PARMA – We don't really know what kind of relationship he had Vittorio Adorni with death. When he celebrated his 80th birthday he said he had just crossed a "flying finish line" without realizing that he had reached that age with a very long sprint.
We know, however, what a deep relationship he had with many, many people: fans, former colleagues, and managers. However, His family rightly chose to hold a strictly private funeral. It was as if they wanted to enjoy, together with their closest friends, that very last moment with Vittorio. who, for one work reason or another, had always been forced to sacrifice his wife Vitaliana and his loved ones more than necessary. Yes, because until a year ago he was still on the track like a kidFrom commitments to Tour of Italy as a consultant and image man for RCS Sport at the UCI meetings in Aigle, for which he led the Professional Cycling Council from 2001 to 2012 (opening photo parma.repubblica).
Vittorio's sagacity
Adorni's clarity of thought and expression has always been the main quality that accompanied him both on and off the bike.Perhaps it was the quality he always hoped to retain, even though he was always good and careful to keep it particularly well-honed. Those who knew him well, especially in recent years, say that whenever the topic of death came up between conversations, he would make a friendly superstitious gesture. A bit like when, as a cyclist, someone had predicted a possible crisis in a stage of the Giro, his home race. All situations in line with his famous and refined irony, daughter of a generation of men, even before being champions, that we struggle to find again..
The final tribute
On the day of his last farewell, while we observed the emotion of so many people, including the altar boy who was his historic supporter, we imagined him receiving the applause along the decumanus axis that separates the San Lazzaro district of Parma, where Vittorio was born on November 14, 1937, from the church of San Sepolcro near the heart of the city. Three kilometers, practically a time trial-prologue distance, a type of stage that did not exist in his time and that he only did very rarely., as in his only participation in the 1968 Vuelta (which he finished in fifth place), a year that later became legendary with the world championship in Imola.
Cyclist friends
Some people could not fail to welcome him at this final finish line. Because Adorni was able to be transversalAmong all of them, we will mention two. Romano Prodi, who in 1955 was one of his first opponents as a student (at the time the junior category did not exist) in the Reggio Emilia-Casina time trial won by Vittorio. And Davide Boifava, a long-time friend who was born on the same day as himIn fact, every November 14th, Adorni made a point of verbally wishing his colleagues, whose birthdays he shared, a happy birthday. Bernard Hinault, Vincenzo Nibali and also the track cyclist Koichi Nakano. «Well, I always sent them to him virtually because I struggle to speak Japanese.» he repeated jokingly.
Knowing his irony, probably Now Vittorio Adorni will already be making some jokes with his many friends-adversariesJust to name a few, from Anquetil to Poulidor, from Gimondi to Baldini, the last one about whom he had wanted to tell us two weeks ago his memory.
