GUISEPPE SARONNI – EARLY BLOOMER AND MULTIPLE WINNER IN ITALY
We chose 61 great names from different eras and different countries and compared them. Enough has already been written about Eddy Merckx and his final palmares are the yardstick by which everyone will be measured, until one day someone does better. That there are now some phenomena riding around in the peloton that could well come close to Eddy’s palmares is a blessing for cycling today and especially for the numerous cycling fans. You can read about Remco Evenepoel being the Cannibal’s first pursuer in our extensive article. So respect and recognition is more than in order!
But respect is also in order for Giuseppe Saronni the number three in our ranking with 146 points.
First name: Giuseppe
Last name: Saronni
Nationality: Italy
Age: 66 years old
Date of birth: 22-09-1957
Place of birth: Novara (Piedmont), Italy
Nickname: Beppe
Giuseppe Saronni is a surprising name on our podium. He takes third place after Merckx and Evenepoel, with one point more than Tadej Pogacar. Indeed quite a surprising name in third place after all. Saronni was undeniably a great rider, but we cannot count him among the all-time greats in history. The reason is obvious if we look at his palmares. He was a real early bloomer who managed to win the Giro as early as the age of twenty-one, but from the age of 27 his star already began to wane.
It is highly exceptional for a rider to win one of the three major stage races at the age of 21. Saronni therefore matured very early, making his pro debut at the age of 19. Guiseppe comes from a real cycling family we can say, as both his father Romano and grandfather Tito Brambilla were also cyclists. His uncle Pierre Brambilla even finished third in the 1947 Tour de France. Giuseppe’s brothers, Alberto and Antonio, were also racers, but it was soon clear that “Beppe” was by far the most talented of the whole family.
A quick look at his complete palmares shows that he was also World Champion at a young age (before his 25th birthday on 05 September 1982 in Goodwood, UK), twice winner of the Giro, with four wins in the points classification, won 26 Giro stages and wore the pink jersey 39 times. With Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Lombardy, he also added two monuments to his eventual palmares. Outside Italy, he was much less successful. This included four abandonments in the Vuelta out of four participations in which he won two stages. In Belgium, he won the Flèche Wallonne and in Switzerland the Zurich Championship (1979) and a stage with a final win in the Tour of Switzerland (1982). In total, Beppe Saronni achieved 142 UCI victories.
As an Italian, he had hardly any interest in the Tour de France in which he participated only once, resulting in a abandonment (1987). Moreover, he had no interest at all in the cobbled classics. He never took part in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Saronni was very fast in the sprint, but was also a good climber and a more than solid time trialist. Perhaps he was too quick to succeed in the Italy of the time, where the pleasures of life were soon around the corner as a danger to top athletes. With his qualities, his eventual palmares could have looked a lot nicer. The fact that his career as an absolute top rider was far too short ensures that his final palmares cannot place him among the all-time greats. But also the fact that his palmares are almost exclusively based on Italian races makes him a lot less appealing than other Italian top riders such as Coppi, Bartali and Moser.
After his career, Giuseppe Saronni became manager at Mapei and Lampre.
Since 2021, he has been Tadej Pogačar’s sports director at UAE Team Emirates. Nice right, our number three and number four together in one team.
Patrick Van Gansen
