Giuseppe Pancera Photo Gallery
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Giuseppe Pancera (January 10, 1901 - April 19, 1977, pro rider 1925 - 1934) was second in the 1928 Giro d'Italia and the 1929 Tour de France. He was an outstanding rider in an era where the conditions could only be described as brutal. The roads were usually dirt, often with deep potholes. Frames and forks broke regularly. Mud was a constant menace. Bikes were single-speed and the brakes were a joke. Look at the first picture of Pancera and De Waele to get an idea of what a day of racing in the 1920s did to a man.
Giuseppe Pancera's Professional Teams:
1925: Aliprandi-Pirelli
1926: Olympia-Dunlop
1927: Berrettini-Hutchinson
1928: Touring-Pirelli
1929: La Rafale, Touring-Pirelli
1930: Dei-Pirelli
1931: Touring-Pirelli
1932 - 1934: unknown
You can read about Pancera and his career in our rider history section. Below is a selection of photos that Pancera's daughter Egidia Barbetta kindly sent me to share with BikeRaceInfo readers.
These pictures as a video slideshow
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Tour de France 1929 after the 333-kilometer stage 14 trip from Nice to Grenoble with ascents of the Allos and Bayard. It took stage winner Gaston Rebry 13 hours 19 minutes 6 seconds. Pancera is on the left and race leader and eventual winner Maurice De Waele is on the right. The 2 riders finished 6 minutes 2 seconds behind Rebry and Jef Demuysere. The handwritten note says the stage was very hard. One look at the two makes that very clear. |
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Young Giuseppe Pancera, taken in 1923. |
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An undated studio photograph of Pancera. |
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After stage 13 of the 1930 Tour de France. On the left is stage winner Learco Guerra, nicknamed the "Human Locomotive", and Pancera is on the right. Pancera finished 9th in the stage with the same time as Guerra. Pancera finished 20th overall in the 1930 Tour, 2 hours 33 minutes 51 seconds behind winner André Leducq. Pancera's stage 10 was a disaster when he lost 1 hour 2 minutes 10 seconds in the Pyrenees. Guerra went on to finish second in the Tour that year.
The cover of the June 3, 1928 Domenica Sportiva, a supplement put out by La Gazzetta dello Sport. The photo is of the finish of the 9th stage of the Giro d'Italia, 206 km from Pistoia to Modena. Domenico Piemontesi is winning the sprint, Alfredo Binda (and 1928 Giro winner) is second and Pancera is third (left).
A sketch of Pancera from the June 21, 1929 copy of Il Paese Sportive. The sketch accompanied a story about Julien Vervaecke's victory in the Tour's 15th stage (the final day in the Alps) and Pancera's consolidation of his second place.
At the 1926 Giro d'Italia, Giuseppe Pancera at left-center with his brother Eliseo in the dark jersey on his left. Pancera finished 12th that year to winner Giovanni Brunero at 4 hours 58 minutes 19 seconds.
Someone has written "1922" at the bottom of this modern poster. I assume that was when the photo was taken.
Pancera returning from a trip to Australia in 1932. What always striikes me when I meet most stage racers is how small they are. Pancera is clearly not carrying an extra gram.
A newspaper story about Pancera's racing success and his future promise.
With his friend the Australian counsel in 1932. Guess which one is the successful stage racer.
Working at the "Bar Pancera" in 1955