What goes on inside a velodrome is a very special kind of cycling. On the track, the bike becomes a piece of exercise equipment, and riders compete to show off their power, dexterity and speed, competing head-to-head in breathtaking sprints that almost always end in a photo finish. To excel in an oval with parabolic curves, in addition to physical strength and classic sports qualities you need tactical sharpness, cunning and the ability to perform to perfection bizarre techniques such as surplace, the spectacular ability to keep in balance on the wheels forcing the opponent to launch the sprint, or the American shift, that exciting and hypnotic move for the observers as they see the baton being passed on to a team mate.
In Italy, the most famous and celebrated velodrome, the one steeped in the richest history and tradition, is without a doubt the Vigorelli in Milan.
At the end of the 19th Century, Milan's industrial boom was centred around the bicycle. An increasingly popular means of transport for work and leisure, many bicycle and component factories are located on the outskirts of the city. The first tyre produced by Pirelli in the Bicocca plants, in 1895, was in fact dedicated specifically to bicycles. Furthermore, Milan, home to the newly formed Gazzetta dello Sport, was the starting point for the first important road cycling races, which would later become international classics: the Milan-Turin (1876), the Giro di Lombardia (1905), the Milan-Sanremo (1907).
It was in this context that Giuseppe Vigorelli, a former pistard, industrialist and a travelling salesman on behalf of Pirelli, Councillor for Sport in the City of Milan, came up with the idea of building a new facility to replace the now obsolete velodrome in Corso Sempione, which was demolished in 1928. Located in an industrial area to the north-west of the historic centre of Milan, where the industry has now disappeared and only the Exhibition Fair remains with a narrow demountable track, the Vigorelli Velodrome was completed in 1935 and immediately became a sort of temple of Italian and world cycling. At that time, on the occasion of the most prestigious races, spectators reached the thousands.
While at the turn of the century a rationalist architecture was embraced in other Italian cities, promoted by the fascist regime as a style archetype capable of breaking with the past, the Vigorelli, designed by the German architect Clemens Schürmann, was instead built inspired by a classical style with a track roof supported by columns decorated in 19th Century style.
In 1939 the Vigorelli Velodrome hosted the World Track Championship while in 1942, in the midst of the second World War and before a series of bombings that led to the closure of the facility between 1944 and 1946, Fausto Coppi set the world hour record with an average speed of 45.798 km. More than one hundred and fifty best performances in the world and records have been obtained on the Vigorelli track in Milan. In 1984, a new beginning after a ten-year closure and then the collapse of the roof in 1985 that marked the definitive decline. The last races took place in the early 2000s, after a further stumped attempt to bring it back to life.
Measuring 397.7 metres long, a hybrid size and out of date by today's standards and clad with pine wood, not everyone knows that the Vigorelli track was originally installed in Rome in what is now the Flaminio Stadium for the 1932 World Cycling Championships. Once dismantled and shipped to Milan, the track turned out to be larger than the spaces planned by the architects. It was therefore necessary to modify the parterre and cut the original curves in half and then merge them back together, after removing a section.
Strongly desired by Giuseppe Vigorelli himself and Pirelli, in the golden years of the facility, between 1949 and 1957 under the supervision of the champion Alfredo Binda, the Pirelli Grand Prix was also held at the velodrome, a cycling competition for elite amateurs with ten regional elimination rounds and a grand finale in Milan.
Today, the Vigorelli is an American football stadium that remains a lasting memory of a great past. For those who wish, it is still possible to experience the joy of cycling on the legendary wooden track riding track bicycles that can be rented thanks to the Vigorelli Velodrome Committee, which regularly opens the track.
A must-have experience for any serious cycling fan.
