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Oh hell yeah. I’ve got a Hampsten poster on the wall, signed and framed. One of the biggest days in the history of American cycling. These are different images from the same day: 1988 Giro d’ Italia, Stage 14. Andy Hampsten remains the only American to have won the Giro. Good article available at http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=/riders/2008/interviews/giro_hampsten08.
Image sources: First seen at http://elserracho.tumblr.com/post/5205959607/fuckyeahcycling-andy-hampsten-rides-his-way, but ultimately from http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/giro-ditalia-anglophone-invasion/172040.
Image source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/giro-ditalia-anglophone-invasion/172046.
Image source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/giro-ditalia-anglophone-invasion/172048.
There is winning. And then, there is winning like this.
This is the stuff of legend.
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You know what’s so awesome, too, is that the Italians themselves love and respect him for this effort, this day. I went to Italy and rode a week of Giro stages last year. The little group I was with stayed at a hotel in Bormio, right at the foot of passo Stelvio and not far from the Giau, mortirolo, and gavia. And with all of the cycling lore that has transpired in those locations over the last 100 years, and despite all the national pride they have in Coppi and Bartali (there are bronze monuments by the side of the road commemorating their climbs), what do I see when I walk into this hotel? A signed photo of Andy Hampsten, through the snow on the Gavia. He wrote on the photo, “a mei amici baita de pini- Andy Hapsten.”
And that’s it. The only sporting photo I saw in the whole hotel, a hotel at the base of a world cup downhill course, in the heart of the dolomites. My heart swells with pride for him, for US cycling, thinking back to that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5wPEymv-oQ&feature=related
(almost) ran into this fella the other day.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150232503166532.363422.784336531
…nice tribute, gianni…especially with ‘il giro’ starting tomorrow…
…@danimal…i actually had ‘chills’ of pride running down my spine for the guy while reading your comments…excellent…
…of all the americans to ever race in europe, even to this day, andy hampsten just seemed to exude more class than most, both as a human being & as a cyclist…
…& dirty b’s vid captured the essence of what that stage did to the riders…hampsten just put his head down & kept plugging away…as i recall, eric breukink actually won that 14th stage by passing him on the descent with hampsten coming in 2nd, wherein he basically cemented the overall giro win…(please feel free to correct me if i’m trippin’)…either way, it was one of ‘the’ epic stages of any giro, ever…
John Slawta’s most legendary bicycle. Andy rode a lugged steel Landshark road shark, labelled with Huffy.
Should be mentioned that this “legendary ride” just secured his the G.C. because he didn’t win that stage! Breukink went past him and flew down the downhill to win
Skin tight pants, goggles and cap to the side. Just like every 16 year old snowboarder. Straight baller. I bet he has an eight ball under his shorts for sale.
…hey, ck…oughta try reading what’s written previously…you just reiterated what i had already stated…fact for fact…
…& littlejar scores points for mentioning slawta’s work…that ‘huffy’ was the work of an artisan…
@bgw, Didn’t Ben Serotta do a number of them as well, or am I misremembering?
I love it that one of the fans in the 3rd picture is in front of their bike. That is a dedicated fan.
…@el jefe…nope, you’re absolutely right…ben built a lotta the 7/11 bikes over the years from what i was told but in the case of hampsten’s giro bike, i believe littlejar knows the facts…
…if i can remember to get on it, i’ll do some research & see if i can find more to round out the picture…
Hampsten kept breaking the Serotta built Huffys and never quite felt right on them. Roy Knickman took him to Slawta and Hampsten ordered some road sharks from him. I have a poster from Winning magazine of him winning the Giro that year, the shark head sticker on the top tube is the only indicator of who really built that frame. I’ve been to John Slawta’s workshop. Every wall is covered in pictures of great riders doing great things on great bikes. They are all Landsharks and none of them say it anywhere. I geeked out hard and kept asking John, “You built THAT bike?!?” and the answer was always “Yes”.