On Saturday 20 April the Ghisallo Museum will be dyed yellow. He will do it to honor the Tour de France with a large retrospective exhibition dedicated to the French stage race which in turn honors the Italy of great cycling with the Italian start of the Tour de France 2024. The champion Jan Ullrich is expected at the vernissage with many other protagonists of great cycling.
The Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum Foundation in Magreglio inaugurates “Ghisallo in Giallo” an exhibition – expo – at Grande Boucle which cuts the ribbon at 11.30 am (entry by invitation) with the presence of Jan Ullrich and many other enthusiasts and lenders. In the afternoon, the Ghisallo Museum will open its doors to the memories of the Tour with the presentation of Beppe Conti’s book (3.30 pm).
The history of the Tour lives on in the Home of Cyclists, thanks to the contribution of many enthusiasts and institutions. The exhibition draws on numerous important museums, lenders and cycle collections such as: Pirelli Foundation, Ottavio Bottecchia Museum, Gino Bartali Cycling Museum (Florence), Tino Sana Carpenter Museum, Spazio Pantani (Cesenatico), Koers Museum (Roselaire – Belgium) , Musée du Vélo by Marc-André Elsig (Chippis – Switzerland) and Ciclocollection – Bicycle Museum by Gigi Farè (Riva del Garda). And it is embellished with special memorabilia thanks to the historical and cultural sensitivity of private collectors such as Natale Bolgè, Bruno Carraro, Giorgio Cimurri, Enzo Manfrè, Graziano Pellizzoni, Famiglia Pietra – Freni Universal.
The Ghisallo Museum in Magreglio (Como) has therefore prepared a major exhibition for the Tour de France. Saturday 20 April, the morning will be dedicated to the absolute preview of an Expo Grande Boucle, to put it like the French, at 11.30 am (by invitation) the veil is removed in the rooms dedicated to temporary exhibitions for a major retrospective from the first edition in 1903, which lines up in an almost cinematic tale, an impressive series of memorabilia who made the history of the Tour de France, which this year will start from Italy for the first time. Starting from the central display case of the Ghisallo Museum, considered the beating heart of the permanent exhibition, the museum will be tinged with yellow, inviting visitors to travel far and wide through the history of the Tour.
There Great Departure of the Tour unleashed the passion for memorabilia that is in the DNA of the Ghisallo Museum and dyed it yellow “Ghisallo in Giallo” is the title of the exhibition created by Carola Gentilini, director of the Museum, who was able to count on the collaboration of Beppe Conti, historic signature of cycling and voice of Raisport. For the summer cycling event, starting from Florence on 29 June, then Rimini, Cesenatico, Bologna, Piacenza, Turin and Pinerolo, the first three stages in Italian territory, the Ghisallo Museum inaugurates a large retrospective dedicated to the Tour which tells the story and myth of the Grande Boucle with a very complete temporary exhibition.
To enrich the exhibition features a series of historic bicycles, on loan from the Bolgè collection, representing iconic brands of bicycle manufacturerswhich were also the first teams to participate in the Tour. Among these the Automoto, a brand dear to Bottecchia, the Alcyon brand used by Nicolas Frantz in ’27 and ’28 to win two editions, and a Peugeot already a brand in vogue for the victories of Thys in ’13 and ’14 and subsequently of Lambot in ’22.
Yellow light then focused on the most classic of the legendary trios: Bartali’s bicycle from 1948, Ghisallo Museum collection, Coppi’s bicycle on loan from Bruno Carraro and Magni’s, Wilier from Trieste (which won the ’49 Flanders, but was probably also used for the Tour de France). The cannibal Eddy Merckx is the protagonist with bikes and jerseys from the Faema and Molteni periods, all from the Ghisallo Museum Collection. From Pinarello an exceptional trio projects us into modern cycling with Chris Froome’s Dogma F8, a bicycle that has significantly marked the development of Performance products with the increasingly active collaboration of Team SKY alongside the engineers of the manufacturer. The second bicycle is the Dogma F12 of Egan Bernal, victorious in the Ineos jersey. The third is Jan Ullrich’s Pinarello (winner of the 1997 Tour, second behind Pantani in 1998), already donated by the champion to the Museum. Ullrich will be present for the ribbon cutting and throughout the day.
Three Colnagos on display: Colnago Prototipo Tour de France 2022 used by Tadej Pogacar, the Colnago TT1 used by the Spanish rider of the UAE team Marc Soler during the 2022 edition and the Colnago V3Rs Tour de France limited edition, official bike of the Grande Boucle. An exciting focus also with Fabio Casartelli: with his spare bicycle on the tour of the misfortune that took the great Olympic champion away from us.
Knitwear has always been the Museum’s forte. Especially the pink ones, with the largest collection in the world in collaboration with RCS Sport La Gazzetta dello Sport. This year there will be healthy competition from the Tour Jerseys: there are 40 jerseys, including yellow ones, polka dot ones, white ones and green ones. Also on display are some replica jerseys of historic teams, corresponding to the “heroic” bicycles: Alcyon, Peugeot, Automoto and Francoise. Among the top yellow jerseys are the exciting ones of Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, from the Cimurri Collection, which arrived at the museum a few hours ago, and which also remind us of Giannetto Cimurri, historic masseur alongside coach Alfredo Binda for 11 editions of the Tour. And then the yellows of Magni, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Nibali, Chiappucci, Pantani, Froome, Contador, Vinveegard, Pogacar.
It will also be on display the Tour centenary Skoda Trophy. In short, an infinite exhibition of objects, bicycles, jerseys, photographs, memorabilia and memorabilia belonging to the greatest cycling champions. An exhibition that intends to enhance the objects linked to the French race in the Museum’s permanent collection, but which at the same time is enriched thanks to important loans and collaborations with private collectors and other important Italian and foreign museums in the world of cycling.
The exhibition will first of all celebrate our heroes who have won the French race over time, Ottavio Bottecchia exactly one hundred years ago (in 1924 and ’25), Bartali and Coppi, Nencini and Gimondi, Pantani and Nibali, but also those who, despite not winning they were the protagonists, in addition to the legendary foreign champions led by Eddy Merckx and which include many other characters, from the “street giants” of the early twentieth century to Hinault, Indurain, Anquetil, arriving at Pogačar and Vingegaard, the current great interpreters of the challenge more important than cycling.
Saturday 20 April, in the afternoon, the presentation of the book “Il giallo del tour”, published by Minerva, with the author Beppe Conti, will excite us with the stories and the “Stories and champions of the Tour de France”. The Ghisallo in Giallo exhibition will be animated by words and memories thanks to the mine of anecdotes by Beppe Conti, an established historian and writer, as well as being a narrator of Raisport, who will take us even further into the triumphs and tragedies, the secrets and to the mysteries of the most important race in the world from 1903 to the present day.
Numerous messages of enthusiasm are coming from all the lenders in support of this extraordinary retrospective on display in the temporary exhibition room and also spread throughout the Ghisallo museum. Among these here is the message from the general director of Nalini, Giuseppe Bovo: “We continue with great enthusiasm the collaboration with the Ghisallo Museum, which began in 2023 with the inauguration of the commemorative bust dedicated to the founder of Moa Sport, Vincenzo Mantovani. On the occasion of the valuable “Ghisallo in Giallo” exhibition, we also wanted to contribute to the celebration of the Tour de France, creating the yellow Nalini jerseys for the museum inspired by past victories in the Grande Boucle. Furthermore, we will present the capsule dedicated to Jan Ullrich, guest of the inauguration, who won the Tour dressed in Nalini. In this regard, I want to express my esteem for the man, beyond the great champion of the past, because he was able to get back on his feet and find his own path, thanks also to the great passion for cycling that still drives him today”.
It will also be a multimedia exhibition. With the official inauguration, a multi-sensory and inclusive digital project also begins, which will also tell the story of Ghisallo in Giallo in audio with a series of podcasts through the Spotify platform, thanks to the voluntary contribution of many authors and writers in the history of cycling. The exhibition will immediately be available in both Italian and French thanks to the generous collaboration of Laurent Galinon, a French writer, screenwriter and director who is a close friend of the Ghisallo Museum.
The Ghisallo in Giallo exhibition is organized thanks to the support of BCC Brianza Laghi, Ambrogio Molteni Foundation, SAL Milano, Gruppo Cimbali – Mumac (Coffee Machine Museum, Trafilspec ITS and the cycling clubs Bindella, Ciclistica Erbese, Pedale Lecchese. With the patronage of Municipality of Magreglio, Municipality of Bellagio, Lake Como GAL – OltreLario, Comunità Montana Triangolo Lariano, Lake Como – A unique world in the world.
Tags: SATURDAY #20TH INAUGURATION GREAT DIGITAL BOUCLE EXPO
